My family came from Idaho. Daddy was a construction man, so we did a lot of traveling. As we moved around the country I attended some large schools and some one-room schools.

I started high school in White Plains, New York, then as a sophomore transferred to Newburgh Free Academy in Newburgh, New York. then I transferred to Salmon River High at Riggins, Idaho as a junior.

When World War II started, my parents decided to move to California. Daddy eventually went into the service in Christmas of 1942. Mama went to work at North American Aviation in El Segundo, and money was tight.

My older brother, Henry, was attending BYU in Provo, Utah, and we all decided that I would spend my senior year at Brigham Young High School. My parents paid for my school charges before they went to California.

I lived in a dorm cubicle in Room D on the third floor of the Education Building. Those dormitory rooms in the old ballroom were just temporary panels of plywood and open at the top. From the top bunks we could talk to the girls in the next cubicles.

I climbed up a nice wide indoor staircase from the main hallway to get to my "room". There were huge dinosaur bones piled at one end of the ballroom.

I was just sixteen when I arrived in Provo in the Fall of 1942, as a member of the BYH Class of 1943. I loved my long hair, but it was a job to do it up to look nice. I had to put it up damp at night, because it took a long time to dry. It hung half-way down my back. My boyfriends and my daddy didn't want me to cut it.

At the time, I weighed only about 100 lbs. Not only was I the "baby" of the class, I was probably one of the shortest at 5'3", but my brother Henry watched over me.

All of my life I had been struggling with a speech impediment -- a lisp. As a result, I was developing a tendency toward becoming an introvert, and recognized the fact.

My speech teacher at BYH was Morris Clinger, and he recognized my problems. He was kind to me and quietly worked to help me overcome my insecurities. He made sure I was always involved in everything our class did.

An early part of our class work involved doing a solo skit in pantomime. I came up with a skit about packing in a hurry to go home for a weekend.

Living in a cubicle in Room D had taught me well how to cope in tight spaces. Our small room included two sets of bunk beds, a small dressing table and a mirror. At the end, by the door, there were two small closets. Everything else went under our beds.

Just imagine four high-spirited girls in that tight space trying to get ready for classes, a game or a dance!

Our speech class was held in the College Hall wing, in the auditorium on the third floor. When my turn on stage came, I knelt down and pulled a small invisible suitcase out from under my imaginary bed. I placed it on an imaginary chair. Then I opened it up and pretended to pack a few things as fast as I could.

When I had packed it to my satisfaction, I closed the lid, touched up my lipstick, and slapped on my hat. I grabbed my imaginary purse and the suitcase and headed for the door -- the wings of the stage.

Before I could get off the stage, however, one of my equally nervous classmates, waiting backstage for her turn to mime, accidentally broke her bead necklace. I nearly broke character and laughed when I saw her look of dismay that her beads were rolling all around my feet.

Assuming a startled look, I glanced directly at my classmates in the audience, put my hand up to my throat and felt around for a second. I soundlessly gasped. Bending down, I scooped up a handful of beads, and exited the stage clutching them along with my other imaginary items.

Our classmates in the audience applauded enthusiastically. The girl with the broken necklace hurried up to me offstage to apologize, but I told her I thought the incident had actually helped my skit.

Mr. Clinger commented in front of the class that he thought it was a nice quick-witted recovery. This compliment meant a lot to me.

Speech classes gave me self assurance and the courage to perform for an audience. As time went by, I increasing thought of myself as quick-witted and able to cope with any unusual circumstances.
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Because I was so young, my college-age "roomies" got tickets to their dances and other events for me. They treated me like a kid sister, but they cautioned me not to let on that I was not a college student. Probably they couldn't have obtained the tickets for me if I had let the cat out of the bag.

Thus I was able to go to both college events and high school activities.

I was very studious and not much into dating, but I attended dances, went out for sodas, and went to church with several different boys.

One day in February, however, my brother caught up with me and in a concerned voice said, "Iris, the entire campus is talking about you!"

"Why is that?" I asked him, puzzled.

"You don't take one brother to the college Sweetheart's Ball, and then take his younger brother to the high school Sweetheart's Ball!" he exclaimed.

But that was exactly what I had done. I had met college student Hugh Law and dated him a few times. The BYU Sweetheart's Ball was girls' choice, and so I invited him.

Then in mid-year his younger brother, David Law, a senior in high school, transferred to BYH. The high school dance was also girls' choice. Because I knew and liked him, I invited David and he had accepted.

I enjoyed my newfound self-confidence to make my own decisions. I patted my brother on the shoulder, and assured him that everything was okay. But neither one of the Law brothers would date me again.

