Where In the World?

Does anyone in the family recognize this photo? Chris, Scott, Mark? Could it have been taken when you went "down country" with Stan? It is obviously in a hotel room and someone had to take the photo so I suspect it was either on the trip to Uraquay with Chris ---or the trip to Peru with Scott and Mark. Look at the furniture. Look carefully at the portion of the bed. Not much to go on I know. It would have been while we lived in Panama based on Stan's casual clothing. There is no date on the photo. Perhaps there are other photos somewhere showing Stan in these same clothes that would be a clue. It wouldn't be when we were in the DR!!! No suit and tie. It is possible it could have been while we lived in Portugal and made our trip through Europe. Do the sideburns offer a clue? I have no idea. Every time I write about one of these photos I always want to add the comment: "Ohhhh how I miss him" and I realize that you all feel the same way.

Here is a PS dated July 17, 2008. It occured to me that maybe this was taken when Stan and I went on our jaunt around the European countries while living in Portugal. OR----maybe it was when we were in Panama and Stan and I went "down country" with the band to Mendosa and then took the bus all night over to where we thought Chris was....Villa Maria or something and he had been transfered to Cordoba, or so someone thought, so we went to Cordoba and phoned and took transportation to the different churches (which were not chapels but rented halls as I recall and of course no one was there. But we finally called a man who said his wife was a member but he wasn't and we found out there was a conference at the theater down town on Sunday morning so off we went. The place was crawling with missionaries in their white shirts and ties and we didn't know if Chris was among them or not. Then we met the Mission Pres. who said he had been transferred out closer to Mendosa where we came from. At the bus depot in Mendosa we saw an Elder writing in his journal and asked if he knew Chris. He didn't . He had only been out 3 or 4 months and was being transferred up to this very town where Chris was---but neither of us knew that. Anyway, the mission president had Chris call us the next day and we hoped he wouldn't be sad or melancholy but he was laughing hard to think we had taken the same long overnight bus trip he had taken and seen the little town where he had worked. He also met this Elder who we had met and Chris said those were my parents when the Elder told of meeting some people at the bus depot. So we left the shopping bag of goodies for the office missionaries to get to Chris. And we caught a plane to Buenos Aires on the other side of Argentina where Stan left me standing on a street corner with all our luggage while he ran to get ferry tickets. He was gone a long time and I didn't know any Spanish to get by and I didn't have any Argentine money and I just had to stand there and let people look at me and wonder what I was doing. Finally Stan came running up behind me and said "Are you okay"? I will be back and off he went before I could say a thing. He had to get all this paper work stamped before closing time at 5pm so we could get out of the country. We took the all night ferry over to Uraquay for a day or two. Bought a quart of Dulce de Leche to take home and had Dulce de Leche ice cream cones. And caught a flight back to Panama stopping in Paraquay. At the airport I went to use the Restroom and you needed to pay a lady there. I only had an American dime so I apologetically gave it to her. A young girl asked if I was American and where i was from. She spoke some English and wanted to speak English with me. Somehow she asked if I was LDS and said she had been to the church before. She wanted to write to me and we wrote back and forth a few times. I think she joined the church. Anyway, from there we came home on to Panama.

Steppin' Out in Panama

The Colonel in his white Mess Dress in our home in Panama. We were guests of the Peruvian govt. at a function honoring the anniversary of the Peruvian Air Force in a hotel in Panama City.
The ambassadors for the different South American countries were also in attendance. When we met the Ambassador from Argentina, Stan explained he had lived in Argentina for three years doing missionary work for his church. The Ambassador said there had been a basketball team of missionaries. Stan explained that he had played on that team whereupon the Ambassador, a much shorter man than Stan, threw his arms around Stan's waist and exclaimed "Los Mormones!" The Ambassador then introduced his wife and explained that he had been a time keeper at those games when he and his wife were dating. The Chilean Air Force Colonel then entered the conversation and said that a BYU basketball team had come to South America and they had hosted a couple of the players at his home!!!

Below is the Colonel and his Lady!

When we lived on Guam I would go to the beauty shop and have my hair done and have it straightened! I learned my lesson on Panama. Kept my hair short and let the curl take over.

