Faith, Family and Farm

Sept 4, 1994 Dear Mother,                 We went to a high priest quorum party last night. Arlin and Mary Louise Hillysand (quorum pres. ) hosted it. It was really fun. The women stayed at their house and played “phase 10” while the men went to the park and played horse shoes. We had a tournament. He gave awards for the winners. They were horseshoes mounted on a base with first, second and third stamped on the horse shoes. The horseshoes were painted gold, silver and bronze they were classy trophies. (I won the silver kind of by default. Ray Montero beat me in the second round then had to leave to go pick up his kids, so I took his place in the order)                 After the activities we went back to Hillyard’s for hamburgers and homemade potluck. It was great… homemade ice-cream, homemade root beer, corn on the cob, potato sal...

Aug 21, 1991 Dear Mother, It’s hard to settle back into the old routine. I keep wanting to go on trips. This summer was soo much fun. I don’t like to see it be over. School stars in another week. Charlie is out for football that is an interesting phenomenon. The more they make those guys sacrifice. The more important they feel football is they’ve been practicing two 2 hr. sessions a day. One at 9am and then again at 5pm with extreme physical stress, just like it’s more than a dumb game that no one will remember what they did or who won, or if it mattered 10 years down the road. But I remember how it works. It relates to “Rooster Juice”, self-esteem, Peer group esteem and getting girls to notice you. I hope he gets through the experience without any serious injuries. The weather is finally cooling a little (below 100) to the high 90’s. Our Prayers are with you everyday Love Robert, Janet, Charlie and Sam PS here’s a little essay:      ...

#35 April 23, 1994 Dear Mother,                                 Last week I got a letter from EFY. They finalized my acceptance and sent me a contract and assignment to speak at EFY this summer at two sessions one in Provo and one in Missouri. (I asked for those two places because they are closest to my married kids.) I speak on Tuesday, June 7 and Friday June 10 in Provo. I plan to come to see you on the Wednesday or Thursday, if I don’t have to do anything else for EFY on those days. I’m scheduled to speak 4 hrs at Provo and 6 hrs at Missouri. It’s kind of scary how that it’s final. I’ve never spoken for that long. I think each session is 50 minutes. I think they expect a different topic each session. My talks are usually about 20-30 minutes. I get to do a warm up in Modesto in May. I’m scheduled to speak two 50 minute s...

Mar. 27, 1994 Dear Mother, Magdalene said that you were having some allergy trouble with the spring blooms. That's a nuisance. I had my worst allergy season in three years this year. It was a result of the doctor reducing my prednisone dose down to about the normal amount that the body produces so it wasn't suppressing the symptoms any more. Janet and Charlie went to Tucson to visit her sister this weekend. Megan and Sam are here with me. Sam went to a merit badge clinic today that took up the whole day. I forgot to give him his medicines before he left. I didn't remember until Janet called me this afternoon to see if I had remembered. I was worried that he might have a seizure before he got home. His medicines got mixed up before when he had that seizure is why we're so concerned. I noticed another phenomenon which was revealing to me. He came home more alert than usual and the scout master mentioned him having memory (which he usually doesn't have) I think t...

Mar 20, 1994 Dear Mother, We're having nice weather (we need more rain). Janet's Merry Miss Luau was a big success last night. Her girls danced the hula after the delicious dinner, then she showed the video of the Polynesian cultural center program. It was great! Megan is still undefeated in tennis. She's the only one on both girls and boys teams. Charlie lost a tie breaker last week. Janet and Charlie are going to Tuscon to visit her sister Nancy and family next Friday. This week we're getting in new kitchen cabinets. The ole ones look like they've been through too many kids. I hope things are going well for you. We're praying for you every day. Love, Robert, Janet and kids PS I'm enclosing another little lecture: The value of the demonstrator model... Once upon a time there was a man who had a kayak manufacturing business. Kayaks are those little boats that the Eskimos used to use to hunt seals. They were a little canoe with a hole ...

