Fresno, California

At the end of our summer in Jackson, Wyoming, Garry's mission converts (The Parnell Family) came from Kansas to be sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple to their two little girls. My brother Dan went through the temple that same day for his endowments before he left on his mission to the New England States.

Garry had one more year of college, so I taught at Providence and had to leave my babies home with a sitter. We made it through, and Garry graduated from Utah State University in June 1963. Then we packed our car and loaded up our cute babies (Kim-3 years and Pam-2 years) and moved to Fresno, California.

(Fresno Home 1965)

We arrived in Fresno with $5 in our pocket, but Ruth and Laurn had just gotten transferred there and were so anxious for us to live close. They helped us find a new little house and furnish it, and within a week we both had jobs. Garry worked at Spreckles Sugar Company for a month before he began his first job as a Social Worker. I was hired to teach 3rd and 4th grade in a small community, out in the cotton fields, named Caruthers (30 miles west of Fresno).

(Pam, Nada, Garry, and Kim 1963)

We were so grateful to Ruth, as she tended her three girls (Lorilee-5, Sherri-4, Judy-6m) plus Kim and Pam: All five children under 5 that year.

(Sherri, Judy, Kim, and Pam)

My health wasn't too good. I got huge boils on my back, and when the pain was too great, I would call Ruth and she would load all five kids in the car and drive out through the cotton fields to take me home. I was in a carpool with Keith Larson and another teacher. Keith and I were the only L.D.S. members in the school. He and his wife and five boys lived only a block away.

(Shane Larson and Kim)

In 1964 I stayed home, as I was expecting our third child, and helped Ruth as her cancer had returned. (She had been diagnosed with breast cancer previously in 1960 before they left Oregon. Little did we know my precious sister/best friend would suffer 30 more years. But her special blessing was they were able to adopt Judy in 1962 and Bob in 1965!)

(Laurn and Ruth's Family: Lorilee, Sherri, Judy, and Bob)

I was sustained as the Stake "Gleaner" Leader, then Garry and I were in charge of a Stake Hawaiian Dance just a few weeks before our baby was due. The stage curtain caught on FIRE just an hour before it began, so Garry ripped the very heavy drapes down and dashed out the back door just as the firemen drove up to the Stake Center. We got everything back to order and the fire was put out, but as the crowd came in they said, "It even smells like the volcanoes in Hawaii." ...Little did they know of our 'just about' burn out!

Our third child, Craig, was born on April 8, 1965. My doctor was the Stake Young Men Leader, so after he delivered Craig he said, "Well, there's a Stake meeting tonight and you're expected to be there. Are you coming?" ...I took a rain check. It was fun coming home with our new baby, as we had waited 3 and 1/2 years. Ruth had just adopted Bob, who was a month old, so my mother and Aunt Edith traveled to California by bus to help Ruth and I with our new babies.

(Nada with Craig, Pam, and Kim 1965)