Balloon Fight, Fishing, Suicide, Turned Ankle, Ward Split

Week of 2 May 1983

Mom notes a balloon fight with Dad and the kids. She participated in Relief Society work necessary as part of reorganizing post their ward splitting the coming Sunday. Despite it being May, the temperature was only 35° and rainy. That week Cris went fishing with Dad and a few others (Marve and Kathy). Cris was the only person of the group to actually catch a fish.

That week Mom learned that a daughter of one of the ward members shot herself. Ilene Reeder had struggled for some time. Her father was a former bishop of our ward. Mom empathized with the parents who she knew well. She wrote, “Oh how (the) Reeders mush feel! I ache inside for them.” Because Dan had been friends with Ilene, Sister Reeder asked if he would act as a pall bearer at the funeral. Our family friends Don and Alma Thrash worked at the funeral home engaged for the services so Mom and Dan were able to have a private viewing that Sunday.

Throughout the week Mom shared an endless list of chores she and others did. It was ‘spring cleaning’ season. Dad was constantly working overtime. At one point she turned her ankle on the basement steps and fell. She caught herself against the wall, but notes she was hurt bad so she took a two-hour nap. Dan rode his bike that day to Brigham City. After her healing nap, she went outside to help Lisa rake and move lawn waste. Later, she joined Lisa and a friend, Barbara Wood, for a one-mile walk. Lisa put a cold then hot compress on Mom’s ankle that night. She was always non-stop!
​
That Sunday was Mother’s Day so there were special activities. That evening was a meeting at the Stake Center about their ward splitting into two wards.