2-28-94 Dear Mother, Sam is writing his personal history on my computer right now, so I'm writing longhand. He's writing his memories of you living in the little house in our backyard. He remembers the slices of round wheat bread and honey you used to give him when he went over to your house. Our daffodils are starting to bloom, as are the almonds and early peaches and apricots. This is our Feb. warm spell before the spring winds. It's alittle late. Charlie and Megan went to their first tennis tournament today in Carothers, CA. They are both 2nd singles...Meg for the varsity girls and Charlie for the boys varsity. Janet and I went fishing to a "pay per fish" trout pond to fish on our date. She likes to eat them and I like to fish. We are doing well healthwise. Charlie and I made some new shelves (more like lofts) in the barn. I haven't finished the clean up yet. Sam is now writing about how Grandpa used to show him the picture of the wolf and...

Nov. 27, 1993 Dear Mom, Our weather is nice. ..about 55 to 60 degrees in the afternoon and a little frost in the morning...sometimes. I bought a second hand computer aweek ago. It's a 286 IBM campatible, with a hard drive and a modem (phone connection) and a printer and a monitor. It has "word perfect" in the drive already. I didn't have to pay much for it. Second hand 286's are pretty cheap now days. They are about three models back. It seems like they come out with a newer faster with more gadgets model every year, but I don't know enough about computers to do a new one justice. I'm planning to put Personal Ancestral File on it so I can do genealogy on it. I couldn't put it on my old Tandy. Charlie says it is like the ones at school so he can run it better than I. But I need to learn as soon as I can. I'm pretty excited about it. I didn't want to invest in a new one and my old one is starting to misfunction sometimes. Thanksgiving was...

June 12, 1993 Dear Mother, The kids have been out for school for aweek. Megan is in Utah visiting her sisters, taking the ACT and going to EFY. Charlie is starting Pony league baseball practice and Sam is going to Summer School for three weeks. He's really going to miss school this summer. His physical coordination has been damaged too much by the cancer to play sports so the social and academic activity of school is his main event. He's working on making up a game about the modern day prophets. He got his idea from Charlie who made up a game about the presidents of the USA last winter and presented it as an extra credit project for one of his classes. Making up games seems to be the latest fad in my current family. The bishop issued a challenge to us to try to limit our TV watching to 2 hrs. aweek until father's day. We've been saving out time for one video ("Five Mile Creek" series, by Disney) and the remaining minutes seeing the weather forecast. We w...

May 6, 1993 Dear Mother, We're doing pretty well.Megan got asked to the Merced Junior prom by a boy from church in Merced. She seems pretty elated by the whole thing. Charlie's baseball season is over. He'll graduate in less than a month. Sam is doing pretty well. He enjoys school alot. We are having some trouble getting our watermelons to sprout. It's been a cool spring. We replanted again last night. Did you know that we are raising a lamb on a bottle? He is really fun. He was abandoned by his mother out in our pasture and Johnnie gave him to us. He's black and we named him (by popular vote) Bill. We take him in the truck with us when we go out in the field and he follows us like a dog (even better...Duke is too tired to follow very far. He just lays down and watches us go.) You've heard of Dodge Ram trucks? We have a truck tam that dodges. He's really fun. Charlie feeds him morning and night. Sam feeds him mid day when he gets home from school. ...

Dear Magdalene, We surely enjoy your letters. You really have a classy printer. I'm impressed with the quality. I finally had it dawn on me that mine would work better if I got a new ribbon. I have had it for about six or seven years and had never changed the ribbon. It does alot better now. I appreciate the update on Mother's health situation. I am still tentatively planning on coming back to Utah in June. I still didn't feel too secure about the prospect though, so I had Megan get airline tickets. So we won't be bringing her back. Janet's family on her mother's side are having a reunion down by St. George. We're hoping to include that in the trip. It's on June 12. The weather is getting warmer. I should be able to plant melons pretty soon. The wind is starting to blow. That really makes farming hard. The ground dries out so fast that it really makes it hard on seedlings. It's difficult to sprout shallow seeds like flowers. We have alot ...

