Dearest Family,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEVE TOMORROW AND TO EMILY ON
WEDNESDAY!!! EMILY will be 15 years old and that is such a fun, fun age for
a birthday party and I want to hear all about it. It's difficult for me to
realize that the "little very determined" girl I babysat for about 13 years
ago has grown into a beautiful young woman - I'm proud of you Emily and I
hope you have a GREAT birthday. I don't know how old Steve is - probably
about 25 - and I'm proud of you too and hope you get to have a special
dinner or something.
I guess the big news for this letter is the
finding of kidnapped victim Elizabeth Smart. That news has completely
consumed me and I have watched far too much television and have read far too
many newspaper articles about it. I know you already know all this but I
want it for my journal so I will write a little bit about it in this
letter. She was abducted at knife point from her home in Salt Lake City in
June of 2002 and I have never known of such a HUGE search for anyone as
there has been to find her. There have been billboards and posters with her
pictures on them scattered all over Utah and other places too and it has
been on every news report for all these nine months. Her sister, Mary
Katherine, was in the bedroom when she was abducted and in October she
described this person to a sketch artist who drew a picture of him. I
personally think the Salt Lake Police Department was much too slow in
displaying this picture to the public. John Klaus from America's Most
Wanted put the picture on his television show a couple weeks ago and shortly
after that people recognized him on the street.
Two different couples saw a man with three women
who were in long dirty white robes on a street corner near the "Southtowne
Mall" and called the police. The police found them and interviewed them and
Elizabeth wouldn't even say who she was - that is SO scary to me to think a
person could adopt a completely new identity but psychologists say that was
what happened. They took them to the police station and called Elizabeth's
Father to come immediately but they didn't tell him why. Can you imagine
the shock of walking into the police station and seeing your daughter you
have been looking for all this time? I have just cried as I have watched
the reunion with her family and all the things that have happened this
week. They are trying very hard to keep her isolated except with her family
because she has been "through hell" as her father expressed.
She has gained a great deal of weight and
doesn't look like she did when she was first kidnapped but I'm sure she has
been eating LOTS of fast food and other high calorie food. They had a big
welcome home party for her given by the community on Friday night but she
didn't attend - both her parents were there and it was quite unusual for her
Mother to be there because we haven't seen much of her in the news. The
news about her abductors has just been "mind boggling" and unbelievable -
they had taken her up in the hills just above her home in Salt Lake and
camped with her until late August when they went to San Diego to spend the
Winter. All of this while her family and law enforcement officers plus
thousands of friends combed every single part of Utah looking for her. I
remember the chilling words of the Smarts asking people to look in garbage
cans - they wanted so much to have closure even if it meant finding her dead
body. It will take a very long time for her to get back to going to school
and other activities with her friends but she has a wonderful family who
will help her.
It's going to be interesting to learn what
happens to "David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee" - husband and wife who
kidnapped her. Wanda was an accomplished pianist and it is more difficult
for me to understand what happened to her than it is for me to accept
David's bizarre change. I heard on television at one point that he had been
on LSD and if that is true it explains it a little bit. All of this makes
me realize how important it is for us to keep "balance" in our lives.
I don't know if any of you have accessed the
family newsletters that John has put on the internet but I found them quite
accidentally and they are WONDERFUL!!! I LOVE to read of our lives in
Little Rock and I have found so many things that have helped me. One of the
things I discovered was how long to cook that Sweetened Condensed Milk - I
knew I boiled it for a long time but I didn't remember just how long and I
found that in one of my letters. I also enjoyed reading about Bob, Claire,
Lynn and I going to the Gold & Green Ball in Little Rock and about the plans
for Lynn and John to go duck hunting in VERY miserable weather. ANYWAY -
I'm thrilled they are preserved and they are SO easy to access because of
the way John has compiled them. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU JOHN!!!
