Susan Ray Schmidt

Susan Ray Schmidt was born in October of 1953 in Utah to Vernon and Mathel Ray. She moved around a lot, but when she was about 8 she and her younger brothers and sisters moved to Mexico to join a colony of polygamist started by the Labarron brothers (Alma, Joel, Verlan and Ervil) called Colonia Labarron. Shortly after the move Vernon married a Mexican named Maria and started a second family with her. Susan had a sheltered life in Colonia Labaron. She learned to play the piano and played during church services. Shortly before her 15th birthday she had a dream that she thought told her that she was to marry Verlan Labaron who was the brother of the prophet Joel. Soon after that Verlan started courting Susan. Soon after this however Ervil started telling Susan as well as her friend Debbie Bateman that he had a revelation that he was supposed to be married to them. Debbie ended up "sealed" to Ervil but soon after Susan's 15th birthday she became the sixth wife of Verlan Labarron and went to live with several of his wives and children in the Baja part of Mexico. Soon after moving to Baja Susan became pregnant with her first child, and over the next several years she had four more children. Over the next several years she also moved from Baja to Colonia Labarron to two other compounds in Mexico and Nicaragua. During this time there was a power struggle between Ervil and Joel regarding the control of the sect leading to the deaths of Joel and several of his followers and almost ended with the death of Verlan. During the funeral for Joel a man who was thinking about joining the church started to speak out against it saying that the woman should take their own salvation into account instead of thinking that the only way to get to heaven was through a man. This got Susan thinking and shortly after the birth of their fifth child Susan left Verlan and went to live in Utah. Shortly after leaving Colonia Labaron Susan met a man who liked her children and cared about her, but after becoming pregnant with her sixth child decided he did not want to be a father to six children. After that Susan met her current husband and had a seventh child. Susan wrote a book about her experiences called His Favorite Wife which details her life in polygamy.