More Blasts from the Past-6

Caldwell had an unusual school system.  We attended grades 1-3 at Lincoln or Van Buren (you will notice all of the schools were named for presidents of the US), grades 4-5 at Washington elementary, grades 6-7 at Wilson, and 8th and 9th grade at Jefferson Junior High School, then Caldwell High School for 10th-12th.  This is a picture of Lincoln Elementary where I went to 1st - 3rd grade.  This is the front of the building, which honestly, I rarely saw.  Our home was toward the back side of the building, so I walked from that way.  The playground was in the back, only rarely was I in the front of the building.  But this picture brings back three specific memories of the front of the building:
1)  We nearly always played behind the building, hardly ever out front.  I don't think that it was that we weren't allowed to play in front; just that all of the playground equipment was in back.  But I remember playing tag in the front when I was in first grade.  Some of the older girls came up to us and pointed out a little girl, Cynthia who I now know had Down Syndrome.  Behind and to the side of Lincoln was a small white frame building which housed the school for the handicapped.  Cynthia attended school there.  The older girls said that Cynthia would catch us and then hug the breath out of us.  I was terrified.  I did not want to have the breath hugged out of me.  So when Cynthia came near, we would run away, screaming.  I now feel terrible about that.  Cynthia just wanted friends and love like anyone else.
2) On Joan's first day of first grade (I was in third grade), I told her to wait on the step for me at lunch time and we would walk home for lunch together.  I went out and sat on the back steps and waited and waited.  Finally, I walked home and told my mom she never came.  My dad, who was also home for lunch quickly drove to the school and found Joan on the front steps, crying.
3) On November 22, 1963, I was in 2nd grade.  I was at school.  But I got really sick.  I was nauseous and had a fever and aches and chills.  The school called my mom and my dad came to get me ( in the front of the building) as he was home for lunch.  I got in his car and huddled down on the floor where the heat came out in the car.  The radio was on and my dad told me that President Kennedy had been shot.  We listened to the news report as we drove home.  I will never forget where I was when I heard the tragic news.  Where were you?

 

This is Washington Elementary where I attended 4th and 5th grade.  My fourth-grade teacher was one of my favorite teachers from my whole lifetime: Mrs. Engle.  I loved her.  She lived just a block or so from me.  I loved to ride my bike by her house, hoping I would see her.

This is the Caldwell stockyards.  The smell emitted by these is the signature smell of Caldwell, Idaho.  I got used to it.  But visitors would often comment.  To me, it was the smell of home.

An Ancestor from 953 AD

 

I search for family names on familysearch.com in many different ways.  The other day I just clicked on my Grandma Peterson and went back and back and back, looking for work that had not been done.  I have NEVER gone this far back before.  Can you read the date?  953AD!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  It will be a privilege to do the work for this ancient ancestor!

Are You Kidding Me?

 This little girl is either incredibly brilliant or incredibly lucky. Do you remember this post about her winning the game of Clue?  Well, it happened again a couple of weeks later.  She was playing with her family and on her third turn she made her accusation and it was right again!  She nailed it again!

Now that's one lucky (and very cute) little girl!

A New Calling

 On May 8th we were called to visit with President Ence- our Red Cliffs Utah temple president. Ken was called as a sealer in the Red Cliffs Utah temple.  He is humbled. President Ence told us of the long process it is to call new sealers.  Though our temple has been open for a couple of months, approval from the first presidency just came.  The calling was signed by the first presidency.

 My calling also changes as I was called to serve in the sealing office and reception.  We are excited and humbled to serve in this way.  We love being in and serving in the temple.

May Temple Visits

 May was a very big month for temple.  We love to go as patrons.  And our temple assignment was changed on May 8th.  I will do a post about that next.

May 2 Red Cliffs Temple, Sealings

Ken went back on Friday, May 3 to catch up on Initiatories.  He didn't take a picture.

May 8- A New Calling from President Ence (Post to come)

May 9, Endowment, Initiatories, and Training

We will be gone the rest of the month, so that will be all for May.

Broken Shower

 I was showering early Sunday morning.  I tried to switch the water from the shower head to the handheld nozzle and it just sheered off leaving water pouring down the shower wall, but not out of either nozzle.  I quickly turned it off.

We had to wait a few days for a plumber to come.  He was able to fix it quite easily.  It is so nice to have my shower back!

