My Stories

I was at the Family History Center and one of the ladies that works there got talking with me about how things have changed in our lifetimes, especially telephones. She's five years older than I am and can remember when you couldn't dial the number yourself. You would pick up the handle and the operator would say "Number, please." After you gave the number, the operator would connect you. I remember when you could not dial long distance directly. You would dial 'O' for operator and give the number and wait to be connected. When I was very young most people had 'party lines'. Generally two customers shared the same line. Each had their own number and your phone only rang when it was for your house, but when you wanted to call out, the other customer might be using the line (you could hear their conversation) and you would have to wait until they were finished before you could place your call. Usually, people were considerate, but once my friend...

One of my favorite things about Christopher is his hugs and holding him on my lap. For many years when Roger would be out of town Christopher would sleep in bed with me and it is one of my sweetest memories. I still miss that special time. He used to sit on my lap in the recliner in my bedroom and I would read to him.  His hugs are the best! Toward the end of his mission I was missing him so much! I've just remembered a dream I had about that time: The family was on vacation somewhere similar to Jackson, WY. Christopher was young. He and I left the others and went looking for something to drink. We went into a building that seemed to be a warehouse that might be being used for performances. There were some people on a stage and a man who seemed to be their director. He said we'd have to wait till they were finished to get a drink, but Christopher could go on the stage with the others. Suddenly, as I was distracted by the man, the kids all disappeared. When I asked where t...

When I was growing up up-cycling, or making new things from old things, was called recycling. Anyway, I have always been interested in recycling at home. Working at Deseret Industries gave me an opportunity to 'grow' my skills. We would look at donated items and find ways to use   some of them in the Homecraft Department. Dennis and I didn't have much extra money and it was nice that I was able to transfer some of those skills to our private life and create things for our home. I usually had things on hand for Heather to use with art projects (stickers that came in the mail, pieces of cardboard, a roll of paper from an adding machine, etc.). As I worked in the library I was exposed to thousands of ideas and Gaila and I had fun trying some of them. One summer Heather, Gaila and I had a project day where we got together and created several things. It was fun. Even Heather's neighbor kids got involved. I brought quite a few things with me to Heather's that day...

When we lived in Samoa it was not uncommon for the water to turn off. There was no storage system in the country, so if it didn't rain and the streams went dry, you could run out pretty quick. I'm sure the water went off for other reasons, too. It was annoying to be in the shower covered in soap and not know if it would come back on in a minute or two or several several hours. Eventually, the Church put up a water tower in the village and that helped. Mom learned to keep extra water in the house. When she and dad went back as President of the Missionary Training Center they had a bathtub in their home and she kept that full so they could flush the toilets. She was good at adjusting.

My first husband, Dennis Dean, had Juvenile Spinal Atrophy which fell under the 'umbrella' of Muscular Dystrophy. The Muscular Dystrophy Society helped with several things for Dennis over his life. We would go yearly to the University of Utah for a physical at no cost. It's been so long, I don't remember what all they provided, but they helped with the wheelchairs and the lift for the bathtub. For several years in Pocatello, he and I helped with the annual Labor Day Telethon with Jerry Lewis. Of course, Jerry wasn't in Pocatello. This was a huge national event. We worked getting volunteers to answer the phones when donors called, among other things. Dennis was always interviewed several times during the nearly 24 hours we were on the air. We usually were given a hotel room where the event was held, so we try to get some rest between the times we we would be 'live'. I went for a brief interview to the first telethon after Dennis' death, but couldn...

Leaving the library was one of the hardest things I ever did. I had not really planned to retire until I was 72, but when I was about 62 I started getting the feeling I should start putting things in order just in case. I began pulling together information and writing different instruction manuals. I went through old papers and discarded things we didn't need. I went through lots of things in closets and old files and put them into binders in the Idaho Archives. I tried to imagine what would be helpful to a new supervisor coming in to the job and then put those things together. I still wasn't planning to leave. A couple of months after Gaila retired I began to have the impression that I should 'get out'. It was an urgent feeling similar to the one I had when I felt I should not be involved with the supervisors at the shooting range. I still enjoyed the work, but felt anxious that I needed to obey the Spirit. It wasn't really a good time financially because I wasn...