Myrna and Eva and Facebook

Myrna wrote: Check out my Facebook profile

Hi Eva,

I set up a Facebook profile where I can post my pictures, videos and events and I want to add you as a friend so you can see it. First, you need to join Facebook! Once you join, you can also create your own profile.

Thanks,
Myrna

Eva wrote:

DearMyrna,  I would love to get your pictures, but I don't care to put pictures and personal things into the comptuer.  Thanks anyway.  It was so good to see you and Tim.  Thanks so much for stopping; it was so good to see you.  I wish I was able to travel again.  Rachel can't understand why  I can't come up every two or three or weeks like I used to. Time and circumstances surely change our lives for good or bad - with old age, mostly bad. Love you,  Eva


Myrna wrote: I understand. I just found some of our family members who were on the site. I thought you might like seeing what they have there but it is OK with me whatever you choose to do. You are a great person and I love you.

It was good to see you. Tim and I always enjoy any time we spend with you.

Love, M

Where is Steamboat, CO?‏

Myrna wrote: LHT would love this.

Kids play with toy bulldozers and excavators in a sandbox. At Dig This, in Steamboat, Colorado, adults get to spend a half- or a full-day using real bulldozers and excavators building roads, digging ditches and moving rocks, in the first heavy equipment arena in the United States.


Arbree wrote: Steamboat Springs is near Colorado Springs, up by Manitou Springs.  You might want to google it.  That would be alot of fun.  I think, altough I would probably hurt someone. :)

Bree


Myrna wrote: I don't think you would but I KNOW I would. It does sound like a lot of fun.

I am glad that the news about Erin is good. I have been worrying because that is my talent--worrying.

In Case You Wondered What I Was Up To!

Myrna wrote: The snowflake, "Happy New Year" papers were just that. They were snowflake patterns. You were supposed to fold them and follow the pattern to cut them out. There were no letters inside (sorry :() but, in addition to the snowflakes there was $1 for each of you. That, of course, was for a treat of your choosing.

We got Caydin's envelope back. The post office had attached a yellow postal sticky note saying, in computer print, that he had moved and left no forwarding address. I just don't understand all of this. I had LHT look at the address in case I had blown my mind but it was right.

Love to all of you!

Kimberly wrote: That is exactly why I have a job.  Don’t be too mad at the post office. Kimberly

Myrna wrote: I am not angry, just confused! M

Jim and Julie's Home and the Family

Here is a photo of the brick and the house.

Inside the Draper Temple‏

Melanie wrote: I don't know if you have seen pictures of the inside of the temple. It is absolutely beautiful! The sego lily glass is exquisite. 

http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/090114tour.html

Mel

Who Does He Look Like Or Who Looks Like Him?

The bottom photo is unretouched. The top photo was cleaned up by Myrna using Photoshop. So, who do you think Leonard Trauntvein looks like? Himself? Odd, that is what I thought also.

Leonard's Baby Photo

Myrna wrote: Who does he look like? (Or who looks like him?)‏

Kimberly wrote: JACOB WAITE AND TYLER TRAUNTVEIN

Kirsten wrote: Amen!

Amy G wrote: He looks like Jacob, but definitely not Tyler!

Kimberly wrote: I see Tyler, when he was younger. 

Kirsten: Ok, so I held jake up next to the computer and the consensus was that 
he looked just like grandpa except the mouth and ears. But face shape 
and all else...

hmmm..

Sounds like Jake is going to be a great looking guy!!!

Braden's Eagle

We went to Boston, more specifically Milford, for Braden's Eagle Court of Honor on January 3rd. Here are some of the pictures we took. It was a really nice event. There was a gentleman, a scouter, who plans Courts of Honor for a past time. He didn't charge very much, I think it mostly covers his costs.

On the way home, we stopped through Manhattan and let the kids see Times Square, the Empire State Building, Broadway, and a few other sites. Then we made the 12 hour trek back to the house, arriving home at 11pm Sunday night. It was a fast trip, but it was nice to spend time with family. Melanie and Howard are the best hosts.

Happy Birthday Eldred G. (Gee) Smith--102 and counting

Just thought I'd observe that today (9 January 2009) marks the 102nd birthday of Eldred G. Smith, presiding patriarch emeritus of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A Salt Lake Tribune article shortly before his 100th birthday (Peggy Fletcher Stack, "Century Mark: Church leader with historic position nears 100th birthday," Salt Lake Tribune, 2006), indicated that he was still active, regularly going to his office.

In less than four months, he will have outlived Elder Joseph Anderson (1889-1992), the only other General Authority to have become a centenarian. One auxiliary leader, Ruth May Fox, president of the organization now known as the Young Women from 1929-1937, lived to be 104 (1853-1958).

He was called to his position on April 10, 1947, nearly 62 years ago.

Other well-known individuals who have lived to be over 100 (taken from a larger list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_centenarians) include:

Rose Kennedy, 104 (1890-1995)
Grandma Moses, 101 (1860-1961)
Irving Berlin, 101 (1888-1989)
The Queen Mother, 101 (1900-2002)
George Burns, 100 (1896-1996)
Bob Hope, 100 (1903-2003)
Alf Landon, 100 (1887-1987)
Strom Thurmond, 100 (1902-2003)

Eldred G. (Gee) Smith

Born 1907 and still living

---

• Born 1907 Lehi, Utah
• Baptized as a child; Aaronic Priesthood as a youth; Melchizedek Priesthood as a young man
• Served Mission to Switzerland and Germany 1926-1926
• Married Jeanne Ness; five children
• Ordained High Priest 1938
• Named Patriarch to the Church 1947
• Named General Authority Emeritus 1979

---

 Eldred Gee Smith is the son of Hyrum Gibbs Smith and Martha Electa Gee. He was born January 9, 1907 in Lehi, Utah the third great grandson of Joseph Smith, Senior, the first Patriarch to the Church in this dispensation.    He served in the Swiss-German mission from 1926 to 1929, then in various local leadership positions prior to his call as a General Authority.

