FROM VIETNAM TO CONCORD, CALIFORNIA - 1971 TO 1976
It was a sad day when we had to take Paul to the airport and say good bye to him for a year. Lots of tears were shed and a promise to write often was made. Letters became our life line to each other and when I didn't receive a letter during a week, I became very nervous as to Paul's safety. I would go check the front door of his parent's home to make sure a notice wasn't there from the Air Force. In reality, I didn't have to worry as much as I did because Paul was stationed at Cameron Bay, which was a relatively safe base. He said that there would be occasional air raids but seldom did the rockets hit close to his livings quarters. It got to where he didn't even get undercover when the sirens went off. He did, though, have to fly into Saigon and exchange script money every month. He would put millions of dollars in a duffel bag, get on a cargo plane and fly over the war torn country, occasionally getting shot at with anti aircraft rockets. He would land in Saigon, board a bus with the duffel bag, and go to the bank to exchange the dollars for the new script money for the month. He only had a side arm pistol to defend himself but, luckily, he never had to use it. I always worried when I knew he was making those money runs. Paul was called to be the group leader for the LDS service men on the base. He was basically the branch president of their military branch.
As for me, during this time, I spent my days going to school at Brigham Young University. I loaded my schedule with many hours of classes to get closer to graduation in Elementary Education. The last part of the year, I did my student teaching at Central Elementary School in Pleasant Grove. When the year was up, I had completed all requirements for graduation except for a few methods classes, about 15 hours worth. I also kept busy with a church calling. When I first arrived in Pleasant Grove, I was called to be the young women's president. I knew no one except for the Bishop who was Bishop Crump, Paul's high school basketball coach. Picking my counselors had to be totally by the spirit and, the Holy Ghost came through, helping me pick wonderful counselors. I came to really love the girls. We would be with them each Sunday in class and then midweek for an activity. One such activity was a spook alley for a Halloween party. The party was held in the church which was a 2 story building. At one point in the spook alley, you had to slide down a shoot to get to the next level of the alley. It was a great event. I was glad for all the distractions from missing Paul. To count off the weeks of separation, I took a deck of cards and each week would put up a new card on my closet door to spell the word HOME. It was a great day when I put up the last card of 52.
When a soldier is stationed overseas in a war, he receives a week of rest and relaxation (R and R). We decided to take our R and R time closer to the end of his tour of duty rather the at the six month mark. We met in Hawaii in March, 1971. We were so excited to be together again. I flew in and met Paul at the airport. He looked so handsome and all I wanted to do was hug him. As we hugged, Paul kind of winced. I had noticed that his face was a little red with sun burn but I didn't realize he was sun burnt all over. It seems he wanted to look especially good when we saw each other so he decided to lay out in the sun to get a sun tan. He obviously stayed out too long as he was sun burned from head to toe. Needless to say our first night together was a little tenuous....but good to be together again, for sure. We spent the whole week seeing Hawaii and all the sights. We took a boat trip out into the bay and attended a luau one evening on the beach. It was a very romantic week, but ended all too soon.
It was a joyous day, when Paul returned home in August of 1971. We spent a few days with his parent and then had to be off to our next assignment, Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, Kansas. We were only there for about 5 months before being released early from the Air Force. While there, we lived in an apartment close to the base. Every day at noon, the tornado warning siren would blast. It was a test to make sure it worked when a real tornado came through. I never did get used to it sounding off each day. Luckily, we never had to hear it as a real warning of a tornado approaching. We attended the a ward in Topeka which was part of the Kansas City Stake. For all leadership stake meetings and stake conferences, we had to travel to Kansas City, an hour and a half drive, to attend. We were both serving with the young men and women, again. We came to love the people in our ward. Around Thanksgiving time, I was asked to arrange a bake sale, at the local mall, to raise money for the Relief Society. (This was when the Relief Society had to fund their own organization and did so through bazaars and bake sales.) I had heard that a sister made delicious Swedish tea rings and would be willing to make several for the bake sale. She agreed to bake, at the church, all day and supply several tea rings every couple of hours through out the day. Of course, we had lots of other baked treats, as well as fresh baked bread, but the tea rings were the hit. We made lots of money for the Relief Society budget and I learned how to make tea rings which has become a tradition for our family ever since.
An interesting side note: when the college age students would return to Topeka after attending BYU in Provo, they would talk about how they loved the wide open spaces of the Kansas plains. They said they got claustrophobic with all the mountains in Utah. Go figure.
We still were unable to get pregnant after 6 years of marriage. It was at Forbes Air Force that we began fertility testing to see if it was even possible for me to have children. We also turned to the Lord. Our friends, Kay and Dex Davis, encouraged us to go talk with our bishop and so we did. We came fasting to the interview with him at which time he gave me a blessing, promising that I would have children. We were grateful for the Davis's who also had fasted with us. Just before we left Topeka, all our fertility tests showed that we were capable of having children so, we continued in much faith that someday that would happen.