4-5-93 Dear Mother, I hope this finds you feeling well. We're doing fine. We take Sam in to Fresno for his MRI to check to see if there is any cancer recurring day after tomorrow. We're pretty anxious about that. I'll let you know what we find out. We attended all five satellite conference sessions in the ward this weekend. It was outstanding. Such a comprehensive coverage of the areas needing attention in our society. I give my dis a test on Sunday evening on the conference talks. It really works. I give them a bottle of soda if they can answer 50% or better. (Actually I pick whatever the low score is as the cut off so that no one gets left out.) With that incentive they pay attention to the speakers and take notes. The test also gives me a chance to review and summarize the most important points. This week is spring vacation, so they're all home. It's starting to get windy. You can tell that it's getting close to May Day. The weather is always windy ...

2-14-93 Dear Mom, How are you doing? We're doing ok here. Last night we went to Merced to Cinda Hansen's wedding reception. I'm really getting old and out of touch. I don't recognize anybody anymore. They've all grown and changed. It was a nice time. Today we had ward conference. It was good. Friday we took Charlie and Megan on their birthday outings to Fresno. We shopped some clothes for Charlie then took them to a new smorgie restaurant, Hometown Buffet. Everyone went back about three times. Then we took Sam to his radiation treatment. We had to hurry home to get Charlie back in Time to go on a scout winter campout by 5:30. We made it. He had a good time and got back Saturday night. They went to Pinecrest. Saturday morning Megan went to Merced for a youth speaker, then she stayed with friends in Merced and went on to Turlock to a Priest-Laurel dinner and dance in the evening. She came back to Merced and stayed over with the Walshes, then rode back to Lo...

10-28-92 Dear Mom, I've been thinking about you. I love you.  You've been such a good mother and I appreciate and am grateful for what you've done for me and the sacrifices you've made for all of your children. I know life gets difficult when you're physically debilitated. I've had some of that myself in the past few years. But I want you to know I love you. The hope in the gospel plan is a great steadying force and consolation. We're doing well. Carrie came home from BYU last weekend. She got a ride with a girl from Merced. Charlie's football team won last week. They are in 1st place in their league now. Sam is doing well and liking school a lot. Megan is working in my office after school for an hour. We're having beautiful weather. We had a missionary open house in our new chapel last night. Did I tell you that we just finished the 3rd and 4th phases of our chapel? They redid the chapel to get asbestos out of it. Then added the ...

9-18-92 Dear Mother, Hope you're doing well. Magdalene said you were doing better. We're getting along fine. Sam is in the hospital again with an infection. We expect this about aweek to 10 days following chemotherapy. His resistance drops subsequent to the chemo. He only has one more chemotherapy session to go. Then he should be able to recover and grow hair again. Pete's farewell will be Sept. 27. He goes into the MTC Oct. 12. He's going back to Provo acouple of weeks early. Megan and Charlie are doing well. Charlie is running for Student Body Pres. in Jr. High. His football team is doing really well also. They won their first two games 22-0 and 41-00. I'm getting some new glasses. I'm hoping to get some magnification for my work. I tried some telescopic glasses. I found them too cumbersome and awkward so I'm trying some tri focals with added power. I'm anxious to see how they work. Sam has some vision loss from his tumor. The ophthalmolo...

8-30-92 Dear Mother, I hope this finds you feeling well. We're getting some relief from the hot weather. It's really pleasant. Susie and her family were here for three weeks. We had a wonderful visit but the temperature was 108 and 107 for most of the last week she was here. It made it feel cool shen the temperature dropped to 100. Peter received his mission call to the Montreal, Canada mission. He goes into the MTC in Provo on Oct. 13. His job at the cantaloupe shed runs through September. He's naturally excited about it. He will learn the discussions in French since this is the French speaking part of Canada. The other kids all started school last Monday. Charlie is playing football again and is real excited about that. Megan is in her junior year. Charlie is in the eighth grade and Sam is in the fifth. Our stake is putting on a musical program called "From Cumorah's hill" for all the mutual aged kids. They have a practice at the stake center eve...

