June 9, 2011

How did you propose? (see Nov. 4, 2010 entry)

How long were you engaged?

I went home for the couple of weeks between quarters at Snow and went to work for the school district during that time. So one day I made deliveries to the Roosevelt schools and then stopped and got some roses. When I got back to Duchesne I stopped on my way home at Marie’s and had her come out to the truck. I had the roses sitting in the front seat and asked her to take them. She was somewhat hesitant until she didn’t see a ring with them. I was actually testing the waters for what I had planned to do later. She loved the roses and we talked for a short while and then I went on home. We later got together that night with her family and Marsha to go Christmas caroling. We had a lot of fun and Ann had a couple of friends there as well that went with us. Well when we got back I asked Marie to stay outside with me for a few minutes and then tried like heck to get Marsha to go into the house and see the new pool table that their family had gotten for Christmas. (I don’t remember if this was Christmas eve or not but it seems like it was.)  Anyway I then held Marie with her hands behind her back and slid the ring on her finger, the wrong one but hey I couldn’t see what I was doing and it was with her hands behind her back. Well I asked her to marry me and with a few seconds pause she then replied Yes and we went into show her family. That was pretty much it and Marsha was really excited to find out why I wanted her to go inside so badly.

So with that being around Dec 25^th and our anniversary being June 20^th you can do the math and see that we were engaged for just shy of 6 months during which we were pretty much separated by 135 miles of lonely road.  I went back to Snow just after the first of the year and she stayed in Duchesne to work until we got married.

June 8, 2011

Things have been hectic so I haven't been able to get any blogging done since early in Colorado.

Tell about your courtship. How long did you know her before you got married?

We had a long courtship I suppose since we dated as soon as she turned 16 and were married just before I turned 22. I have stated before however that I dated when I was at Snow the first year with other girls and she dated when she was at Snow while I was on my mission. So our actual courtship I guess really began when I got home around the middle of October 1974 and we were married several months later since she went home after Christmas break to work until we were married after I graduated from Snow in May of 1975. So the last five months before I went home after graduation were some very long months as she worked and I studied at a distance of 135 miles apart fro each other. 

May 30, 2011 Happy Birthday Gabe!!

What attracted you to her?

She was cute, and she was pretty, and she was fun to be around. The fact that she was also shy was a little bit of it as well I suppose. I loved to see her walking to school with her hair blowing as she walked. I was just flat out smitten by her.

May 29, 2011

Do you remember where you went on your first date with her? What was it like?

I do not remember our first date but I remember a double date we took with Lee Moon and Diane Horrocks to Roosevelt. It was the only double date that I remember ever going on and it was to a movie. I do not remember the movie or even why we did it so it must have not been really a memorable movie. I think we rode in the back seat as well but even that is not clear. We had to have ridden in the back since Lee drove. I know I didn't. Memory is just to hard to retain when it come to some 40 years ago and events that happened at that time. It is too bad that most things that you remember had a major impact or otherwise it slips from the archives of your mind all too quick.

May 28, 2011

I have had a short recess while working on the new playhouse so this post is a little late.


When, where, and how did you meet your wife? How old were both of you?

Meeting Ann and Marie at the Duchesne High School library.

My mother Ilean, was the librarian for the high school in Duchesne. We were in the process of getting a new high school in Duchesne and the old gymnasium was where the library was being located until a new wing of the school could be made and the new library located there.

So in the summer prior to the start of school in 1967 (I was then 14.) as I was getting ready to enter 8^th grade I was helping mom set up the books in the make shift shelves in the (old gym) new library. I was putting the books in alphabetical order on the shelves and mom was at the desk typing up the missing library cards for me to put into the books.

As we were working a knock came on the doors and two young girls walked in to the library. One of them was somewhat taller than the other who was obviously very shy and stood shyly behind her older sister. The older one introduced themselves as Ann, a sophomore and Marie Behrmann, a 7th grader, and that they were new to school and lived just down the road from the high school. Mom then introduced me to them I think since I don’t remember but mom wouldn’t have done anything else since she was very proper and that would have been the protcol. Well little did I know at that time that I would get to know the younger one really well and also learn to love her even more. I thought at that time that she was pretty darn cute with emphasis on the "pretty" part. That was the first time I saw her and it would not be the last. She did live just down the road and there were many times in the following four years that I would watch her as she walked to school each morning and I would be sitting on the planter box by the new library which was built the following year. I also got to know the older one and in fact we received our mission calls the same day in 1972. (That’s another story.)

