Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Grandpa Bingham's Personal History


Personal History of Gerald Bingham

            I was born on December 4, 1928 at our house in Benjamin, Utah, in a bed that was set up in the living room.  My younger brother, Jim, was also born there on November 15, 1931.  I remember being at our neighbors and seeing my Dad walking down the road to get me after he was born.  I also remember seeing my Mom and Jim lying in the bed when I got home.  I was almost 3 years old.

            My father was Monroe Lee Bingham and my mother was Priscilla Ludlow.  I was named after my great grandfather, Jeremiah (Jerry) Bingham.

            My grandparents Alpheus Bingham and Mary Ann Manwill moved from Payson to Benjamin in 1883 and my Ludlow grandparents, Enoch Ludlow and Lavinia Horsefall came from England and settled in Benjamin in 1879.  They both tore up sagebrush and started farming and raising sheep.  The Bingham’s on the west side of Benjamin and the Ludlow’s on the east side.  

            My great grandparents, Jeremiah Bingham and Susan Keele lived in Payson, Utah, three miles south of Benjamin.  My great grandparents, Nathaniel Ludlow and Mary Ann Niblett  came to Benjamin with my Grandpa and two or three of his brothers.

            The house where I was born and raised consisted of four rooms downstairs (kitchen, dining room, living room and 1 bedroom for my parents.  Between the kitchen and the bedroom was a large closet and stairway to the 2nd floor.  A wood floor ran from the top of the stairs, east end to the west end.  My sister, Lavinia (Vin), had a room divided by a curtain on the west end and Jim, Alph, Blaine and I slept on the eastern 2/3 of the upstairs.  There were no walls and beyond the flooring on the north and south were floor joists and the ceiling of the four downstairs rooms.  We did not have a bathroom in the house until about 1944 when I was in high school.  We did put a sink and running water in the kitchen in about 1941.  We had electricity put in before I was born.  No telephone at all.  If we had to make a call, there was a pay phone in the general store about ½ mile south of our house.

            My mother had a Singer Sewing Machine that had a foot treadle to make it run.  We loved to play around it.  Hanging on a wall in our dining room was a leather wall hanging.  It was about 6” wide and 12” long.  The following was printed on it.

            M is for the million things she gave me

            O means only that she’s growing old

            T is for the tears she shed to save me

            H is for her heart of purest gold

            E is for her eyes with love light shining.

            R means right and right she will always be.

            Put them all together they spell MOTHER.  A word that means the world to me.

 

            My earliest childhood memory was when my brother was born.  When 4 or 5 years old and the day before Mother’s Day I felt bad because I did not have anything to give to my mother.  My sister took me up in the field and helped me pick a few stems of white top (a weed with white seed pods on its top).  She then helped me get a glass fruit jar for water and I gave the bouquet to my mother.  I also remember when about 4 years old, the husband of my mother’s best friend and cousin was killed in a motorcycle accident.  He was a highway patrolman and just as it was getting dark he ran into the back of a hay wagon while on his motorcycle.  I went to their house with my mom and dad before the funeral and remember him lying in his casket and didn’t think he had any legs.

            Dad was strict, honest, a hard worker.  He would let our crops go to help neighbors in need.  When we hauled hay or bundles of grain, he wanted the sides of the load straight and tall.  The same applied to the hay and straw stacks in our yard.  He always told us to do more work than we were being paid for when working for someone else and that if we did we would always be able to get a job.  I have found that to be true.  I have always been able to get a job and have given my own kids the same advice.  Dad also loved to held his grandkids and rock them in the rocking chair.

            Mom was gentle, spiritual, a peace maker, easy to talk to, a friend and good listener.  She was also a very good wife, mother and person.  She taught me the importance of being kind and gentle.  She also was a hard worker.  Both parents taught me to serve others.  I love and respect my mother and father.

