Saturday, June 23, 2012

Jay Wallace Averett - Happy Birthday June 18

Life Story Part VI
My Thoughts on Each Birth--Jay

In the year 2007 (when this was written) which is the only year that all of my “children” will be in their forties, I am writing a remembrance on their birthdays about each of their births and early childhoods as a part of my continuing Life Story.

Jay is our third child—and second son.  He was by far the easiest birth of my four children.  I think part of the reason is that he is only 22 months younger than Annett so my body was getting used to the birth process; although, that could have nothing to do with it, too.  Who knows?  Anyway, Jay was born on June 18, 1962 in the Lovell, WY hospital.  I always said that right after we got to the hospital, Jay just “fell out.”  The infamous rapist, Dr. Story, was my doctor for the whole nine months and for the delivery. (He spent 20 years in the penitentiary at Rawlins, WY after being convicted of multiple rapes as a doctor.)  Annett was also delivered by Dr. Story because Dr. Croft was out of town when she decided to be born. 

We had already picked out the name of Jay Wallace Averett for a boy which I have been glad about ever since.  We wanted to name him after his Dad, Wallace Johnson, since Andy had my maiden name (Black) as a middle name.  I am so proud of Jay’s name even now as I sit here typing this remembrance. 

I was in the hospital for a few days while Grandma Nonie took care of Andy and Annett.  I remember that Wally brought the kids up to the window of the hospital to see me as no children were allowed inside in those days.  I was so glad to see them.  However, Annett was not happy.  When we brought Jay home, Annett cried and was angry and jealous for some time.  Up until then, she had been the princess and now there was another small person who was taking over the attention.

We lived in the little cinderblock house next door to Granddad and Grandma Averett.  When Wally got out of the Army in December 1958, we moved into that house which was owned by Wally’s Aunt Blanche.  The house had two tiny bedrooms, a tiny bathroom, a kitchen without any built-in cabinets (it had free-standing metal cabinets), and a living room with a wall heater.  I painted every room a different color and Wally laid asbestos tiles in the bedrooms (bad move). We carpeted the living room and Wally’s folks bought us a green two-piece couch for Christmas.  We went to Haskell’s Furniture and picked out a few things we needed including a chrome dinette table and chairs, a TV stand, a living room chair and a bedroom set.  One of the first things I wanted was a portable dishwasher which we got at Dick’s Appliance.  We also got a Westinghouse front loading washer and dryer.  Everything we bought was purchased on time payments as we had no money.  Our rent was only $50 a month, so that was cheap, and Wally was making a whopping $500 a month.

Wally’s ’53 Oldsmobile needed to be overhauled after our trip home from Virginia when he was discharged from the Army, so we just let it sit.  The first couple of years we were able to get by with only the Mule Creek car that Wally used for work.  Later, we bought a used red Chevy Impala from the Superintendent of Schools who lived down the street.  Thinking back on that time, I don’t know how we managed financially.  Wally was always trying to make a little extra money by plowing gardens, selling kitchen cabinets, and scheming at anything and everything to try and get ahead.  I know I borrowed money one time from Joyce when we didn’t have any for groceries.  I’m sure Granddad and Grandma helped us too.  They were always generous with us.

Well, with three kids in one tiny bedroom it was crowded.  For the first few months we moved Jay into the little wicker bassinet in the living room at night.  He was a good baby and so cute.  We all loved him so much.  Annett got over being jealous and became my helper.  Andy became a great TV watcher (that’s a joke).  At about three months, I tried to wean Jay off of the formula and on to regular cow’s milk.  Well that didn’t work.  He was definitely allergic to cow’s milk.  So, we continued with the formula as long as he was taking a bottle which was about eighteen months.  He even had problems with the formula and was quite a “burping” baby—throwing up all over me, his crib, his blankets, the rug—you get the picture.  Eventually, he outgrew that but continued with the allergies, especially in the summertime.

