These Great Americans Are Soon To Be Gone

LuWayne Walker wrote: From A Military Doctor--This should be required reading in every school and college in our country. This Captain, an Army doctor, deserves a medal himself for putting this together. If you choose not to pass it on, fine, but I think you will want to, after you read it. Myrna, this one is very touching I thought you would like to read it. Lu

Myrna wrote: I cried. My Dad was a WWII vet as were three of my uncles, his brothers and one of his uncles, nearly his age. My mother's father was a WWI vet. My youngest uncle was in Korea. My cousins made it through Viet Nam, Desert Storm, and some have been deployed to these other horror spots that we keep on fighting. My hat is off to all of you for your dedicated service in so many ways. I lived with heros on a daily basis. Some of them were women. My step-mom was a "Rosy the Riveter," an aunt drove a dump truck when there were no men to do the job, and all of my family, along with countless others, shared in the war effort. I am certain that there is a special place in the Hereafter for each man and woman who gave their all.

Guess what your email address comes up as on my spell-checker? Lawmaker. 

To Benders

Colleen Bender wrote: Hi There,

    I heard Leonard had shoulder surgery and a muscle repair?

    How is he doing?  So many things happen and we hardly hear about them.

    We talked to Bert Paxman yesterday.  His chemo and radiation seem to be working.  That's good news.

    Vard White is not doing well at all.

    Anytime we go to the Dr. it seems to be the same, "Hate to tell you this, but it's age related."

    We sure hope Kirsten continues to heal.  Wow!  that was major.

    Tell Leonard we hope to see him soon, good as new.

    Are you still maintaining?

Love you,
Colleen


Myrna wrote: I prayed last night that I would have the needed energy to keep on keeping on.

Leonard had a rotator cuff repair (minor) and a ruptured biceps repair (major). The surgery went well and Dr. Robert Jackson was proud of the work he did. However, LHT ended up being allergic to tape and codeine (like Kirsten) so he ended up with hives all over the shoulder area. I thought that he had had percocet before but he may have built up an allergy. That can happen with anything.

It is good to hear that Bert is doing well. I wondered when he bore his testimony if that might be the case.

Whenever I scold LHT about not taking care of himself, he tells me that it would be a shame to put a healthy body in the grave.

Kirsten is healing but it will take quite a few more weeks. The doctor tells her that she should be a new and improved model of her former self by the end of June or the first of July. Meanwhile, her kids are falling apart. Emma takes gymnastics, fell and got a minor concussion. In a second fall, she broke her toe. She thinks she might give up the sport. (I wonder why?)

Thanks for your concern and for your continued love.

LHT It Sounds Familiar Said Eva

Hon, Sorry you are having to go through that.  When I was in he care center after my 2nd back surgery, they changed the huge dressing on my back, what a nightmare.  I was so totally allergic to the adhesive tape they used I thought I was going to die from the terrible itching. Now I have to tell everyone to use paper tape on me.   I hope you are beginning to heal after all that surgery. God bless you  Love you always.  Eva  

Helen About Funeral Photos

Myrna wrote: I posted all of the photos of Ila's funeral that I took on Facebook. Just go to my site and there they are. I can send them via email but you will be sorry. My kids hate when I do that because it bogs down the world. If you would email me the addresses for Jimmy, Neldon, Loy Beth, and Tammy, I would be happy to pass on the information or to share any way that I can. I uploaded them in the highest quality setting so they should download in a usable form for printing or sharing.

I also plan to upload to photobucket. When I get that done, I will send the link. It is password protected so I will send that as well. I love you all.


Helen wrote: Hi,  hope all is well- thanks again for your care for Tim- I do not have e-mail addresses you requested but am giving mailing addresses-
Jim- 1007 North 840 East--Orem, Ut  84097
Neldon- 899 North 75 East- Orem, Utah 84057
Tammy- and Loy beth I do not have addresses for- Claire told me she thinks Loy Beth might be living with Tammy at present- she has not been able to keep her own living accomodations- just spoke with Claire- she doesn't have their addresses either- Have a good week. Love Helen

Group Letter

How am I doing? I prayed last night that I would have the needed energy to keep on keeping on. ;) For a 72-year old woman, I am doing well. Grandma Smith, Aunt Renee, and Grandma Edna all died at about age 72. I guess I am just walking on the edge. Let's hope that I keep walking the narrow line and don't fall off. I have never been graceful when walking. Hehehe. I like being alive. I go to see the endocrinologist this week for thyroid and diabetes. Hopefully, the fact that I now weigh 122 pounds and am physically active will make a difference. 