No Swimming

 Norman Rockwell might have been thinking of his boyhood summer vacations in upstate New York as he captured a simple joy of country life in No Swimming. Rockwell was branded as a kid illustrator during the early years of his career, which were dominated by his association with Boys' Life magazine and then another children’s magazine, St. Nicholas. He perfected documenting life from the point of view of boys and girls in genre paintings such as this one, capturing slices-of-life just as a camera might have. But such images, just a click away for photographers, were a challenge for artists. Before Rockwell began using photography to aid his painting process, his models had to hold their poses for lengthy stretches, sometimes with limbs propped up by stacks of books or held with ropes and pulleys. Rockwell kept a pile of nickels on a table next to his easel. “Every twenty-five minutes," he recorded, “I’d transfer five of the nickels to the other side of the table, saying, ‘Now that’s your pile.' ”

I love this one as it reminds me of a story my dad told often from his childhood.  He and other boys growing up in Logan, Utah would often go swimming/ skinny dipping in the Logan river.  They chose a secluded spot and often met there to swim and swing on a rope over the river.  One day, a policeman came and told them someone had reported them and that it was illegal to skinny dip.  He put them all in his patrol car and took them down to the police station.  It turned out it was just to scare them- and it was successful.  They just let them all go home.  Dad always ended the story by saying they got the policeman back by dripping as much water all over his backseat as they could.  

Harlen Hancock Passes Away

 This is a fine man.  He and his wife Doris lived in our ward for quite a while.  They were good friends and people we looked up to a lot.  Doris served as the Relief Society president while Ken was bishop.  At age 94, Harlen passed away after his wife cared for him in their home for over five years.

Harlen Hancock

January 18, 1930 — April 27, 2024

St George

Harlen Hancock, 94, died April 27th 2024 in St. George Utah. He was born January 18, 1930 in Ogden, Utah to Victor Crockett Hancock and Edith Buck. He was raised in Ogden attending Ogden High School and later Weber State College, where his father was head of the Foreign Language Department. Harlen was very athletic in track and field, football, and basketball. He became an accomplished vocalist, performing in various musicals including “All Faces West.”
He married Glenda Fae Nielsen and was blessed with three children: Larry, Diane, and Darla. Harlen was an avid outdoorsman. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, camping, and water sports. He loved softball and was a champion semi-pro softball pitcher. Professionally, Harlen started his Civil Service Career at the Utah General Depot and was later transferred to Hill Air Force Base, becoming Deputy Division Chief of Supply. He received the Meritorious Civil Service Award. He and Glenda lived in Ogden, later moving to Roy, Utah where they raised their family and were later divorced.
Harlen married Doris Lythgoe in 1978, moving to Washington Terrace with their blended family of Doris’s children: Michele, Scott, and Lori. They later had one son together, Corby. When Harlen retired, they moved to St. George and were sealed in the St. George Temple. Harlen loved serving the Lord in many callings in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints including Counselor in the Bishopric, Bishop, High Councilor, Stake Auditor, and Stake Mission Leader. He was also an avid indexer and genealogist.

Harlen is preceded in death by his parents and 6 siblings. He is survived by his wife, Doris, his brother Bruce, Children Larry (Susan) Hancock, Diane (Sherm) Kelstrom, Darla (Marc) Roop, Michele (Ogden) Smith, Scott (Lorette) Lythgoe, Lori (Gary) Bitton, and Corby (Michelle) Hancock, 21grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great grandchildren. 

Funeral Services will be May 4, 2024  at 11:00 AM at the 1905 E Rustic Drive Chapel in St. George Utah. A viewing will be held prior to the service, from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM. Interment will be at the Tonaquint Cemetery under the direction of McMillan Mortuary. 
The family wishes to express gratitude to Zion’s Way Home Health and Hospice and Visiting Angels for the excellent love and care they provided.

A beautiful poem written to Doris by Harlen.

Harlen and Doris were the perfect couple.  As their son said at his funeral: Doris was short.  My dad was tall.  But they always saw eye to eye.

Every Wednesday morning, Harlen and another fine man in our ward who has since passed away took Harlen's truck and made the rounds to all of the local grocery stores and picked up expired produce and took it Dixie Care and Share to distribute to the needy.  Harlen was always serving.  He always kept lollipops for the children in the neighborhood.  They knew they could stop at his house any time and get a treat.

When we walked into the viewing, Doris threw her arms around us and said, "I can't think of anyone I would rather see than you guys."  That is  just the way Doris is.  Always loving; always tuned out. They haven't been in our ward for the last ten years or so and I truly have missed them.  When I was the Relief Society president, Doris served as the Visiting Teaching coordinator.  I leaned on her heavily.  She is so wise.  So caring.  So loving.  She will have a big lifestyle change now.  She used to go the temple every Wednesday morning for the 5:30am session before work.  She rarely missed.  Maybe she can get to the temple more frequently now.  May God bless her in every way!

Missing Tooth

 Missing Tooth, September 1957

This is my favorite Norman Rockwell painting.  I have a print of it hanging in my family room.  There is a reason I love it.  As soon as I saw it, I thought, "We could have been the models for this painting!"  It looks so much like me, my sister Joan, and our friend, Debbie Runyun.  Debbie is the one that lost the tooth, I'm the one checking it out, and Joan, who was always shyer is the cutie in the blue dress.  This takes me back to my childhood every time I look at it.  Isn't it great?

May Book Club

Our family: Michelle, Kristen, Shonna, and Ken, and I recently met for our May book club discussion.

