I've always had to smile whenever I've looked at the picture of my mom and dad as they were leaving our house to start back home to Utah. That grand piece of luggage my dad is carrying was my doll suitcase from when I was a little girl.
The pictures above were taken when my parents came to Texas to visit us. We toured around a little to show them the sights. The helicopter is the one Val was in charge of at Ft. Sam Houston. It was a Huey like he worked on in Viet Nam. It was used to transport injured people to the Brookes Army Hospital there on post.
Mom and Dad came to Texas twice during the sixteen months we lived there. The first time was for Christmas 1969, then again the following spring.
The above picture was taken in 1971 when were were living in Inglewood, California. My parents made several trips to see us, always wanting to see their little grandsons. My mother is holding Travis.In the summer of 1971 Val and I bought a small house that was just across the street from my mom and dad. I really enjoyed the time we lived there before we moved to St. George in 1974. After having lived far away from family for several years it was so nice to be able to look out our kitchen window and see my parents' house, and be able to visit with them whenever I wanted. Our little boys loved to go there. My mom always had something on hand for a treat that children love - ice cream and cones, home-made cookies, etc.
They probably got more opportunities to tend the boys than they should have, but they were always willing whenever I asked. Our little boys felt very much at home there, knowing they were loved and cherished by Grandma and Grandpa. The following picture was taken Christmas morning 1973. My mom is holding little Aaron.
The summer of 1974 was not a very happy one for my mother. Val had accepted a job with SkyWest Airlines in St. George, so we had a for sale sign posted in our front yard. Although she didn't say a whole lot about it, Mom dreaded the thought of us moving away. Besides that, she was having problems with a blood clot in her leg. Being a person who hardly ever sat down during the day, it was very annoying to her that she had to spend a lot of time either lying down or sitting with her leg up. Finally, the clot seemed to have dissolved by the first week in August, so she and my dad traveled to St. George on Friday to see us. We took them out to Bloomington to see where we were going to build.
They invited Chad to go home with them, and of course he was willing. I agreed to go pick him up the following Thursday. It was a nice day - we had a good visit and enjoyed being together. Before I left Mom put her arms around me and told me she loved me. We were not a verbally or physically demonstrative family, even though the ties of love were strong and sweet. I was so surprised at the gesture that I couldn't even reciprocate. I've always wished I had, because it was to be my final opportunity. My dad called the following Tuesday morning to tell me my mother had just passed away. The blood clot we thought had dissolved had apparently only moved, and we assume that was what took her.
The summer of 1974 was not a very happy one for my mother. Val had accepted a job with SkyWest Airlines in St. George, so we had a for sale sign posted in our front yard. Although she didn't say a whole lot about it, Mom dreaded the thought of us moving away. Besides that, she was having problems with a blood clot in her leg. Being a person who hardly ever sat down during the day, it was very annoying to her that she had to spend a lot of time either lying down or sitting with her leg up. Finally, the clot seemed to have dissolved by the first week in August, so she and my dad traveled to St. George on Friday to see us. We took them out to Bloomington to see where we were going to build.They invited Chad to go home with them, and of course he was willing. I agreed to go pick him up the following Thursday. It was a nice day - we had a good visit and enjoyed being together. Before I left Mom put her arms around me and told me she loved me. We were not a verbally or physically demonstrative family, even though the ties of love were strong and sweet. I was so surprised at the gesture that I couldn't even reciprocate. I've always wished I had, because it was to be my final opportunity. My dad called the following Tuesday morning to tell me my mother had just passed away. The blood clot we thought had dissolved had apparently only moved, and we assume that was what took her.
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