Zola Brown was the first wife of Rulon Jeffs, president and prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Colorado City, Arizona. She divorced him after he suggested the idea of multiple wives. As for Rulón, she had 75 wives at the time of his death.
You will find more information about their children, ages and marriages below. Read on to learn more about Rulon Jeffs’ first wife.
Meet Zola Brown, the first wife of Rulon Jeffs
Rulon Jeffs married his first wife, Zola Brown, on June 1, 1934.
The Salt Lake Tribune wrote an article in June 1998. Their marriage dispute went to court, and court records indicated that “the young Mormon couple had been arguing over something she feared: their desire to marry another woman and join the ranks of polygamists”.
According to the article, Rulón told him that he had gone to the mountains and had a vision of a woman that God wanted him to marry. She was a girl who worked in a store in Provo. Zola told her husband that she was afraid that he no longer loved her, that he had become cold and indifferent. He responded by telling her that unless he embraced polygamy and accepted another wife, things would never be the same between them again.
Meanwhile, Zola became “so troubled and agitated that she cried almost day and night, her milk dried up, and she could no longer nurse her baby,” according to court records from their 1941 divorce.
Later, in April 1941, Zola divorced him because he insisted on more wives. Two weeks after the divorce, Rulon was excommunicated from the LDS Church on April 14, 1941.
Long after his place among the leadership of the FLDS Church had been secured, Jeffs reflected on his broken marriage to Zola. “I knew I had to go ahead and do what the Lord asked of me,” he said in a 1973 sermon. “The Lord multiplied me and blessed me a hundredfold, for which I am grateful.”
Zola Brown’s second husband
Zola Brown then married her second husband, Waldo Gee Hudson, four years after her divorce from Rulon. When she and Waldo got married, they moved to Southern California and lived there for almost 30 years. They raised three sons and a daughter there. After Waldo’s retirement, they moved to Salt Lake City and bought a “family home” in the Garden Park Ward, where they lived for 30 years.
According to his Findagrave, Waldo was born on January 12, 1910 and died on April 1, 2002 at age 92 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
One of Zola’s grandsons shared on the forum that Zola and Waldo lived apart for most of their retirement. He added that anyone who knew Zola and Waldo knew they didn’t get along. The person added: “In fact, she confided to my father shortly before her death (and he told me) that she was very sad that she had not found her ‘eternal companion’ before she died.” .
The person who claimed to be the grandchildren further added: “She was not a strong woman. She left Rulon because he was taking another woman, not to leave the cult. She completely trusted her father to do this. And she had to convince her. She didn’t talk to each other much.”
The person also said, “I couldn’t be the company I was used to with Rulon anymore. She found the “Truth” from her polygamous relatives. Rulon did not fight. It was obvious that if you knew Zola, she would never have been complicit in polygamy or worn a prairie dress. She was always classy according to my mother.”
Zola Brown Kids
According to her obituary, Zola Brown’s children are Richard (Connie), Daniel B. Jeffs (Wilma), L. James (Gaylene), and Marie (Richard) Sampson.
After divorcing Rulon, with whom she had two children, Zola took her two young children to Pasadena, California. “I respect him for who he is and the integrity he has in following his beliefs, but his ways are different from mine,” said one of those sons, Dick Hodson, a devout Mormon who lives in Orem. “Our paths parted.”
Is Zola Brown still alive?
No, Zola Brown died on May 3, 2005 at the age of 94.
Will Zola Brown appear in Netflix’s Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey?
No, Zola Brown does not appear in the Netflix series Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. However, she is mentioned on the show.
Related FAQ
Where was Zola Brown born?
Zola Brown was born in Cardston, Claresholm Census Division, Alberta, Canada.
Who were Zola Brown’s parents and siblings?
Zola was born in Cardston, Alberta, Canada to Zina Young Card and Hugh Brown Brown. Her father was a later LDS Apostle and the second of her parents’ eight children. She lived in Canada until she was 16 when her family moved to Salt Lake City. She attended BYU and completed a course at Quish Beauty College.
His seven siblings were; Zina Lydia Brown, LaJune Brown Hay, Mary Myrtice Brown, Hugh Card Brown, Charles Manley Brown, Margaret Alberta Brown, and Carol Rae Brown, the youngest of the eight who died in 2017.
Categories: Biography
Source: tiengtrunghaato.edu.vn