Ida Mallinson was born 24 November 1913 to Robert and Thressa Draper Mallinson, at Moroni, Utah, Sanpete county, Just three months previous to her birth her Father was killed when he fell from a haystack onto the tines of a pitchfork which pierced his heart. Ida was the third child with two older brothers, Keith and Verl. Ida's recollection of her early childhood was one of moving often to places where her mother could procure work as a cook at Hotels, etc., to support her small family, They lived in the canyons during the summer months where her mother cooked for road construction crews and Ida was terrified by the frequent lightning and thunder storms in the canyon, later when she became old enough for school they moved back to Moroni near her grandparents, and Mrs. Mallinson did the laundry for the Hotel at Ephraim. Her Grandpa Draper met the train and brought the laundry home twice each week, then would take it back to the station all clean and ironed, Ida remembered how her brothers turned the washer wringer by hand and her mother hung clothes and sheets many nights by lantern light.

Then Grandpa Draper built a store and cafe on the front of their little home and he worked in the store and Mrs. Mallinson ran the cafe with the help of a young girl, Here at the cafe one night during an electric storm, Ida was struck by lightning and suffered from the effects of this for several years.

After she became eight years old and was baptized she went to the Manti Temple with a group of Primary children to be baptized for the Dead. She was always thankful that her mother taught her the value of prayer and sent her to primary and Sunday School whenever they were close enough to church services, Her mother also took her three children to the Temple where she was sealed to her husband and then the children were sealed to them.

When Ida was eleven years old her mother went to St. George to cook for a construction crew and left the children with their grandfather as the cafe business was not so good and they were having a hard struggle to make enough money to keep everything going. Here she met and married Parson Richards of Pleasant Grove. About a year later Ida 's wish for a sister was fulfilled in the birth of a half sister named Luanna. This made seven children in the family now as Mr. Richards had three still at home.

The Grandfather Draper died and Ida's mother sold the store and cafe and with her share of the estate she bought a small house in another part of Moroni, However, they lived there only a short time because Mr. Richards was unable to get work there, so they moved to pleasant Grove where he found a job herding sheep and left his family to live in town.

Ida was unable to attend High School because of lack of funds for clothes and school, When she was f if teen years old she met Cyril Johnson at a dance and they went together then until the summer she was nearly 18 years old and they eloped with another couple and were married at Farmington, Utah, 4 June 1931.

They were real happy to make their first home in 2 rooms of a rock house in Pleasant Grove where their first baby was born three years later. However, because of Ida's extreme illness with smallpox just prior to the baby's birth it was stillborn and this was a very sad time in their lives. Two years later their darling black haired daughter Jeannine was born. When Jeannine was three years old they were all ready to go to the Temple to be married there for Time and Eternity and have the baby sealed to them but Jeannine became ill with whooping cough so they had to leave her at home with Grandma Richards. When she was twelve years old they had her sealed to them. When Jeannine was six years old, Ida had another daughter Karen, who of course was born in the covenant.