Thoughts and stories, by Pal

HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW, OR HAVE KNOWN YOUR GRANDPAS?  I NEVER KNEW MY OWN GRANDFATHER – MY MOTHER’S FATHER (OR MY FATHER’S FATHER AND MOTHER).  WHAT A BLESSING IF YOU KNOW THEM PERSONALLY.  I HAVE ENJOYED GETTING TO KNOW MY MOTHER’S FATHER BETTER THROUGH THE HISTORIES WRITTEN BY MY MOTHER, AND HER SISTER LA VERN – AND WHAT THEY WROTE .   Some following is what they wrote:  My mother Ruth’s father, John Butler Allen was born October 8, 1856, in Spanish Fork, Utah.  His parents were Philo Allen and Sarah Adeline Butler, who was his second wife.  Philo Allen and his first wife, Lucy, were some of the first settlers called to settle Spanish Fork, and while they were establishing dwelling places or homes, they lived in a dug out in the side of the mountain.  In this they were warm and comfortable while their cabin was being built.  Sarah Adeline was the daughter of John Lowe Butler, who was the first bishop in Spanish Fork, and when they were...

I have written about my mother, Ruth, in blogs:   # 80, # 73 (mostly pictures) # 33, # 30, about when she was on the very first extraction mission, # 24, of a Christmas she had as a child, # 16, what I learned from her about controlling anger, # 7, telling of "The Suet Pudding Story", including my dad and Grandma Allen, and # 6, the story about "Closing my book" , which was when she was taking care of a dear friend as she was passing from this life. All these stories are great, but I want to give a synoposis of the early part of her life today. Today I've   just been to the funeral of a lady who lived to be 95, and the viewing of a man who was Wayne's first principal here in St. George, when we moved down here in 1981.  It makes you think about your own family who are gone, and also wonder what people may say about you in your own funeral!   I will tell more of her parents and grandparents later. My mother was born Ruth Allen, the 8th child of John Butl...