In 1925, my grandparents, Gustav and Margaret Weller with five of their eventual 12 children, emigrated from eastern Germany to Salt Lake City, the home of the Mormon Church, the religion to which they had recently converted. Like many immigrants, they struggled with poverty, language barriers and bigotry born of the recent war against Germany. Gustav, who came to be known as Gus, worked in a mattress factory and then opened a used furniture shop.
One day while considering some second hand furniture, he encountered a large collection of used Mormon books. He made an offer and they were his. Shortly thereafter, his small furniture shop at 14 East 1st South became Zion's Bookstore. The bookstore opened on the 11th of August, 1929, only weeks before the onset of the great depression. It stocked mostly Mormon books but also had a selection of general used books.
The family had little money and John and Sam, the two oldest sons, helped their father in the bookstore. The store scraped its way through the Great Depression, moving in 1930 to 28 East 1st South. This location was large enough to expand the selection of books to include new books. In 1939, Gus moved it to 65 East 2nd South. About this time, Gus started thinking he might like to take up farming. He started looking for land and eventually settled on some acreage in Marion, Utah. He moved to the farm, a move which his oldest children questioned, and started to split his time between bookselling and farming, leaving the bookstore in the hands of his sons much of the time.
Come 1943, Sam, 21 years old, was drafted into service in the Second World War. During the War, the bookstore was run by Rachel, the second oldest daughter and fourth child. John fed up at having worked so much and earned so little, walked away from the family bookstore. Gus spent more and more of his time at his farm.
At the conclusion of the war, Gus compelled Sam to take the bookstore. Much like John, Sam wanted little to do with it. He had already given much of his youth to the unprofitable affair and had his sights set on the musical stage. But Gus, a forceful man to say the least, had his way. At 24, Sam took over. It was January 1946 and the bookstore was deeply in debt.
Sam was outgoing, hardworking and very charismatic. Through sheer perseverance, he pulled the store out of debt within a few years. In 1949, a friend in common introduced him to Lila Nelson, who was very well read and working at the Deseret News as secretary to the managing editor. Sam and Lila fell in love and by 1950; she was working in the bookstore part time, taking on the detail work which was Sam's weak point. Good with numbers, patient and kind of bashful, Lila took over bookkeeping and money management. In 1953, they were married.
In the 1950's, Zion Bookstore blossomed. Sam was finally able to employ a few helpers and with Lila's skills rounding out the necessary formula of a successful business, things were looking quite good. In 1957 she devised a card file inventory control system which enabled them to keep close track of their sales and ordering.
The store was known for Sam's energy and zealous commitment to finding books and for having a broad range of books from new to used, LDS or otherwise, with even a few contraband Henry Miller titles, for the customer who asked.
In 1961, Zion's Bookstore was moved to its current location in the David Keith Building at 254 South Main Street. To Sam, this move represented his arrival. Early in 1962, I was born. My name was taken from the Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. Since both of my parents worked in the bookstore, I spent a lot of my childhood in it. It was a magical period. In the 1960's, downtown Salt Lake City was a thriving district. It