6-22-92 Dear Mother, I've been thinking of you alot lately. I tried to phone but the last two times I called you couldn't hear me well enough to recognize who I was. We're getting along pretty well. Sam hs chemotherapy for the tumor around the hypothalamus of his brain every three weeks, if he doesn't have any complications. The chemotherapy destroys much of his immune system by lowering his white blood cell count severely and other defense units in his blood so he tends to get strep infections in about the second week. He did this ten days ago and spent a week in the hospital. That put off his chemo treatment as a result. Now he's scheduled to have his next treatment this coming Thursday if his blood studies are up sufficiently. He is pretty happy through it all. He hasn't gotten sick with the chemo. He's lost his hair and is bald as can be. The tumor has affected some of the motor nerves to his eyes and mouth so he has alittle trouble focus...

July 9, 1992 How are you getting along? Magdalene tells me that you're doing alittle better. When I watch the weather forecast on the news I see the storm from Hurricane Darby spinning across the southern half of CA and going through Utah and Nebraska and Chicago and I think those clouds over me are going on to all my kids. If I could just ride them I could go visit You and all of my kids. We had our first watermelon on the fourth of July. That is the earliest we have ever harvested a watermelon from our own patch. I was amonth late getting out to plant melons this year and when I got there some volunteer melons were already growing from the seeds left from overripe melons left in the patch last year. They were the source of our early melon. Sam is in the hospital again for more chemotherapy this week. He's been doing pretty well. He seems to be having some discomfort with his mucous membranes this time. This is to be expected. We expected it before this and have been f...

Dear Mother, Dear Mother, I'm writing you from the hospital where Sam is being treated. They discovered that he has cancer (a malignant tumor in his brain) about 3 weeks ago. They've given him his 1st treatment of chemotherapy about 10 days ago and the results were really good. The tumor looks like its greatly diminished already, so we're really encouraged. Magdalene wrote me a card saying she was on her way to Oregon for a visit. I guess you're missing her. Our BYU students, Heidi and Carrie, are coming home for a visit tonight. Pete is staying in Provo. I'm doing very well on my kidney transplant. I've had no rejection problems. Pet is doing ell, also. Summer is getting close. The temperature has been in the 90's the last two days. Our apricots are about 1 " in diameter. It won't be too long now before we have fruit. I'll try to call you again. The last time I called you you didn't recognize me. Hope you are feeling better...

Dear Magdalene, I really appreciate your phone calls and cards as I've gone through this transplant experience. I love you and your caring means a lot to me. Things are going well. The process of regulating the medications takes some time as they can't afford to get the levels too low so they have to monitor blood levels and back off slowly. But I'm feeling stronger all the time. I went back to work today. I still have a slight tremor from the meds but it's not much. Good luck fixing your house. Love, Robert

3-4-92 Dear Mom, I think about you often and wish I could do more for you. I'm getting along very well following the transplant surgery. I went back to work today for half a day. I think that 2 month vacation spoiled me for hard work. Dentistry is scary and high anxiety work. But, I feel good physically and need to get back to making a living again. I've been going through the barn and sorting and re arranging to try to get more space. I've also been cutting wood and pruning my orchard and just working around the place. It's bee really fun. Most of our fruit trees are in bloom now.

Dear Mom, Pop and Magdalene, How are you doing? I've been having some health trouble. I think I've been waiting to call or write until I had some good news, but, I hadn't better wait any longer. What's going on is still somewhat of a mystery. They check my blood every week. It's still not where it should be but hasn't changed much more than lab error allowance for two or three weeks. The doctor is looking at my kidney function. It's not right and he things that may be the cause of all the problems. They've been running some tests on them. He wsays they're functioning at about 30% of normal. I'm still able to work but need a nap at lunch time and can't do much else. I have the kids doing all of the chores and gardening. He says there isn't anything to do for it but give me a transfusion if I have to have it to keep working. I'm enjoying having time to write my stories and lectures and put them on computer discs. It seems that I alw...