We discussed the book The Bicycle Spy.

 

We had a good discussion about this sweet book about a boy that helped in the French resistance.

We try to keep our book club to about an hour.  It is a most pleasant hour of being together each month.  

Girl at Mirror

 “Girl at Mirror” by Norman Rockwell (1954)

This piece follows a long tradition by fine artists of picturing a woman contemplating her reflection. George Hughes said that a painting by Edouard Manet inspired this painting. Two paintings by other artists stand out as strong candidates, however. Included in Rockwell's reference files are examples of Picasso's Girl at Mirror and Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun's The Artist's Daughter, each of which could have directly influenced this work.

Bear Paw Poppy

 This beautiful, nearly extinct flower only grows in our area.  It blooms every spring.  It is our claim to fame, I guess.  Isn't it beautiful?

Missionary from the Grave

 My sister, Joan recently had an unexpected surprise.  She was kind enough to share it with her siblings.

Just out of the blue, she got a message from the son of Dr. Hubler.  Dr. Hubler was my dad's partner in their internist practice for years.  The Hublers are not members of our church, but the son, Tim, was perusing our church's family search website and found my dad's personal history on there and read it.  That prompted him to find Joan and write to her.  He was so touched by our dad's commitment to the church and his testimony.  Dad passed away in 2003, but his recorded history continues to inspire and bless lives.

Joan and Tim have corresponded a few times.  He has contacted his family members about this correspondence as Joan has hers.  So, we have all kind of reconnected. 

Who knew we could be missionaries from the grave simply by posting our histories on familysearch.com?   

Tim shared some pictures from the early years of our dads' practice.

This is Caldwell Memorial hospital.  It was less than a block from Caldwell Internal Medicine- Dr. Hubler and Dr. Gabrielsen's practice.

The young Dr. Hubler

This is the building Dr. Hubler and Dr. Gabrielsen built to house their practice.  My uncle who was an architect designed the building.

Worth a Thousand Words

Some pictures just are . . .

Happy Mother's Day!

Bonuses to Weekend in Colorado

We went to Colorado to attend Samuel's baptism.  But there were many bonuses to being there that weekend.

Guys and Dolls

One of the biggest, grandest, best-of-all bonuses was getting to watch Nathan play the lead role of Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls- a musical presented by his high school. His girlfriend, Payton played opposite him as Sarah in the play.

Some of us went on Friday night.

And some went to the matinee on Saturday.

This picture includes the Mackrory's neighbor, Lynn who came to support Nathan.

Some of the cast.

Grandpa, Grandma, Nathan, and Payton.

Payton, Nathan, and Jake (who was SO excited to FINALLY see their onstage kiss!  Payton has been around a lot for several months and Jake relentlessly teases them about kissing.  Hey, he's 13!)

We were so proud of Nathan.  He did SO well.  We didn't know he had these talents.  I don't think he knew he had them.  He did such a great job!  My favorite was his solo, "Luck is a Lady!"  It is long and he was leaping all over the stage and singing and he totally nailed it!

Piano Recital

We also got to attend the piano recital of Audrey and Jacob on Saturday morning after the baptism.  

They both did a great job on their recital pieces.  We drove them to the recital after the baptism.  Kristen came a little later but got there in time to hear them play.

Lunch with Kristen

On Friday, after we dropped Lisi off at her afternoon pre-school, we took Kristen out for lunch.  We went to a very eclectic Mexican restaurant.

The food was presented so beautifully.  Kristen and I ordered three different kinds of tacos.  They had lots of choices.  That one is avocado tempura taco.  They were all good.

Ken ordered a pork dish that was a little spicy!

It is so fun to spend time with just Kristen.  We love her so!!

Snow

I wouldn't say it was a happy bonus, but Friday evening, a huge snowstorm hit the area.  When we came out after the play, everything was blanketed in white.  It was scary, treacherous driving.  Michelle had rented a car and was driving from the airport in it.  I followed her progress on Find a Friend.  I was so relieved when she pulled up to Kristen's house- as was she.  It was near white-out conditions.

I took this picture of a tree in full blossom covered with snow.

Waiting for Grandpa to come and get us so we wouldn't slip in the parking lot.

MOPRO (Mormon Prom)

Saturday night was MOPRO so we got to see Brielle all dressed up for the occasion.  She is so beautiful!

Time with Family

Maybe the biggest bonus was just getting to spend time with family.  Michelle flew from SLC to be there, Blake, Shonna, and all of their family drove to be there and of course, we flew.  It was a happy reunion. (Brian held down the fort at home so kids could attend their big activities that weekend.)

Gabe and Sammy are about the same age and had fun playing together.  Gabe will be next to be baptized in September.

The girls had fun using face paint on their brothers/cousins.  Gabe is a dragon.

Grandpa cut up the pineapple for the brunch.  He and Sammy ate about half of it!

So many great bonuses to an already great weekend!