Thirty-eight years ago today since I was married. Happy Anniversary to me. I remember when we were on our way over to the Logan Temple, the snow was piled up so high on either side of the road you couldn’t see over the top of it. Today it’s like a spring day outside. I woke up early this morning and the memories of my wedding day were sweet to recall. I’ll never forget the feeling I had when we knelt at the alter and joined our hands. I know Harvey felt the same way. We loved each other so much and when they said “for time and all eternity” it seemed like we were standing on the very brink of eternity at that time. It has echoed down through all these years and when I was separated form my beloved nearly sixteen years ago this was one of the main things which sustained me – the sure knowledge that we would be together again some time in the future, never to be separated again. I am bearing this testimony to any one who may be reading this journal in the future and I bear it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
June 10, 2009
June 2, 2009
February 14, 1981
On Tuesday I invited Ken down for supper and I cooked a beef roast with brown gravy and mashed potatoes. He really did enjoy himself. I don’t’ recall just how the conversation got around to Harvey, but Ken started to talk about him and to cry. He said how terrible it was when Harvey died and how he missed him. He said he had been riding on his snowmobile up in back of the mountain and had seen where he and Harvey had carved their initials in the trees. Also different places where we had all ridden (horses) together. He said he thought Harvey was the greatest man who ever lived. This was a testimony to me of the fulfilling of patriarchal blessings. Harvey’s blessing stated that he would have a posterity who would raise up in days to come and call him blessed. Ken also stated that he knew Harvey was with him at various times when he was in Vietnam during the war when he had some of his close calls. We talked for nearly an hour and then he had to leave for work. Before he left he put his arms around me and told me how much he loved me. Maybe this didn’t mean too much to Ken but it meant the whole world to me and I’ll never forget it. This is an answer to the many prayers I have offered up to the Lord in his behalf.
March 3, 2009
Journal Prompt: The First Apartment
(Last Wednesday I posted Grandma’s entry about her courtship and wedding. Today I am going to post her thoughts about their first apartment as a married couple. Time for you to go write yours too!)
We were not able to go on a honeymoom at this time because of gas rationing due to the war. But we went to our apartment on 26th street in Ogden where we have everything already to move it including groceries. We r eveived many beautiful gifts which helped us for many years afterwards.
We settled down in our little apartment but this wasn’t to last very long. Because of the way, Harvey decided to go back to the farm adn his father so we both quit our jobs and moved to Morgan where we rented a home that belonged to Charles Tucker. We were here for a couple of years. Things didn’t work out too well with Harvey and his folks so eventually Harvey went down to the Navy Base at Clearfield. Our hopes for a family didn’t materialize so I went down to work at the same defense plant. I worked for a couple of years then quit and stayed at home for a while. My mother’s health didn’t improve too and she stayed with us quite a bit of the time as my brother Gideon hadn’t gone in to the service.
I wish she had written a bit more about the apartment and the house. Oh well!
February 25, 2009
A Journal Prompt Idea: How did you meet your spouse?
I am 2 days late! In one of Grandma’s journals, she has written a lot of her past memories. One of those journals includes the story of how she met Grandpa. Their wedding anniversary (according to my records) was February 25. So I started to transcribe her story today and found out that my records were wrong: their anniversary was February 23, 1943. This journal of hers is different from the others because it is not about her daily life. It is full of her memories, like when they decided to go on a mission, her life before marriage, etc. As I have been working on this, I thought it might give everyone else some ideas for starting a journal. Maybe you think your life is boring, but your grandchildren will enjoy reading your story. So today, after you read this story, go write your own! Type it up and print it out, or write it in a notebook. 
How We Met (recorded July 2, 1978)
This evening I was over to Steven’s. He asked me how Harvey and I met. I related the circumstances of our first meeting and the events which led to our engagement and eventual marriage in February, 1943 on the 23rd day, he asked me if I had written it down so here goes.
