They live among neighbors who want them out of town. For Marvin Wyler and his two wives in the Fundamentalist Mormon polygamist enclave of Colorado City, Arizona, it is a nerve-wracking and depressing time.
You see, Marvin and his wives are some of the few people in Colorado City who no longer consider FBI fugitive Warren Jeffs a prophet. Although they used to follow him, they now consider Jeffs a fraud. This declaration has come at a cost.
Marvin, his wife Charlette, his other wife Laurie, and a late wife Esther have 34 children, and at least 110 grandchildren. But 10 of those children and a good number of the grandchildren are now out of their lives.
Warren Jeffs issued an edict declaring children should no longer talk with parents who are not loyal to the church. So nearly one-third of the Wyler children have completely cut off communication with their parents.
Marvin and Charlette tell me they occasionally run into one of these 10 children in this small town, and the children treat them like they are strangers.
We spent an evening with the Wylers. Three of the kids still live at home; two grandchildren were out jumping on a trampoline.
It seemed tranquil, but life here is now very worrisome for this family. Their house has been vandalized and church elders have told them to leave town.
But Marvin Wyler says he can't afford to leave, and besides, this is his home. His estranged children are still here and he has dreams of them coming back to their family.
So he'll wait it out, fearful of violence in Colorado City if and when Warren Jeffs is caught, but more fearful that he'll never have his children back because of beliefs that he helped them acquire.
