Pioneer Day 2020

 A day that will never be forgotten....but not for the reasons that you might think.  Of course due to the pandemic the normal parades, rodeos, and fairs that you usually experience in Utah didn't happen.  Nor were the typical ward picnics with kids dressed in pioneer clothes parading around the park occurring in other states in the US. Life as usual during the pandemic of 2020.

No, the reason that it will not be forgotten was that this was the the day that my sweet brother-in-law, Lance Ipson, was called home-- back to his heavenly home.  He was only 60 years old.  To say that this was unexpected is a gross understatement. For my sister, his eight children, six in-laws plus Brad, and 17 grandchildren--there was no warning at all.  Lance's health seemed good.  He was actively eating healthy and exercising as he was trying to prepare for senior missionary call which they hoped to start in 2021.  He was still working full-time in accounting and serving as bishop for a local Spanish-speaking ward in their stake.  In his free time, he did projects in their acre yard in Mesa trying to fulfill his dream of being a farmer even in the heat of Mesa, AZ, and providing a dream yard for his grandchildren to enjoy now and for years in the future.

Like many days, it started off like an average day.  Valerie posted a beautiful youtube video of the Tabernacle Choir singing: "Come, Come, Ye, Saints!"  Here is the link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ia3gYSvG8M&fbclid=IwAR13JQUjWNXBKLZkNv06YKp-GHVz5jrfG-Pyc3ePgwOcOKrmbNWBIztmnYA  

This is her post (used with her permission): 

"July 24th is celebrated in my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) as Pioneer Day--the day the Mormon Saints first entered the Salt Lake Valley in their quest for religious freedom. I don't have direct pioneer ancestry but I have walked the Trail of Hope in Nauvoo, Illinois and felt the spirits of those long-ago pioneers. I have stood on the bank of the Mississippi River where they crossed at the journey's start. I have looked back from that place toward homes and their glorious temple (rebuilt since then) that had to be left behind--their "City Beautiful." I have stood in the nearby pavilion which lists the name of every life lost on the 1300 mile trek, and I have contemplated the cost.

Why did they willingly go through such sacrifice?

Mary Goble Pay, who traveled as a child from England to Boston to Iowa City where her family joined a handcart company to make the westward trek, said this (and it’s my very favorite quote on the subject): “I have often thought of my mother’s words before we left England. ‘Polly, I want to go to Zion while my children are small so that they can be raised in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.’”

They went willingly, not for fame and fortune, not for better shopping malls or more elite sports teams. They didn’t do it for a faster internet speed or access to the the best country clubs. They did it for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And today that's what I like to remember.

"Come, Come, Ye Saints” (third verse) (This is actually the fourth verse--more on that later.)

And should we die before our journey’s through,

Happy day! All is well!

We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;

With the just we shall dwell!

But if our lives are spared again

To see the Saints their rest obtain,

Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell--

All is well! All is well!"

It was a sweet reminder of what we remember during Pioneer Day and especially nice since we hadn't been having Church with the usual Pioneer talks and songs throughout July.  There were a few others who posted Pioneer day memes or posts as well.

I didn't do much that day.  Gary and I had gotten our second shingles immunization on Wednesday and we both had a fairly significant (for us) reaction to the shot.  We both developed fevers within about 12 hours and spent Thursday and Friday sleeping and watching movies with very sore arms.  Gary's fever broke on Thursday and mine broke early Friday morning.  We were doing better by Friday afternoon so after Friday movie night, Gary and Jena headed out to watch the neighborhood's display of Pioneer Day fireworks.  I stayed home and made a phone call to my sister, Robin, who had asked for me to call when I had some time.

During that call, I received a call from Valerie's phone which was odd for a Friday night.  When I called back, my niece Landi answered the phone and told me that Lance had passed away, probably from a heart attack (later we learned it was an electrical problem of the heart--it literally just stopped the heart beat.)  I can't even describe my feelings of shock and sadness--for Lance, for my sister, and my nieces and nephews.  It was overpowering.  Landi asked me to call my dad and my siblings which I did after calling Gary.

It was a tender thing to share this type of news with others who loved Lance, too.  In addition, I was very aware that my siblings would be expecting that if I called late at night that I was calling about our dad whose health had been declining.  So with each one, I used words to this effect--"I am calling with bad news but not the bad news you are expecting." My siblings loved Lance, Valerie, and their family, too, and so they each had to understand and react in their own personal ways.  And watching that and their outreach to Valerie and family has been a sweet and tender mercy of the past 2 weeks.

It went without saying that I would head to Mesa as soon as possible.  So I made arrangements that night for a one-way ticket to go to Mesa on the next (Saturday) afternoon.  

It was a late night for me as Gary and I talked and mourned.  Another close friend has just lost her mother a couple of days before as we had already been seeing that from a distance and now it was in our family and our personal loss.  I fell asleep around 2 and woke up at 6 after a night of odd dreams of family.  Better than Valerie and her children who had little to no sleep that first night.

That early waking gave me time to get the house somewhat put together, laundry done, some groceries bought, and work rearranged before I left.  I even got some chocolate eclairs for my friend who had lost her mother (however, they were never home when we -and later Gary- tried to drop them off so Gary, Ben, and Jena got to enjoy them instead.) Uncertain when I would come home, Gary helped get the laptop ready in case I needed to work from Mesa.  I had no idea how long a sister might need another sister in a time like this.

