Home - Provo

After Dad was discharged from the Army, Mom and Dad returned to Provo, Utah for Dad to continue his education at BYU.  We lived in Wymount Terrace, the university's married housing area.  I was really young - like 2 1/2 or so when we moved there so I don't have lots of memories...but the memories I have are my earliest.  

As I recall, the buildings in the old Wymount looked kind of like the base housing in Germany.  There were three floors, I think, and I'm not sure, but I think we lived on the second floor.  I remember that there was a shower in the bathroom, but no tub.  I remember mom had a metal/steel wash tub that she would fill with water in the shower and bathe me.  I remember the kitchen table and mom cooking meals, especially breakfast, and I remember that Mike was just a baby when dad would hold him on his lap while mom was cooking breakfast and invariably, mom would give dad his plate and Mike would sneeze all over it and dad would groan and sigh with a, "Geeeze! Every morning!"  I can still hear him say it! Lol



I went to nursery school somewhere close, probably in someone's home.  I don't remember much except that one day Johnny Weismiller threw sand in my hair and it really upset me...probably just a little girl/little boy event!  



I remember taking my dad to the hospital so that he could have his tonsils out.  He had to stay there for a couple of days and it was kind of scary to me.  I remember visiting him and the doctor telling mom that he had hemorrhaged and I could feel my mom's worry.  I also remember going with her to a furniture store to buy our first tv - she wanted to surprise dad with it when he came home from the hospital for his recuperation.  We had that tv until we moved to Germany in 1966, even though several years before that dad had taken the tubes out of the tv to check them at the Albertson's on State Street...but I think it must have been the picture tube because all it was used for until we moved to Germany was a stand for another tv. Lol!



I remember Dad being called as ward clerk in our ward and feeling pretty proud, even at that age!  I remember him walking up and down the aisles of the ward, counting the attendance and thinking he was so important! Lol!  I remember Mom sharing that this period of time was a difficult time for her and Dad - probably due mostly to their long separation while Dad was in Korea and Japan, and I'll bet Dad struggled a bit with some ptsd too.  Mom shared that Dad went to a bishopric meeting one night and he stayed and talked with the bishop for a lengthy period of time after.  She told me that when he came home he was miraculously kind of changed and things went much easier from then on.  She said she never asked about what he'd shared but she was grateful for the bishop and Dad's visit with him as I think she'd felt their relationship might not make it sometimes...but from then on she felt the peace come that only the Lord can provide.  I would suspect that that experience, and others like it, were some of the reasons he was such a great bishop himself.  He knew what it was to struggle, to feel unloved, scared, lonely, worried, or confused and he loved people.  



I also remember one particular Sunday when we were headed to church.  Mom and Dad were ready to walk out the door and just needed to get Mike and so sent me ahead of them down the stairs.  It seems to me that they warned me to not take my tricycle out and ride it as it was Sunday.  However, whether they warned me or not, I took my tricycle out of the entry of the building and up the gentle incline of the sidewalk at the end of the building and tried to ride it.  I tipped it over and tore up my chin, bleeding all over my dress and trike and sidewalk.  Obviously they were just coming out of the building and my screams and wails were probably loud enough to wake the neighborhood.  I remember feeling so guilty as i had disobeyed and I knew I had broken the Sabbeth...I was sure that was the reason I had fallen. I was also feeling guilty because Mom and Dad had discussed what they needed to do and it was obvious that I was going to have to have stitches so Dad wouldn't be able to fill his calling as Ward Clerk because I would need to go to the hospital.  Needless to say, I did end up at the hospital to get stitches.  Dad took me in to the treatment room and Mom stayed in the waiting area with Mike.  However, I guess when the Dr. started to give me the numbing injections Dad passed out and the Dr. had Mom come in with me and had Dad sit in a chair with his head between his knees! Lol!



I remember the day that Dad graduated from school...President David O. McKay came and passed out the diplomas.  Even then I was impressed.  I wore a pink dress that I had worn or would wear wear for Muriel's wedding...I was the flower girl...but I don't remember who Muriel is!



Finally - I remember Mom driving the car up to Salt Lake City and riding with Dad in a truck with our household goods to our new home which was the east side duplex next to the home that Mom and Dad would soon purchase and become our family home on Delno Drive.

For me - these years we foundational.  We had family prayers, played together, had story time, and I became a big sister.  I felt loved and secure.  Indeed, we was born of goodly parents!