   He married Jeanne Ness by whom he fathered five children. Following her death in 1977, he married Hortense Child.

    He was ordained a High Priest May 23, 1938 by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. before being set apart as Patriarch to the Church by President George Albert Smith in 1947.

    Elder Smith was granted Emeritus status October 4, 1979 for reasons of health and age. The position of Patriarch to the Church was retired and no one has since been so named.

    Elder Smith's most recent major public appearance of which Grampa Bill is aware was on April 6, 2000 when he accompanied President Gordon B. Hinckley to upstate New York for the dedication of the Palmyra New York Temple.

   On the occasion of his 100th birthday, Elder Eldred G. Smith, patriarch emeritus, is remarkable not just for being only the second former General Authority in history to attain the century mark (Elder Joseph Anderson, an emeritus General Authority, died in 1992 at age 102), but because he is a living, breathing — and healthy — vestige of a chapter in Church history.

   Elder Smith, who turned 100 on Jan. 9, is the last person to have held the position of Patriarch to the Church, one that originated in 1833 with the calling of Joseph Smith Sr., the father of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

   Eldred Smith is the eldest son of Hyrum Gibbs Smith, who served as Patriarch to the Church from 1912 until his death in 1932. As such, he is a great-great-grandson of Hyrum Smith.

   And so it was that in 1947, when he had just recently returned home from Oak Ridge, Tenn., where he had been involved with the atomic energy project during World War II, he was called in to meet with Church President George Albert Smith. The man who had been serving as Patriarch to the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith (not to be confused with the Church president of the early 1970s) had been released due to ill health; Eldred Smith was being called to fill the position.

   He immediately went to work.

   Elder Smith also had the responsibility of a General Authority to travel to stake conferences with individual members of the Quorum of the Twelve.

   At a Jan. 4, 2007 celebration in Salt Lake City, Elder Smith was honored by the Salt Lake Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers, of which he is a member and former chapter president. President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, also an honorary member of the Sons of Utah Pioneers, was the featured speaker and paid a birthday tribute to Elder Smith.

   As Patriarch to the Church, Elder Smith was a frequent speaker at Church general conferences. Typical of his sermons is this excerpt from a talk he gave in April 1978:

   "I have come to believe that the Lord is not so concerned about what we study or what profession we follow as long as it is an honest living. He is concerned about our immortality and eternal life — or exaltation.

   "Everyone has inherent talents. From a study of your genealogy, find the talents you have inherited by the things you like to do, and do easily, that some of your ancestors have done. Then become an expert or specialist in some phase of that field. The Lord will bless your efforts in your studies and in your daily work."

   At general conference on Oct. 6, 1979, President N. Eldon Tanner, first counselor in the First Presidency, read a statement announcing a significant change in Church administration:

   "Because of the large increase in the number of stake patriarchs and the availability of patriarchal service throughout the world, we now designate Elder Eldred G. Smith as a Patriarch Emeritus."

   At the recent reception held in his honor in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on the evening of his birthday, his key to longevity was displayed: "Keep breathing."

   As a Hyrum Smith descendant, he has inherited several artifacts he displays at firesides and other occasions.

   Elder Smith married Jeanne Audrey Ness in 1932 with whom he had five children. Following her death, he married Hortense Child in 1977, who was then serving as a counselor in the Young Women general presidency.

   On the occasion of his birthday, Elder and Sister Smith were received at the Church Administration Building by President Gordon B. Hinckley and his counselors, President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust. The First Presidency wrote in a letter to him:

   "We are sincerely grateful for your long life and dedicated service and devotion to the Lord's Church and to His children, who have greatly benefited from your sacred ministry. We acknowledge with deep appreciation your noble heritage and the honor that has been yours to pronounce patriarchal blessings on thousands of members of the Church. Likewise, it has been your privilege to be the instrument through whom the Lord has revealed the sacred lineage of the individuals, entitling them to all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

   "Over the years, you have shared your knowledge, testimony and historical artifacts of the Joseph Smith Sr. family in many settings. These meetings have been faith-promoting to those who have heard you bear witness of the Restoration."

    On a personal note, Grampa Bill recalls meeting Eldred G. Smith on the occasion of Grampa Bill's parents receiving their patriarchal blessings from the Patriarch to the Church, they living at that time in a mission district and not having access to a Stake Patriarch.

Bibliography
    Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.4, Appendix 1
    “The Sustaining of Church Officers,” Ensign, Nov. 1979, p.18
    2005 Church Almanac, p.69

Al: M, Thanks for this insight. I was wondering where you had been just yesterday. Very glad to hear form you.

Konnie and I are planning to be at the High school reunion, carbon High 1959 on Saturday the 18th. Might you be in the vicinity, we could visit.

 

Love you

al

 

Al Pitts 
Manufacturing Engineering 
Affordability Task Force 
Ph. (206) 544-3098 
alan.r.pitts@boeing.com 
M/S 4E-11 

Myrna: I would love to see you. Both of you are very dear to me but, I won't be here. I will be on a church tour with my daughter AnnMarie and her family. I am so sorry. I am so very sad to miss you. Love, M

 

Keeping Track of Stuff

Myrna wrote: Kimberly, I cannot remember what I did with the family file cards you gave me. Please, if you remember, let me know. Love, M

Kimberly wrote: I had them in the Hinckley DVD outer case.