Many years ago, Klara Young Cheney was a skilled seamstress, making most of her children's clothes and working regularly as an employee for Hilam Costume Co., which made many of the costumes for performances at the old Salt Lake Theater.
Her boys' suits and shirts and her daughter's dresses made them among the best-dressed children in their neighborhood and at school, according to a historical sketch prepared on Cheney, who recently observed her 100th birthday.She also is known for making dozens of quilts, frequently stitching them by hand until she was about 80 years of age.
A resident for the past five years at Sandy Regional Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center, Cheney is one of only two surviving granddaughters of Mormon colonizer Brigham Young.
Friends and family members gathered on her birthday Dec. 7 at the convalescent center, where she is confined to a wheelchair.
She apparently hears fairly well, enjoys musical programs and having family members or others read to her. Her health is fairly good considering her age.
Her only living sister, Marian Young Morgan, of Seal Beach, Calif., will turn 96 on Jan. 15.
Klara Young Cheney was born in Fruitland, a small community near the San Juan River in what is now northwestern New Mexico on Dec. 7, 1894, the third of seven children born to Brigham Young Jr. and Abigail Stevens Young.
As a young girl she often visited her grandfather Stevens' trading store, where she was intrigued by the clothing and handmade jewelry of Indians who stopped there.
Fruitland offered only primary schooling, so Klara and her brothers and sisters had to attend middle grades and high school in nearby Farmington.
The round trip to school was made by horseback or buggy. She completed high school and worked part-time at the trading post.
Her mother moved her family to Provo 10 years after her husband's death in 1903.
While attending Brigham Young University, Klara met Silas Lavell Cheney, to whom she was married June 22, 1917, in the Salt Lake Temple.
The couple lived in a number of places in Salt Lake City and County, in Kamas, Summit County, and in Ephraim, where she was director of the Manti Temple Pageant.
Her husband died in 1971, and she spent a few years traveling to visit with her children in various parts of the United States.
When she returned to Salt Lake City, she rented an apartment in the downtown area and once again enjoyed attending the Salt Lake Temple.
Her family includes sons, Douglas L. Cheney, Salt Lake City; David R. Cheney, Toledo, Ohio; Lowell K. Cheney, Clearwater, Fla.; Brigham Vernon Cheney, Kalamazoo, Mich.; and a daughter, Kara Lynn Chamberlain, Scottsdale, Ariz. A son, Bruce Cheney, died at age 7.
She has 16 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.