5-3-86 Dear Mom and Pop, I hope that you're getting along OK. I have a new calling in the church..I am really excited about it. I'm the scout master in the ward. I was released from my high council responsibilities so I could take this job. I've been having trouble finding time to take Pete camping and on outings.  Also Janet has been hard pressed to take all of the kids and friends to church by herself on Sundays. This puts me back in the ward where I can share the load with her and gives me a reason to go with Pete on the outings and overnights. This job also carries with it the Deacon's adviser (teacher) responsibility. Last weekend was the Mayday fair in Los Banos. They have the central California arm wrestling championship competition in conjunction with the fair. Heidi entered the women's division. She lost, but I was really pleased that she had the gumption to enter. Somehow or other the girls in her home Econ. class got started arm wrestling one day ...

1402 California Street Dos Palos, California 93620 Feb. 5, 1986 Dear Mom and Pop, I forgot to mention to you the other day on the phone that I talked to Janet about your offering us space in your cemetery plot. She is pleased with the idea. We both can't think of any place we would rather be when the time comes. So, thank you very much. We accept. A new corporation has taken over the hospital in Dos Palos. They are expanding the facility. They had a ground breaking ceremony yesterday to start a new clinic building for three physicians offices and a parking lot across from my office on that vacant lot behind the drug store. A friend gave me three geese to go with my two ganders. However, they don't get along well at all. My two ganders stay on one side of the orchard and the three geese stay on the other. Maybe when they get ready to lay they'll change their minds. The mutual kids, Heidi, Carrie and Pete, are planning to be in the Stake Dance Festival scheduled ...

circa 1986 Dear Magdalene, I enjoyed your letter. That was a generous offer that you made in regard to a family news letter. I'll try to get my family information to you if your willing to put the letter together. I would recommend that we do it once a quarter instead of every month. That would be much oftener than we hear from everyone now and still wouldn't be as hard to keep up with. Mary went to BYU, Hawaii, about aweek ago. She went alittle early to try to find a job before school starts. She was pretty excited about the whole adventure. Susie and Paul and Amy are on a trip to Florida for about a week now. They left yesterday. They plan to camp out alot and see Disneyworld and some other sights in between there and their home in Evanston, Il. After our family reunion Pete stayed with Melinda and Dan for two weeks in Provo, He went to BYU baseball camp for the first week. Then they spent a weekend at Dan't home in Declo Idaho where Dan took him fishing and hiki...

Nov. 10, 1985 Dear Mom and Pop, I hope you're getting along okay. I think about you often and worry alittle about you being alone so far away. We're getting along fine. About as busy as usual. We're having a storm. This is the first significant rain we've had since last winter and it's not much. Pete had his last football game yesterday. They lost but he has done real well. He's afast runner and gave him some confidence to get some notoriety. He made afew touchdowns through the season. He's also doing well academically. Actually they are all doing well in school. We had our stake conference today. F. Enzio Busche was our visiting general authority. He was really outstanding. Very warm. Last week Janet and I went to San Francisco for the dental convention. I went to the temple the first day we were there and the convention on the second. We really had a nice time. Paula stayed with the kids. I relayed your regards to her for you and she asked ab...

1402 California Street Dos Palos, California 93620 Dear Magdalene, We recieved your letter regarding the family reunion. I was happy with your suggestion. I've felt badly about our not celebrating Mom and Pops 50th anniversary and have never had any workable ideas of something to do. Yours is better than any I've had. I've thought about sending them on a trip but I don't think they're up to it health wise. Besides, I think they'd enjoy a family reunion celebration in their honor more any way. It might be fun to try to arrange for someone to take an auto trip back by all their old places in the western Oregon region. Or at least those near Portland while they're there. Thanksgiving is as good a time as any. Let us know what you want me to do and we'll aim at getting there on Thanksgiving week end. Happy Birthday! I'm excited about just getting everyone together for a visit. Love, Robert, Janet, etc.

