Then and now

On this date in history Sunday Sept. 7th 1958 Alan and I and our 2 month old baby Lesley Ann traveled overnight on the Heysham boat to .... Heysham England, where we transferred to the train and 6 hours later we arrived at Euston Station in London. Thence by London Underground District line to Dagenham where we were met by Uncle Harry and proceeded to his home where we stayed overnight. The purpose of our trip was to attend the dedicatory services for the newly built London Temple and to also receive our Endowments, and be sealed together as a family for eternity. We had met in June of 1954 and got engaged at Christmas of that year. Being young my Father would not give permission for us to marry unless it was in the Temple. Only problem was there was no Temple in Britain. There was a Temple in Bern, Switzerland and one under construction in Newchapel Surrey, South of London. In April of 1956 we had a District Conference at which President Clifton Kerr from Tremonton Utah presided and when we (Alan, me, my Dad) approached him he suggested we should get married. I love that man. :o)

We were married in July 1956, and now here we were at the first opportunity coming to the Temple to be sealed.

We travelled from Dagenham to the Temple on Tuesday morning Sept. 9th a beautiful autumn day, the sun was shining and we watched the dragonflies, bees and butterflies flit from flower to flower as we waited, just us, in the grounds of the Manor House. The Temple was magnificient in the sunshine and in a short while we could hear the "Spirit of God" emanating from there as the closing hymn was sung. In that beautiful setting, peace, sunshine, flowers dragonflies etc. it made us feel like the angels in Heaven were singing, as indeed they were.

The Irish Saints were scheduled to attend the afternoon dedicatory session and when we entered the room we were thrilled to see President McKay and many other General Authorities sitting in front. As the proceedings were announced we were surprised to hear my Dad's name spoken to give the benediction. What an honour. He was as surprised as we were as he was not forewarned.

After the services we went with the other Irish Saints to stay overnight at the YMCA Camp in Chigwell Essex. We went by bus. Lesley slept all night, the first time in her 9 week old life.
At 5am next morning Wednesday Sept. 10th we set off again on the bus, back to the Temple for the first Endowment session. Lesley went to the nursery as Alan and I received our eternal ordinances. Later in the sealing room Alan was a witness as my Dad was sealed to his deceased Lilian, then I and my deceased brother Samuel were sealed to our parents, then it was our turn. As my Dad witnessed, Alan on one side of the altar me on the other, we were sealed for Time and All Eternity, then Lesley Ann was brought in dressed in white and sealed to us. WE WERE NOW AN ETERNAL FAMILY.

And here we are 50 years later. STILL AN ETERNAL FAMILY only

BIGGER. 6 children, 6 in-law children 23 grandchildren, 5 in-law grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren with 1 more on the way. Every one precious to us and to the Lord. We love the Lord and praise Him. We thank Him every day for each one of these precious souls and for each other.