On November 11, 1962 (Veteran’s Day) we moved into our new house on 6th Street in Lovell.  We thought we would never get a house of our own as Wally didn’t make enough money to qualify for an FHA loan.  That year, the government started a new loan program in rural areas through the Farmer’s Home Administration for people who could qualify for poverty.  We did.  They gave us $13,500 for the lot and the house.  It was a big lot that ran a half-a-block down the back.  The house was a pre-fab from Americana Homes in Billings, MT.  We hired Gerald Brinkerhoff to put it up for us, but we ended up doing lots of the work ourselves.  I remember putting Jay in the playpen and taking him with me to paint.  The house was only 1144 square feet, but it seemed wonderful to me.  As soon as we could, we borrowed $3000 from the bank and Wally finished the basement with a small bedroom, a shop, a bathroom, a laundry/bedroom, and a big family room.  It was out of the ground and we loved all the light and space. 

I remember sometime when Jay was still under a year old, he got sick and both he and Andy were in the hospital at the same time with pneumonia.  Annett is the only one who didn’t get pneumonia at sometime in childhood.  By one year Jay was crawling everywhere and was soon walking.  He was not a talker because he had all of us to do everything for him.  Wally and I thought that Jay would be our last child as three was a good number.  We had our two boys and our little girl.  That’s all we needed.  Jay was our baby for five years until April 11, 1967 when Julie was born in Calgary.

Jay was a sweet, good-natured baby, greatly loved by all of us.  But, he had a special bond with Granddad Stan.  After Stan’s boss, Burt Walker, moved to Billings, Stan bought the kids a small Shetland pony that we named Pet.  We didn’t know it at the time, but Pet soon had a colt that we called Jet.  Granddad loved to take the kids out to the shop in Byron to visit and play with the ponies.  After Andy and Annett started school, Stan came by our house in the morning almost every day and picked up Jay so he could spend the day with him.  Wally was gone much of the time drilling wells for Mule Creek, so Jay was a good companion for Granddad.  I was happy that they could be together as I knew it wasn’t going to last. 

Wally was not happy with his employer, Mule Creek Oil Company, and after eight years, in the fall of 1966, he found a new job with Husky Oil in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  When we moved it was hardest on Granddad.  He really loved all the kids, but especially Jay.  In March 1967, a couple of weeks before Julie was born we let Jay go to Lovell to stay with the grandparents while we waited for Julie to come.  It seems now like he was gone for a long time.  He was not quite five and I missed him so much.  I didn’t have an easy pregnancy with Julie, so it was probably a good thing.  I remember during that time, Jay and I used to lie in bed in the mornings after Andy and Annett left for school and I read books to him.  I didn’t feel good enough to do much, so I liked reading to Jay in bed. 

By July of 1967 we were back in Lovell in our own house.  Wally had a new job as an engineer in the Byron-Garland Field for Marathon Oil.  Shortly after moving back to Lovell, Annett, Jay and our little baby Julie all got chicken pox.  Alice Cook came over with her kids who had been exposed.  We immediately took them to the doctor for immunizations which helped them have a much milder case than they would have. 

That fall Jay started kindergarten.  It was the first year that kindergarten was offered as part of the school system.  It was in the old white church building next to the school.  I don’t remember much about that year of school for Jay in Lovell.  However, the 1960’s were a time of experimentation in education and Lovell was no different.  The fall of 1968 when Jay started first grade, the school had changed to a new reading program called Initial Training Alphabet.  It didn’t make any sense to anyone and was dropped after a couple of years.  The problem was, Jay didn’t learn to read.  He started the second grade in Lovell before we moved to Cody in October of 1969 and was still not reading.  The second grade was no better as Jay had already lost a year and didn’t seem to be able to make it up.  By the time he reached third grade, we were living in Cody.  His teacher, Mrs. Harrison, was a member of the Church and a wonderful teacher.  Anyway, she taught him to read and by the end of the year he was reading at grade level.  What a blessing a good teacher can be. 

After 18 months in Cody, Wally got a District Manager’s job for Clinton Oil Company in Casper.  Crest Hill Elementary school where the kids were enrolled was into the great “centers” teaching method.  It meant that the kids went to centers where they basically taught themselves.  Of all the teaching methods that didn’t work, that one was the worst.  Jay went to the centers and didn’t learn much of anything.  It was a nightmare.  I tried to fight the system for him but finally just gave up.  I remember in 5th grade he was assigned a project to do in several different centers.  Somehow I found out at the end of the grading period that Jay hadn’t turned in any work.  I went to the school and ask them why they let him go the whole time without ever checking to see if he had been working on his project.  They told me that it was the responsibility of the student to get the project done.  What a joke!

