May 3, 1993 Orem, Utah
Dearest John; Roy, Patrice, Emily & Timothy; Bob, Claire, Michael, Laura, Brett & Katie; Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean, Mary Ann & Sarah; and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell, LeeAnna & Jimmy:
This is birthday week for Russell - I hope you have a wonderful 11th birthday on Wednesday Russell!!! You were born the Summer that PaPa and I left on our mission to Montana - you were such a tiny baby when your parents and the Weinerts had that lovely going away party for us at your home here in Orem. That seems SO long ago to me!!!
Brett - I just love your letters - YOU ARE A WONDERFUL LETTER WRITER!!! I hope your piano recital went well - I want you to play on my piano when you come to see me again - OKAY??? I am SO proud that you are doing so well on the piano and also that you are reading so many books - 145 books means that you are doing a lot of reading and there isn't anything more important than that in school right now.
I was awakened early this morning with my doorbell ringing. I wasn't really awakened - I had been up long enough to let the dogs out and get dressed but it seemed mighty early to me. I have these neighbors who are just my age and I have been so happy to have some that age who are healthy and "up and at 'em" and we visit outside quite a bit. I am finding they are quite different. Evidently they have had some financial difficulties and are living in the downstairs apartment of their son and his wife until they can get on their feet. Their names are Cora and Mel Wilcox and Cora was at the door. She said, "Barbara, does your son take Medicare?" I thought she was talking about John because they had just met him and then she started telling me about a nosebleed she had had in the night. They are friends of that young man who was killed serving a mission and he is from Centerville. They are going up to see that family today and want to call you Bob for some medical help - I'm so sorry if I have made extra work for you - please tell me what to do in cases like that. I told her that I didn't know your surgery schedule and she would have to call you. They are also friends of Mel and Ellen Mae but they don't have really nice things to say about Mel so I am disappointed about that - I talked to Ellen Mae and she doesn't remember them.
Claire - thank you SO much for sending the pictures of the "guys'" fishing trip in Montana. I have never seen better pictures and I knew that Roy would enjoy seeing them so I sent them on to them and they'll send them back. I wish PaPa could go on those trips with you - wouldn't he have loved that? He certainly did have lots of trips like that but they weren't with his family. A memory I have of our early married years is how much he loved to go fly fishing in Colorado on the Poudre River with the professor over him - Robert Gardner.
I have decided I shouldn't tell you about anyone who is ill in our neighborhood because they always die. Gordon McEuen passed away last Monday night - you all remember how good he was to Daddy - he was over here everyday for the two months before he died. Gordon has had a very weak heart for the last five years and then he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had gone through a series of radiation treatments. He got pneumonia and then his kidneys failed. His funeral was Friday and it was beautiful. They have a big black suburban and they knew how much he loved it so they took out all the seats and took him to the cemetery in his suburban - he was buried here in Orem. Daddy had told me once that he wanted to go to the cemetery in a Mercedes but I didn't know anyone who had a Mercedes big enough for that. He was exactly Daddy's age but I thought he looked and acted much older.
I have heard from our neighbor in Scofield several times. He said the water is up to our dock and we need to have the Styrofoam put back under it. He said the best thing would be some bindings from a lumber yard - he is going to try to find some for us. Maybe we should be prepared to fix it when we go up on the 15th - I'll call him before we go and have him tell me exactly what I need to get. He said I could get to the cabin now - the snow has melted and he said it was 68 degrees there yesterday and that's warm for Scofield.
John has moved to another apartment close to the BYU campus. I don't have his address but his new phone number is 373-6628. He is doing really good - keeping busy and doing some traveling for Viewpoint.
I haven't talked to the Weinerts this week - I hope you're all doing good. Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie and LeeAnna came over last night and we had a fun time watching "Murder, She Wrote" - Russell and Jimmy had been invited to go to the Harmon's cabin so they didn't come. Ann wasn't feeling very good and I hope it isn't the flu bug. Ron's parents are on a little temple tour with some of their friends from Idaho - they all had their travel trailers and were going to Southern Utah. They went to Ann & Rons' home for dinner one night last week.
I haven't heard from the Roy Mellors this week either. I'm really looking forward to their trip West. Ann suggested last night that they should go to "Goblin Valley" sometime. I really think that if they go to Yellowstone and to Vernal to see the Dinosaur Museum that will be all the traveling they are going to want to do. John said he would like Roy to go fishing with him.
I spent an entire morning with a financial planner and he faxed some letters from me to my brokers in Salt Lake to have money transferred to him - WOW - my phone rang off the hook advising me to not do that. John came over and promised he would go into Salt Lake with me and meet with Wayne Snow to get some advice - that would REALLY help me!!!