3-14-71 Dear Magdalene, Tim, Lance and Robert, We've surely been doing alot of wondering about you all and what you're doing and how you re.  The last time we saw Tim he was talking about getting a job in the woods--did you. And what about Lance and Donny-what are you ding and what are your plans. And what about you Maggie? Sure would like to see you again. Janet's family were here to visit last month and David said he had seen Ramona on campus and thought she was expecting a baby--Is that right? And how's Ruby doing? We're getting along fine. Did we tell you that we have a new baby girl, Heido Jo. She sleeps clear thru the night. We're liking it here real well. We added a second bathroom. Also I was elected a school board trustee the same night Heidi was born. Janet and I may get to go with a science club in the Jr. High on a trip to Baja California, Mexico next Friday thru Monday. Sure hope it works out. Sure would like to hear from you if any of y...

Oct. 25. 1970 Dear Mom and Pop, How are you getting along? I worry about you trying to move. I hope you don't over do-too often. You ought to stay in Manti. We went to the temple in Oakland yesterday. Two couples in our branch went thru for the first time and were sealed. I was checking out genealogy records last week and I don't have the dates of Milo's or Carl's deaths. Could you send them to me. Also any suggestions on lines we should start on . We're taking a class and want to do something besides copy whats been done. Things are going well. Janet is getting along fine. Just two months to go. The kids are enjoying school. I've been having some back trouble due to my working position. I think I need more exercise. I'm surely sad to see the melon season end. Hope you're getting along well. Love, Rob, Janet and girls.

Corvallis Professional Center Fifth and Madison Corvallis, Oregon 97330 1-11-69 Dear Magdalene, In regards to your question about your partial's movement. Denture adhesives usually aren't much help on towers. They usually require either clasp adjustment or reline. I'd be inclined to think the clasps were involved or else the occlusion isn't balanced. I wish I were close enough to check it for you. It would probably be simplest just to go to your dentist there and have it checked. It shouldn't require anything very extensive if it does let me know. We're having a pretty snowy winter. The kids like it. Things are going pretty well for us. I haven't done enough fishing in the last few weeks. I had some good days in November fishing steelhead. I really enjoy getting out on the streams. I've got to get back on a farm of some kind. I really feel stifled living in town. How are all of you? I think about you and the kids alot. I wish I could see you ...

Univ. of O. Med. Sch. Hosp. Portland, Oregon Dear Maggy and Carl, After many tests the doctors seem to think I've been afflicted with infectious hepatitus, a liver disease. They say I'll be here for at least another two weeks. They say the best cure is laying in bed and minimizing activity along with plenty to eat. So, they have confined me to my bed with bathroom privileges and feedings 6 times aday plus vitamin pills. Doesn't look like I'll be getting out of here as soon as I had wanted. The sickness isn't very serious anymore, though, if I rest, I guess. They say it is inactive now. I've got to go take my shower now so I'd better close. Love, Robert

Norfolk, VA Aug 10, 1955 Dear Mom and Pop, I'm down in Norfolk, VA this week. I'm supposed to see my first hurricane this afternoon. The hurricane Connie is supposed to be headed this way. Norfolk is supposed to be the biggest naval port in the world. We rode the ferry across the bay yesterday. Monday I went to Georgetown to see about transferring. They said they were full but after they found out I was a Mormon their views seemed to change and the lady said that it was very possible that I could get in. I don't know whether they want to convert me or just need variation in their  ranks. She said it depended mainly on my transcripts from B.Y.U. I sent a night letter to Provo to have them sent out. Georgetown is a well diciplined boys school, which would be quite a change from B.Y.U. At least I should get some studying done. I have a tooth that I'm afraid is going to have to come out. It's been giving me trouble this week. I have about $100 saved up for my...