After being released from the service, Paul returned back to work for Crown Zellerbach in San Francisco. We rented a townhouse in Concord, across the bay from San Francisco, while we looked for a home to buy. Because of Paul's oversees duty, he was able to save $10,000 which gave us money for a down payment on a home. We decided to build a home in a new development in Concord. It was a 1600 square foot spec home so all we could do was select the outside facade and the colors inside but it was our first home and we loved it. It was fun to decorate the inside and put in a yard outside, which was new to both of us. We moved into our home in the Spring of 1972 and lived there until moving to Washington in 1976.
While in Concord, lots of things happened, the best of which was that we finally got pregnant. I remember, feeling real down one day about not having children and turned to the scriptures. The Bible opened to the book of Job. As I read, I realized that I was very blessed and, for sure, unlike Job. I resolved, then and there, to never lose faith in the promised blessing of children. Soon after this experience, I became pregnant - the miracle of the Lord and the fertility pills the doctor had put me on. We were so excited. We turned one of the bedrooms in our home into a nursery. We painted as old crib and a chest of drawers bright yellow and decorated the room in jungle animals. It was darling and waiting patiently for our little one to arrive and occupy this room. Andrea Deon was born February 5,1973. What a joyous occasion that was for Paul and me. Andrea had tons of dark hair and eyelashes that were so long they would sometimes get caught under her eyelids. When my dad saw her, he was convinced that Mom had picked her out in heaven, especially for me. This was because Andrea looked like my favorite 'Teri Lee' doll which Mom had bought me one Christmas. Being a Mom was an incredible blessing to me. I would often look at Andrea and know she was our miracle baby sent from Heavenly Father. We treasured every minute with her - even the middle of the night feeding.
Life in Concord became pretty routine. Paul would leave for work around 6 in the morning, catch the Grey Hound bus into San Francisco, and return home between 6 and 7 at night. His job was satisfying even though he had an hour plus commute. That commute gave him time to read the newspaper, though, so when he got home he could devote his time to his family. I would try and have dinner ready for him when he arrived so we could spend as much time together as possible in the evening. I also made it a personal policy to have all my work done, around the house and for church, before he came home. I didn't want anything to interrupt for our together time.
As to church - we attended the Oak Grove II Ward in Concord. We,again, served with the young men and young women most of our time in that area. At one time, we were both the presidents of those organization, so we could hold our planning meetings, with the youth, in our home. We both loved the youth of our ward and enjoyed teaching them and playing with them. On one of the activities we were on, we had a scary thing happen. We took the teenagers to the coast in Monterey, about a hour and half drive from Concord, southwest of San Francisco. It was a fun day and when it was time to leave everyone piled into cars to go home. Thinking all the youth were in cars we drove home. When the last car arrived at the Spear's home for dinner, it was realized that one of the Spear boys was not with us. We were sick. Several of the leaders piled into a car and returned to the beach but didn't find him. We said many prayers for his safety and then waited. Just after midnight, we got a call that he had been found. It seems that when he found we had left without him, he started walking. Each time he passed a pay phone he would check to see if there was money in the slot. It wasn't until he got through San Francisco that he discovered a dime and used it to call his parents. They immediately jumped in the car to go pick him up. We were all so relieved when we got the call that he was safe. We definitely knew our prayers were answered.
We were part of a young marrieds group in our ward. We would get together once a month at one of the couple's homes and have dinner. The host couple would provide the main course and assign the other couples to bring salads, dessert, etc. It was a great group and we enjoyed getting together. Paul's brother, Derrill and his wife, Irene, lived in our ward at that time and were apart of this dinner group, also. That's when I started increasing my cooking abilities, trying new recipes and adding the good ones to my collection.
Two years after moving to California, on April 11, 1975, our Jon Gregory was born. What a thrill it was to now have a boy. We decorated the third bedroom of our home into a little girl's room done in blues and greens with white shelving on two walls for toys. It was darling and perfect for Andrea. Jon became the occupant of the nursery. He was an active little boy from the very start of his life. Before we left Concord, about a year later he was walking and getting into mischief.