            I enjoyed playing monopoly and card games with family and some friends on winter days and nights.  We had contests rolling worn-out auto tires with a stick.  Ice skating, skiing behind a horse, softball, basketball, rubber guns and swimming in an irrigation ditch were also games we played.  We had a pole fence around our corral and we would see who could walk on the top poles the longest.  We even had names for poles (shaky, wobbly, etc.)  We had track meets with a few friends (high jump, pole vault, shot put; javelin and races)              For Christmas I received a tricycle when I was very young and later a pony and a bicycle.  The three younger boys, Alph, Jim and I wanted a bicycle for Christmas, but Santa couldn’t afford one so the three of us pooled our money amounting to about $12 and gave to Santa and we got the bicycle.

            I loved going to the movies; however, we didn’t have money to go very often even though it only cost 10 cents.  We also had a commercial swimming pool, Arrowhead Resort.  In Benjamin a family season pass was about $18 for the family for the summer.

            We had chores every night and morning.  We milked 3 cows, cleaned the milking stalls, put fresh straw on floor of sleeping stalls and in the corral where the animals slept.  We had horses, milk cows, pigs, 200 or 300 sheep and 400 or 500 chickens that had to be fed morning and night.  The sheep were sent to Strawberry for the summer and to the Delta Desert for the winter.  We fed them at home in the spring while they had their lambs.  My mother pretty much took care of the chickens, feeding them and gathering the eggs.  Every Saturday we had to clean all the straw and droppings out of the two large chicken coops (20 x 50 ft) and put fraesh straw down.  We did our chores when we first got up, before breakfast which usually consisted of oatmeal, bacon or ham and eggs.  We ate big meals as we worked hard.  My least favorite chore was cleaning out the chicken coops.  We had big hay and straw stacks.  No one bailed hay or straw until after World War II.

            We had a grade school in Benjamin, 1st through 8th grades but no kindergarten.  We rode the bus to 9th grade at Spanish Fork Junior High School and 10th through 12th grades at Spanish Fork High School.  We also took one hour of seminary while in high school and it was scheduled throughout school hours just like any other subject.  I liked school and did pretty good in all areas.  My favorite subject was math and the one I liked least was English.  I wish I would have spent more time on English.  I especially enjoyed high school.  Even though World War II was going on during some of my school years, I still had a fun time.  I graduated from seminary and high school in May 1947.  I started college at BYU in the fall of 1947.  There were only about 5,000 students enrolled at BYU at that time and many were war veterans so there was a shortage of girls with about 60% men and 40% girls.  I enjoyed college very much.  I shared an apartment my first year with my brother, Alph, and cousins, Enoch and Lester Ludlow from Spanish Fork.  During my sophomore and junior years I roomed with Alph and two of my best friends, Paul Stewart and Ray Ludlow from Benjamin.  (They were ahead of me in school graduating a year earlier from high school and then enlisted in the Marine Corp. for two years.)  Part of our college classes were on the lower campus in the library located at 5th North and University Ave.  The upper campus consisted of four buildings, Heber J. Grant, Brimhall, Masier and Joseph Smith building on the southwest corner of the present BYU campus.  I had completed three years, majoring in accounting when the Korean War started in late June 1950.  I was at the top of the draft list so I enlisted for four years in the US Air Force.  I suppose I could have gotten a deferment to finish college but I felt that I wanted to enlist and serve our country as so many from Benjamin had done.  I was discharged from the Air Force in early August 1954.  I then enrolled at BYU, changed  my major  to marketing with a minor in accounting and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in May of 1955.  I enjoyed all of my school years and am grateful for the opportunity I had to get a decent education.  I have used the marketing and accounting knowledge throughout my life…..in my business ventures, various jobs, in my church callings and as a husband, father and grandfather.

            During grade school we played softball and various other games as well as marbles.  We played where the winner won the loser’s marble and I won more than I lost.  In 7th and 8th grade we played softball with Lakeshore School (neighboring town) about four times each spring where I usually played 2nd base.  We walked to this school which was about two miles away.  Sometimes I would not get home at the time I was to start my chores and would be in a little trouble.  But no matter what time I got home from my school days I had chores to do.

