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Phoenix 1996


JFR Notes - Shelley

When we had split Sunday schedule...

Shelley's Stories - July 1988

Do you remember when Primary was not on Sunday like it is now? Even if you don't, remember it was, and this story takes place on one of those days. When we lived in Rupert, the school and church were across the road from each other. We would walk over to the church after school and go to Primary. Mom was always teaching or in the presidency, so she would be waiting for us when we got there. The old routine never varied, and you never appreciate that fact until it changes.

This one particular day (I can't even remember why now), I did not come out of the church right after class. It must have really been long, because when I went to get in the old Volkswagen bus, it was not there. I thought that everyone was playing some kind of trick on me, so I went around that whole church expecting any minute to see you all parked in the back having a big laugh. But the bus wasn't parked anywhere.

Utter panic set it. I must have been 8 or 9 at the time. Although we had driven that road hundreds of times before, I wasn't even sure I could find my way home, even if I could walk that far. It seemed like a hundred miles in my mind.

I started to do what any self-respecting female of my age would do-I cried, and not just a little. You read in stories of someone being wracked with sobs, that was me.

This story does have a happy ending. One of the ladies from the church saw me (or heard me) crying. She asked what was wrong. I can't remember ever being able to tell her through the tears, but she somehow deciphered that I had been left behind. She tried to reassure me by telling me that she knew just where I lived, but there would be comfort for me until I was safely home. I cried the whole way. It must have been a fun ride for this woman, whoever she was.

Finally the blessed homestead came into view. As I walked into the door, the old familiar surrounding soon calmed my shattered nerves. What a peaceful and secure feeling I had in that house. Not because of the house, but because of the most important people inside it.

I was never late coming out of Primary again, and that wonderful feeling of being home sometimes comes back to me when I am feeling lonely.

Stories taken from various family letters.

Shelley Stories - July 1988


The last time I was with Dad was just before Brian's first birthday. I was pregnant with Courtney and didn't tell him before he left. I always regret not saying anything to him, until I found out that Barbara spilled the beans on the way home. Mom said when Dad got to Heaven, he picked out a little girl just for me.

(July 1988) Every morning in Mountain Home, Dad would drive Julia and I to seminary on his way out of town. Most mornings he would wait until he got into the truck to "expel Gas". Of course, Julia and I would complain and he would always say, "Better to bear the shame than the pain." That was Dad, a real down-home kind of guy.

Shelley's Family Story - November 1996
Julia likes to tell all the people at ASU that she has "Farm Hick" stamped on her forehead. It makes me laugh because when we moved from Rupert to Mountain Home, the younger children had only known the farm life and we really were farm hicks.

The first day we got into the house in Mountain Home, we ran though the house opening and closing all the doors. Having a room with a real door was quite a novelty to us. The girls, Sara, Julia, and I decided to walk down to Carl Miller Park that day. Julia and I were afraid that people would come out of their houses and tell us to get off their sidewalks. Sara assured us that the sidewalk was for the public to use, but we didn't believe her until some woman actually did come out of her house. Sara walked right by, but Julia and I made a quick detour into the street so she wouldn't be mad at us. Boy, were we impressed with Sara's worldliness. Real Farm Hicks.


Brian, Courtney, and Brandon at Julia's wedding.



Brian, Courtney, and Brandon "pretending" there is not a picture being taken.