Jay struggled with school all twelve years.  Schools are not geared to kids who struggle and he was not able to have the success he deserved there.  He had to wait and work for all the success he has had in his life.  I know he works harder than anyone else wherever he is, and for that, he has been blessed over the years with many new opportunities.

Even as a kid, Jay was a hard worker.  I remember he worked at Taco Bell and at Joe Egley’s filling station in Casper.  He wanted a nice car and almost drove us nuts with his whining about it.  We had Granddad’s old pickup and we thought that was all he needed.  Finally, we were able to swing a used Pontiac Firebird.  It was a hot car and Jay had several tickets which resulted in his license being suspended.  That car was a real money pit as I remember—I believe he had at least three transmissions.  We should have made him drive the old pickup.

For his senior year we sent him to Utah Tech in Orem where he lived with Annett.  He did well there and got all the credits he needed to graduate from Natrona High School in Casper.  At Utah Tech he found that he had an ability to understand how things work in the mechanical field.  Later, when he was exposed to computers and other equipment, he worked until he figured out what to do with them for his jobs in the gas metering and pipeline industry. 

Jay always had friends.  Kevin Smith was killed by a train before he reached his twenties.  Joe Landis died when he crashed his parent’s car into the side of a hill due in part to drug and alcohol problems.  Randy Watson, a classmate, and the Johnston boys from the church were other friends.  Some friends were good and some weren’t.  The greatest blessing has been that he found Tammy.  She didn’t want him then but later when she came to Provo and we were living in Orem, they started dating and got married soon after that.  We have always been thankful for Tammy.  She is a wonderful wife and mother. 

Jay is a blessing to me and our family.  He has some of the best qualities of both Wally and me.  He is industrious and does whatever it takes to get the job done.  His physical appearance is more like Wally’s.  His disposition is more like me.  We are not very patient and tend to want perfection.  Jay has concern for others welfare and happiness which I have very much appreciated since Wally’s death in 2003. 

Jay, I am very proud of the man that you are.  Your children are precious to me.  Seeing Jaylynn graduate magna cum laude at Texas A & M was a real highlight in my life.  Charlie reminds me so much of Granddad Stan and Sam has my mother’s name, Pearl, which suits her.  She is a real gem.  You and Tammy have been able to give your children, at much sacrifice to yourselves, good educations and support on their way to adulthood.  That is a good thing.

I told you when I was there visiting some time ago, I have learned two great truths from the scriptures—especially since I have been a widow; first, “Let not your heart be troubled” it will all work out in the end (and if it doesn't work out, it's not the end) and second, “I have overcome the world.” 

 I love you and Tammy so very much.


Monday, June 18, 2012

Growing Old--the good the bad and the ugly


Last weekend I took a long car trip to Colorado with my daughter Annett, my two granddaughters Corina and Addie, and my three-month old great-grandson Gabriel.  It was an interesting as well as an enlightening experience. 

I have always been in fairly good health until the last couple of years when I developed neuropathy.  I don’t know if it was caused by my two knee replacements or is just a part of the aging process.  Anyway, some of the symptoms are numbness and burning with alternating freezing in the feet and lower part of the leg.  This causes loss of balance and coordination in walking.  But on a long car trip, the worst problem is swelling of the feet and ankles.

We were so excited to get to Castle Rock to see Julie, Mike, Logan and Dylan when we arrived sometime after 11 pm at night.  The first thing I noticed was that I could hardly walk because my feet were swelled up and it was difficult just to hobble up the one stair and into the house.  Dylan held on to me for balance.  The next day, Julie and the girls planned a trip to Denver (which Corina has detailed on her blog with stops and shopping all over town).  I knew better than to be on my feet all day so I stayed home with the boys and Gabriel.  I read my Kindle book and slept lots after getting only a scant four hours of sleep the night before.  I knew the next day on Saturday would be a fun day and I wanted to be part of it. 

