Our Family Visiting Continues on to Arizona and California

The next segment of our family visiting odyssey was to go on to Phoenix, Arizona and then down to Southern California.  However to get there we decided to back track through some of our children's homes in Idaho and Utah.  Therefore, from Washington, we returned to Idaho about 8 August 2012 and spent some more time with Karen and Dan. Dan arranged for Grant to spend some time visiting with a member of their ward who operates a huge farm on several thousands of acres. 

Grant was able to ride on a huge harvester
belonging to a member of Dan and Karen's
ward.  They were harvesting barley that day.

 That day they were using two combine harvesters to harvest some large fields of barley.  Dan and I each got to ride in one of the harvesters for an hour or so.  The conversation with the farmer was extremely interesting as we spoke a lot about how he had built up his farm.  There was much that we had in common (He grew up in the Salt Lake Valley in an area where my dad had cooperative agreements by which we supplied manure from our chicken business to be used as fertilizer for the farms, and they supplied the labor.  Then after the harvest they supplied us with straw for our chicken pens.)  He had moved to Idaho when his farmland in Utah had become too valuable to be used for farming.  His success in Idaho came as he followed Church teachings in running his business.  We shared a lot of Church interests and experiences, and it was a highlight day for Grant.

Karen and Dan's son Benjamin Felt had
his third birthday while we were in Idaho.
Ben's sister, Claire is looking on here.

From Idaho we returned to Utah where we spent more time with Jacob’s and Susan’s families.  We helped get the stove from Karen installed in Susan’s kitchen, then we drove South to visit Grant’s sisters’ families in Phoenix.  His sisters had come up to the reunion, but neither of their husbands had come.  We wanted more time with them.  On the way down, we stopped in the reservation lands in Northern Arizona to see where we had lived the first years after we came home from the islands.  We were amazed to see the progress that has been made there.  It is good to see that the old tribal traditions that restricted property ownership have changed, and that the people now are progressing much more rapidly than they were when we lived there.

Here in the picture is Howard and Joyce
in their home.  He is over 90 yrs. old now
 and still coherant but he is slowing down
considerably now. It was fun to visit
 with them.

 
In Phoenix we stayed with Mary and James, but were able to go over to Joyce and Howard’s house for visits.  Howard is certainly getting old, and we cherished the opportunity to visit with them.  They asked us to help them with a problem they were having with their sprinkler system in the back yard, and after gathering information, I was able to talk to a repairman and arrange for him to come and fix it.  The rest of the time we just visited.

 



L-R clockwise: James Marble, Grant, Pat and Mary Marble.
We really enjoyed staying in their home while we were in
Arizona. 

Mary took us out for a few excursions, including one to the site where the new Phoenix temple is being built.  A senior missionary serving at the site came and spent more than an hour with us explaining the history of the project.  It seems that there were those who opposed the project, but the Church made adjustments to the plan to meet their objections.  In the process of these negotiations, the plans changed from a small temple to a fairly large one.  The construction was well under way, and much of the steel framework for the building was in place.  What a lot of fascinating information we learned.  There is a branch of the Deseret Book Store not too far away, and we really enjoyed going there with Mary.  We were finally able to get some Church-related books that we have wanted.  We also went to a store that sells Ham Radio stuff, and we got a few books and catalogs.  Back at home, Mary invited her children to gather for a dinner together, so we got to visit with them too.  It was a wonderful visit.



Grant, Pat's sister Sharon, and
Pat are standing in front of the
gravestone of their brother, John
Michael Butler.

We had seen Pat’s sister, Kathy, in Idaho as she had been there visiting a son living not far from Karen and Dan, but we hadn’t visited with her husband, David.  We wanted to do that, and since we were so close, we decided to go from Phoenix to California to visit.  Once arrangements were made, we left Phoenix driving west.  We didn’t find California to be as much to our liking as other places where we had been visiting,  it was so crowded and fast-paced.  However, we certainly enjoyed visiting the people there.  In addition to Kathy and David, Pat’s step-sister, Sharon Smith, lives close by.  While we were on our mission in Kansas we had been informed of Sharon’s finally having been told of the whereabouts of her brother, Michael, who was then suffering terminal cancer in Florida.  Then we heard of his death, and eventually his burial in Southern California. 


The gravestone of John Michael Butler,
Pat's step-brother, Mike, who died in
2012.

 We were able to meet Sharon at the cemetery and hear the whole story in first person.  This was a wonderful experience.  She later came to Kathy’s house for more time together, and it was the answer to our hopes and prayers.  We didn’t see her husband, Smitty, which meant there were two in-laws that we wouldn’t get to visit with, but our trip to California was well worth the time and effort spent.

Three Merrill sisters: Kathy Whitford,
Pat Howlett and Sharon Smith

Eventually, after more than five weeks of travelling around, we turned homeward.  As we drove through Northern Arizona and into New Mexico toward the East we decided to go back to Garden City, Kansas to visit the people we loved there.  For the first time we got a motel room there in the city where we served for 18 months, and went out to visit as many as we could.  In the day and a half that we were there we were able to visit 27 families, spending anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or so with each.  We even got to meet the senior missionary couple that had taken our place, and we were able to answer a lot of their questions.  It was another case of “going back home” for us on this trip.

Grant and brother-in-law David
Whitford in David and Kathy's home
in California.  Jesus Christ is always
foremost in their lives and families.

 

After arriving home again in Ohio, we worked on plans to go to Alaska to visit with Grant's brother Bryce and his family.  We had seen him at the reunion in Utah, but none of his family.  That was the last visit to complete our Family Visiting Odyssey.  Things had to be done to prepare, but we must do it.  Doctors appointments, callings and other things would need to be completed, it would be done!