May 20, 2011

Prime Adulthood (25 to 45 years old)

Dating, Courtship and Marriage

How old were you when you started dating? 

16 years 4 months and 3 days (Marie had to turn 16 first as well).

Do you remember your first date? Who was it with? What did you do?

I don’t remember specifically our first date since we had been seeing each other at dances and her home and at church and school activities. We had not dated specifically but when we could then I started picking her up and taking her home. Our first date was probably to a dance but I do remember  that we did a double date with Lee Moon and Diane Horrocks to Roosevelt to a movie. Other than that most of our dates if not to church or school activities were out to driving the back roads and spending time talking to each other.

May 19, 2011

What was the most spiritual thing that happened to you on your mission?

There cannot be an answer to that question. The mission is made up of spiritual experiences that are hard to rate from least to most spiritual. I had plenty of times where I knew the Spirit of the Lord had directed me. The second week in the mission my comp assigned me to decide where we would go tracting. I remember praying about it and thinking that I had no idea if I was truly following the direction of the Spirit or not. However then when we knocked on a door and found someone truly interested in the gospel I suddenly discovered how the Lord does answer your questions and directs you. Then the night that the ex-mormon cornered us with his stacks of books and tried to use reason to break us down I remember thinking about my patriarchal blessing and that I had been told that my testimony would be a blessing to the righteous and a condemnation to the wicked and I finally could do nothing else but bear my testimony to him and then my companion do the same and we walked out. It was a very disturbing night but in the same light helped to actually build my testimony to be even stronger.

May 18, 2011

Who set you apart?

I was set apart by my Stake President David Sam. On Sept  29^th prior to going into Salt Lake on Sept 30^th. It was fun having him, as my Stake President when I had been taught several years earlier in Seminary by him as well.

What are some of the most interesting experiences from your mission?

I had numerous special experiences in my mission ranging from watching “The Ten Commandments” with a young Baptist neighbor couple to having scorpions run into the Bishop’s office in the church during a planning meeting. We also had a woman open her door after we knocked and she had on only a robe and it was open in the front. We immediately turned around and left which is probably why she did it. I experienced five tornados while there and hail storms with golf ball size stones. I met a great fellow working on his car who invited us back and later his whole family was baptized and then later in my mission went to meeting a great fellow who was out painting his porch who invited us back because he was an ex-mormon with an agenda to convert us to be Jehovah Witness converts. I was chased by a huge dog and stung by a scorpion in our apartment. (The only way I knew was I had a black and blue spot on my leg and later that night found the scorpion under my dirty clothes bag on the floor.) I also outran (in our car) a huge storm in the pan handle of Texas returning from a zone activity that took place in an area that was in miles closer to my home town than the mission home in Dallas. I went out on large sand dunes for a P Day and rode down the 2 inch strip of no ice another time on our way to a teaching appointment. I gassed up the car every other week at 19 cents a gallon verses the other week at 21 cents a gallon because the gas stations in town had a gas war going on and then left the mission when paying close to a dollar or more per gallon because of a government caused gas shortage that had employees of oil companies being laid off because the oil tanks around the refineries were all full and the government wouldn’t let them produce gasoline.

However one experience stands out that I will relate.

We were in the Seventies quorum meeting on Sunday morning and the President of the quorum came in and read what sounded like an official document from the church stating that the Negro would now be given the priesthood. It sounded a bit strange to me but I didn’t think to much about it since it had been a long time in coming. However I was really shocked to hear the comments of two of the Brethren as the lesson continued who said that they would leave the church if it is true. I couldn’t believe their attitudes and how bitter they were toward the negro’s. The president then said it was not a real letter but the whole point of the lesson was to learn to love our brothers and sisters no matter what their color. I knew that Texas was part of the deep south and knew the hatred that the south has for the negro race but never really realized it until that day. Well in 1978  when the church came out with the actual proclamation stating that all worthy male members could be given the priesthood I thought of those two brethren and if they had removed their names from the records of the church or learned Christ like love in the last 5 years since that meeting.