So, what has all this got to do with growing old?  Well, everything!  Saturday was a fun day.  Julie is the queen of “thrifting” which is shopping at thrift stores around Denver.  She has been doing it for a number of years and is a pro.  We were lucky as two out of the three places we shopped were having 50% off sales.  Julie and Annett went crazy shopping for bargains and each spent over $100 (or so) getting all kinds of “new” clothes for themselves as well as for Corina and Addie.  Even the boys and Gabriel benefited with some of their found loot.  It was so much fun.  I bought some glass including two red Avon pieces, two hand-painted vases, and I added to my little cordial glass collection with four new patterns.  I found a brown skirt and a black top with silver trim on the bottom.  We lunched at Panera, the same place where we ate with Wally the day before he died in his sleep sometime shortly after midnight on April 26, 2003.  All in all it was the marathon that I knew it would be.

While we were in the car, Julie had the music on and once again, it was evident that I didn’t understand anything about modern music.  The songs seemed not to make any sense and I couldn’t understand the words.  It made me long for the songs of the ‘40’s when my sister Joyce bought sheet music and played it on the piano while we all sang along.  I know not understanding modern music has lots to do with my hearing.  Growing old makes hearing difficult and if you think hearing aids will solve your hearing problem, think again.  It doesn’t.  In fact, sometimes it just amplifies the background noise.  However, without them I can’t hear any normal conversation, especially when the grand-kids talk.  Losing hearing is part of aging, but it is a lonely and isolating condition that becomes a problem to both the speaker and the listener.

Sunday was truly a day of rest for the aging body.   We had some stimulating conversation and played a word game which was hard for me.  I have had to wear glasses since I ruined my eyes making porcelain dolls in the early 1980’s. The doll’s face painting was so tedious with every eyelash and eyebrow hair having to be painted individually. After using “Walgreen's” glasses for many years, I spent precious money and opted for custom progressive lens glasses.  I made a mistake and had my eyes tested at Costco and then took the prescription to a discount place in Salt Lake.  Well, the glasses are unusable.  I didn’t get the glare coating for an extra $70. The lenses have so much glare and are not strong enough to read with.  However, the prescription glasses do help when watching TV in the bedroom.  But, one thing that has changed my life is getting my new 48” TV.  I can actually see it sitting in my chair in the living room.  How lucky we are to have these new big-screen television sets.  I record all my programs and don’t have to watch any commercials.  And, I can watch anything I want to.  That’s one benefit of growing old.  You don’t have to please anyone else.  The freedom to live as I like is a most precious blessing.  It makes up for some of the losses of growing old.

Monday, I packed my suitcase and my clothes bag for Annett to take down the stairs and put them in the car.  And since this is about the good, the bad and the ugly of growing old, the ugly includes the aging face and body.  Getting ready for the trip, I “fixed my face” so as not to scare the rest of those who were riding in the car with me.  I have worn make-up since I was twelve years old.  For some reason, my eyebrows have always been sparse.  I learned early that I had to use an eyebrow pencil if I wanted eyebrows.  I always used a liquid foundation make-up and over the years I have developed a routine of “fixing my face.”  Growing old has made it much harder to cope with the skin wrinkles, under eye swelling, sparse eyelashes, and less-than-perfect lips.  It is a struggle every time I wear make-up to get it on so it doesn’t crease, rub off, smear, glob in the corner of my eyes, or generally look terrible.  The good is that I thank the Lord for nice skin.  My mother taught me to clean my skin every night before bed and I don’t think I have missed doing that my entire life.  Mother had nice skin because she took care of it and she taught me to do the same.  Bless her. 

I don’t think I need to discuss the aging body shape; it is such a problem of my own making.  I repent every day, but repeat the sin which is the definition of insanity.

Speaking of insanity—growing old gives one a perspective on life.  It becomes easier to be happy even though I forgot to pick up my clothes bag that was left on the bed at Julie's.  Both Corina and I forgot our phone chargers, so that was the first trip back to Castle Rock.  When the bag was discovered missing we were already in the mountains and had to turn around and return to Denver where we met Julie’s good friend Sarah at IKEA and had their free breakfast.  So, having a senior forgetful moment actually turned into a good thing.

