Edward and Lula Tobler: They were the second family to move to Ivins with their family in 1922. Ed had been living on the homestead near what is now Tuacahn, in a one-room cabin before his marriage to Lula; after Ed and Lula had married in January 1920, they lived in Santa Clara for about a year and then moved out to the homestead. Once Ed and Lula heard about the new townsite they knew they wanted to move from the homestead to the Santa Clara Bench. From Lula Tobler history: “My husband had his free lot and bought another at the side of it, and he fenced these lots and planted a little garden here that summer. The lots were fenced with barbed wire. I remember how proud he was when he brought me some new potatoes from this garden.
He also went down to the creek and got some small box elder and cottonwood trees which he planted along the West and South sides of our lots for shade. They grew real nice that first year. He also planted some Carolina Poplars. Ed moved the little one-room house over from the homestead on our lots, and on January 22, 1922, we loaded up our few belongings in our lumber wagon and moved on this new barren town site, or what was then known as the Santa Clara Bench.
My sister, Tilda (Matilda) and family had preceded us by one week. We just had our little daughter Verlene at this time. That spring we planted gardens again, also more shade trees. We two families lived alone for four months before anyone else came.
We lived in this little one room house for about a year until my husband was able to make adobes and build a three-room house for us the next winter. We thought we had a mansion then. We moved in sometime in early spring. At that time there was no electricity and no plumbing or bathroom in our house. We dipped water from the ditch into barrels, which we used for drinking and culinary use. Sometimes the kids would wash their hands in it, which made it very flavorful.”
After their three bedroom home was completed in 1923 the city of Ivins (Santa Clara Bench) was able to create a post office so they turned their one bedroom cabin that they had lived in into the post office. Lula was the Postmaster and Alden Gray was the first mail carrier. Ed made little wooden boxes for each family; the service was rather meager at the time. Alden would go to Santa Clara by horseback to deliver the outgoing mail and bring back the incoming mail.
It was said that Edward Tobler was a very good husband and father. He was also a very beautiful singer and was always asked to sing at any special event. In the spring of 1938 Ed became quite ill. His health was never good, but that spring he got worse. In June Ed passed away leaving Lula with three young girls to raise alone. At that time she gave up the post office because it didn't provide enough to support her and her girls, so they moved to Santa Clara where she got a job making school lunches for $45.00 a month. It was always a struggle to make ends meet. She moved to Salt Lake City to try her luck there after two of her girls had already moved to that area. She didn’t like the city life and decided to move back to Santa Clara. Lula never remarried and passed away in 1979 at age 84. One of her last pieces of advice was “I have learned to take things as they come. There isn’t anything you can do about it. The thought of meeting my husband again (after death) is all that keeps me going."
Written by Cherise Ence Spencer October 2022, Vol. 22 Issue 10 Ivins Newletter