Whenever I scold LHT about not taking care of himself, he tells me that it would be a shame to put a healthy body in the grave. I wonder about LHT's doctor. His A1C is as high as mine and his doctor did not declare him a diabetic. His bad cholesterol reading is a lot worse than mine and he did not get bent out of shape. He just tells him that his problems are age-related. I don't think that is comforting to me. I have a husband who has Factor V and had a heart attack. I worry about him. I think he should change doctors but Dr. James Besendorfer is the doctor who saved his life when he had the heart attack.

We had our young about-to-leave missionary/home teacher, Ben Horrocks (he is going to Italy), and his grandpa, come to our house and give LHT a blessing before he went in for his surgery. He was promised that he would heal quickly and would not have much pain. That certainly was the case. So we are thankful for that. He and Clifton Taylor, who is submitting his papers and who has been in our temple prep class, decided to bring the sacrament to LHT because they love him and they were doing the service for the shut-ins.  

Kirsten is healing but it will take quite a few more weeks. The doctor tells her that she should be a new and improved model of her former self by June. Meanwhile, her kids are falling apart. Emma takes gymnastics, fell and got a minor concussion. In a second fall, she broke her toe. She thinks she might give up the sport. (I wonder why?) The rest have had ear infections and etc.

Julie and family and AnnMarie and family all went to Disneyland this past month. Jim took a load of bees to California, came back and they left. Kyle and Megan were with the orchestra/choir from TimpView who performed there. So the whole family, including Alyssa, were able to go. They all had fun but Rachel got sick and Julie and kids all got ill. (Jim escaped.) 

Uncle David has damaged ribs. He said that he did not break the ribs but did injure the ligaments that cross over the ribs. He said he ended up paying for the doctor visit himself because his work has a policy that you have to report the work-related injury when it happens. He waited two days because it just kept getting worse so that he finally had to go to the doctor. They really don't do much for you when you do that kind of damage. They tell you to take ibuprofen and to be careful. 

We have our sixth, seventh and eighth missionaries from the ward leaving in the next month. We have two more who are submitting their papers. We have been teaching them in temple prep and it has been really great. We love these young and devoted men. It makes us think of our family missionaries whom we love and are so proud of. 

We had an especially spiritual testimony meeting. It was a touching meeting. One of the brothers, Bert Paxman, has been being treated for cancer and was thankful for his healing. Others were thankful for the temple, for family, for ward members who sustained them, for trials they had overcome, for the Spirit of the Holy Ghost which testified to them of various truths. All were thankful for the Savior and for our Father in Heaven. I suppose, on the face of it, it sounds just like most testimony meetings. However, my heart was touched over and over again. One 30-year old man, who is just going to be living in our ward with his family for a few months while their house is built, was just released as a bishop of his former ward one week ago. He and his wife put their house up for sale following that event and it sold for the asking price in five days. They put everything in storage and moved in with her parents, Norm and Carla Wood, until the house is completed. He was so grateful for the love he had felt through all of the upheaval that he could not stop crying. One of those who took the stand, on a lighter note, said he had just decided to take the stand to bear his testimony so that he could bet a tissue because he needed one. At any rate, I was happy that I was there and sad that LHT was not.

When I was a girl, after I was baptized at age 12,  I decided to attend church. I went alone, at first, and was a bit confused by how things proceeded but I stuck with it. (In those days, we met for Sunday School in the morning. We then went home and came back later for Sacrament meeting and, at the morning meeting, we left the chapel in class groups. I wasn't certain where I belonged but I was taken in hand and got where I was supposed to be.) It was not too long before Grandma Smith started going with me and then there were the two of us together and that was good. She had had her feelings hurt by a bishop and had stopped going but when I started going again she decided to bury her hurt and return to the fold where she had always belonged. I so wanted to be one of those families where the father, mother and children all gathered together at meetings each week and where the church was the center of activity. I chose that for myself. I assumed that my children would all want to attend meeting with me so that we could be a happy group together enjoying time spent worshiping as a unit. Now I know that the most important person a missionary can convert is himself. The most important person anyone can convert is himself.  And though I became converted myself, I cannot convert anyone else. Each person must do that job, with the help of the Spirit, by himself. Having said that, I am grateful for the missionaries in my life who introduced me to truth--line upon line--so that I could be converted. There is no greater job on earth. There is no greater calling than serving as missionaries for the living and as surrogates for the dead. I am grateful for the missionaries in our family. They make my heart happy.

