June 8, 2007
Dear Family,
It is that time again and
though I had strange and odd feelings about writing this letter and making the
decision to have the party this year, I have decided to go ahead with a little
prompting from the family.
This is a hard letter to
write because the things that are uppermost in my mind are the same things that
are uppermost in yours as you read this.
These are the sad things, and committing them to paper somehow makes
them seem so much more real and so, more difficult. Three times in our lives we have made or
received phone calls that literally rip our hearts out. Three times we have
lost a member of our family in what feels like a very premature season. Some of you are too young to remember when
Brian died. But that morning when we
received word that he was so suddenly dead, leaving Cheryl and the kids,
including unborn Breanne, it was so desperately terrible that I do not have
words to describe it. Worse for all of
Kent and Sharon’s family, of course, but truly terrible for the rest of
us. None of us shall ever forget the
shock and hurt we felt that morning and throughout all the succeeding
days. Then Wayne and his family lost
RaNae, and though she was not a child, she was much younger than we ever would
have thought that she would be removed from us.
Again, none of her children, even those of you who are married, were
ready to let go of their mother. Wayne certainly was not
ready to be left alone. And now we have
the loss of a small child, beautiful and sweet Gabriel. The circumstances surrounding a child’s death
always take away our breath, because we have come, in this day, to believe that
they will all live to a very mature age and die only when it is time. For Kay and Ryan, for Lynn and Gail, for all
of their family, it is grief beyond grief.
For the rest of us it is again the terrible, horrible pain that can be
recalled immediately and brings tears to our eyes, even as there are tears in
my eyes as I write this. But there is
something else to remember, too. And
that is that none of us must bear this pain alone. Through Brian, RaNae, and again with Gabriel
this family rallied. There was love and
support, strong arms to lean on, words of sympathy, acts of kindness and faith.
Reaching out, drawing in, holding, whispering, hugging, loving. All of us held all of us in this crisis, and
all of us surrounded Kay and Ryan, Lynn and Gail and did all we could to buffer
the pain raging around them. And of course, we have our faith and knowledge of
eternal relationships. The service for
Gabriel was beautiful. Gail and Kent did
beautiful jobs. As I watched everyone, I
honestly was so thankful to be a member of this family. We are good people.
Now, because life goes on, we
must and will go on, but not in forgetfulness. And not without more tenderness
than we had before this tragedy.
We shall have a 4th of July party in our
backyard on July 6th beginning at 6:00 P.M. but not eating until
7:00 so that the kids have time to play and have fun. I think I will have a little swimming pool
out, so if you want to bring a swim suit or extra clothes you are welcome
to. We have a couple of flags to retire
so we will try to do that at 6:45. Hope
you can be here for that.
Food assignments:
Kent’s and 1/2
of Diana’s Family: Hot dishes
Brenda and Wayne’s
Families: Salads
Lynn’s and other half of Diana’s Family: Desserts
Bring your own drinks and easy-to-bring chairs. I just don’t have enough anymore.
Heads of families, please, call me (RSVP) with a count
of meat eaters (don’t need to know the rest) so I know how much to
buy. We’ll do chicken and steak.
Gail and Sharon, please invite your dad and mom and if
there is someone any of you know that attendance to our party could bring light
into their life, please call me and we’ll try to invite them.
Mom (Sybil) is doing well.
There have been a few health problems over the last year but nothing too
severe. Her knee is doing very well (the
one she had replaced), and she just had her eyelid pulled up. She did this before, and she has done it
again. She feels like it worked though
it is still pretty early, but with the sagging it had actually begun to block
some of her vision. She is still driving,
though not at night and she prefers to stay close and in the neighborhoods she
knows. She had an electrical problem in
the house just recently and when Rentmiester got it fixed they told her she was
lucky the house didn’t burn down with what was wrong. She still loves all of us and she loves it
when you come by to visit. She has a new
renter (the same one that was there after Anne and Mike moved) and it really is
going ok, though not as sweet as when one of the grandkids or great-grandkids
live there.
Kent and Sharon: They are doing well, nothing is wrong with them that
youth wouldn’t cure. They are headed to New
York (I’ll show you why in a minute, keep reading)
for a week of play. They are both still
working and it is hay season, need we say more?
