October and November 2018

 Jeff's wife Carolyn died on October 9, 2018.  She had breast cancer for several years.  I was at BYU education week in August when Jeff called and said she was not doing well.  I left early and went to see her.  At that time she was still able to leave her bed and go to the front room to visit. It was a short visit because she got tired and was in pain, but it was still nice to be with her.  From that time and for the next 6 weeks her health and ability decreased rapidly. I visited again a couple of times and took Jenny with me once as she wanted to support Jeff.  Then in October Jeff called to say she had died. Carolyn's mother, Barbara, and my siblings Ronda, Marvin, Elizabeth and I believe Paul all went to Jeff's house.  It was hard on Jeff.  We all sat around in the bedroom and visited along with Sadie, Carolyn's dog before her body was to be picked up. Before she was taken by the mortuary Jeff asked Marvin to say a prayer. Jeff said he felt like we had a viewing, (with us all sitting around visiting), a family prayer and then Ronda had brought food and we all went in the kitchen and ate so Jeff called it the family luncheon.  This picture was taken in the front entry way of the house just before Carolyn was to be taken out just away.  Carolyn wanted to be cremated so Jeff honored her wishes.
  
 Jeff had a memorial service for Carolyn at the Le Jardin in Sandy.  We all pitched in and helped with food, flowers, setting up and taking down.  Dennis and I took some of Jeff's photos he had of Carolyn, enlarged them and framed them to display at the memorial.  Jeff had prepared a program which Doug conducted for him.  A lot of family and friends were there. Alyssa and friends sang, a sister gave a tribute and many offered comments and feelings for Carolyn.  She was a dog groomer and Jeff had build a servicing station in their basement where she worked.  Many of her dog grooming patrons came to pay their respect to her.  The Hatch family was well represented including Deryl Hatch, Doug's son who flew in.  The memorial was on October 18 and on the 20th all the siblings went to lunch in Midway.  Doug and Patti were still in town.  Craig Aramaki along with Alyssa and her husband Garrett Hazen were there also. 

I still had furniture in our Cottonwood Heights house that we were trying to sell.  We gave much of it away to our daughters who lived locally but I still had the baby grand piano and my mothers piano to move to our new Draper house. I had asked Rachel if she wanted to have my mother's piano that I had bought from mom's estate.  The sales receipt with her signature and date of purchase were still in the piano bench.  I asked Barrus Piano Company to move the baby grand piano to our new home and also to load mother's upright piano into a trailer.  On Veteran's Days weekend Dennis and I drove to Seattle with the trailer and piano.  Rachel had arranged for several men including the missionaries to moved the piano into her home. She had a very old piano she had purchased from a woman she knew who had asked if Rachel would store it.  Rachel eventually bought the piano from her.  I was so glad that Rachel was willing to take mother's piano so it would have a good home.  While we were in Seattle we went hiking with Rachel and Ely on Veteran's Day.  Rachel worked for the Veterans Administration so definitely had the day off.  It was cold but beautiful.  

Ely was selected to take the school class seagull home for the weekend and then upon returning to school on Monday tell the class about the adventure gull had been on.  

Craig Harston, Dennis' brother came out from Tennessee to visit.  This photo was taken in Elaine's kitchen on September 23, 2018.  He rode the Amtrak train out and Dennis picked him up and let him drive one of our cars to visit family in Idaho.    

 

 It was Craig's 73rd birthday on September 30th.  We were eating dinner at Amy's house and Craig was to leave soon and return to Tennessee.

Dennis got a call from his brother  about 6 weeks after Craig has returned home.  He said he had been in a car accident and  his license was taken away.  He was having health concerns and Dennis told him he needed to go see a doctor.  Craig went to a doctor who put him in the hospital.  He had several strokes while he was there and was not doing well.  Dennis flew out to be with his brother and help him.  Unfortunately he died in the hospital on December 8, 2018.

Some of Craig's family and children came to visit him in the hospital.  Tina Dance, a daughter and his son Randy Harston came to see him.  His wife Ronda came from Idaho. Susan, his sister had recent knee surgery and couldn't come so her husband Keith Morgan drove from Texas to help. When they realized Craig was not going to live much longer Dennis and Keith jumped in and started cleaning out Craig's house and the cabin Craig owned so it could be sold.

Elaine, Craig's mother wanted him to be buried in Utah in the cemetery where his Father, Clive is buried.  With Dennis' help it was arranged that Craig would be flown to Utah. On December 15 we had a memorial service for Craig at the Club house where Elaine and Linda live.  Elaine felt like she could ride in a car to the club house which was just a block away. from her house.  We had a luncheon and friends and family came. Dennis asked Craig's family members that were present to stand for a photo.  Will, Randy Tina, Andrea, April and Ronda stood by his coffin.

While Dennis was away in Tennessee taking care of his brother our daughters and their husbands and children helped move more furniture from the old home to the new.  It was a very busy time to be moving and I was very grateful for their help especially since Dennis was helping with Craig and his home and cabin

Dennis had bought tickets for a Brandenburg concert at Abravenel Hall downtown but he was with Craig so I had the option to go alone, forgo the concert or give the tickets to one of my daughters.  They insisted I go and Tyler should go with me.  We changed very fast and left everyone still carrying furniture into the Draper home.  We barley made it on time, but enjoyed the concert.