Scott and his Dad

Scott and his Mom

Christmas Day 1960

Christmas, 1960 on Dublin Drive in San Antonio. The girls got some baby dolls that probably came with just a diaper. I had a lady across the street makes some clothes for the dolls. The Santa pillow was fabric with a Santa printed on it. We had this pillow for a number of years. I made the Christmas stockings out of red/white stripped flannel that I sewed a heel and toe on. However, it would be a number of years and moves before we had a mantle to hang stockings on.
A friend, Carolyn Bruggar took me to this place on the west side of San Antonio where you had to really nose around and look for the good deals. I remember getting Kate Greenway dresses for Kathy and Shauna were really inexpensive there. As I recall, the more things you bought from this man, the better the price he gave you. I recall seeing this small old trunk and also some old school desks. I didn't say anything to Carolyn or whoever else was along with us because I feared they would also want them. So I went back on another day and bought the trunk for $1.50 or less and I don't remember what the desks were. Maybe $5.00 for both of them. We didn't have a lot of spending money at the time so I know it had to be a good deal to be able to buy them. I lined the trunk with felt and painted it light green and antiqued the outside. I painted the school desks bright blue and put decals on them. The kids really loved playing school and now they had school desks . In the photo below are Shauna, her doll and Scott and in front are Chris and Kathy with her doll.

Below are Scott, doll, Shauna, Chris, doll and Kathy. Kathy would be 6 yrs old, Shauna, 5 1/2, Chris, 2 1/2, and Scott, 1 year.

The Colonel

Where is my big smiling beloved? Stan was always serious in his official photos. I don't know the date of this photo but it was after he became a Colonel, obviously. He became a Colonel in late 1975 or early 1976.
There is almost a smile on his next photo! Much more pleasant look this time. We wanted to have another overseas experience before all the children left home for good so we were excited when he received orders to go to Howard AFB in the Panama Canal Zone. We left for Panama in May, 1976 where he was the Commander of the MAC squadron at Howard and also the Theater Airlift Manager for Central and South America.

Stan was a Major when lived on Guam in 1968 to 1970. He was next stationed at Travis AFB in California for a year after which he had orders to fly C-130 gunships in Vietnam. He was away from home in Washington, Texas and Florida for training most of 1971. He was in Houston at the time he learned he had been promoted to Lt. Colonel. He left for Ubon, Thailand shortly before Christmas, 1971. He returned home in time for Christmas, 1972 after spending a year flying gunships along the Ho Chi Minh Trail shooting amunition trucks coming from the north to resupply the Vietcong in the south. We were soooo happy and soooo thankful to have him home safe and sound; and happy he was stationed again at Travis, this time flying C-141 planes.

I will never forget the day Stan came home from work early and he was grinning from ear to ear and I was asking WHAT? WHY ARE YOU HOME? TELL ME!!! He wasn't saying anything---just smiling such a big happy smile. Then suddenly I noticed the Eagles pinned to his lapel. He had been informed that he was now a Colonel!!! I don't have the words to describe our joy!

The Electrolux

-----Original Message-----
From: bram...

Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2008 12:14 PM


Add this to your blog

-----Original Message-----

From: Dorothy

To: bram...

Sent: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 11:55 am

OHHHHH HOW I MISS MY ELECTROLUX. NEXT TO HAVING A BUILT-IN VACUMN IN MY HOUSE, I WOULD WANT AN ELECTROLUX!!!!!! You could get into crevices and high places and dust windowsills and blinds and stairs and blinds etc. etc. etc. Now they have stronger vacumn motors that wear out a person trying to push it around. I would just as soon not worry about whether my carpets were so deep cleaned that they needed a powerful motor—and just pay to have the carpet cleaners come more often or take up the carpet and have wood floors. OH YOU CAN SEE YOU HAVE TOUCHED A SOFT SPOT THERE! I don’t know how to put it on my blog or I would be tempted.



Fwd:
From: bram...

To: shauna...
Sent: Sun 6/08/08 9:19 AM

Can you put this on mom's blog for her?!