Alison and Curtis are good and finally moved. Jared
has moved back home. They are in their
new house in Cornfield and loving it. It
is big and roomy and beautiful. Ben has
been in Kentucky
on his mission for about a year and Katy graduated and is working as a CNA in
the hospital there. Megan is 16,
dateable and making her parents crazy so all is well there.
Cheryl
is still deeply involved in all the Panguitch doings. Justin has been out more than a year and is
in South Carolina. Kyle is leaving for Georgia on July
18th for mission, and boy, what are all the boys doing in the
South??? Maybe it is time for the South
to come of age. Josh and Breanne are
still in school, very involved in sports and doing great.
Brent
and Terri are good. Brent has his dream
job. He is working for the state, as a
lawyer, trying to resolve problems before they go to court. When someone wants to sue the state, then
Brent is the man and he tries to solve the difficulty. He might be a “good” lawyer. Terri is working at the Y still. Kids are all in school, except Jeffery, who
is about to begin Kindergarten! It is a
great day when they are all in school, but not as good as they day you get to
leave the diaper bag home. Also, Brent
looks so good and his diabetes is totally under control. We are so glad for him.
Heath
and Kathy. Heath has a new job, Director
of Parks for Riverton
City, and though he would
rather be in the recreation end, this is a wonderful blessing and we are all thrilled
for him. Kathy is home with their little
family which includes 2 new cats which they all dote on. Lindsey was baptized in January! Congrats, Lindsey.
If
you have not seen it, watch for it, because Kirt is in a television ad for the
Ballet. Anne saw it first and I have
seen it. We knew he would be
famous. He and Jerry have been in New York for a month,
because Jerry’s play, that he wrote, has been picked up for Off-Broadway. This
is BIG! Kirt is working from there.
Computers, hate ‘em, love ’em. But it lets you keep your job and stay in
New York for
a month. I would love to hear about your
adventures.
Andrea
and Jarom are fine. Jarom is still at
Novell. Emma graduated from kindergarten
and they are doing fine living with Kent and Sharon. Everyone loves it.
Lynn
and Gail: are healing, along with all
of their family. It is a process, but they
are moving through it. Lynn is thinking to have the surgery to fix
his heart arrhythmia. It is called
oblation. They send a laser up through
the groin to the heart and make some little cuts in the heart tissue and that
stops the electrical charges from going along so much. Gail is at Juab Title and they are very good
to her. Lynn’s hip is doing well from his surgery
last year.
Amanda
is a single mom with 4 kids, and working as the Construction Desk Manager at
Lowe’s. She is doing fine. Kids are fine. She looks great.
Lori
and Cory live in West Jordan
have the three kids, bought a home and are busy remodeling it. Their baby,
Paige, is over a year now. Lori is
working just part-time, Lynn
thinks she is at Ruby Tuesdays (which is where she used to be) a couple of
nights a week, just to help out a bit.
All is well.
Kay
and Ryan are managing. For them this is
a difficult time in their lives, of course.
They are looking for a lot to build on or a house to buy in LeVan. Their boys are taking swim lessons and Kay
and Andrea walk together every day.
Paul
and Elisa are still living in her Grandmother’s apartment. Paul is in school at the U in pre-law
(couldn’t you be a dentist? We have a
lawyer [see Kent and Sharon]). They have
2 kids, Elisa stays home with them and she ran in the 5K of the Salt Lake
Marathon. Good for you!
Becky
and McKell are both working. He at
Wheelers and she at American Diamond.
They own their house (actually they are probably co-owning with the
bank, the same as the rest of us) in Kearns
and would like to maybe have another baby.
Wayne: Is not alone,
but he feels lonely sometimes. It is not
easy to lose your life companion. His
new hip is doing well, his left foot is in pain all the time. Even expensive shoes don’t help. Wayne
spent a week in the hospital recently with some blood clots that were very
serious. It truly is a blessing that he
is ok. Amy and her family have been
living with Wayne,
but they and Nathan have gotten an apartment together and have moved out. Julie and her family and Natalie, of course,
are still living there.
Karen
is doing well, she has five grandchildren now.
This family is growing. Lisa has
someone special in her life.
Amy
has a good job with a family practioner and she is going back to school to get
her RN. She is an MA right now. Her kids are doing fine and growing.
Julie
and Jeff are both working at the Spaghetti Factory, Jeff is also in
school. He is working toward being a
math teacher on the university level.
