(2001) A Tragic Year
Evan bought a cabin up at Wanship Utah and all the family could go up and have a wonderful time. On August the 5th 2001 he was out with his children and they stirred up a nest of wasps and he was stung to death, he only lived about 5 minutes. In the meantime we were worried about Jeanne because we found out that she had cancer and she fought it for two years. It was a very valiant fight. But she lost that fight September 5th 2001. The strange thing about it was that both Evan and Jeanne died at 1:20 in the afternoon, exactly 1 month apart. Since then, it’s been a very lonely time.
I taught school down here. I received my graduate credits in Special Ed, so shortly after we got to Salt Lake, I applied at Jordan District and I was able to go from the various schools where they needed help in that field. I taught at Midvale Middle for a whole year, because they couldn’t get a teacher there, to take over the BD unit. Then I helped start the LD unit in Bingham High School and I taught there a lot over the six years that I subbed. I taught at all the high schools in the Jordan District and all the middle schools and a few of the elementary schools and I enjoyed every bit of it. Finally in 1991 I found out that I had Prostate Cancer and I had to have the Prostate operation and shortly after that we were called into the temple to work in the Jordan River Temple. I just got started there and then I found out I had to have a hernia operation, so I had to take a little leave while I had it and then I’ve been working steady since the spring of 93 and I’m still going there in 2004 at the end of this message which is in November of 2004.
(2004) A Wonderful Life
We’ve had a wonderful life. We have 30 grandchildren. Lana has six, Ron has 3, Valerie has 4, John has 2, Sheryl has 5, Evan has 2, David has 4, Mike has 0 and Emily has 4. We have 9 great grandchildren. Valerie has 5 grandchildren, Lana has 3 and Sheryl has 1. We enjoy our family it’s a wonderful experience to visit with them. Ron has a wonderful new wife, Kathleen Brady and they were married in the temple and she has 4 children and 5 grandchildren and of course he has 3, so it makes quite a family for them. We recently had Thanksgiving dinner with them and she is a wonderful cook. She is a wonderful addition to our family. I have had a good life; I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. Most people say they would like to live their life over again, I don’t think I would, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve had and that is good enough. I’m looking forward to what is beyond. I don’t know how long but I’m looking forward to enjoying life up till the end. I recently had heart surgery and I have to look forward to a aneurism in my abdomen which they will correct in a couple of weeks and I hope everything goes well there (It did). I still have a few things to settle in life, I haven’t got my farm settled the way I’d like yet but I hope to do that in the next week or two. I have some regrets, not that I can correct now, because it’s in the past, but I hope eventually I can overcome them. Our family is growing. Out of the nine children, eight of them have been through the temple. We were able to buy a home here in Salt Lake, in 1983 but we didn’t move down until 1986. Evan lived in the house and made the payments until we were able to move down. It’s been a nice home in a nice area we have wonderful neighbors and friends. In fact we’ve enjoyed our associations in what ever ward we’ve lived in whether it was in Yreka California or Hamer or Yukon, Idaho or down here in Riverton Utah. We’ve lived here for 16 or 18 years, I can’t remember how many in the same home. We’ve been through six ward changes and three stake changes but we’re still going strong!