Irene James, a cousin, and I were in Cache valley for the weekend. I was working at that time as a secretary in the District Health Office in Ogden. Irene was working at the American Canning Factory at the time and we were living at that time with our Aunt Jane Obray on 1925 Grant Ave. Irene’s fiancé, Russel Maughn from North Logan and Harvey had also come up (to Paradise) for the weekend. At that time, Harvey was driving a low-slung yellow Oldsmobile convertible. Irene and I were planning on going to Hyrum to catch the bus back to Ogden. Early in the afternoon they came by and asked if I’d like to ride back with them. They didn’t have to ask me twice. I said to my mother “come and get a load of this car!” We rode back to Ogden, and then they asked if we’d like to ride up to Morgan. Harvey wanted to leave his dirty clothes and pick up his clean ones. We accepted the invitation and this began a series of events that led to one of the greatest episodes of my life up to that time. This was in the later part of August in 1942.
When we first became acquainted Harvey had acquired the smoking habit. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have given him a second glance, but there was something about his personality that seemed to reach out to me and we hit it off beautifully. As we continued to date, we found we had many things in common. One was our mutual love of horses. That was one of the first loves of my life. I could never remember a time when I didn’t ride horses. I t must have been a things which my brothers and I inherited from our gather. My sisters, Alice and Mildred, never seemed too enthusiastic but my other sister, Winona, who died when she was 198, had this same love the same as I did. All my brothers, especially Gideon and Lloyd, inherited this same madness and believe me, when you’ve got it, it never leaves you.
I came up to Morgan one Sunday with Harvey and we went horseback riding. I rode a little bay mare called Penny. She was to the Mecham Family what Old Barney was to the Olsen’s. This was the first time I had met Harvey’s folks and it was almost love at first sight when I met and talked to them. Harvey’s father asked me all about my folks and my work while his mother fixed food for us to eat. Grandma told me later on that she would much rather cook a meal than entertain people and that was a practice she followed as long as I knew her. As time progressed our interest in one another deepened however, Harvey continued his smoking habit. I knew that to continue on would just make it harder to break it off so I told him one night that I felt that we should not see each other so much because I didn’t intend to be married any way except in the temple and I knew he could never make it unless he stopped his bad habits. He didn’t say anything but we made a date to go down to Salt Lake and meet his sister Wanda and her family. On the way down he told me he had quit smoking. Russel had made a big production a week or so before in front of Irene and myself of throwing away his cigarettes. Then as soon as they left us, he bought a package and lighted one up and continued to smoke. This (Harvey’s vow to quit smoking) made me very happy because by this time I was truly in love with him. We continued our courtship and at Thanksgiving time Harvey presented me with a beautiful diamond engagement ring. Of course we were outrageously happy (as Charlie Brown would say.) Although we had actually known each other for a short time, we felt we had known each other forever. We always felt that our marriage must have been planned in Heaven. At Christmas time we went up to Paradise and celebrated with my folks and at that time Harvey gave me a watch to match my ring.
The next step was to find an apartment as we had set the date for our marriage on Feb 23, 1943. We finally located one on 26th Street on the third floor in Ogden. It was small but nice – very adequate for 2 people. The ensuing weeks were very busy ones. We obtained our license in Weber County for Laurence Malan Clerk. I took the week off before our wedding and went up to Paradise to prepare as we were going to be married in the Logan Temple. My mother and sisters entertained for me the day before with a trousseau tea, which was the customary thing at that time. Harvey came up that evening so we could be together to go over to the temple the next morning. Although mother couldn’t’ go to the temple with us, she got up and cooked breakfast for us. Harvey’s folks and Harry and Lena Giles came up to Logan to go through with us. Brother Giles was Bishop of Milton Ward at that time. My folks were there just about 100%. We were the first ones of Grandpa and Grandma’s family of children to go through the temple. After we had been through the endowment ordinance we went into the sealing room. This beautiful ceremony will be engraved on my mind forever. As we knelt at the alter, we exchanged the marriage vows, the words “for time and all eternity” have stayed with me all these years. Harvey seemed to be the one I’d been waiting for all these years. We bother had a strong conviction that our marriage was ordained in Heaven. It more than likely was. After our marriage, my family entertained at a wedding dinner for us. It was really special.