837 22nd St. N.W. Washington D.C. Dear Pop, Happy Fathers day, (about 4 days late, as usual) I've really been seeing the country on my job, lately. I went down in to the Shanandoah Valley of Virginia last Saturday. I saw some real nice farms. They get alot of moisture but still the farms don't look leeched out as the did in western Oregon. The forests here don't have enough evergreen trees to talk about. Most of the trees are of the oak and maple variety. There is quite abit of woods area scattered through the country so the farm land is very beautiful. We worked in the farm area for a while Sat. While out there I pulled a stalk of wheat up which seemed to be about average. I'm enclosing it in the letter. Many of Virginias farms are owned by retired millionaires. That is probably the reason why one sees many of the beautiful farms with beautiful herds of cattle on them. However the area that I got the wheat from was a normal poor man's area. ...

Provo, Utah March 27, 1955 Dear Mom and Daddy, I received Axel's letter acouple of days ago and was very happy to hear the news. Thats to bad that you sprained your ankle, Mom. I hope it gets well soon. I moved at the first of this quarter again. I now live at 759 No. 1st East. There are five of us in the house. It's alittle nicer and alot closer, It's only a block away from campus. I pay about 17 dollars amonth all of the utilities paid with an automatic washer. I sure miss Herb, he is as good a room mate as a fellow could ask for. He and I were the only ones left at the other house since Bob went down to California for acouple of weeks. I liked the other house pretty well, but this new place is so much more conveneint. The guys I live with are real swell fellow and loads of fun. They had been after me to move in with them for about a month and a half before I moved. I hope you'll overlook the mistakes I'm making. I don't have a good place to put the t...

2/21/54 Dear Folks, How's everything at home? Are you all moved now? We've really been having wonderful weather here. There has been alittle storm but it hasn't been very cold. We finally got our quartet organized and its really going to be great; I think. Our voices all blend just about as well as any four voices I've ever heard. We sang last Friday night in American Fork for a Gold and Green Ball. We really went over good. We're going to sing again Monday for a M.I.A. somewhere. I believe it is here in Provo. We're in with the Student program bureau so we will probably be performing at least once every week from here on out. I sure had fun Friday night. Louise was on the program also, so I took her to the dance. We really had a fine time. Next week Ed and I are going to double date and go to the "Fireman's Ball" in Heber. I'm going to take Louise again. I've been having alot of trouble deciding which deserves the most time: ...

Provo, Utah Feb. 6, 1954 Dear Mom, Daddy and Jeanene How's everything at home? Are you up at Williams yet? I've about decided to take piano lessons next quarter. Jeanene, who are the best and least expensive music teachers? If I do take lessons I'll have to have some of the money from my cows but don't send any til I ask for it. I went to a swell dance last night; it was the Ad. Ball. Thursday night Herb, Bob and two of my roomates and I went to have dinner with Sherry Knudsen and her roommates. It was sure a nice evening. Bob and Herb and I are going to climb "Y" mountain today. I'm waiting for them now. (They're half an hour late). I sure had a rough test in my Missionary course last Wed. I don't think I did to good on it. I got a letter from Milo day before yesterday. It sounds like he surely has a life of leisure, and boredom. Sunday: We sure had a lot of fun on our trip up the mountain yesterday. We went up this side and then...

Last week I got a package in the mail from my cousin, Ruby Nordmark McCord. Her mother, Magdalene, was my Dad's oldest sister. Magdalene took care of her mother, my grandmother, for awhile. She passed this year, as did my father. Her daughters sorted through her stuff and sent everything that pertained to my father or his children to me. I am thrilled with the treasures that are in the box. It contains pictures from my Grandpa Miller's mission to Hawaii in 1920, Grandma Miller's yearbook and probably all the letters that my father wrote to his mother and sister. I have been delighted as I read these letters that started 1953 and continued until 2006. I want my father's posterity to have access to the letters so they can know Robert Wayne Miller throughout his life. I will be publishing the letters on this blog a little at a time starting here. Provo, UT 332 N. 3 E. Oct 21, 1953 Dear Mom, Daddy and Jeanene, I sure was glad to recieve the box. That bread really ...