Sometimes you feel like you know another person pretty well. You have lived in the same neighborhood for umpteen years, attended the same church, and interacted on many levels. Then you find out how little you really knew about them and more surprisingly that you are more alike than you imagined.
This morning, Glen and I attended the funeral of Grandpa Toone at the Westwood Chapel. He had spent his last month in Mike and Carol's home after falling and breaking his hip in December. Mike's father was born in southeastern Idaho where his family farmed. He was in the Army Air Corp during World War II where he met his wife who was also serving in the Corp. They started a family and farmed in Idaho. He had been ill while a young man with scarlet fever which had damaged his lungs. By the late 1950's, his lungs couldn't deal with being a farmer and a doctor told him that he must move to a drier and warmer climate. They sold their farm and loaded a cattle truck with all their possessions and moved to Mesa in 1960. Does this all sound a bit familiar?
When I went to LaNell's mother's funeral last year I also learned that her family moved from Idaho to Mesa in the 60's. And so I've learned that people I've known for twenty plus years and assumed to be lifelong Mesa people, are really hardy (or maybe not so hardy) Idaho people whose parents just wanted to be warm and live near a temple, just like me.
We're up way too late but it looks like you are up too! Those are very interesting parallels. It is interesting to see how events like war or sickness can affect so many people. We are hoping Andrew gets a job in Arizona for a few of the same reasons- the dry Utah cold (and I'm sure Idaho is worse) is really hard on his asthma and Raymond's skin. But these are petty concerns when I think about your dad.
ReplyDeleteIs Grandpa Toone the same man who came and talked to our family about Idaho, etc. or was that someone else?
Bishop Eddington brought his dad over to talk to us about Sugar City and going to school with my dad several years ago.
ReplyDeleteGrandpa (Darrel) Toone has come to our backyard for desert with the Toones this year, before breaking his hip. I didn't know any of the Idaho story at that visit.