The Life of Annie Livingston - A Love Story

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There are some that come and depart too soon; their names are rarely spoken again on this earth. In remembrance of a lovely young woman, we submit this history.

James Aagaard
Fountain Green Mayor 1906-1907

Annie was the fourth child and first daughter of William and Lillias Livingston. At age seven, she moved with her family from Salt Lake to Birch Creek, traveling by train with her mother, an older brother & two younger sisters. Annie participated in the household and family activities and in the social life of the community. Impressions of some of her nieces is that she was especially well liked by her siblings and popular among her peers. Her sweetheart was James Aagard of Ft. Green, Utah, but their marriage plans were thwarted by Annie’s death from a heart condition when she was almost twenty.

Annie’s was the first separation by death in this family of twelve children, and it had a deep impact on them. Four years after her death when Arch, her brother, brought his future wife to meet his parents, the visit happened to be on or near the anniversary date of Annie’s death. Her father was very quiet that September day, and her mother spoke repeatedly of Annie’s goodness and sweetness and of missing her. Fifty years later when Arch visited the empty house with his daughter, he pointed to the east front room and said with lingering sadness, “That is where Annie died.” She had been in bed that summer, often asking for and receiving ice and ice water. When her sweetheart returned home from his mission, six years after Annie’s death, at his request, he was sealed to Annie in the Manti Temple with her sister, Jean, acting as proxy. Jean told her own daughter that this was a very sad and difficult experience for her. Annie’s brothers and sisters spoke to their children of Annie with warmth and fondness. Her brother, William D. and his wife Annie Boletta, named their first little girl Annie. A name that denoted a short life, well lived.

Among the family members that loved her so, her beautifully carved, upright headstone can be found in the Fountain Green, Utah cemetery. The inscription reads:

Annie's grave, Fountain Green, UT

Annie, thou wast kind and gentle

Good and noble, good and true;

And thy spirits gone to heaven

Where we hope to dwell with you.

19 yrs 9 mos 6 ds