 In fact, happiness and good things are found everywhere.  I enjoy reading the scriptures, I enjoy my TV shows, I enjoy reading books on my Kindle, I enjoy listening to talk radio, I enjoy collecting my glass trays, I enjoy exercising on my Aero-fit.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I miss talking to someone on a regular basis although I talk to my sister, Beth, often on the phone.  I miss the companionship and support of my husband, but I’m thankful he is in a better place free of pain.  I miss close friendships but my visiting and home teachers are near and appreciated.  I still think about my passion of decorating and I can still paint and refinish furniture—it just takes a little more time.

So, if I were to summarize growing old, I would say the good is the freedom to do whatever you desire without guilt; the bad is the problems of health and diminishing hearing and eyesight; the ugly is the literal aging of the face and body. 

I keep thinking about and remembering Robert Browning’s poem “Rabbi Ben Ezra:”

GROW old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in his hand
Who saith, “A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!”

An analysis of this verse concludes, “Rabbi Ben Ezra declares that old age is the best period of one's life. Old age is intended to complete the life of man. Human destiny is in the hands of God who planned a whole design of which the period of youth is only a portion. The Rabbi calls upon us to trust God, to acquire an experience of the whole of life (including old age), and not to feel afraid.”

And the last line of this lengthy poem states:

“Let age approve of youth, and death complete the same!”
Internet: Rabbi Ben Ezra analysis)

(http://www.b-.ac.in/sde_book/ma_lit2.pdf) BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITY
DISTANCE EDUCATION –M.A.ENGLISH LITERATURE –STUDY MATERIAL.
PAPER. II.BRITISH LITERATURE.II (ROMANTIC AGE TO MODERN PERIOD)





Monday, June 4, 2012

Life Story Part 1 - Playing

Playing is what kids do when they are little.  I was no different. 

Right outside our back door in Laramie we had a small hill on the lawn side of a narrow cement sidewalk leading up to the house.  For some reason (that a kid wouldn’t understand) it never had any grass growing on it.  It seemed the perfect place to play in the dirt.  My brother Frank had a collection of marbles and a few small cars or toys.  We used that dirt pile to create a fantasy of roads, hills, tunnels and whatever else we could think of.  Maybe it was a town or a battlefield (the war was on in Europe and the Pacific), I don’t quite remember, but I spent hours of my childhood playing out there in that dirt. 

When I was five or six I started playing with dolls.  Mother had Santa give me a new doll every Christmas, and, one year I got a canvas doll buggy.  When the Phillips girls next door were allowed to play, (how does a kid understand that their mother is an alcoholic?) we would bundle up our little “babies” and take them around the block in the buggy just like real mothers do.  I remember playing outside on cold days and worrying about keeping the dolls warm bundled up in their blankets. 

Most summer days included a trip to the old Stanton School playground where we got our elementary education.  It was only three blocks from our house and that was nothing.  There was a big old metal slide, a set of swings and an old merry-go-round.  The ground was all dirt and rocks but we seldom had our shoes on.  The merry-go-round was the roughest.  If you got on it and someone was pushing (or pulling) it fast, you had to leap off to save yourself.  It was probably dangerous, but we didn’t know it or care.  The metal slide was burning hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter.  We sat on waxed paper going down to make it slick and fast.  One time in the winter, I put my tongue on the cold metal on the slide handle and it stuck.  When I pulled it off, I learned not to ever do that again.   

Later childhood play included lots of roller skating in the summer and ice skating in the winter.  I was usually frustrated with the roller skates because they clamped onto my shoes and required a key (which I had to find) to tighten them around my shoes.   They also adjusted in the center to make them longer or shorter.  I saw a box of these old roller skates last week in the Collectible Department at Deseret Industries but had no desire to even look at them.

I was a pretty good skater but my feet just kept growing out of the skates.  The sidewalks around the block left something to be desired.  We had a vacant lot at the end of the street with no sidewalk, so that was a trial.  In other places the old concrete was cracked or uneven but when the weather was nice, who cared? 

The ice skating rink was at City Park on the other side of town.  About once a week after school on winter days, Frank and I walked down to the rink carrying our skates.  It was an old wooden structure with a small warm-up room where you could put your feet next to an old wood-burning stove to get them warm.  I liked skating to the music and we played “crack the whip” with other kids.  It was usually dark when we left, and sometimes Mother picked us up, but mostly we walked home.  Home was always a welcome sight to me. 