May 17, 2011

Where did you serve? Which areas did you serve in? How long did you serve in each area?

I was called to the Texas North Mission in Dallas Texas, and it was later named the Texas Dallas Mission after I had served about a year and the Texas San Antonio Mission was created from our mission and the Texas South Mission then renamed as the Texas Houston Mission.

I flew into the Love Field Airport going to my mission and two years later flew out of the new DFW International Airport to return home. I had also flown into and out of Love Field during my mission as I went from Midland to Dallas for a Zone Leaders conference.

I began my service in Arlington with two companions, Elder Fernelius (Missoula Montana) and Elder Astle for a week and then Elder Astle was transferred and I had one one senior companion for two weeks. Elder Fernelius was my trainer from Oct 5 thru Oct 29th.

I then transferred to Terrell Texas with my companion Elder Monte Rex Tyler (Ririe, Idaho) from Oct 30^th thru November 30^th. We had a large area and I really enjoyed it. It was there where I dedicated my first grave. I still recall instructions given prior to that use of the Priesthood to make sure I didn’t dedicate it as a FINAL resting place for the deceased member.

I was then transferred back closer to the mission home and assigned as a trainer. I served with Elder Legrand Ellison (Provo, UT) in Garland from Nov 30^th to Jan 26, 1973. Elder Mark Humphries (Summit, Ut) was then assigned to me to be trained from Jan 26^th thru March 1 and finally in Garland Elder James Wakley (Malad. Idaho) served with me as a new missionary from March 1^st thru May 15^th. We had a huge turnover in the mission with almost 130 Elders coming into the mission within four months. That required a lot of the missionaries to be trainers shortly after arriving themselves.

I was a trainer for four months and then transferred to  Stephenville and assigned as a District Leader. I served there with Elders John Ferguson (Whittier, CA) and Elder John Segesman (Rio Del, CA). We were only a trio for one week before Elder Segesman was transferred.  Elder Ferguson was with me from May 15^th to June 5 and then Elder Steven Beckstead was with me from June 5^th thru Sept 25^th.

I was then transferred to Cleburn  with Elder John Vernon Billings (Orem, Utah) for one week (Sept 25 to Oct 2) while waiting to go to Midland in west Texas.

I was called as a co-zone leader with Elder Richard Haire (Winnepeg, Canada) and we served together from Oct 2 thru Feb 25^th. He sneezed three times without fail every morning, never two or four always three.

 I was then assigned to Pampa in the Texas panhandle as a District Leader with Elder Kevin Kimball (LeGrande, Oregon) from Feb 26^th to April 24^th. Elder Leon Bright ((Lewiston, Utah) then served with me from April 25 thru June 5^th .

My final assignment was to Grand Prairie as a trainer. Elder Roger Wilson (Denver, Colorado) served with me from June 6 to July 25^th and Elder David Maughan (Tooele, Utah from July 25^th thru Oct 1, 1974.

May 16, 2011

When were you called on a mission?

After I had completed my first year of college and working for the summer following that semester I started my papers just before my 19^th birthday. We had the papers all ready and submitted to the Bishop so that all I had left was to have my Stake Presidents interview. Well before that happened there was a Bishopric change and a new Bishop called and somehow papers were lost. I started to process again and got the papers all ready but it was now after my 19^th birthday by three weeks. Apparently though the Stake President pushed things through quickly because I had my interview and two weeks later received my call on the same day as Ann Behrmann (Bagley) received hers. I them left two weeks later for the mission home. I received my call on a Saturday, went to Provo the following Saturday to get my clothing as outlined in the call and the following Saturday entered the mission home in Salt Lake City across from the Salt Lake Temple.

I went through the temple for the first time on Oct 2 while in the mission home. We were there for less than a week from Sept 30 to Oct 4 with Elder John Peterson (Logan, UT) as my companion and then flew to Dallas to start the mission.