(Posted by Shauna, at Kathy's request, and unknown to Mom until she reads this!)

Dorothy

My senior year in high school I worked as a Telephone Operator---in the days of "Number Please". This helped me obtain a job as a switchboard operator at college at USAC in the fall.

After my freshman year I went with my sister Grace and her children to meet her husband Al in California. Al was a Naval Officer in the SeaBees, returning from serving in the South Pacific on Guadalcanal. He was stationed at Port Huaneme, near Oxnard, Calif. I spent the summer with them in Oxnard. I was working at the Sprouse Reitz dime store on V-J day.

I returned to Utah and my friend Gae talked me into going to BYU that fall. I lived in an older home owned by BYU just at the bottom of the hill from BYU. There were four of us in this house. I couldn't find a part time job anywhere in Provo so I only attended one quarter and went back to Brigham where I got a job as a clerk/typist at Bushnell General Hospital in the Registrar's Office. The hospital was closing now that the war was over so I went to work again as a Telephone Operator until the end of 1946.

In January, 1947 I returned to school at Utah State. I lived with my sister and brother in law Lola and Willis . Willis was an Engineering Prof. so I did typing for the Engineering department and also worked as a switchboard operator again. In the summer of 1947, my friend Miriam and I went on a Red Cross scholarship to Catalina Island to a Water Safety Instructor school. I returned to Brigham and worked in the first "super market" in Brigham selling soft ice cream--something that was brand new back then. I returned to school in the fall. By the end of 1947 I was out of money again and didn't return to school.
My Stake President called me and asked me to interview for a secretarial job with the Boy Scout office in Ogden. I got the job and I lived at the YWCA for a few days and then to an apartment when a friend Dorothy , who was getting married, asked if I was interested in moving in her apartment with her former roommate Beverly Cummings, which I did. Eventually I moved back home and commuted to Ogden daily. Bushnell hospital had become the Intermountain Indian School where native Americans came from the reservations to attend school. To repay the Red Cross for sending me to Catalina, the Scout Executive kindly allowed me to leave work early once a week to teach swimming classes to the Navajo Indians. I was told they don't speak English and I didn't speak Navajo. I was also told that most of them have never seen more water than what a person could take a bath in. For some, there was great fear and there were others who were fearless, not realizing they could drown. It was quite an interesting experience.

During this time my friend Miriam had gone on a mission to Hawaii. She wrote letters encouraging me to think about a mission. At that time one had to be interviewed by a General Authority so I took off work a half day to go to Salt Lake. The Scout leaders in the office warned me that if Spencer Kimball interviews you, you will go to the Indian Mission and if Mathew Cowley interviews you, you will go to New Zealand and then they said if Joseph Fielding Smith interviews you, you will go to where the Josephites are. I'd never even heard of the Josephites.

At the church office building I asked to see Elder Mathew Cowley. My father had gone to New Zealand on his mission. He wasn't in town at the time so they had me see Elder Joseph Fielding Smith. I was petrified and just sat across from him half weeping all thru the interview. When I got my letter in the mail, my mission call was to the Central States Mission with headquarters in Independence, Missouri--- headquarters of the Reorganized Church or "Josephites" as they were called by some.

The above photo was taken in Ogden. In our mission you could send a photograph to a place in Arkansas and have 100 photos printed up like postcards for something like $10.00. The missionaries exchanged photos with each other. This became my missionary photo . I loved my mission. It was by far the best decision I ever made in my life and has made all the difference in the world for me. I served from June, 1950-Dec. 1951 in Kirksville, St. Louis, and Indepence, Missouri.

Grab amd Kiss!

Shauna entitled this section "Grab and Kiss". Stan had this little trick where he would grab me and kiss me by surprise just as the picture was going to be taken. This would have been on a Sunday since everyone is in their church clothes. L. to R., Dorothy, Stan, Shirley, and Phyllis in our apartment at the Waldorf Apts. We were married in mid
December, 1953 so this could have been in 1952 or 1953---I don't know which.



Here we are posing in front of the Box Elder Tabernacle in Brigham. Stan has a tri-pod with his camera mounted on it with a timer. Then look below what happens next.