That certainly eliminates some of the discipline problems the rest of us
face.
Josh
and Shalece are doing great. They have
their own house. If I understand Wayne correctly they are
both working for England Logistics. That
is the part of CR England that tells the trucks where to go and how to get
there. They still have the two
girls.
Camille
and Dustin will be visiting Salt
Lake toward the end of
June. They are going to be sealed in the
temple at that time.
Congratulations. That is
wonderful. Dustin is doing great with
Walmart. They have been transferred to Casper, Wyoming,
so if anyone is traveling that way…All three of their girls are doing
well. Camille is doing child care in their
home.
Chad and Venus have a home in West Valley. Chad is working for Discovery and
Venus is working for Comcast. The have
two boys and are doing very well and are happy and successful.
Melissa
and Bob were living with Wayne
but they are living with his parents right now.
Greyson is making great progress in school. He attends both summer and winter, two
different schools and Melissa and Bob are really tremendous at helping him and
working with the autism.
Nathan
works for Tesoro and is doing fine, living with Amy and her kids. I’m sure she finds it helpful to have good
strong arms to help with some of the work.
Natalie
is recovering from back surgery and has to have more. It is worrisome that she is so young and
struggling with that back so much. She
did great in school this past year as she finished her sophomore year.
Gary and Brenda are still working, but Brenda thinks next year will
be her last year to teach. Gary is working out in
Vernal right now and coming home only on the weekends. That’s not exactly fun but we do what we have
to do. Their health is good, just with
the aches and pains of middle age. Gary and Brenda just finished their
basement, which Gary
did mostly by himself though all the kids helped.
Jennifer
and Randy are living in Japan
and they will be there at least two years.
Their kids are really at a great age to get a lot out of it. Especially Madison and Jacob, who will have a
truly marvelous experience. They are on
Okinawa, which is a tropical island 700 miles off the coast of Japan (I never
realized it was so far away). They have
visited all kinds of places and seen tons of wonderful wild and sea life. They are on the military base there (or by
it). The branch there is so glad for the addition to their numbers and for position
holders. And Jennifer, thank you again,
for all the work you and your mom did on the book. It is so wonderful.
Lee
and Holly are waiting for that baby to come.
He’s a he and hopefully about the time you get this letter their 4th
child will be getting born. They live in
Richfield,
pretty much built their own house and it is wonderful. Lee is working in scouting so we must thank
him for that. Nicholas begins
kindergarten this year. Nathan and Abbie
are on a swim team and compete against other kids. This summer each member of their family is
raising something to enter in the fair.
They are having fun with that.
Christopher
and Allyson are the parents of three boys.
Ethan, the oldest, was just baptized, and began the whole scouting
thing, so he is having fun with that.
Chris is working in scouts, so that makes at least three of the men in
the family that are working in scouts, there are probably more. Allyson is teaching preschool in her home and
loving that. Chris is still working with
wood. He does such impressive work. They are well and healthy and went to Arizona with Brenda and
Gary this month.
Brad
and Myrissa have finished the addition on their house and have made it much
more comfortable. Brad has his license
to be a civil engineer. What that means
according to him, is that he gets a little stamp that he gets to put on all his
work. J Myrissa is a
talented writer and she is working at writing children’s books and wants to
publish. Last year after I sent out the
letter Brad sent me back a letter that was hilarious. I am including much of it at the end of this
letter.
Neal
and Lori live out in Eagle
Mountain in a nice
house. They have just finished the
basement. Their little daughter, Kate
was born in April and that makes two girls for them. Neal is teaching seminary in Jordan District
(but Holly can’t remember the school).
Lori is a busy stay at home mom.
They are well, healthy, and happy.
Diana and Ralph are doing
fine. Ralph is still working for the church and
Diana is teaching in Magna, but teaching Drama and reading. We’d like to do some remodeling in our house
but that may have to wait for some later and richer time. We built, wait, Diana built, with Ralph’s
expert guidance, while he was out helping the boys fix their houses, a wall
around the front garden to make it look a lot better. Diana’s knees are doing so well after the
replacements last summer. And during
December, we had all four of our girls pregnant at the same time. We thought that was rather weird and
cool! Most of what we have done the last
year was to renovate houses as we have been working on everyone’s. But we have learned a LOT! We’re ready to help build the temple in Missouri.