My sister, Deon, had moved to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and so we decided to take a trip up to visit them with our two children. As we were driving through Spokane, Washington to Idaho, we fell in love with the pine trees and the beauty of the area. We wondered at that time why we were living in the bay area where there was major traffic even at midnight and where Paul had to commute for over an hour twice a day. We were also disillusioned with what was being presented in the very liberal high schools in California and figured Washington and Idaho would be much more conservative. After a few days visiting, we returned to California, and immediately subscribed to the Spokesman Review, a newspaper published in Spokane. Paul wanted to check out job possibilities in that area. When nothing came available through the paper, we decided to return to Idaho in April of 1976, Paul having set up interviews with a couple of employment agencies. During one of his interviews, he was told they had nothing to offer him but, then, the agent said to wait and he would call a person he knew with a company that often hired through them. He called and, just by chance, this company was in need of an accountant. Paul immediately went in for an interview and was offered the job. We drove around Spokane and found a development in which we would want to build a home and returned to Spokane to put our home on the market. Our home sold in a week and we were back in Spokane within a month....So happy to be out of the crowded, liberal bay area of California.
As for me, during this time, I spent my days going to school at Brigham Young University. I loaded my schedule with many hours of classes to get closer to graduation in Elementary Education. The last part of the year, I did my student teaching at Central Elementary School in Pleasant Grove. When the year was up, I had completed all requirements for graduation except for a few methods classes, about 15 hours worth. I also kept busy with a church calling. When I first arrived in Pleasant Grove, I was called to be the young women's president. I knew no one except for the Bishop who was Bishop Crump, Paul's high school basketball coach. Picking my counselors had to be totally by the spirit and, the Holy Ghost came through, helping me pick wonderful counselors. I came to really love the girls. We would be with them each Sunday in class and then midweek for an activity. One such activity was a spook alley for a Halloween party. The party was held in the church which was a 2 story building. At one point in the spook alley, you had to slide down a shoot to get to the next level of the alley. It was a great event. I was glad for all the distractions from missing Paul. To count off the weeks of separation, I took a deck of cards and each week would put up a new card on my closet door to spell the word HOME. It was a great day when I put up the last card of 52.
When a soldier is stationed overseas in a war, he receives a week of rest and relaxation (R and R). We decided to take our R and R time closer to the end of his tour of duty rather the at the six month mark. We met in Hawaii in March, 1971. We were so excited to be together again. I flew in and met Paul at the airport. He looked so handsome and all I wanted to do was hug him. As we hugged, Paul kind of winced. I had noticed that his face was a little red with sun burn but I didn't realize he was sun burnt all over. It seems he wanted to look especially good when we saw each other so he decided to lay out in the sun to get a sun tan. He obviously stayed out too long as he was sun burned from head to toe. Needless to say our first night together was a little tenuous....but good to be together again, for sure. We spent the whole week seeing Hawaii and all the sights. We took a boat trip out into the bay and attended a luau one evening on the beach. It was a very romantic week, but ended all too soon.
It was a joyous day, when Paul returned home in August of 1971. We spent a few days with his parent and then had to be off to our next assignment, Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, Kansas. We were only there for about 5 months before being released early from the Air Force. While there, we lived in an apartment close to the base. Every day at noon, the tornado warning siren would blast. It was a test to make sure it worked when a real tornado came through. I never did get used to it sounding off each day. Luckily, we never had to hear it as a real warning of a tornado approaching. We attended the a ward in Topeka which was part of the Kansas City Stake. For all leadership stake meetings and stake conferences, we had to travel to Kansas City, an hour and a half drive, to attend. We were both serving with the young men and women, again. We came to love the people in our ward. Around Thanksgiving time, I was asked to arrange a bake sale, at the local mall, to raise money for the Relief Society. (This was when the Relief Society had to fund their own organization and did so through bazaars and bake sales.) I had heard that a sister made delicious Swedish tea rings and would be willing to make several for the bake sale. She agreed to bake, at the church, all day and supply several tea rings every couple of hours through out the day. Of course, we had lots of other baked treats, as well as fresh baked bread, but the tea rings were the hit. We made lots of money for the Relief Society budget and I learned how to make tea rings which has become a tradition for our family ever since.
An interesting side note: when the college age students would return to Topeka after attending BYU in Provo, they would talk about how they loved the wide open spaces of the Kansas plains. They said they got claustrophobic with all the mountains in Utah. Go figure.
We still were unable to get pregnant after 6 years of marriage. It was at Forbes Air Force that we began fertility testing to see if it was even possible for me to have children. We also turned to the Lord. Our friends, Kay and Dex Davis, encouraged us to go talk with our bishop and so we did. We came fasting to the interview with him at which time he gave me a blessing, promising that I would have children. We were grateful for the Davis's who also had fasted with us. Just before we left Topeka, all our fertility tests showed that we were capable of having children so, we continued in much faith that someday that would happen.
After being released from the service, Paul returned back to work for Crown Zellerbach in San Francisco. We rented a townhouse in Concord, across the bay from San Francisco, while we looked for a home to buy. Because of Paul's oversees duty, he was able to save $10,000 which gave us money for a down payment on a home. We decided to build a home in a new development in Concord. It was a 1600 square foot spec home so all we could do was select the outside facade and the colors inside but it was our first home and we loved it. It was fun to decorate the inside and put in a yard outside, which was new to both of us. We moved into our home in the Spring of 1972 and lived there until moving to Washington in 1976.