            I had one of the leads in an operetta when I was in 8th grade and also 9th grade.  In high school I played football, basketball and was on the track team.  During my junior and senior year I was on the varsity team.  As a junior I took 5th place in the Pole Vault competition at the state track meet.  I tore the cartilage in my left knee playing football when I was a senior and that hampered my participation as I could not be as aggressive as I needed to be.  I should have had my knee surgically repaired but the doctors at that time thought it would heal on its own.  I served on the student council at Spanish Fork High School during my sophomore and junior years.  I ran for student body president but did not win.  However, I was president of the seminary during my senior year.

            We didn’t have enough money, nor did anyone else to think about fads.  We mostly just wore jeans (we called them Levi’s) and the girls wore dresses or skirts with blouses or sweaters.  Most boys would get crew cuts in the spring and keep it short throughout the summer.  When I was younger a few of the older boys got Mohawks.  My dad cut my hair with hand clippers when I was young, but he let us start going to the barber when we were in junior high and high school.

            I guess that my dad and older brothers were my heroes and, of course, we had great respect for the prophets, Heber J. Grant and George Albert Smith.  After Pearl Harbor, my heros were the men and women that served in the military.  From our little town of Benjamin (population of about 500) there were over fifty men and one woman that served in the military during World War II.

            When I became old enough to have a lot of interest in music, most of the songs were about the war, soldiers, leaving wives, family and sweethearts.  The music was good and the words told a story.   I still enjoy listening to and singing the songs of the 1940’s and 1950’s.

            I suppose all of the farm animals were pets but when I was very young we had a black and white dog named Tip.  He was the closest I had as a pet.  He was very protective of all the children in the family and many times fought with a German Shepherd that would come by our house with his owner.  Tip could hold his own and the men and my older brothers would have a hard time separating the dogs.  A couple of times matches would be lite and held near the dogs mouths to make them let go of each other.  Tip died when I was about 10 years old and then we got a gold and white, part Collie which my dad named Gabe

            When I was about 9 or 10 we woke up on Christmas morning and were excited about what we might find under our Christmas tree.  We usually only got one thing from our parents and Santa Claus and not too much more.   On this particular morning my dad kept trying to get my two brothers, Alph and Jim and I to go outside to the bathroom but we kept delaying so he finally made us get ready and go out to milk the cows and feed the animals.  When we went out the back door we found a black pony tied to the fence.  We were so excited to have our own pony.  We named him Smokey and for years we enjoyed riding him.

            In the little town of Benjamin, everyone was a Mormon except two families of Greeks and two other families where the father was not a Mormon but eventually they both joined the church.  We attended church regularly.  Priesthood meeting was a 9 a.m., Sunday school was 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon and Sacrament meeting was at 7 p.m.  Primary and Relief Society were held on Tuesday afternoon.  I served as Bishop of the California Lodi 2 Ward from October 1977 until May 1984.  During that time church meetings on Sunday were changed to the 3-block schedule we now use. 

            My oldest and best friend was Paul Stewart.  Paul was born on October 28, 1928 and was a grade ahead of me all through our school days.  The cut-off date for starting school was November 1st.   It was to my advantage to be one of the oldest in my class.  However, the day Paul started school, I also went and hid across the street from the school and watched Paul and all the other kids enter the schoolhouse.  I felt very sad and was envious.  Paul’s father owned the farm across the street from our house and his home was about ¼ mile south of our house.  Paul and I remained good friends our entire life.  Paul passed away in October 2008.  I visited him in the hospital in Modesto, California about 3 weeks before he died and he asked me to speak at his funeral and to talk about what it was like growing up during the Great Depression, living on a farm, and teenagers during World War II.   Also, how hard we had to work, how poor we were, but we didn’t know we were poor.  So, I did that, covering the period from the time he was about 3 years old through his graduation from BYU in 1952.  I was also close friends with Ray Ludlow (a cousin), and George Jay (Fritz) Parkinson.  Some more friends were Clifford Clark, Norman Lundell and Henry Angus.  I liked all the kids I went to school with.

            As I mentioned earlier, the Great Depression of the 1920’s and 1930’s and World War II were the most significant world events during my growing up years.  Both of these events affected everyone.  First, the depression.  Money was extremely scarce.  I remember when my older brother, Alph, wanted 25 cents to go to the high school dance.  Mom nor Dad had any money.  We searched the house going through the pockets of every piece of clothing and somehow we found the 25 cents.  We had three milk cows and sold the milk to the creamery and had 300 to 400 chickens and sold the eggs to the poultry cooperative.   These two methods produced a little cash for things we needed tp buy.  My mom also took the cream off the top of the milk we kept for our own use and made butter which we sold to Parkinson’s General Store in Benjamin to buy things we did not produce on the farm. 

            We ate all meals together as a family.  My mother (a wonderful woman) cooked all of our meals on a coal burning stove.  We kids got up and did all our our chores (milking & feeding animals)   immediately after we got up.  Then got ready for school and ate breakfast together.  We had ham or bacon, eggs, toast and cereal, usually oatmeal.  We called the noon meal dinner and the evening meal supper.  For dinner, our biggest meal, we had steak, hamburger, roast, pork chops, etc. along with potatoes, and gravy and vegetables.  Our evening meal was similar to the noon meal or we might have had potato, vegetable or tomato soup, spaghetti, meatloaf and mom’s homemade bread.  She baked seven loaves of bread three or four days a week.  It was great to be able to eat some just as mom took it out of the oven.  When we came home from school at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, we would fry a piece of meat or eat 3 or 4 eggs to tie us over while we did out chores and got ready for supper. We ate very well.

            My recollections of the effects and feelings during World War II expressed in an interview by David Bingham (May 1999) while I was serving with Mary as missionaries in the Philippines Manila Mission.  Interview by Courtney Bingham, May 2005….My service in the U.S. Air Force and thoughts about World War II.

            I graduated from Brigham Young University in 1955.  My friend, Paul Stewart, got me a job at Fibre Board Paper Products in South Gate, California, south of Los Angeles, in the accounting dept.  I worked there from l955 until about 1961.  My starting salary in 1955 was $300 per month.  I thought I was the richest person around.

            The very best thing that ever happened to me occurred during this time.  I went to a wedding reception dinner for the groom, John Nugent, a friend from Fibreboard.  A friend of the bride, Mary Van Dell was also there.  We became acquainted and I was lucky enough to be able to drive her home after the dinner.  I thought she was very nice, beautiful and someone very special (which she is.)  We started dating and on March 9, 1957 we were married at the Chapel of the Roses in Pasadena, California.  Mary was not a member of the church, but during our many long talks, I discovered that her standards and beliefs were similar to mine and after my mother met her, she said, “Jerry, don’t worry, Mary will become a strong faithful member of the church” which has proven to be very true. 

During the first year of our marriage we lived in a one bedroom apartment in Huntington Park, California.

            Mary worked for an insurance agent, Charles L. Arthur, in Pasadena.  After we were married and she had to move, she worked for Norris Thermador as a secretary to the Assisting Purchasing Agent.  We set a budget and lived on my salary which had probably increased to maybe $330 a month and saved Mary’s salary.  Besides rent, our biggest expense was a 1955 Chevrolet, Bel Air which I bought brand new when I came to California.  In the spring of 1958 we purchased our first home with our savings as a down payment which was located at 9534 Pritchard St., Bellflower, Ca.  The house had three bedrooms, living/dining room, small laundry room and 1 and ½ baths.  We turned one of the bedrooms into a family room.   We got all of this for the purchase price of $11,800.  We were concerned about this debt and the huge house payment of about $91 a month.

(In 1946 my brother Blaine came home from World War II and purchased a farm next to my dad’s for $8,000.  This was for forty acres, a house, barn, cement cylow and other out buildings.)

            As a young boy I had to work hard on the farm as there were always many things to do.  My dad also told us boys to always do a little more work than we were being paid for.  I worked for local farmers when my dad could spare me.  When I turned 16, I was able to work at the Del Monte Canning Factory in Spanish Fork during the summer.  I was assigned to work in the warehouse, labeling and boxing cans of peas, lima beans and tomatoes.  The warehouse manager told  Ray Ludlow (my friend) that since we were only 16, we could only work 8 hours a day but since we were good workers, if we wanted to work more he would pay us for stocking cans of vegetables in huge bins that would then be boxed and labeled during the winter.  We were paid by piece work, 65 cents to stock 1000 cans and could work as long as the factory was open each day.  We were very agreeable and worked 12 to 14 hours a day Monday through Saturday.  Some of the cans were still hot from the ovens but we worked hard and after the 2nd week we earned about $165 each week.  The plant superintendent brought our checks to us and congratulated us.

            During the first 3 years of college at BYU I worked in the bookstore for 65 cents per hour. During the summer months in 1948, I worked for a dynamite manufacturer at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon.  The odor from the nitro glycerin made me very sick for the first week but after that my body got used to it.  I was assigned to a partner to train me.  There were only two men per building and each building was barricaded with a small railroad running in front.  One day a man ran past our building yelling, “It is going to blow.”  We left our machines running and out the door we ran.  We tried to get over a hill a hundred years away but just got to the top and the building where nitro glycerin was mixed blew up.  Motors and equipment flew into the air and the whole building was destroyed.  The shock wave went over our heads so we didn’t feel the explosion.  Fortunately, only the one building blew up and no one was hurt. 

            In 1960, Mary’s father arranged for me to become a franchised Snap-on Tools Dealer.  (He was the Western Regional Manager.)  I bought a 14 ft delivery van and that was my office, delivery van and warehouse.  I had an inventory worth about $8,000 of all types of mechanical tools and equipment.  My area was Paramount and North Long Beach, California.  I called on all the repair garages, service stations and anyone lse that used tools including auto dealerships and the Long Beach airport.

            In 1963 I was promoted to Field Manager and transferred to Northern California.  Mary &I purchased a home in Pleasant Hill (803 Hamilton Dr.) and I hired, trained and worked with 12 Snap-on dealers.  My area included Contra Costa County, Sacramento, Woodland and San Rafael north to Brookings, Oregon along the coast.  I learned a lot about business, leadership and handling complaints.  My marketing and accounting training was very helpful.  I did not like being away from home and family and neither did Mary and the kids.  Sometimes I would spend a week or two away when I was in the Eureka, Ca. or Brooking OR. area.        

            In 1959 we accepted an opportunity to open a Dahnken Catalog Showroom in Fresno, CA.  It was a discount store that published a catalog and sold jewelry, giftware, housewares, electronics and sporting goods at a good discount.  We went into a partnership with Mary’s father.  At that time we sold our home in Pleasant Hill and had a home built at 2139 San Bruno St. in north Fresno.  We opened the Dahnken store in the fall of 1969.

            By 1969 Mary’s father had retired and moved to Fresno.  After several years of working together we decided it would be to both of our advantage to have two stores, each of us owning one independent of each other.  We sold our share of the Fresno store to Mary’s dad and opened our own store in Stockton, CA.  We had a home built in Lodi, CA. just north of Stockton.  This was a real blessing in our lives and the lives of our children.  We lived in Lodi at 309 Shady Acres Dr., from 1972 until 2001 when we moved to our present home at 648 E. Windsor Ct., Alpine, Utah.  That move also turned out to be a real blessing to us.

            In about 1980 we, along with 8 other store owners, broke away from the Dahnken group and changed the name of the store to Bingham’s.  In 1984 several large discount stores started opening and were a real challenge for the small independent stores.  We decided it best to close our store and went into another adventure, purchasing Lodi Sick Room Supply.  We sold and rented all types of durable medical supplies and equipment for use at home.  We successfully operated this business until we sold It and retired in 1996.

            Our oldest child, Janet Louise was born May 18, 1959 in Downey, CA.  A neighboring city to Bellflower.  She was and is a wonderful daughter that we have enjoyed watching develop into a very special daughter, wife and mother.  Michael, our oldest son was born on April 10, 1962, also in Downey, CA.  He, like Janet, brought us great joy and has become an exceptional son, husband and father.  Paul, our youngest child was born on June 16, 1966 in San Francisco, CA. while we were living in Pleasant Hill, CA.  Paul, like his siblings has accomplished many special things in his life and has also become a very special son, excellent husband and father.  We enjoyed every phase of our children’s lives from infancy to their becoming grandparents.  It bothers both Mary and me when parents refer to their children’s teenage years as the terrible teens. 

            As mentioned earlier, Mary and I met in 1956.  I think early in our relationship we both felt like we had met the special one that we wanted to spend our life with and then be eternal companions.

            Mary was not a member of our church but she was such a good and wonderful person that we still felt we were right for each other.  We had many long talks about religion (our church) and life, about our goals and dreams.  I felt she would join the church and that we would become an eternal family.  She had not known anyone that was a Mormon before meeting me.

            After I got to know her family and they got to know me, I think they approved of me and our standards.  Her father did tell someone that I would probably keep her barefoot and pregnant, living in the hills somewhere.  Her family had never attended church nor had religious discussions but they were a good family and all of them had high standards and were good people.

            My testimony and experiences in the church have been very special to me throughout my life.  I was very involved in the church until I was about 19.  At that time for some reason I kind of quit going regularly; however, I never doubted that the church was true.  It just wasn’t the priority that it should have been.  I never got completely active and involved until after Mary was baptized on 1 April 1967 in Walnut Creek, CA and has been a strong and faithful member ever since.  I suppose I can say she and the children got me actively involved.  I loved her so very much and also had a great love for Janet, Michael and Paul that I wanted to prepare myself to take my family to the temple where we could be sealed together as a family unit for all time and eternity.  Our sealing in the temple occurred on 29 July 1972 in the Oakland, CA. Temple.  What a wonderful day that was and I have never been as happy as when I knelt across that holy alter from Mary while we were sealed as husband and wife and then the children were brought into the room and knelt with us as we became an eternal family.  That was the most important day of my life.  Our children looked like angels.

            Mary and I have had many special and very spiritual experiences as members of the church and during various positions and callings we have had over the many years.

            I have had the opportunity to serve as Sunday School Superintendent , Assistant Ward Clerk, Ward Clerk, 2nd Counselor in a bishopric, high councilman (3 times), bishop of the CA. Lodi 2nd ward for 6-1/2 years, 2nd counselor in the CA Lodi Stake Presidency, and Stake President CA Lodi Stake for 9-1/2 years, stake auditor, chairman of Public Affairs for the Lodi Stake, temple ordinance worker at the Oakland Temple, ward employment specialists, chairman of stake emergency preparedness Council, chairman of Temple Council, teacher and teacher coordinator for the High Priest Group and a full time missionary.  For 18 months I served with my wonderful wife in the Philippines Manila Mission from August 1998 to February 2000.  Our wonderful experience on our mission taught me so much and helped me to grow and to become a better person.

            I have many of the interesting and valuable experiences and will relate a few here: 

I was called as Bishop on October 9, 1977 by Pres. Robert G. Wade, President of the CA> Lodi Stake.  I very much enjoyed serving as bishop although it could be difficult at times but the positive experiences made it very fulfilling.  I loved being so involved with the youth.  We worked hard to develop a strong youth program.  During the many years that I was bishop, Mary was the Ward or Stake Young Women’s President.  This enabled us to work together very closely.  I feel we had a strong and successful youth program.

            In February 1979 eight perspective elders were ordained to the priesthood and it was a very spiritual occasion as each of them bore their testimonies which caused my emotions to surface and tears of joy streamed down my face.  I can only remember the names of six men…..Jim Smith, Jim Mason, Don Runge, Gary Neuvert, Charles Fischer and Buss Fleming.

            In 1779, even as bishop, I still wondered if I would ever be good enough to qualify for the Celestial Kingdom and gain eternal life.  One Sunday, during priesthood I was meeting with the Priest Quorum which our son, Michael, was a member.  We were reading in Moroni, 7:47…….”but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”  That scripture really hit me hard and I thought that I can have charity and be a good person.  From that time I have been at peace, knowing that I have made mistakes and would continue to do so, but I could be charitable and repent of my mistakes.  What a blessing that has been for me.