Anne
and Mike now have three children. They
had a little girl born in December, whom they named Ella. They moved into their (and the bank’s) new
(new to them) home on Labor Day weekend.
They have been working at renovating, just like many of you and have
redone the baby’s room and are working on their bathroom. Lots of painting and stuff in the
meantime.
Mark
and Jenn have been in their (& bank’s) new (to them, assume that on
everyone in our family) home over a year but with the birth of their third son
and fourth child, Collin, they have been redoing bedrooms, halls, etc. as they
work at remolding their house. Both Mark
and Jenn are working in scouting. Which
is a great and hard place to be.
Michael
and Robyn are expecting their first child in August, another boy for our
family, and they took possession of their house on the same Labor Day weekend as
Anne, however, where Anne’s and Mark’s houses were livable as they redid them,
Michael’s had to be pretty much gutted.
The entire family, including the women have put a lot of hours into
their house. But it looks really
nice. But get a REAL real estate agent
and a REAL inspector, and know what your insurance policy says! They are naming their baby Ethan Michael (as
of today) and are well and happy.
Sara
and Dustin live in Magna in their (see above) house and they only redid a
bedroom this year, but want to work on their basement and bathroom. Their first baby was born in May and his name
is Parker Dean Marcrum. Sara loves that
name, but she does know it will be confusing for him, cuz his first name is the
same as his cousins last name…Honestly there is nothing interesting about us
except that we’ve had babies and worked on houses.
This
is part of the letter Brad wrote me.
What a wonderful story to share with all of you. I would love to have any of you who want to,
send me back things that we can put in this family letter. I must caution you, that I don’t want this
letter to be a letter that would make someone else feel less than they really
are or that they are not measuring up to someone else in the family. This letter is for fun and information and
not for bragging rights. All of us have
successes and failures, blessings and challenges. If we only include the successes and
blessings then others tend to compare that with their failures and challenges
(I don’t why we do this). So please send
me information that I can include that will help build family love, unity and
understanding.
July
2006
Dear Diana,
“Thanks for the recent letter
updating the family on…the family! It
was great to be brought back into everyone’s lives. That’s what families are for…sticking close
and caring for one another.
Whether it’s for idle
curiosity, or next year’s letter, I will update you a bit more on my fam-damily
(is that a swear word?) The main news is
that we are finishing a large addition onto our home. We have done things I never would have
imagined doing pouring a new foundation, framing, roofing, drywall, insulation,
plumbing, etc. We did have one problem
last week, though. We have a couch that
we had planned on putting in the new family area. But we should have built the house around the
couch, because it wouldn’t fit around any of the new corners to get it into the
room-it’s a long couch. We even hauled
it out into the front yard and tried to shove it through one of the windows
(sounds like getting furniture into grandma’s upstairs apartment, doesn’t
it?). This only seemed to arouse our
neighbors’ suspicion of us. So I finally
decided that if we were going to get the couch into the addition, drastic
measures were required: I took my sawz-all and cut off one end of the couch to
get it around a corner. As I was
amputating the couch, I reassured my sickened and speechless wife above the
scream of the saw that all would be well and that once the couch was put back
together again, you would never be able to tell that it had been
butchered. Much to my horror, it still
wouldn’t fit (we did put a hole in the dry wall trying)! Well, now the couch is
back in the same place it was before it was halved and I really think that the
new tilting and rocking motion in the couch is actually quite soothing. I don’t know if Myrissa agrees-she won’t talk
about it much.
…we have been having a lot of
fun down here in hell (oh, I mean Arizona). Myrissa and I went on a backpacking trip….we
explored and swam around in a gorgeous deep pool thriving with craw-dads. After several hours of standing stone-still
in the river hoping to catch them by surprise, I managed to snag three of the
ugly creatures, which I boiled, but could only bring myself to eat one.
Myrissa passed and chose to eat her dehydrated potatoes and spam.” As he closes his letter he speaks of selling
their son Addison on ebay…I’m sure all of us have felt that way on occasion…
Brad suggested that I request
all the addresses of the family and emails.
I have addresses unless you move.
If you do it would be great if you would call me with the new one. If we’re not here just leave it on the
answering machine, being sure to tell me who you are!
I know if each of you could
speak right now you would send all your love to each of the rest of us. So I will do that for us all.
Love, Aunt Diana
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