RaNae

I want everyone to know what a sweet, caring person my wife RaNae is. During the 53 years we have been married, she has always put her family first. We have three great sons who owe their position in life to a mother who was dedicated to availing their every need while growing to manhood. My chosen career took me away from home much of the time but when I came home, she would always bring me up to date as to the family progress. I missed being with my family and we made up for it by seeing that our boys had every opportunity to participate in school events, sports, scouting and being involved in current events when it improved them as well as making religion a major event in their lives. Largely because of her, all three boys are Eagle Scouts and filled honorable missions. It was her influence that accomplished this. I had some influence on their growing up but it was their mother who was and is always there for t hem. During my thirty first year of life, I contracted life threatening health problems that are still with me today. RaNae has stood by me during surgical operations and at times nursed me back to health. Her concern for my well being is evident in that she is always reminding me to take my medications, reminding me of doctor appointments and things we have planned. RaNae graduated from BYU before we were married. During our marriage, she has worked most of the time except when on maternity leave. She retired in the late 90’s but when it became evident that I could not work anymore, she again went to work for a company as Office Manager. I recently received an e-mail about motherhood that I’d like to insert here:

Mommy to Mom to Mother

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche; they don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in
the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.

Real Mothers sometimes ask "Why me?" and get their answer when
a little voice says, "Because I love you best."

Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by
height or years or grade...It is marked by the progression of Mommy to
Mom to Mother...

The Images of Mother
4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.

14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it.

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom' s opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she’ll wear, the
figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair ...
The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway
to her heart, the place where love resides ...
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul ...
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that
she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows
This e-mail is so typical of the way our sons have related to their mother. As I read it I can see the stages of their lives as it says and remember each as they made the transition from “Mommy to Mom to Mother.”

West Coast Cruise

Last month RaNae and I went on a week long cruise. It originated in Vancouver, B.C. with ports of call at Victoria, B.C., Astoria, OR, San Francisco CA and finally, Los Angeles, CA. WE were in a tour group of about 70 people. We flew to Seattle, WA and then were bussed to Vancouver. The bus trip took about 3 hours. Our first port of call was Victoria, B.C. where we went on a tour of the "Butchart Gardens." There isn't room here to tell of how the gardens originated, only to say that they were planted in and around an old lime quarry that Mr. Butchart owned and mined. His wife was the one who did the flower garden thing to cover up the quarry scars. Needless to say, it was beautiful with flowers from, I think, most countries of the world. My favorite flower collection was the rose garden. There were 1300 different varieties of roses there. Several countries were represented individually. The next day we stopped at Astoria, OR. Of course, we had to do a Customs thing on the ship before we got off in the USA. Astoria is at the mouth of the Columbia River. We were there for a whole day and toured the small city and the Mariners Museum. When we left there we were a whole day and night at sea. There were, that night, 3 foot swails in the ocean and though the ship was huge, it still rocked a little from side to side. RaNae felt a little seasick and opted to go to bed at about 9:00 PM. Our room had a balcony and so the rocking was more graphic as we sailed along. There were 9 restaurants on board and the food was all free except the drinks - all soft drinks and all mixed drinks were charged to your on board ship account. Of the 9 restaurants on board, four of the more up-class one's had a cover charge. We ate at two of those. The food was excellent and there were a couple of restaurants open 24 - 7, one of which was a buffet. There was a variety of evening shows that we enjoyed. One of the auditoriums was as big as an I Max theater. After Astoria, we were at sea again for a whole day and night, arriving at the Golden Gate bridge at 6:00 am. We were in San Francisco a day and a half. We had reserved a tour to Sausilito and Muir Woods. It was a nice tour that took about 4 hours. Muir woods is a part of the California Redwood forest and was awe inspiring with the huge redwoods. Sausilito was a typical tourist town. We also spent time at Fisherman's Wharf and Ghiridelli Square We left 'Frisco the next morning at 10:00 am and were at sea again for a day and night arriving in Los Angeles on Saturday. After de boarding and collecting our luggage, our bus took us to Long Beach where the Queen Mary is docked. We just sat around for six hours instead of sitting at LAX. We arrived home at 7;55 PM that night. It was a great trip and well worth the price.

