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Almost 70 years ago Clyda and Veon were married. That union is why we are all here. This blog is created to capture our thoughts and help us get to know each other better. There will be a new question posted each Sunday until December. Please use contributors first names only. If you are posting anonymously please add your first name to the text. Enjoy!
Please read...
Attention everyone...Marilyn has a WEB PAGE !! You can check it out at www.marilynsmithartist.com!
Nicole, please publish the following disclaimer in a prominent place:
I hesitated to make long narratives with these posts, but Nicole said she might put the whole blog thing into a book form someday, and I could use this as a forum for writing for my kids and grandkids. I can’t pass up an opportunity like that. So rather than bore you, feel free to skip anything you’re not interested in or don’t want to be bothered to read. Sonja
Note from Nicole:
I am happy to do this for anybody that is interested. I am enjoying hearing from each of you and would love to hear from more. Thanks Sonja for taking the time to work on this and giving us an opportunity to get to know you better.
Kids from Lt to Rt:Marilyn, Barbara, Veon Jr., Gladys, Gerald, Evan. Clyda and Veon in the Middle.
Sonja
Ve's Wife
Nicole
Glady's Youngest
Marilyn
The Youngest Daughter
Evan
"The Baby"
Daphne
Glady's Oldest
Clyda
4 comments:
I had a few best friends at different points in my childhood. I think about them all from time to time. My best friends in early childhood were Laurel and Robin who both moved away and I have no idea where they are. Amy Hunter and Julie Albrecht were my best friends for what seemed like a long time and some of the happiest years of my life. The lived on our street and our families got along very well. We took vacations together, bbq'ed, etc. We all still keep in contact somewhat. Both Amy and Julie are living in central California. I have managed to keep my friendships with my best friends from my teens. I have lunch once a month with a group of friends from junior high and high school (Amy, Jessica, Allison, Parys, and Tawnya [who is also my second cousin]). I have been friends with my two closest friends, Tai Lynn and Crystal, for fourteen years. I recently got back from Las Vegas where we all met up for Tai Lynn's wedding. It really annoys me when people say women don't get along or "I get along better with men." They're missing out. Friendship is wonderful. I would be so bored without my girl friends!
Mindy
I had two really close friends from elementary school. Jodie moved about 1 block away when I was in about 3rd grade. She lived with her mom up until about the 6th grade and then moved in with her dad and moved to South Salt Lake but we have kept in touch over the years. She ended up moving to California in High School and last time I heard from her she had just gotten married and was in Nevada. We usually contact each other around her birthday. When we were kids she would always remind me that she was older and wiser than me and would always make that a good time to give me a call. Now that we are getting a little older I make sure I call her or send an e-mail and remind her that she is older (I usually leave out the wiser part even though that is probably still true).
My other close friend I met around 4th grade. Her name is Brandi. She lived about 4 blocks south of us and we loved to spend the night at each other's houses and kept in touch until I moved to OR. She kind of took me under her wing and saved me from my awkward 'nerdy' self and helped me to survive the upper grades of elementary school. She made it very clear that if anybody was going to mess with me they would have to go through her (and her sister and their cousins) first. I still am not sure why she picked me to be friends with but knowing her was pivotal point in my growing up. She was a good friend and I hope that she is doing well but I am not sure where she is now. I am guessing that she is still in SL. She dropped out of school in 8th grade and got married after getting pregnant. The last time I saw her she was working at Sears.
My best friend was Jean Bybee. I don't know whether she's still alive or not.
My mother's sister came and stayed with us the summers I was 15 and 16 and I kind of lost track of my friends. She was a year and a half older than I.
Clyda
Before age 12, when we moved from Missouri to Utah, I didn’t really have a "best friend." My sister, Billie, had a friend with a sister (Barbara) my age who befriended me, but that was mostly after school. When Billie and I were visiting with their mother a few years ago she said of Barbara’s friendship with me "She was always taking the under-dog under her wing." (Colorful lady).
I had "City cousins," Toni and Jon, who never let me forget that city living was far superior to country living (and by implication, that they were far superior to me). Uncle Charlie owned a grocery store and always drove a fancy car. Toni and I would sleep over at each others’ houses once in a while, but mostly it was at hers. They had a T.V. when no one else did. And Jon bragged about their "pitcher winda" when large plate-glass windows first became fashionable. We would play kick-the-can with their neighborhood friends on summer nights. And we played softball in a vacant lot. Jon always made an issue of throwing me "grounders" because I couldn’t ever hit the ball in the air.
At school I either played when our class played as a large group, like ball or jump-rope, or I played by myself. I spent a lot of time in the crook of a big sycamore tree, reading - which was my favorite thing to do.
At church I was the oldest of 6 girls who made up the only girls’ primary class in our branch. (They were called "Homebuilders" then, rather than "Merri Miss"). There were four girls a year younger than I, including Toni, and one two years younger. We all spent time at each others’ houses. We were all friends, but it was usually only on weekends or in the summer.
I didn’t know a soul when I started my first day of school in Utah in 7th grade. I was small, undeveloped and shy, and was growing my hair out from a horrible, short, short haircut that Billie’s friend gave me on our trip out here. (They thought it was time for mother to stop taking care of my long hair, and thought I could only do it if it was short)!
The first day of school Ann Brown introduced herself and asked if I needed a friend as badly as she did. (Co-incidentally, I believe Clyda knew her mother, Orpha, from their BYU days). We were very best friends from that day on. She lives in Bakersfield, California now, but we still see each other when she comes to town to visit her family, and we keep in touch with cards and email. We had a "best friend" relationship that rivals anything you’ve ever read in a story.
Ann was bigger than I - everyone was. She was a better student than I. And she always had a job, either cleaning her neighbor’s house or car-hopping or something. I only dabbled at it now and then. She didn’t date much, and I dated a lot. We didn’t have many classes together besides a capella coir and gym. (She was taking Geometry while I was in "dumbbell" math). But I loved her and she loved me and we were fiercely loyal to each other. There was nothing about each other that we didn’t know. She went straight to college, while I had to work a semester to save money for tuition. (That’s why she was working when she was young)! She had a job in Coure de Lain when I got married, and wasn’t able to be my maid of honor. And when she got married we were living in St. George and I couldn’t afford to come up for her wedding! We don’t have a whole lot in common anymore, but our love and our history are sufficient to keep us going and enjoying each other when we can get together.
Sonja
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