How I love my family! I pray for each person. I think of each person each day. I care about what is happening in each life. I like to hear the goings-on. I like to see the photos and receive the contacts on Facebook, in email, on the telephone, by snail-mail. You are so important to me. I get teary-eyed thinking of how wonderful my life is because of each of you. I know that sometimes I am a bit grumpy and out-of-sorts but I do not mean to be that way. I have no idea why I am. LHT tells me that I get tired and should just go to bed. That is, of course, easier said than done. And, even though I am 72 and slower than I used to be, I still think I can get everything done instantly. Bear with me, I have never been old before. Nevertheless, I still like to go to programs (we missed Matthew's because LHT was in pain after surgery), I sill like to have you all around me, I sill like to go places with you and do things with and for you.

Thanks for your love. Thanks for letting me be part of your life. I love you to infinity and beyond.

LHT Allergic Reaction

Myrna  wrote:

LHT had an allergic reaction this a.m., I hope to the tape, but I do not know for certain. I will not be going to the temple today or tomorrow because I do not dare leave him. He developed hives around the surgical site (under the arm, on his chest, on his ribs and on his upper back). I have a call in to the doctor. I removed the bandage and gave him Benadryl. I do not know, yet, whether the tape was latex or not. Though we think it was the tape, at this point, the nurse has said that she thinks he should not take any more percocet (oxycodone and acetaminophen) and just take ibuprofen instead. The nurse said that there were no interactions they knew between Benadryl and ibuprofen

On a high note, the surgery on his shoulder was highly successful. Dr. Robert Jackson said LHT did not have a rotator cuff tear. The cuff was a bit frayed but he was able to take care of that by making it bleed. The blood will force the cuff to heal properly. He was able to remove all of the arthritis and the bone chips that were in the joint. The worst problem was that LHT had a biceps rupture (studying the subject on Google will lead you to an understanding) and Dr. Jackson was able to "take care" of that. He will explain more when we see him next Thursday.

I will keep you all posted.

Love to all.

Melanie wrote: A friend of mine is allergic to the Betadyn solution that they use to prep the skin with before surgery. I have bad allergic reactions to latex adhesives and balloons.

Eva About Fresno

David (Dixon) had go go go Fresno last week to meet about a big new building he has designed for down there. He said there were 20 new missionaries on his plane gong to Fresno.  I told Ben about it when I wrote him on Sunday.   He is a fine missionry.  ours, Chase (David's 4th son) also got transferred.  He has been in Wales and loved it there.  he will be working mostly English now.  They surely grow up in a hurry.

Richard was in the hospital again the end of last week for thee days of chemo.  The have to keep his body clear of cancer so the transplant will have a  better chance of working.    He did not get out until late Sat. night. Chemo takes its own time to complete.   He will have the transplant mid-March after they do the first of his two catartact surgeries.  They were caused by the chemo.  

Love you, Eva

Information About LHT

Dad is having more surgery. This operation will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Utah Valley in the same day clinic. Dr. Robert Jackson will try to repair the rotator cuff on his left arm. (I hope it works out better than the one his brother did on his right arm.) The biggest ticket, however, is that he will scrape out all of the arthritis in the joint. So, Dad says, even if the doctor is not able to repair the rotator cuff better than was done on the right arm, he will at least get rid of the pain.

I tease Dad that, when he has pain, the doctors can get rid of it with a scalpel but when I have pain, I just have to learn to live with it. That is not fairly spoken, of course, I could have back surgery if I could find a doctor nutty enough to do it (and I am certain I could) but that is not going to happen. I have found that weighing 123.2 pounds has really helped as has forcing myself to learn to walk through the pain. After I start a long walk, the pain usually clears up and I am good again. That plus the fact that I now use one of those tubular foam exercise forms before I go to bed each night. That really works.

Enough about my aside. Dad had our home teachers come today and give him a blessing. This was the first time for Ben Horrocks, who is leaving on his mission in a couple of weeks. He had studied up and did a really good job. He has grown up and will make a great missionary.

Now all Dad has to do is survive my driving AGAIN. I think I about drove him nuts coming home from the surgery center in Salt Lake after his eye lid surgery. :) It was a good thing he couldn't see what I was doing. They released us during rush hour and he could only feel the car starting, slowing, speeding, etc. I could see it. Ugh and double ugh. But we did live.


Kirsten wrote: Does anyone want to do a family fast? Kirsten

We should all have listened better.