Matilda

RaNae and I got married in 1955. At the time, I had a 1950 Ford convertible that I had nicknamed "Matilda." It was a great car. The previous owner had split the V8 engine exhaust manifold so the exhaust was twin pipes that had a deep resonant tone. That was in the days before catalytic converters so the engine sound could be heard through the mufflers and exhaust pipes. On the day we were married, (a Tuesday,) we rode to Manti, Utah with RaNae's Mom & Dad. My parents came in their car. RaNae's best friend and Bridesmaid and her husband drove my car to Manti. They came home with RaNae's parents. When we arrived in Salt Lake City, we went to an apartment that had been rented by another of RaNae's girlfriends who was to be married the next week. We had our wedding reception that night and spent our wedding night at the apartment. The next morning, we discovered that the car was gone. Before we even called the police, RaNae's Dad called and said the car was parked in front of their house in Midvale. We took a bus to Midvale but when we arrived at RaNae's home, the car was gone. We didn't go on a honeymoon as I was scheduled to go in the army in eight days. So, I went to my job (A Civil
Engineering firm) and RaNae went to hers. Later that day, RaNae called me and said that her Mom had received an anonymous phone call saying the car was parked on a Salt Lake east side street called Wasatch Boulevard. I got one of the guys at work to take me to the car but when we got there, it was gone. On Friday of that week, another fellow from work and I went to our bosses garage to get some survey stakes and when we opened the garage door, there was my car. It was stolen originally by an old boy friend of Ranae's who was in cahoots with her Mom & Dad and the guys where I worked. I was glad to get my car back. The caper had been done in good fun and we have reminisced about it many times over the past 53 years. We kept the car until 1957 and then traded it for a newer one when I got discharged from the Army.

Eagle Project

When I was twelve years old in 1942, I joined he Boy Scouts of America. It was an exciting program and I enjoyed the meetings, scout camps and jamborees. The ranks of Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class Scout weren't too difficult to attain and I did so as the time lapse between each rank was attained. I had an ideal to look up to in the person of my older sister's husband. He was an Army Air Corp Officer but was also an avid scouter. He had earned all of the Merit Badges available at that time and wherever he and my sister went, he was involved in the scouting program. Earning Merit Badges for rank advancement is strictly a product of ambition and there were those who advanced in rank from Star Scout to Life and Eagle Scout as quickly as possible. I was sixteen (1947) by the time I had attained the rank of Life Scout. As all know, Merit Badges are not the only thing necessary to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. A Service Project is also necessary. You must plan and organize the project having other scouts help at your direction if necessary. The project I chose was to organize an Assistant Project with the U.S. Forest Service who was planning a reforestization project of Provo Peak located east of Provo behind the "Y" mountain. This required going with the rangers to the base of Provo Peak and then hiking up to the area where the planting would be performed. As I recall, there were six rangers and six of us scouts. We all had back packs filled with pine tree seedlings that we carried up the mountain in addition to shovels and our lunches. We had left Provo at six in the morning and by the time we reached the planting area it was about eight o'clock. I had planned that each scout would work with a ranger and by five o'clock in the afternoon, we had completed our task for the day. The twelve of us planted over five hundred trees. The project was accepted by the Great Salt Lake Council of the BSA and I received my Eagle Award in July of that year. I didn't check up as to the success of the reforestization project until 2007. I learned that the project had been a success in preventing erosion of that area that had been hit hard the previous winter wherein a lot of trees were lost due to the harsh winter conditions. During my scouting career, I didn't earn all the Merit Badges but enough to earn the Eagle Award with two Silver Leafs. I would be amiss if I didn't thank my Mom for the prodding she did to inspire me to accomplish my goal.

Prompting of the Spirit

My Dad worked construction most of his life. Shortly after he married my Mom, he got a job as a "Cat Skinner." The "Cat" was also known as a "Bulldozer." I asked him how he got the job and he said that he taught himself while demonstrating to his prospective employer that he could operate the equipment. For the next forty plus years, he worked construction jobs all over the country from Idaho to the Panama Canal and from Utah to South Carolina. During 1938 and 1939, my Dad, "Digger," was working on the Deer Creek Dam in Heber Valley in Utah. His job required that he, among other things, pioneer a road from the east side of the dam to the Walsberg road
east of Heber City. To this day, the highway follows the route he made. On one occasion, he stopped for lunch and backed his "cat" up to a steep incline that was in the shade to eat his lunch while sitting in the seat of the "cat." He had finished eating and was taking a nap before resuming his work. Suddenly, he awoke and a voice told him to get out of the seat and on to the ground. He did so and within a few seconds a rock from up the hill about four feet in diameter landed in the seat where he had been sitting. The rock must have been jarred loose while he was working the hillside for the road. He told me this story to emphasize the importance of following the promptings of the spirit. Had he not listened to and followed that small voice, he surely would have been killed. He was a very humble man though his outward demeanor did not show it.

Throwin'' The Weight Around

My older sister's third husband was, I think, about twenty yeas older than her. His Son in Law was Governor of Wyoming during the 70's and early 80's. His name was Ed Hirschler. Interestingly enough, I was working for a trucking company as Lease Manager at that time. The company ran about 40 leased trucks. My job, among other things required that the equipment be licensed in the states we ran in. On one occasion, an emergency required that I fly to Cheyenne, Wyoming to get plates for the trucks. The company was starting a new job transporting crude oil from Wyoming and I needed the plates for the next day. While attempting to accomplish this, I was being hassled by the Wyoming license plate division. After several attempts to get the plates, I mentioned that my sister's Son in Law was Governor Hirschler and that I was going to call her and tell her of the treatment I was getting. As I started to leave, the director of that department stopped me and said to wait a minute. Thirty minutes later, I had the plates and was on my way home. It just goes to show you that sometimes throwing your weight around gets positive results.

Memories

As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember