When I think of my mom, there are endless beautiful memories that come to mind. She was an avid gardener, an excellent seamstress, a fantastic homemade bread maker, a reader of scriptures and Agatha Christie novels, a lover of dogs and then later, her special cat, George. She would have 4 or 5 callings at one time, because she was talented, and the Rapid City LDS Church community back in the 1960’s was quite small.
She loved her portable dishwasher so much! It was the kind that rolled around on wheels and you hooked it up to the kitchen tap with a kind of clamp and hoses. She beamed like she had won the lottery when she brought that mechanical beast home!!
She was enthusiastic about music and joined the RCA Record Club when we were small. She subscribed to their monthly recommended suggestions. Because of this our musical life was rich. Roger Miller, Ferrante & Teicher, The Smothers Brothers, Thelonious Sphere Monk, Dvorak's New World Symphony, etc. This had a positive effect on our father, who finally decided to buy a stereo of excellent quality so we could listen to them.
If she wanted something, she would find a way to scrimp and save. She taught piano lessons at our home, and also organ lessons at the church. She wanted her own cello and bought one on a payment plan for $10 a month. It took her years, but she paid it off. She was creative in her approaches to solving problems. She came up with a way for the young women to sell snowcones at the local summer parades so we could earn money to go travel to youth conference.
We were a family that sang together in three or four part harmony. Jennifer and Dad played the violin, Mom the piano and cello, and Jennifer and I played the piano as well. We had many options when singing and playing together. This was something that Briant Jr could do in such a united way with all of us at home. This is one of the most powerful and fond memories I hold in my heart of my family, and of my mom.
She read us storybooks at night, she sang songs, and made sure we knelt by the bed and said our evening prayers.
Mom was an excellent seamstress. She sewed dresses for Jennifer and me, and sometimes for her to match as well. She sewed my senior picture dress, my senior prom dress, and my winter coat, which was a heavy, fully lined maxi length coat. She sewed me a full length pinafore dress with hand embroidered stitching on the pockets and front bib. When I got married, there was not much for a wedding budget. So she sewed my wedding dress, six bridesmaid dresses and my honeymoon negligee...and they were beautifully created.
Education was a very high priority to my mom. She supported our dad while he got his Masters and Phd, and then she saved her own schooling money and made plans while we were growing up. Eventually she went back to school after a few of us had flown the nest, and attended Black Hills State College and SDSM&T. She finished up her last year at BYU while dad was there on sabbatical. She got her degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations in 1980, at age 42. Later on life, she created a trust for her children and grandchildren, in which she could help them financially with college tuition or vocational expenses.
I was attending BYU when mom was there for her senior year. She was so young and vivacious that when I would introduce her to my friends and aquaintances, everyone thought she was my older sister. At the time, it disturbed me a bit, ha ha ha!! She was twenty years older than me, but what a great example!! We attended a class together in the original Joseph Smith Building, where Stephen Covey taught a class. We really enjoyed that time together. Dixie loves icecream, and we spent many happy times at the BYU Dairy, packing on the joy. :)