Justin (Childs), I suppose that you read the info on Facebook from Uncle David about your Great-Uncle Aldo Childs being the person that your father was referring to. I knew him as a great man but I did not know that he could heal anyone over the telephone. That is amazing. I hope that Vernon answers David's request soon because I would really like to hear more about him. 

I think that I remember a lot from my youth but I do not always have all the facts down. As I try to recall some of the stories I heard from our beloved ones who have gone ahead, I find that I am missing pieces and important bits. For example, I knew that my father built a lot of bridges in Zion's Park after the war. I don't remember which ones and neither does anyone else.

My Great-Grandfather John Pritchett was also known for his ability to heal but he did it with his own drugs and herbal concoctions. You know, of course, that he moved to Huntington from Provo and to Provo from Mt. Pleasant. He received his training in pharmacy from his wife's family. The Ericksen's owned a drug store in Mt. Pleasant and he learned from them. The store they built is still there. One of Great-Grandma's aunts married a Mabin who owned a pharmacy in Provo. He moved there and worked for them while Vivian and Jessie went to BYU Academy. He then moved his family to Huntington and built a pharmacy/drug store (they sold all sorts of things, including fountain drinks) there. He was a pharmacist in the days when that meant that the doctor prescribed a medicine and the pharmacist made it from scratch. If a doctor was not availabe, he could make medications to assist the ill on his own. He made some medications of his own formula that were so excellent that I wish I could get my hands on some of them today. Your Grandmother Renee had one tin of salve that he made that would cure an infected sore in just a couple of applications. Even though his son, Frank Pritchett, became a pharmacist, he did not have his father's formulas. He was a pharmacist in the years when the drugs needed came from pharmaceutical companies. So those formulas died with Great-Grandpa. People used to come to him for salves and other medications that he formulated and he had a knack of knowing just what was needed. A pharmacist, in those days, could formulate medications and dispense them legally. He saved many lives and helped heal many people with his knowledge of herbs and formulations. That was not quite the same thing as what your Uncle Aldo was able to do. 

Actually, Uncle Frank gave up his own pharmacy. He sold it for a tidy profit (it was located in Salt Lake City) and moved to California. He opened a chain of camera shops and invented lots of ways to make cameras work better. He shot underwater film for Disney. One of the inventions of his is still used by Kodak today and the many millions of dollars he made from his inventions have gone to help charities that benefited ill children (like Shiner's Hospital) so that, while he did not have the gift of healing that his father had, he did save lives by donating money to help ill children.

My Great-Great Grandmother, Mary Ann Fulcher Pritchett, was a midwife/nurse/Relief Society president in Fairview, Utah, in pioneer times. She had the gift of healing. On June 14, 1868,  the Relief Society was first organized in Fairview, and she was chosen president, and held that position up to the day of her death, which occurred March 5, 1901. She is legend in Sanpete County. She was noted for performing deeds of service. She was ever at the bedside of the sick as nurse and caregiver and was midwife to the women. She was known to heal and help. She was trained as a midwife when Brigham Young became concerned about the conditions pioneer women suffered when they gave birth. He had training for the women who would act as midwives. But she also served as a nurse to anyone who was ill. Whenever anyone was ill, they sent for her. In addition, she could be counted on for wise counsel as well as practical help. The needy were never refused her assistance. 

Justin wrote: Wow thanks lot of stuff I never knew! I have something to share. When Carrie first moved in with me, my youngest son was severely allergic to cats and they would throw him into asthma attacks. I would lay with him and rub his back and talk to him and he hasn't had an attack in 7 years and can stand to be around cats.

Myrna wrote: Yes, I would say that you have the gift. Thanks for sharing. Do you have other experiences like this one?  

About Funeral Photos

I posted on Facebook all of the photos that I took of Ila Pay's funeral. Just go to my site and there they are. I can send them via email but you will be sorry. My kids hate when I do that because it bogs down the world. If you would email me the addresses for Jimmy, Neldon, Loy Beth, and Tammy, I would be happy to pass on the information or to share any way that I can. I uploaded them in the highest quality setting so they should download in a usable form for printing or sharing.

I also have upload to photobucket. I will send the link. It is password protected so I will send that as well. I love you all.

They are all high resolution uploads and should make good prints. There are quite a lot of them so you will want to pick and choose. 

To Jim Llewelyn from Myrna:  I hope all is going well for you and yours while you are in Ohio. Do you have much left to do before you can rent out your new property? I sent your email to my son, Todd, who lives in Ohio.