PERSONAL
EXPERIENCES AND LOVING EXPERIENCES WITH
TAMARA
AND BRUCE
It was on October 4, 1941,
that our sister Tamara was born in the Logan Budge
Hospital. Our family was elated to have our
parents bring a sister into our home since eight years had passed since Larry
was born and twelve years passed since Clair was born. Tamara was a beautiful baby, and
everyone doted over her. She was
not home very long before she caught pneumonia and was taken back to the
Logan
Hospital where she was
between life and death situations.
The President of the Logan Temple was requested to come to the
hospital to give her a blessing.
After the priesthood blessing, she seemed to make slow recovery. Many of the family members would sit
with her during her long recovery period.
But she improved and got better and was able to return
home.
As a middle child, Larry
became the prominent baby sitter for his sister Tamara, and later for Michael
when he was born four years later.
I enjoyed and loved my sister and Michael, but I was at an age where I
wanted to spend more time with my friends.
Baby sitting always seemed to take precedence over doing fun things with
my friends.
Tamara grew into a
beautiful, talented girl. I guess
she was one of us that got genes from her handsome father. Tamara grew up with some fine young
girls, to name a few: Kerma Neuenswander, Ellen Dahle, Grace Ann Beal, Julie
Robinson, and she could add hundreds more.
We were raised in a good home where love and respect abided. The Gospel was lived by our parents and
taught to us as children. Our
father was a hard working, talented blacksmith, and our mother loved drama,
literature, tributes, and Relief Society.
Tamara loved to paint, and
at a very early age she was painting beautiful oils and watercolors. She also did very well in learning to
play the piano and singing. She was
a good student and graduated from West
Side High School in
Dayton, Idaho, and was involved with school activities
and had several boy friends
After graduating from High
School she attended BYU and lived with Larry and Sharon who were recently
married and expecting their first baby.
Marty was born on November 2, 1958.
Since all three of us were working on our degrees, we had to juggle baby
tending schedules so we could attend our classes. Tamara was very helpful with us in
tending Marty. It was Tamara who
came up with the song
“Here Comes Peter
Cottontail” that seemed to calm him down during colic times. We enjoyed Tamara living with us as we
tried to do fun things on a low budget.
When Sharon and I graduated
with Business Education degrees and went to Cedar City to teach. Tamara met Bruce Evans at BYU. They had a beautiful courtship and were
eventually married in the Logan Temple and had their reception at the
Weston Ward building. She had a
beautiful reception with trousseau items and flowers over the whole cultural
hall. Bruce still had his
dental school to finish, and they decided to go to Kansas City to do his
residency. Little did we know then
that is where they would make their home and raise their family. We have made about 10 trips back to see
them since they took up residency in Overland Park. They purchased a large, new beautiful
home. Tamara loved to decorate the
home and was able to use many of her paintings and floral arrangements to adorn
her home. We always loved our trips to Kansas
City and their home in Overland Park. Bruce always liked to take me on scary
rides—like riding down gunny sacks on a high slide that took my breath
away. Then there were the scary
narrow roller coasters at “Worlds of Fun” that nearly scared the dickens out of
me. I think he just wanted to see
the frightened look on my face.
Many of our trips back to
visit them included our parents or our friends who were always welcomed in their
home and given a tour of the Church historical sites of the area. We made several trips with Tamara and
Bruce to Nauvoo and to Branson.
Other trips that we took together were to Jackson
Hole, Wyoming, and Yellowstone National Park. I remember Bruce liked to have lots of
crisp cold air to sleep at nights.
I remember freezing to death as the four of us slept in a cabin with all
the windows open with 50 degree weather.
A few years ago we took a
trip to visit Christine and Paul in California. We always thought they were fun
travelling companions and loved when Bruce wanted to be the sole driver. We had
fun on the beeches and seeing the San Diego Temple, visiting the Mormon Battalion
headquarters, and our fun visits with Christine, Paul, and
Kathryn.
We congratulate you on 50
years of a beautiful marriage and raising such a fine family. May you be blessed with many more
exciting years ahead of you.
Your devoted brother and
friends
Larry and
Sharon
No comments:
Post a Comment