Thoughts and stories, by Pal

     This post is a bit longer than most.  It tells of my father, Orson Pratt Miles's time in the army, and the heart touching story just before he died.  In 1987, Mavis’ son Russell was living with Ruth Miles, his grandmother, attending Dixie College.  He was in the “middle bedroom” and in cleaning out the closet he found an old box.  It contained, among other things, a small journal which Pratt, his grandfather, apparently kept in his uniform pocket during World War I.  Pratt would have been 27 years old at the time the war entries were made. (Russell typed what his Grandfather Pratt had written.)      Some of the entries in the journal were of signals, etc., used in war training.  The following tells some of his experiences during that time.  It is interesting to notice the notes seem quite happy, but because of some experiences which undoubtedly were not recorded, he was left with “shell shock”, or what would now ...

I remember my mother, Ruth, a gifted school teacher, once had in her class the child of a medical doctor.  He was only 8 years old, but had been given everything any child could want, even before he realized he wanted it.  One year at Christmas he had been given a BB gun, and he wasn't even excited about it.  He never got excited about gifts given to him, because he hadn't had the gift of being allowed to "want" something, and then wait awhile to finally get it.  That is a great gift to children!  (Refer to my post on Dec. 1, 2013, "A Child's Christmas Prayer.) (I'll write another post later today, about my father, Orson Pratt Miles, who passed away 38 years ago today.)    These are ideas for helping children learn to become independent, happy adults, and not overindulging at Christmas time.  These two articles were in "The Spectrum", a local newspaper, today, Dec. 14, 2013.   Build Christmas spirit in your children this year (condens...

 I'll take a break from writing about my father, and finish tomorrow.  I have noticed that articles about my parents may not be as interesting to many people.  I do hope my own posterity read them!   Today I really liked this  article in the Meridian Magazine, Dec. 13, 2013.  At this Christmas I hope we can make peace with anyone with whom we may not have a "Godly Relationship."  What better time to forgive others, and show charity?  Jesus's life was always the example we want to follow. I have condensed the article, and put my own "italics" in some places.    Keys for Godly Relationships   By Wallace Goddard We might well ask, what has it cost Jesus to be our friend, our healer, and our Savior? We cannot comprehend the cost. He paid dearly!   We must make sacrifices in order to build, sustain, or grow a relationship . We tend to think that great relationships should be effortless. We often think they just happ...

     (By Ruth, his wife, my mother) :  "There are two memories Pratt has mentioned that occurred at the Red Hill home.  (It was just north of the Post Office on 2nd north and Main, a house or two going north on Diagonal Street.)  Both have to do with accidents, and both included a certain girl, Hortense McQuarrie, who later moved east and became a millionaire.  In memory of her time in Dixie she donated the money for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Memorial Building Museum here in St. George, which contains many relics and pictures of the early Dixie Pioneers.      Pratt and Hortense were playing as all children loved to, up in one of the hay lofts in a barn.  Pratt fell through where some boards were broken and as a result, his arm, as well as the boards, were broken.  He remembers going home and then to the Doctor, who set it, not in a plaster of Paris cast as we do now, but in a leather cast that had to be lace...

   I want to tell about my father, Orson Pratt Miles.  He was born September 7, 1891, in St. George, Utah.  He lived most of his life in St. George, except for when he was in World War I.  He passed away on December 14, 1975, in St. George, and I will tell some about his life for the next 3 days.  Our favorite photo of him is at the end of the post on Nov. 20, 2013, just before Thanksgiving, in # 7, Thanksgivings past, and "The Suet Pudding Story".   I have already mentioned him in Post # 28, 29th (which was mostly about his mother Paralee, (Pal) whom I was named after.  Also he is mentioned in Post # 30, in the story about my mother Ruth's dream.    I want to give you an idea of his personality, especially before he was in World War I.    The following is part of what was written by my mother, Ruth Allen Miles, after he had passed away.---   as told in her own words:    ------------------  "Pratt lo...

I read this story below on facebook just a few minutes ago.  In 1997 for a time we had an extra bedroom.  We met Brian Sewell, a college student, and when he need a new apartment, he came to live with us for about 9 months.  We became lifelong friends, and he comes and stays with us now and then.  He has since married, and lives in California, and has a lovely family.  He is a wonderful musician, and has composed many beautiful songs, and also is an entrepreneur, and has worked in several successful businesses.   This story below he wrote, I suppose today, and left it available to "share", so Brian, in case you read this, I hope you don't mind my sharing it here, as a touching story which hopefully will help us all feel more gratitude for our own lives and blessings.  America is truly a "choice land".  We often don't realize that many many people in the world simply have to find food and shelter each day, and don't have time or money to do ...

To begin this new post, I want to refer anyone interested to the newly published statement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of "Race and the Priesthood".  I have read it, and really enjoyed it.  You may find it here:    http://www.lds.org/topics/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng     (copy) I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I want to offer free Christmas music to anyone who is interested.    I realize it is a bit late, only 2 weeks until Christmas Eve.  But if you are interested, perhaps you can get copies and save them for next year.  I have a lot of music I have arranged, and composed on an internet site:   www.musichousepublications.com   (copy and paste)  I have the copyrights, and I really love to give them free to anyone interested who asks me.   All of the music available on that site, I also have on my home computer in PDF files -- so if you have Adobe Reader, (whi...