Dad's Personal History Story for the Month
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| 21st Station Hospital-Puson Korea 1953 |
Just a quick note to remind you that the only thing new in the world is the history you have not yet heard. So as a very small part of my early life history I would like you to know of a very important experience I had while in Pusan, Korea. Pusan is located on the southern tip of the country. There were three occasions that took me to Pusan:The first was as an entry to the country, when I along with several others embarked off the troop ship, and then travelling many miles to the north to join our regiment. After several months in the Kumwa valley war zone a cease fire put the fighting on hold. I was then transferred to Bepu Japan where our home base of Camp Chickamauga was located. After at least a year in Japan I learned that due to my time in a war zone I had nearly enough points to return to the US. Needing a few more points I transferred to a medical unit located in Korea. I had a medical MOS, and so was assigned to the 21st Station Hospital located in Pusan,Korea.(my 2nd visit to this part of Korea) While at this assignment, I had many good experiences. For many weeks I had time to read many very good church books. One was "God planted a Tree". As I began to plan my future and felt a need for confirmation as to the rightness of my plan and how I might accomplish it I retired to the shore of the Sea of Japan, which was just a 50 yards from the Hospital. It was here that I knelt in prayer and had my sacred grove experience. I came away knowing exactly what I was to do to receive my early rotation back to the states, an early discharge from the military service, apply for the GI educational grant and establish it at BYU so that I could go on a mission first. I finished an honorable mission came home to supportive parents, two sisters and an uncle and aunt who knew as I did that a beautiful girl in Riverside was a part of that experience on The Sea of Japan in Pusan Korea.
My 3rd visit to Pusan was a visit while on a Church assignment. I visit that spot of land so far away whenever possible which is mostly in my dreams.
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| Ralph Myron Jackson-Brittain Cemetery |
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| Papason working in the Rice Paddy |
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| Mamason driving her cow & calf. Mamasons work very heard. |
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Mamason and Boyson at a candy stand.
There were candy stands everywhere just like this one. |
Po Jum Dingy. This was my houseboy. He would do errands and chores for me and I would pay him and he would take the money home to his mammason. When I saw him I would yell out "Po Jum Dingy!" And he would reply with Rock A Son--Jack A Son! (parachutist) He was a good boy.
Mom's Visit to New Jersey
This month I will share just a bit
The task I was tempted to quit
I assumed I must wait
But with chocolate as bait
On the potty, Sarah did sit!
Pavlovian Experiment in Guunison
Excerpt from Scott and Stacy's family blog.
Now that Jacob can walk, he tries to stand up when he reaches the top step. With his balance not being very good yet, the inevitable happened the other day when he fell backwards and tumbled down the stairs.
Luckily he was not injured other than biting his tongue, but Christine and I decided that we had to come up with a way to prevent him from falling again.
So we devised a pavlovian experiment. We put down a piece of green tape a ways from the top of the stairs and placed a smartie behind it. Now when Jacob climbs up the stairs he is attracted to the smartie and crawls past the tape to pick it up before he stands up. We've been doing this for a week or so now. The next step is to take away the smartie and see if he'll still climb past the tape before he stands up! Hopefully it works before we start to rot away his teeth with smarties.
Read more
The Jackson Five
Check out Finn's Moutain Man First birthday here
We’re on the home stretch…we’re
getting a bit fatigued…just a few more laps to go…we think we have just enough
energy to sprint to the finish line! School
is about wrapped up, at least in the minds of our children. FINISH STRONG we keep saying.
Bianca will graduate from
High School on May 23rd at UVU.
We’re grateful that she’s worked hard for most of her school years and
will graduate with honors. She continues
to work at Ruby River so that she can earn money to help with future plans. She was promoted from hostess to salad maker…I
guess the promotion comes with a raise, more hours and just a bit more pressure. Isn’t it great to grow up!
Speaking of sprinting,
Kate did well at Hershey Track again this year.
With those long legs and a competitive, willing heart she enjoys running
and seems to be pretty good at it. She
won 1st place in the 100 meter, 2nd place in the 200
meter. She made it to the semi-finals
and then lost by a millisecond (Kate’s description) for the finals. It’s fun to watch her run.
Jake is in
full swing with his multiple baseball teams.
His super league coach asked all of his players to sign up for the city
league teams to ensure lots of practice.
Needless to say we are starting our season of BASEBALL games…and nothing
but baseball games. It’s a good thing we
enjoy watching Jake play.