            Gary Neuvert, Ray Haggard and myself went with the Teachers Quorum on a super activity to Alaska.  Our son, Paul, was a member of the quorum.  They did many fund raising projects and earned enough to pay all expenses.  We drove from Lodi to Canada and then drove the Alcan Highway  to Anchorage.  We did a 7-day backpack-canoe trip down the Kenai Peninsula.  We had a wonderful time, saw some beautiful areas and it was a special time to get close to and know these young men.  I particularly enjoyed that special time with Paul.

            In November 1984 I was called as 2nd counselor to Robert G. Wade and in May 1986 I was called as the stake president.  Elder John K. Carmack of the Quorum of the Seventy extended the call.  An interesting note is that Elder Carmack asked me and Mary to pray together and come up with the names we recommended as counselors.  I enjoyed the 9-1/2 years and it was special to get to know the members from the whole stake.  The following wards were included in the Lodi Stake…..Galt, Ione, Jackson, Lodi 1, Lodi 2, Lodi,3, San Andreas and the Murphys Branch.  We covered a large geographical area.  Murphys Branch was about 50 miles east of Lodi.  Jackson and San Andreas were about 40 miles. Ione about 30 and Galt about 10 miles.

            As bishop I was very involved with every member of my ward while as stake president I worked more closely with the leaders of the wards and the individuals only on special occasions.  However, I worked hard to develop a relationship and get to know all the stake members, especially the youth.

            We held stake conference twice a year and usually had a general authority visit and preside once a year.  The visiting authority stayed at our home on Saturday evening.  We were priviledged to have the following stay in our home:  Elders John H. Groberg, Lance B. Wickman, Robert D. Hales, Glenn L. Pace, Ted Brewerton and Gene R. Cook.  Those that stayed elsewhere were John K. Carmack, Kree L. Kofford, Keith Hilbig.  Mary and I enjoyed these visits with these good spiritual men very much although they were stressful for Mary.  Two regional conferences were held while I was president.  At the first one Elders Howard W. Hunter, Russell M. Nelson, John K. Carmack were in attendance.  Pres. Thomas S. Monson, Henry B. Eyring Jack H. Goaslind were the visiting authority for the second one.  It was special to meet with these brethren in a leadership meeting with other stake presidents and to feel of their spirit.  How I loved these men and the goodness I felt just being around them.

            I also had the opportunity to dedicate the new Lodi Stake Center at 1510 W. Century Blvd., Lodi, CA and the Murphys building, 400 Bret Harte Rd., Murphys, CA.

            We again worked very hard to have a strong youth program at the stake level and overall we accomplished this.  I believe it is important to have both fun and spiritual activities and service projects for the young people.  We have to keep the youth active and involved so that we have the opportunity to help strengthen them spiritually.

            Mary and I greatly enjoyed serving in the CA. Oakland Temple.  It was a blessing to spend so much time in the temple and work with such wonderful, dedicated members.

            We were called to serve a leadership mission in the Manila Philippines Mission from August 1998 until February 2000.  This was a wonderful 18 months.  It was very hard to leave our children and grandchildren, but it was one of the truly special times in our lives.  We made many wonderful friends while there.  They are such loving, humble and spiritual people.  We were assigned to the Cavite area, which is about 60 miles south of Manila.  We were to help strengthen the 21 branches, particularly the leadership with emphasis on the youth.  Our mission baptized approximately 3,000 new members a year.  With so many new members there was a great need for leadership training.  We hope we helped train and develop many future leaders to guide those special people.

            I have had the privilege to meet and shake hands with the following prophets:  David O. McKay, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson.

            In closing this history, I want my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to know that my desire is that when we assemble in the next world there will be no empty chairs.  I love the Lord and can say that I don’t just believe but I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ it is possible for everyone of us to repent of our mistakes, live righteously and return to God and be together throughout eternity.  I love you all.

January 23, 2011

 

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