Frank and I both had paper routes until we were mabe13 and 15 years old, and at some point I was able to get a bicycle.  My most vivid memory of bicycle riding is peddling to the University of Wyoming campus.  In the summer the students were few, so it was lots of fun to ride up and down the cement paths between buildings, especially by the old “peanut pond” and Ivinson and 9th streets.  It wasn’t far from the Church, so I stopped for a drink or just to see if anyone I knew was there.  The Campus Shop was across the street and they had pop and candy.  I had my own paper route money and was able to buy myself treats.  We had lots of freedom to go wherever we wanted to on our bikes.

My interest in decorating started to show up when, one Christmas, Santa left me a dollhouse.  It was wooden with an open back and an upstairs and downstairs.  The living room had a fuzzy floor but everything else was painted.  It probably came from Montgomery Wards where Santa had his Toyland in the basement in Laramie.  The dollhouse had some furniture, but I can’t remember much about it. I remember how dusty the rooms got and I loved to clean it all up and arrange the furniture as nicely as I could.  The dollhouse never had people, which I found very sad.  I played with it until I was 12 or 13 when we moved to the Sully house.  I remember packing up the furniture but, somehow, the dollhouse didn’t make the move with us.  I was growing up.

I climbed trees in our yard, played pretend, went to afternoon movies on Saturday, listened to the radio, practiced piano, made scrapbooks, built tents out of blankets in the back yard, and, played games in the street with the neighborhood kids.  Playing is an important part of childhood.  It didn’t matter to me if it was dirt or dolls, skates or bicycles; my job was to find something to do that was interesting and fun.  And, I did.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Things you should know about Mitt Romney

This information came to me in an email.  I can't vouch for all the facts but if anyone knows any different please let me know.


Personal Information
  • His full name: Willard Mitt Romney
  • He was born: March 12, 1947 and is 65 years old
  • His Father:  George W. Romney, former Governor of Michigan
  • He was raised in: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
  • He is married to: Ann Romney since 1969, they have five children; all boys
  • Education: B.A. from Brigham Young University, J.D. and M.B.A. from Harvard University
  • Religion: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also known as LDS or Mormon
 Working Background
  • At age 19, he spent 30 months in France as an unpaid Mormon missionary.
  • After graduation from both Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School simultaneously, he passed the Michigan bar, but never worked as an attorney.
  • In 1984, he co-founded Bain Capital, a private equity investment firm, one of the largest such firms in the United States.
  • In 1994, he ran for Senator of Massachusetts and lost to Ted Kennedy.
  • He was President and C.E.O. of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
  • In 2002 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts where he eliminated a 1.5 billion dollar deficit.
   Some Interesting Facts about Bain Capital
  • Bain Capital started with one small office supply store in Massachusetts, turned it into Staples with over 2,000 stores employing 90,000 people.
  • Bain Capital also worked to perform the same kinds of business miracles again and again with companies like Domino's, Sealy, Brookstone, The Weather Channel, Burger King, Warner Music Group, Dollarama, Home Depot, and many others.
Mitt Romney's Volunteer Service
  • He was an unpaid volunteer campaign worker for his dad's gubernatorial campaign for one year.
  • He was an unpaid intern in his dad's governor's office for eight years.
  • He was an unpaid bishop and stake president for the LDS Church for ten years.
  • He was an unpaid President of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee for three years.
  • He took no salary and was the unpaid Governor of Massachusetts for four years.
  • He gave his entire inheritance from his father to charity.
  •  Mitt Romney is one of the wealthiest self-made men in our country but has given more back to its citizens in terms of money, service and time than most men.
 Mitt Romney is Trustworthy
  • He will show us his birth certificate.
  • He will show us his high school and college transcripts.
  • He will show us his social security card.
  • He will show us his law degree.
  • He will show us his draft notice.
  • He will show us his medical records.
  • He will show us his income tax records.
  • He will show us he has NOTHING to hide.
Mitt Romney's background, experience and trustworthiness show him to be a great leader and an excellent President of the United States.