I have surely had an eventful week. Margaret
and I wanted to meet our friend Mary Ann Holman at the Maddox restaurant
before going to the "Heritage Theatre" in Perry to see "The King and I"
where the Holmans' granddaughters were performing. I have driven past the
theatre at least a million times while I was growing up in Brigham City but
I have never been in it. It used to be a ward meetinghouse but the cultural
arts group in B.C. bought it and converted it into a theatre. The
performance was just excellent!!! When we walked into Maddox this very good
looking young man came up to me and hugged me and said, "I know this lady -
Aunt Barbara". It was Dee & Judy's oldest son, Daren. He and his wife,
Elaine, were with her folks who were celebrating their 50th wedding
anniversary. Daren is such a nice young man and it was WONDERFUL to visit
with him and Elaine. They live in Oregon with their six children and I
believe they live close to where Judy and her new husband live. Daren works
for Hewlett Packard. He told me a little bit about his brothers and sisters
- Jaylene still lives in upstate New York and they have nine children - the
others are scattered around with Janelle living in Spanish Fork.
Margaret and I went with Patt and Darrell
Guthrie to Provo last night to attend the National Dancing Competition at
the Marriott Center. I have heard alot about that but I have never been
there and I couldn't believe it. IT WAS JUST WONDERFUL!!! I want Katie to
go there when they have it again because some of the groups danced "her kind
of dancing". The ballroom dancing was so very beautiful and I wish the
young people would dance like that now. The couple that won was from New
York and this was the 6th time they have won. We got there about 5:30 in
the afternoon and they had some youth competitions and they were fun to
watch.
I was in the women's clothing store in Bountiful
when we heard about finding Elizabeth Smart and I have already written to
you about that. Patt, Margaret and I had gone to lunch at the Oakridge
Country Club and then shopping for some temple shoes for me. We went to the
Relief Society Birthday Celebration meeting that night and I have never
heard such gorgeous music. The mother of one of our ward members sang Opera
songs with another woman depicting certain themes of Relief Society and it
was an hour of absolutely beautiful music. The pianist who accompanied them
was exceptionally good too - they served a delicious ham dinner - VERY
NICE!!!
I heard at church this morning that the Davis
High School had their Prom at the Capitol Theatre last night. I am
wondering if Sarah and Brett went to it. I will never forget running into
Mary Ann at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building when she was going to the
Prom - that was so coincidental but SO MUCH FUN. I HOPE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT
IT!!!
I talked to Annie this week and she said Ron was
all better from his jaw surgery and that's great. She also told me that
Jessie is going to go to a VERY good ophthalmologist in San Diego for more
treatment for her eye problems and Annie is going to be there with her
the end of March.
I had a "Thank You Note" from Floy McKell in
Little Rock for the birthday cards sent to her daughter, Mary on her 50th
birthday. Floy had requested that Ann, Jean and I send her a card - she
said she received 72 cards and the postman rang their doorbell one day to
hand her a big bundle too large for their mail box and that thrilled Mary!!!
I have also talked to the Bobs, the Roys and
John and they're all doing fine. John said he is working about 12 hours a
day and when I suggested he take more time for himself, he said, "Mom, it
isn't drudgery, I love it" and of course that makes me very happy.
I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH.
PLEASE BE SO VERY, VERY CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO. Grandma B
XXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOWritten on March
17, 2003
Dearest Family,
Okay - so I forgot about St. Patrick's Day
again!!! I apologize to the O'Donoghues but I won't promise to remember
it next year or the next or the next - Ha!!! I have never had any Irish
relatives before Patrice and I guess that's why I forget it each year.
Patrice always fixes special Irish food for her family on that day and I'm
anxious to hear what she prepared this year - it isn't always corned beef
and cabbage.
ANYWAY - HAPPY, HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TODAY
- I know all the young people in the schools will get "pinched" if they
don't wear a little bit of green. That was always FUN!!!
I LOVE ALL OF YOU - Grandma B
XXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOO