I Loved This

 "Christians have nothing to be smug about; we are not righteous people trying to correct the unrighteous.  Just one beggar trying to tell another beggar where to find bread."

R. C. Sprout

Jane

Ruth came home from Mexico on Wednesday and Jane left for California on Thursday.  She was going for a orchestra competition in California.  I don't doubt that they did amazing, but the finishing touch was a fun day at Disneyland!  

She's Home!

 

DC Day 3

 The day started on the subway.  They began at the American History Museum.  Supreme Court (Aunt Becky said Uncle Ben really wanted to see it--but I sensed a little sarcasm 😂)!  Over to the Capital and then on to the Art Museum and Natural History Museum.  A short rest period and finished the day at the Ford Theatre.

D.C. Day 2

They started at postal museum, this mailbox was near the world trade center on 9/11 mail inside unharmed.  Then subway travel to Air and Space Museum and the art museum.

IL Duncans Spring Break

Uncle Ben, Aunt Becky, Jeremy and Peter are spending their Spring Break in Washington D.C. this week.

Rachel's Projects

Rachel heard about an organization called Operation Ornaments.  She said they provide Christmas Tree Ornaments for people who have lost belongings in disasters.  Here are some of her projects! 

If you are interested in helping you can get more information on operationornaments.org 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

Crocheting

Jane has been part of a crochet club at the high school and has turned out some amazing projects.  Eden has now joined her sister and finished this chicken.  Then Jane made one for Graham.  Thanks Lexy for working with Eden when she wanted to learn how to crochet.

Jane made this one

Eden did this one

Jane's Gift to Graham

Miriam's Project

Miriam needed something to keep her keys and phone in so she made herself a fanny pack!

Louis Clifford Duncan

Your great grandfather (or grandfather!) Louis Clifford Duncan was born October 4, 1913 in Centerville, Utah.  His father was Don Delmore Duncan and his mother was Anna Horspool.  His grandfather Homer Duncan and family came to Utah with the original pioneers who were driven out of Illinois.  Louis was the 5th of 9 children.  His family had a chicken farm.  He said when he left on his mission his father had 5,000 laying hens.  In 1935 he received his mission call to serve in the Mexican Mission (which encompassed all of Mexico, and Spanish speaking people in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California.  He said in his life story he received two messages from his parents.  From his mother, "Go and be a good missionary.  If you can't live the mission rules you don't need to come home." 😃  His father was a little less harsh.  He said, "Always remember who you are."  He was a good missionary who followed rules and came back home to his mother in 1937.  In 1942 he was attending college and when World War II began he enclisted in the Army.  In 1944 he was a 2nd Lieutenant assigned to military intelligence where his first assignment was in the Phillipines.  He was to lead a group of 20 soldiers who were to raid a Japanese headquarter to see if they could find anything that would help them break the Japanese codes.  With what they found the code was broken.  He said that it greatly helped in clearing out the Japanese in the Phillipines   In 1946 he finished his military service and enrolled in the University of Utah.

Louis had started dating Gerlene Olive Ogzewalla before the war and when he game home they again began dating  The were married on January 2, 1946 in the Logan Temple.  They eventually moved to  Phoenix, Arizona where they remained until the time of their deaths.  They had four children.  Scott Louis, Kent Donn,  Rozanne, and Phillip Charles.  In 1948 he began to work for the Arizona State Land Department.  He worked there until his retirement in 1981,  After he retired they were temple workers in the Mesa Temple and then were called to serve a mission in Tampico, Mexico.  After they served a mission he went in to the Land Department to visit friends and they asked him to write a history for them of the Land Department.    On March 13, 1996 he passed away.  He was 82.  He had stomach cancer that eventually spread throughout his body.  

Your Grandpa Duncan was a very quiet, hard-working man.  Over the years he served in positions of  leadership in the church.  He, like his children was an avid reader, a wonderful gardener who grew every thing that would grow in the hot climate of Arizona.  The thing I remember most was his beautiful wall of sweet peas that grew up a trellis he built on the south side of their house.  They were all different colors and looked beautiful.  In his military record it said he was 5'8" tall with brown hair and blue eyes.  I never saw much hair since he was bald when I met him.  He generously shared his baldness with his three grandsons.  

Spring Concert

Last night I was able to attend Duncan's Spring Choir Concert.  This is not because I am prejudiced but his particular choir was the absolute best of all the performances. It was so fun to watch Duncan singing and doing a little dancing and looking pretty cool in his sunglasses for one of the numbers.

Happy Birthday Bruce!

 21 Years Old

Elizabeth Jane Hickey Lambert

Today my mom would have celebrated her 100th birthday.  She was born on February 27,1925 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona to William James Hickey and Della May McGriff.  She was the  third of five children.  An older brother William James Hickey, Jr. and sister Erma Lilian , and younger brother Micheal Edward, and sister Marjorie June.  My mom said she had a good life growing up in small town Phoenix at that time.  I have visited a number of the houses she grew up in.  Her father was a fireman for the City of Phoenix  and was able to provide well for their family even through the depression.  Growing up they never owned a home but rented.  She remembered that they would move into a house and her dad would work hard putting in a garden, grass and flowers, painting and fixing anything that was broken and when he was done shortly after the owner would say that they would have to move because a family member needed to have a house to live in.  And the story would repeat itself for many years.  In spite of that he would still move in and get busy making it a nice place to live.  It was when he retired from the fire department that he bought their first home.  When my mom was 

about 9 years old her Aunt Grace came to her brother my mother's dad and asked if one of the kids could come and live with them.  I don't know how the decision was made but my mother was sent to live with her Aunt Grace and Uncle Bill and their son Robert.  On Sunday they would pick her up and she would stay for the week and then on Friday she would go back to her family.  Mom said they really treated her well but she was always homesick and excited to go home.  She lived with them for a year.  She said that Aunt Grace wanted her to be Catholic and while living with them she attended a Catholic school and received her first communion while living there.  Mom loved school and although my dad only went to school through 4th grade she attended school through high school.  One of the things I remember about my mom was that she had beautiful handwriting.  

My mom was always a champion for the underdog.  She would often make extra sandwiches for her lunch so she could give them to friends who didn't have any lunch.  Once at recess some girls in her class were standing together and were speaking Spanish.  Another girl in the class told them she was going to tell the teacher.  Apparently, they would be punished if they spoke Spanish instead of English.  My mom overheard the girl threaten them.  She marched over and told her that if she did tell the teacher she would have to deal with my mom later.  She became a friend to those girls from then on.  And the other girl never told the teacher.  

Mom was an excellent cook.  After we joined the church the missionaries loved to come over because they said she made the best enchiladas and tacos they had ever tasted.  No matter what she cooked it was always good!  

She met my dad on the grounds of the state capitol as he was with some friends from the CCC camp.  They came downtown to see a movie.  My mom and her friend were also going to a movie.  As they passed each other he said hello to her and walked on.  She told her friend, "I'm going to marry that guy."  And a year later she did.  They married on August 15, 1942 in her parents home.  A year later a son was born and shortly after my dad was serving in the military.  A number of times she took Billy and they lived at various military forts until he was finally sent overseas.  Mom gave birth to two boys and two girls.  William Franklin, David Edward, me, and Kitty Sue.  

When I think about my mom I always think of the love she had for my children and her other grandchildren.  I like to think that what I learned from her as I watched her teach one of the kids to skip down the sidewalk, or talk and play with them, and she would sing made up songs that they always loved.  Her example helped me to learn how to be a better grandmother when my grandchildren were born.  She was a saint in more ways than people who didn't know her could imagine.  She loved Phoenix and after dad passed away she came to California to live with us but she always said "I want to live in Phoenix."  In her late sixties she was diagnosed with dementia and lived in the memories of her past.  My sister asked if she could come to Phoenix for a visit and so I took her to the airport and Kitty picked her up.  While there she called and said she wanted to live in Phoenix.  Kitty was working in a rest home (what they were called then) and she moved her in there.  Shortly after, Kitty moved to New York.  Mom actually loved it and I would go over and check on her each month.  Eventually her memory issues became more severe and I found another place for her to live closer to where Amy and Christian lived in Mesa.  It was for people with memory loss and was a secure facility so that the people there wouldn't wander off.   I loved it when I visited her with Amy and Lincoln.  She would always be so excited and she would tell everyone I was her sister Erma and Amy was her daughter Elaine, and Lincoln was little Billy.  Mom passed away on June 4, 2009 in Mesa, Arizona after suffering a stroke.  She was 84 years old.  She and my dad are buried in the Veterans Cemetery in Cave Creek, Arizona. 

A Life Well Lived

 

Happy Birthday Eden!

 11 Years Old

Daddy-Daughter Dancing!

 

My Contribution

This week I baked 90 cupcakes and then frosted and decorated them for the Daddy-Daughter Dance.  It was a great project for a great week!

Invasion of the Body

In December Ellis had a procedure that involved the invasion of the body.  Not to be outdone, this week Jane followed suit.  I didn't get after pictures this time but I did stop in to check on her and she was doing fine.  They wll have the results early next week.