Independance Day and 100 years ago my mother was born on July 6.

 

July 9, 2023

Dear Family:

July 5, 2023 Entry: 4^th of July at Glennda and Scott’s house was great.  They had gone overboard preparing their yard and deck and it was all perfect.  I had a gig that day and I got home from it by 1:30.  I got to their home by about 3.

Andy and Julie and his Austin & Amelia and her Claire; Jenna and Jude and Leo;  Mike and Branigun and their 4 little ones, Damon, Reagan, Riley and Briggs;  Scott, Glennda and me were all there.  We watched the kids slide down the gigantic slip and slide and we talked and visited while the kids had a wonderful time.  Earlier that day they had gone to the famous Corbett 4^th of July parade.

Dinner was around 6:30pm. Glennda made her favorite coleslaw with pineapple & toasted walnuts, pasta salad with cheese tortellini, mozzarella balls, pepperoni & tomatoes, baked beans.  Julie made potato salad and a charcuterie (sp) board with my favorite pickled beets and with asparagus, pickles, etc. Andy made his famous brisket – 15 pounds!!!  All was delicious.   I learned from Andy what it takes to use a Traeger and produce a masterpiece – butcher paper makes the exterior crisp.  Glennda made Raspberry sauce shortcake for dessert.  I learned from Scott how they harvest and ship trees to the east coast.  They are the source for many of the suppliers of trees to places like Lowe’s, etc.  Fascinating.! I wouldn’t have missed the day for anything.

I love my extended family and it was wonderful to see how the children have grown and how my niece and nephews have turned into amazing parents and amazing contributing members of society. I will admit that I tried hard not to miss my family.  Being with Glennda and her family helped a lot.  Today Scott, Glennda and Mike and family are their way to Sun River for a few days.  Jenna, Jude and Leo are off to their cabin/cottage in the mountains to practice fly fishing – their summer vacation pastime. (Their winter pastime is skiing.) Andy and his crew are off to a resort/water park north of Coeur d’Alene.  I knew the name of it yesterday – but I forgot it today. 

Corbin’s birthday is today.  Happy Birthday again Corbin.

July 6 Entry.  Today is my mother’s birthday. 

Martha June Green engaged

She would be 100 years old.  Everyone once in a while when Glennda and I are talking, I say something about mom or dad or our lives as children that Glennda didn’t know.  So today I’m going to talk about mom and dad a little.  I’ve been reading a series of 5 books written by Dean Hughes, a Mormon from Provo.  If he is still alive he would be a year older than me.  The series is “Children of the Promise”. He wrote this series about 20-25  years ago.  It is novel about a Mormon family living in Salt Lake City before and during World War II.  There were 3 boys and 3 girls in the family.  All 3 boys and one daughter served in the armed forces. While reading this novel, I can’t help but wonder what Mom and Dad’s lives were like during this time.  They met in May of 1942 and were married in September of 1942. This was right in the middle of World War II (September 1, 1939- September 2 1945- 6 years! Families had to save paper, string, aluminum foil, had gasoline d some foods rationed and no new cars were produced.  They had to give to the cause any tires that were lying around.)

Dad had returned from his mission to Southern States primarily serving in Texas. 

Glenn Short Missionary

Mom was 19 when she got married.  She had graduated from high school in Cache Valley, UT from South Cache High School in 1941. 

She then went to LDS Business College in Salt Lake City and was working at Utah Idaho School Supply.  Dad was working at JC Penney.  They met at church.  There were very few men.  Dad was deferred from the draft because he had an enlarged heart from rheumatic fever or scarlet fever – I can’t remember.  So he was 4F.  After they married they moved to Burley Idaho back with his parents. 

Farming was high priority then and dad and his father were doing “their part for the war effort” by farming.  Mom had a miscarriage.  I was born in May of 1944.  The war wasn’t over yet and finally they were taking 4F’s.  Dad was drafted and reported for basic training in November or December.  I remember mom talking about shortages and how they learned to make “war-time cakes”.  People depended a lot on what they could raise.  I wish I knew a little more about how they dealt with things.  I do know that Mom moved to Logan Utah when I was six months old, while dad was serving.  I have a letter that he wrote while on the troop ship.  They were sending him to the Pacific.  While on the way they were diverted to Philippines. I remember reading about General McArthur and his idea to train Philipinos to be soldiers in the late 1930’s, and how much of a disaster that was because Japan invaded the Philippines and he left the island to save himself and left thousands of Philippine soldiers and American Soldiers to fight of the Japanese and fend for themselves with no food or supplies. They had to surrender to the Japanese and I’ve read about the Battan Death March and how miserably they were treated and how thousands and thousands died or were murdered.

When dad got there it was either right before the war in the Pacific ended or right after.  I remember him telling me about trying to sleep in the rain when the mud was up to the bottom of his cot.  

Glenn Short Army Private

I remember him telling me about cutting hair.  They turned him into a barber.  There must have been some kind of fighting going on because he said an explosion rocked the tent or building he was cutting hair in and the person in the barber chair was killed when a timber fell on him.  Glass blew all over and years later he was still getting little pieces of glass out of his forehead and scalp.

I wonder how mother handled a little girl and living alone.  Because she lived in Logan, there was trolley called the “Bamburger” that would take her to Wellsville to visit her mother and her step father Andrew Leishman.  Uncle Arnold and Estella Romero were there frequently.  When was older Grandma and Grandpa Andrew told me how much they enjoyed our visits when I was a little toddler.  Mom used to tell me that she played the piano for singers on the radio station in Logan.  I wonder how she worked all that out.  She was a wonderful piano player who could sight-read anything.  Later she worked on becoming a church organist and served in that capacity for most of her adult life.

When I was 2 Dad was send home to farm.  The war was over when I was 1, so Dad served in the Philippines during the Army of Occupation for another year after the war was over.  I’m going to find a book about that time so I can see what he did.

The caption on this clipping in dad's file is "Philippines 1945 Army of Occupation."

Happy Birthday Mom.

July 9 Entry:  Family dinner today got cancelled…too many people out of town or not able to come.  But we need to have a get together before Marissa and Clarke move to Arizona. 

I think a lot about family – my family now and in the past.  I had lunch today with Taylor and Kelsy and the boys at their home in Wilsonville.  I love to watch Cooper and McKay and Enzo.  Cooper and McKay remind me of when Brad and Brian were little boys.  It doesn’t feel like 45-50 years ago.  I’ve decided that Enzo resembles his grandpa Brad.  I Ioved visiting with Taylor and Kelsy and appreciate their kindness to me.  One of the things I think about this time of year is related to “Pioneer Day” or Days of ’47 celebrated in Utah.  We have things so much easier that did the pioneers.  They had no refrigeration, no pantry to supply their daily meals, no bathrooms, no running water, no stores, no cars, no “devices”, they just had each other, their ingenuity, determination, and their desire to be able to worship in peace and to start over again in Utah.  They had endured persecution, travel hardships and not knowing what they would face each new day.  I’m grateful that my ancestors, the Shorts, the Campbells, the Greens, the Glenns, the Bankheads, and many more felt that their new found faith in the church was worth sacrificing so much.

I respect their sacrifices and the sacrifices of my parents.

In sacrament meeting today one of the speakers reminded me that because of inspiration from Heavenly Father, our founding fathers wrote the Constitution.  Without it, Joseph Smith wouldn’t have been able to help restore the Gospel.  I am grateful for our country.

President Hinckley wrote:  “I marvel at the miracle of America, the land which the God of Heaven long ago declared to be a land choice above all other lands.  I love American for her great and brawny strength, I love her for her generous heart.  I love her for her tremendous spiritual strengths.  She is unique among the nations of the earth - - in her discovery, in her birth as a nation, in the amalgamation of the races that have come to her shores, in the strength of her government, in the goodness of her people.  God bless American, for she is His creation.”

We are blessed to live here.

Have a wonderful week.

Love Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma, Sister and Aunt Suzanne