At the
encouragement and insistence of Jake, Kate signed up for a city league softball
team. She’s been to a couple of
practices and is still trying to figure out if she likes the sport. The first day of practice she caught a ball
with her face and that seemed to put a damper on the excitement of learning
something new. Since then she seems to
be doing better. Her coach is very
patient and offers lots of positive comments.
She hit a “solid ball” last night and even caught a fly ball starring
into the sun. “It just landed in my
glove!” We’re glad that there are nice
people here in Springville that are willing to give a bit of time to spend with
our youth.
We had a
great spring break at Goblin Valley.
Jake and Kate had quite a crew of friends to hang and hike with
there. If you ever get the chance to go
and play there you must take it. It was
spectacular. Jake and friends played
Capture the Flag amongst the goblins and it was hilarious to watch. You’ll notice from the pictures that Jake’s
team chose the highest peak to plant their “flag” (Cranberry Juice bottle) and
what surprised and impressed me was that it only took them about 10 min. to
climb to the peak. Suffice it to say
their team won…no one could penetrate the fort.
Strategic planning on their part.
We also
visited Arches while we were there.
Amazing. We took this picture of
Jake walking along the edge of “Park Avenue”.
Appropriately named for its avenue of majestic red cliffs. Makes you
feel kind of small in this big beautifully crafted world.
(Jake is the tiny green speck in the picture)
I’ve had a couple of weeks filled
with PTA and Personal Progress. Both are
winding down for a few months. We had a
full week of Appreciating our Teachers, movie star style and the lucky young
women of Spring Creek 17th ward were taken on a flight around the
world, complete with airline tickets and passports. We visited Peru, France, Haiti, Taiwan and
New Zealand. We were able to experience
different cultures, eat amazing food and participate in some fun activities. Even signed off a couple of Personal Progress
goals while doing it.
Kels gave a
beautiful talk last Sunday at our ward conference. The theme for the conference came from the
Book of Mormon, Alma 1:30. And thus,
in their aprosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were bnaked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were
sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon criches; therefore they weredliberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both
male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having noerespect to persons as to those who stood in need. Kels used that scripture and mentally (verbally for the
congregation) walked around the ward (all 3 streets of it) and shared examples
of people and families giving, sharing and loving each other. We have good and thoughtful people all around
us in our little neighborhood and one of the blessings of serving as the
bishop...you witness first hand how generous people can be, over and over again.
We feel this
same love and generosity from our family.
We’re so glad we know you and get to hear from you often. Love, Kellie,
Kels, Bianca, Jake and Kate
Congrats Brent, Attorney at Law
Hi everyone- Happy May! Around the Holtry house we are saying HAPPY GRADUATION MONTH! Brent will be graduating from Law School on May 18th – the following weekend we are going to have a big graduation bash on the 25th. (Memorial Day weekend) – We would love any and all visitors so feel free to jump in the car for a quick 8-10 hour trip and join us!
Jackson had a fun field trip overnighter to Westminster Woods. Now all three of my kids have had this fun experience. It’s a great trip with lots of learning and lots of fun too. Brent was able to join jackson this time. Hannah’s week-long overnighter to Marin Headlands is in a few weeks and Brent will be going on that one too. The teachers love Brent on these overnighters. It’s hard for them to get good, reliable Dad’s. It’s also a great experience for us to spend this time with our kids and their friends and see everyone in a different environment.
Josh just finished up Swim Championships. He did really well and ended with 5th place in both his relay and 50 free race. Not bad for a water polo player who has never been on swim team before! He’s winding down his sophomore year and has his first interview for a lifeguarding job next week. Wish him luck!
Hannah spent last Friday in the San Francisco Bay at a Field Trip with the Marine Science Institute. They went out on the boat for the day and had their classroom at sea. They caught lots of interesting sea life that they got to examine. 4 Bat Rays, A Sting Ray and a rather large Tiger Shark! They also got a special spa treatment of mud from the bottom of the bay that they gave themselves facials with. (YUK!) What a neat experience for her.
Brent has been busy studying for his finals. He was out til between 3-5 every morning last week studying. I found out later he and a friend did all their studying at a Denny’s in Sacramento. As you can imagine lots of interesting things happen at Denny’s between 1-5 in the morning. I asked why he didn’t study here at the house and told him we would have left him alone but I guess the “show” would have been better at Denny’s.
Hope you all had a great month!
The Holtry’s
Cierra--A True Maori Stick Game Expert
Cierra passed off one of her Personal Progress goals by teaching the Maori stick game at a Young Women activity. She and a friend spent 3 or 4 days (including recess time at school) preparing to teach. They did an awesome job, complete with the tongue greeting. It was such a hit that many of our girls are requesting more lessons at girls camp.
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