And I had blown my cover story -- now everyone knew I was a high school student, and none of the college guys would ask me out during the rest of the school year.
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About six weeks before graduation, our principal, Golden Woolf, announced that some of the transfer students had not yet turned in transcripts from their other schools.

I went to see him, because I had transferred from Salmon River High. My transcripts hadn't come! We decided to contact the school in Newburgh, New York where I had been before moving back to Idaho. They didn't have my records, because they had sent my records to Riggins, and now the administration at Riggins couldn't find them.

You can't fake the knowledge of a subject, so they decided to give me my Junior exams the same week as my Senior exams, using tests for all the subjects I had taken in New York.

I agreed to take all of the tests because there was no other choice. I passed both the Junior and Senior exams with flying colors -- with all 'A's.

The only test question that tripped me up came from a college instructor who had me translate some Latin paragraphs from Cicero. He had only one more year of Latin than I did.

The Latin word I didn't remember was imbibio, which means imbibe -- to drink. He had quite a laugh when I insisted that I didn't know anybody who used the English word imbibe in place of drink.

Then my big brother Henry took me aside again, and said, "Iris, the entire campus is talking about you again!"

Now what, I thought.

"Nobody, not even a professor on this campus," he said, "has ever attempted to take two years' exams in the same week!"

"Well, I had to do it, or I wouldn't be able to graduate," I said.

Soon I discovered that my reputation had increased from being a quick-witted high school girl, to being a "brain".
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Or could it have something to do with an incident that had happened just before the mid-term exams. I had forgotten my notebook for chemistry class and went back to get it.

When I came in, Dr. Loren Bryner was explaining a formula change to Will Miller, a senior, and Lorin Barlow, a junior. I listened for a few minutes, and then it was just like a light turned on inside my head.

I walked toward them and said, "So that's how you get those different formulas!" They looked at me blankly.

Dr. Bryner said, "You are an 'A' student and you didn't know that?"

"No", I replied. "The school I transferred from didn't have chemistry last year, so I had to take physics, and I didn't start here until about Halloween, so I missed the first part of chemistry class."

"Then, if you didn't understand this formula exchange, how did you get the right answers and such high grades?" he wanted to know.

"Well, I copied down all the formulas you put on the board and memorized them, and I also memorized the ones in the book. How else could I keep up with the class?"

They just stood there for a few moments with amazed looks on their faces, like I had done something impossible.

Finally Dr. Bryner said, "What a fantastic memory!"

The boys just nodded in agreement. I still can't see why they were so amazed. I simply had no other choice.

Hey, it's not so bad to be considered quick-witted and a "brain" -- in fact, I loved it!

"On the morning of July 7, 2020, our father, Edward Lee Seyfried, came and collected our mother for a ride into Eternity. Waiting to greet her are her son, Edward Jr., her parents, all of her siblings, and many other loved ones who preceded her in death.

"Iris was born in Orofino, Idaho, to Lloyd Martin and Amelia Ann (Burbank) Ramey. She was the seventh of nine children.

"Her father was an engineer/machinist, moving the family around the United States to different construction jobs when she was growing up. This instilled in Iris a love of traveling.

"Highly intelligent and fiercely independent, she graduated from Brigham Young High School in the Class of 1943 when she was seventeen. She then went on to nurses training.

"In the late summer of 1944, Iris boarded a bus, with her wedding dress, and traveled cross country to Norfolk, Virginia, where her fiance, Ed, was serving in the Navy. They were married September 9, 1944.

"After Ed’s release from the Navy, the family moved to a small family farm in Riggins, Idaho. Iris was a dedicated nurse, housewife and homemaker who liked to cook, bake, and can fruits and vegetables from the garden. She could make delicious meals from almost anything on the farm. Her wedding and birthday cakes were works of art.

"She also spent many years teaching 4-H, helping children learn to raise animals, can foods, bake, sew, and do art work – many years submitting their projects to the Idaho County Fair.

"Iris had a talent for music and loved to sing. She loved her family, her country, and her Savior, Jesus Christ. She was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where she served in many capacities.

"Iris liked staying busy. Her favorite place to be was in the Genealogical Library in Salk Lake City, Utah. She had a strong testimony of the importance of finding our ancestors and she had a gift for telling family stories.

"Iris leaves behind six children: Bessie (Don) Huefner; Anton (Jennie) Seyfried; Aneita Seyfried; Leatha (Wayne) Adams; LaDeene Bedard; Willis (Juliann) Seyfried.

"She also leaves behind 30 grandchildren and step-grandchildren; 45 great-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren, and several great-greats on the way.

"We will forever remember and cherish our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, cousin, and friend. Her spirit will live on in the beautiful memories she left behind.

Due to current circumstances, a graveside service for Iris will be held October 3, 2020, in Riggins, Idaho.
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