Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I very recently read a comment from a woman in Dear Abby, in our local paper.  She wrote: You said in your Nov. 14 column on bullying that you hadn't received a single letter from anyone who had bullied others.  Well I was a bully.   As a young girl I'd tease and taunt, and when I was older, I used sarcasm as a way to bully.   I was involved in an abusive relationship in my 20s.  With support and counseling, I was able to stop being abused and being abusive. I learned the feelings I had repressed -- shame, fear and low self-worth from a childhood of abuse, were misdirected at the people around me instead of at my abuser, as they should have been. I read an article in the Ensign Magazine, in August, 2013, which really impressed me.  I have occasionally used sarcasm, and also had it used on me, and I've seen it do a lot of damage to other's self confidence.  Below are excerpts from this article called "No Corrupt Communication", by Jennif...

Last night, with a few minutes before bed, I decided to post the story of Richard and Ann Kirk Henwood.  I couldn't get it to copy and paste, so I did a "print screen", and I decided it was to small to read good, so I'm rewriting it today, condensed, and with information about handcart traveling, which Richard did.  I hope this gives their sweet story more exposure: ---- JOHN HENWOOD, AND RICHARD AND ANN KIRK HENWOOD written by Gladys Tregenna Dayton Eckman My Grandfather, Richard Henwood, born 5th December 1837, at Plymouth, Devonshire England, was the son of  John Henwood and Jane Tregenna Henwood.   (Note, Glady's middle name is Tregenna, and that name is the maiden name of Richard Henwood's mother.) Richard came to Utah with the Captain Edward Ellsworth Company in 1856, the very first handcart company, pulling the handcart of a widow with five  children who were bound for Utah. His father, John, step-mother Elizabeth, and  sister Elizabeth, were...

I decided tonight to do a quick post -- Actually I have enjoyed this so much, I don't really want to give up doing one blog a day -- but I probably won't do every day.  Please watch for it --   This is about Wayne's mother Gladys' grandmother and grandfather, and was written by Gladys Dayton Eckman. This is about Ann Kirk, (and her husband Richard Henwood) who was the daughter of Phillip Kirk, whose story is told in blog # 61, Phillip Kirk -- burned in effigy.  I have copied 4 pages in the history, which are below.  Ann was one of the 3 children the parents sent over to America four years before they had money enough to come.  She married Richard Henwood, who came with the very first handcart company in 1856.  The first few companies that year came without incident, but the last two were the Willie and Martin companies, we've all heard about a lot.  Richard came with his sister, and his father and stepmother.  He was 18 years old, and we've hear...

I am deciding something that I believe is wise.  I have truly enjoyed writing this blog, and in it I have written several family history stories which are already in the books we have published and given to our children and grand-children.  I realize they are very busy, and don't have much time to peruse these books.  Some of them have told me they really love these stories, and haven't known they already have them, -- but didn't know where to find them in the books.  I'll try to put pages in, so all you posterity can find them in our books! Wayne and I have been the Stake Indexing leaders in our Stake for over a year.  Wayne does a very lot of indexing, but I do some other things also, and haven't been doing as much indexing as I did before I began writing the blog.  I believe I need to be more diligent doing that, and so I will cut down the number of blogs I do -- each week I plan to do at least 3 blogs, probably Monday, Wednesday, and Friday .  Su...

My second great grandfather on my mother's side lived quite an amazing life.  He had many health problems in his life, and yet he became strong enough to be one of the Prophet Joseph Smith's bodyguards in the last years of the Prophet's life.  His Gallitan, Missouri, fight incident is well known in Church  history.          John Lowe Butler, was born Apr, 8, 1808, in  Kentucky, to James and Charity Lowe Butler.  He was not a healthy child.  When he was seven years old he was stricken with inflammatory rheumatism which spread over his body from his toes to his fingertips.  This disease returned once or twice a year until he was 20.  When he was 19, the pain settled in his left side and his thigh and his arm began to fail him.  John became so frail that his mother could carry him about in her arms.  In spite of his long, continued illness, he stood six feet tall when he was 22. His extensive autobiography shows...

I read an interesting article on Facebook, and copied it to be used on my blog.   We raised our children in the late 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's mostly.  We lived in a neighborhood where most mothers didn't work.  We had 9 children, but in our neighborhood our neighbor to the left had 9 children, the neighbor on the right had 7, and the neighbor across the street had 10.  (Of course this was during the same years we were having our family.)  Also in the same ward a neighbor half a block away had 10 children, and another half block south another family had 9, and over a street another ward member had 10 children.  One of our daughters had 22 girls her age in the ward!                    Wayne and me on our honeymoon, in September, 1955, in Zion's Canyon. So our large family wasn't unusual.  Our children played together a lot, and it was safe in those days -- we could let them go to a nearby field...

We are very blessed to live here in St. George, Utah, where there are many wonderful and inspirational activities to go to.  On Wednesdays, here in the Tabernacle, they have a program, usually quite musical, and on Friday nights, they have an inspirational lecture by a well known person.  On Saturdays from 12:15 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. they have an organ recital, or other musical recital.  Many other nights they have concerts by local choirs and musical groups. This is an amazing building, to realize it was built in the desert small pioneer town of St. George, when people were so in need.  My grandfather, William Gustavus Miles, was a stone cutter on that very building.  It has a magnificent interior, and has spiral staircases, and a balcony on 3 of its walls.  I have enjoyed accompanying many talented people in several concerts there.  It has a lovely Steinway piano! Tonight we went to a wonderful program by Clive Romney.   It was his great gr...