My brother, Mike, who lives in Gilbert during the summer, picked me up from the airport and took me to her house, and finally I was able to embrace my sister in person.  It was such a relief to finally be there and to be with my sister and her family.  As much as we wished that it could have been our mom that was there to comfort my sister, I am glad that I had the resources and support to stand in her place at this time. How glad I was to be there and to stay the next ten days with them---

The Blessings of Our MIssion Call

before we even begin to serve.  Although we could be serving a variety of places within the Salt Lake Headquarters Mission, our call said primarily in Family and Church History.  I don't know if all people assigned to that mission have that on their call or not.  Either way, we are seeing some great blessings in relationship to family history.

I mentioned earlier that we had a zoom meeting with my extended Owen Family.  As part of that, I learned about a Facebook group called BF Owen Family Reunion. I introduced myself as a granddaughter of Robert Ves Owen and then asked a question about the history of the Owen reunion which appears to have been going on for a very long time.  People answered the question and my cousin Dan Gibson posted some old pictures from the reunions past.

A few examples:  That is very likely Kool-aid in those pitchers--it was staple at picnic in the 1960s.  That is my Aunt Lois sitting in the middle of the picture staring off (my Uncle Grant, her husband, took these photos.)

This is my grandfather, Ves Owen with his sister, Virgie (the youngest), and Thomas Albert Owen.  They were the younger bunch of the family.

The first woman on the bench is my grandmother--Olevia Owen.

But the real exciting thing was that Nancy Wilson, a cousin of some sort, reached out to me and asked me if I would be interested in some letters that my Grandpa wrote to Mary Virginia Owen in 1948-1950.  Mary Virginia was his niece--daughter of William Owen--who was the only one of the 15 kids who settled outside of the Pacific Coast.  They lived in Kentucky where his wife was from. She wrote letters to my Grandpa to ask questions about her extended family which she had never met.  Somehow the original letters ended up with Nancy's mother and then passed down to Nancy.  She had recently been typing them up so she began sending them to me....I then forwarded them to my brothers and sisters and my cousins.  Can you imagine how exciting it was to read letters that my grandfather wrote so long ago, about his family?  Each letter focused on a different brother or sister and included little memories of my grandfather.  He also included dates and names of their children.  We already had those dates but it reflected our grandfather's understanding of the importance of these things in family history.  At this point, my grandfather and grandmother had join the Church which he mentioned in one letter.  Over the past three weeks, we have gotten 18 or so letters.  It was a sad day when she said that this was the last letter of the collection, but what a gift these letters are.

My brother Rick wrote:  "These letters are amazing! I've read about 1/3rd of them so far. My comprehension of my grandfather's personality has probably doubled in the last two days. I'd read his poems before. And I remember a few things Mom shared about him. But this series of letters is really providing a sense for his personality and humor. Also, because they are on the subject of family history, there are these little nuggets of information that are just great -- sometimes shedding light on specific questions I have had in my mind.

The blessings of you guys serving a full time mission at the Family History Center are already starting to come, and you haven't even left yet. :)"

I agree.  How blessed we have been.

And to top it off, even before we knew about the letters, one of my cousins, Virginia Owen Tolman, asked if I would be interested in a photo of my Great Grandfather Benjamin Franklin Owen that hung in my grandparents' home.  Of course, I said yes and a few days later, this framed picture of him arrived at my home.

(To keep things straight, this is the grandfather who crossed the plains on the Oregon trail and was the one that I read his journal along our own personal trip along one part of his journey.)

How blessed we have been by those who have gone before us!  We have felt them close to us as we read these letters and talked/emailed about them.  I am sure that my grandfather never thought that letters he wrote to his niece in 1950 would bring such delight to his 21 grandchildren still here on earth in 2020.  How grateful I am for zoom meetings, Facebook groups and the internet that allowed this to happen....and the blessings of family history!

Negative--Nada--Clean As A Whistle

July 20th results from my colonoscopy!  Repeat in 7 years.  Yay me!

The one thing Gary said that I should include in the blog is the picture of me in my mask--

The nurse who was working with me (who was amazing, by the way, in putting the IV in and out) was also a BYU alumni and fan.  While we were just hanging out waiting for my turn, we heard the BYU fight song being sung up and down the halls of the surgical unit.  She sang it a couple of times and once we heard someone ask her what she was singing-  "The BYU Fight Song"  "Why?" "Because my patient is wearing a BYU mask and it made me want to sing it."  We loved it and I am sure there were others that the song brought a smile to their faces (or maybe not??)

And for the record, the low volume prep is MUCH better than the high volume prep.

Happy 6th Birthday, Scarlett!!!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY,

SCARLETT!

We got to celebrate Scarlett's birthday a day early this year.  Scarlett was sharing her birthday with her other Aunt Jessica who was getting married on Saturday.  Friday night, Scarlett and James came over for the evening to celebrate with us while their parents were off doing wedding prep. stuff.

We made our own bagel pizzas..............

played with the toys  (Scarlett was so excited to see her favorite toys from our house, although she was disappointed that the downstairs toy area was all boxed up for repainting.)

James is quite a builder, just like his dad was.

We watched Mary Poppins and then it was PRESENT time.

We got a tiny little cake but a fun candle holder...

a number six that blinked different colors........

Here she is--one day before she officially turned six.

Look how much she has grown over the years---

We love you Scarlett and love sharing your life with you.