New Years Resolutions

Every year I challenge myself by making New Year's resolutions--and every year I . . .
But it's January 8, 2017, this year I resolve to be a better grandmother. I have lots of plans and one of those plans is to post every week to the grandma jar!

Last week I was rifling through some family history material and found a pink notebook. I opened it to find a treasure beyond measure. Several years ago Mariann's girls gave Grandma Black (Eyvonne) a grandma jar. A grandma jar is a bottle filled with questions about one's life. In this notebook I found 66 pages of gold; 66 pages of mom's answers to these questions. She addressed the notebook to Marin, McKaida, and Marjorie but we are all blessed by her answers. As I typed up her answers it was as if God had given me a little more time with her--I felt her presence as I typed her words. I can't describe how much this notebook meant to me and so, once again, I'm renewing my effort to leave that type of legacy for my children and grandchildren.

When I was in 3rd grade we moved to Highland Utah; the year was 1962. My Sunday school teacher was Cora Adamson. Sister Adamson we awesome! Every Sunday we practiced the song "Dearest Children" so we could sing it in Sacrament meeting at the end of the year; and every Saturday we met at her house to work on personal books of remembrance. (Sister Adamson is back row left in this picture of our class with our books of remembrance--I don't remember why Susan and I aren't in the picture. Find all the names at the bottom of this post).

Mom (Eyvonne) wrote my life history to go in my book and I want to share it with you here:

"Jill was born April 18, 1954 which just happened to be Easter Sunday. This blessed event took place in the Richfield Hospital, Richfield, Utah.  She was the daughter of Russell Charles Black and Eyvonne Porter Black. At the time of Jill's birth her father was serving in the United States Army. This made it necessary for Jill to move to San, Marcos, Texas when she was five weeks old.

A five-month stay was made in Texas and then the family moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky. In the first fifteen months that the family lived at Fort Knox Jill grew to be quite the little lady. Here she learned to walk, talk, and do all the other things a girl does before she turns two years old."

"Jill's friends at Fort Knox included Linda Gappmeyer, the daughter of Lewis and Shirlene Gappmeyer; Tammy Ashman, the daughter of James and Lamon Ashman; [and] Kent Banner, the son of Melvin and Charlene Banner, to mention a few."

"While still at Fort Knox a sister was added to the Black family, she was named Susan.  The family home at Fort Knox was a lovely big house trailer. This was sold when the family returned to Utah and home."

"Points of interest visited by the family in Kentucky which of course Jill was too young to remember included Mammoth Cave and Abraham Lincoln's birthplace both National Monuments and the cities of Louisville and Lexington. Also the plantation of Stephen Foster, the great song writer."

"Upon returning To Utah Jill and her family visited Grandpa and Grandma Porter at Central and Grandpa and Grandma Black at Kanosh prior to moving to Logan where he father was to return to college. This was the Fall of 1955. For the next three years, the family spent the winters in Logan and the summers in Kanosh where her father was employed."

"During this stay at Logan another member joined the Black family. He was a little redheaded boy named Bruce. In the Fall of 1958 Jill's father obtained a job teaching school in Magna, Utah so another move was made. This time to Granger a community adjoining Magna.  Here a beautiful new home was built by Jill's father on Benview Drive."

"In the Fall of 1960 Jill started school in the first grade. Her school was Monroe Elementary. She attended Monroe in the first and second grades. For the third grade, she started at the new Academy Park School in Granger. The Black family, which now includes another boy Edward, Teddy, didn't take well to city living, so in the summer of 1962 a piece of property was purchased from Bishop Larsen of Highland and in October of 1962 the family moved to Highland to make preparation to build another new home."

"Jill had a misfortune while living in Granger that should be mentioned. One day, while in the first grade, she had just gotten off from the school bus when she was struck by a car.  This accident broke her leg and caused a concussion. For this, she had to stay in the St. Mark's Hospital for three weeks and be in a cast for two months."

"After numerous moves which has taken Jill to or through 12 states in the United States, she and her entire family are ready to settle once and for all. Jill is at present finishing her third year of school at the Greenwood Elementary in American Fork, when she goes by bus each day along with Susan and Bruce."

I wonder if she (Eyvonne) had any idea as she typed these words that we would be reading them 55 years later. I love how her personality comes through in her writing--passive voice, misspelled words, crazy punctuation, and all.

People in the Highland Ward Book of Remembrance picture:

Top row: Cora Adamson, Max Strasburg, Stephen Zimmerman, Joy Day, Mark Parduhn, Dale Chidester, Christine White, Cathy Buhler, Vera Larsen

Middle row: Joel Adamson, Jimmy Goff, Melba Strasburg, Sandra Tolman, Cindy Elmer, Layna Guymon, Hylee Evans, Robbie Chidester (Strasburg), Patty Christiansen

Front row: Kim Turner, Nila Jo Johnson, Jens Day, Roseann Buhler, Karen Larsen, Patricia Allred, Keith Johnson, Debbie Nielson