While in Concord, lots of things happened, the best of which was that we finally got pregnant. I remember, feeling real down one day about not having children and turned to the scriptures. The Bible opened to the book of Job. As I read, I realized that I was very blessed and, for sure, unlike Job. I resolved, then and there, to never lose faith in the promised blessing of children. Soon after this experience, I became pregnant - the miracle of the Lord and the fertility pills the doctor had put me on. We were so excited. We turned one of the bedrooms in our home into a nursery. We painted as old crib and a chest of drawers bright yellow and decorated the room in jungle animals. It was darling and waiting patiently for our little one to arrive and occupy this room. Andrea Deon was born February 5,1973. What a joyous occasion that was for Paul and me. Andrea had tons of dark hair and eyelashes that were so long they would sometimes get caught under her eyelids. When my dad saw her, he was convinced that Mom had picked her out in heaven, especially for me. This was because Andrea looked like my favorite 'Teri Lee' doll which Mom had bought me one Christmas. Being a Mom was an incredible blessing to me. I would often look at Andrea and know she was our miracle baby sent from Heavenly Father. We treasured every minute with her - even the middle of the night feeding.
Life in Concord became pretty routine. Paul would leave for work around 6 in the morning, catch the Grey Hound bus into San Francisco, and return home between 6 and 7 at night. His job was satisfying even though he had an hour plus commute. That commute gave him time to read the newspaper, though, so when he got home he could devote his time to his family. I would try and have dinner ready for him when he arrived so we could spend as much time together as possible in the evening. I also made it a personal policy to have all my work done, around the house and for church, before he came home. I didn't want anything to interrupt for our together time.
As to church - we attended the Oak Grove II Ward in Concord. We,again, served with the young men and young women most of our time in that area. At one time, we were both the presidents of those organization, so we could hold our planning meetings, with the youth, in our home. We both loved the youth of our ward and enjoyed teaching them and playing with them. On one of the activities we were on, we had a scary thing happen. We took the teenagers to the coast in Monterey, about a hour and half drive from Concord, southwest of San Francisco. It was a fun day and when it was time to leave everyone piled into cars to go home. Thinking all the youth were in cars we drove home. When the last car arrived at the Spear's home for dinner, it was realized that one of the Spear boys was not with us. We were sick. Several of the leaders piled into a car and returned to the beach but didn't find him. We said many prayers for his safety and then waited. Just after midnight, we got a call that he had been found. It seems that when he found we had left without him, he started walking. Each time he passed a pay phone he would check to see if there was money in the slot. It wasn't until he got through San Francisco that he discovered a dime and used it to call his parents. They immediately jumped in the car to go pick him up. We were all so relieved when we got the call that he was safe. We definitely knew our prayers were answered.
We were part of a young marrieds group in our ward. We would get together once a month at one of the couple's homes and have dinner. The host couple would provide the main course and assign the other couples to bring salads, dessert, etc. It was a great group and we enjoyed getting together. Paul's brother, Derrill and his wife, Irene, lived in our ward at that time and were apart of this dinner group, also. That's when I started increasing my cooking abilities, trying new recipes and adding the good ones to my collection.
Two years after moving to California, on April 11, 1975, our Jon Gregory was born. What a thrill it was to now have a boy. We decorated the third bedroom of our home into a little girl's room done in blues and greens with white shelving on two walls for toys. It was darling and perfect for Andrea. Jon became the occupant of the nursery. He was an active little boy from the very start of his life. Before we left Concord, about a year later he was walking and getting into mischief.
My sister, Deon, had moved to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and so we decided to take a trip up to visit them with our two children. As we were driving through Spokane, Washington to Idaho, we fell in love with the pine trees and the beauty of the area. We wondered at that time why we were living in the bay area where there was major traffic even at midnight and where Paul had to commute for over an hour twice a day. We were also disillusioned with what was being presented in the very liberal high schools in California and figured Washington and Idaho would be much more conservative. After a few days visiting, we returned to California, and immediately subscribed to the Spokesman Review, a newspaper published in Spokane. Paul wanted to check out job possibilities in that area. When nothing came available through the paper, we decided to return to Idaho in April of 1976, Paul having set up interviews with a couple of employment agencies. During one of his interviews, he was told they had nothing to offer him but, then, the agent said to wait and he would call a person he knew with a company that often hired through them. He called and, just by chance, this company was in need of an accountant. Paul immediately went in for an interview and was offered the job. We drove around Spokane and found a development in which we would want to build a home and returned to Spokane to put our home on the market. Our home sold in a week and we were back in Spokane within a month....So happy to be out of the crowded, liberal bay area of California.
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