Roger returned to college in the fall of 1975. He was still so interested in missionary work that he became a seventy. For a while he worked with the full-time missionaries. He attended the institute. He had a beautiful new car, a bright red Dodge with a vinyl top. He returned to his old job with the city. Jeff was attending I.S.U. and Rick was a senior at Poky. Roger began going with Julie Hanks. She was the daughter of a former bishop of ours. She and Roger had walked home from church together when they were in the ninth grade. I felt they had always liked each other, maybe Julie liked Roger better than he did her. Anyway, they did not go together during their high school years nor until Roger returned from his mission. I was especially fond of Julie and was delighted when they decided to get married. Roger was anxious to marry Julie and she really wanted to marry him. Their wedding date was set for Feb. 14, 1976. But something changed. Julie still wanted to get married, but Roger did not. I think he just moved into the relationship too fast. Maybe he was brain-washed on his mission, maybe he just didn’t want to be tied down. All Roger’s friends and I urged him not to go ahead with the marriage, but he wouldn’t listen to us. He felt he just couldn’t hurt and embarrass Julie when the wedding was so near and all plans were made. Roger and Julie were married in the Idaho Falls temple Feb. 14, 1976. Wright, Esther and I hosted a luncheon after the ceremony. One of Roger’s missionary companions came from Utah to be a witness for him. A beautiful reception was held at the sixth ward in Pocatello. There were so many people and presents. Some dear friends, the Woods, who had befriended Roger while he was on his mission in Las Vegas, attended. Roger was especially pleased to hame them there. Dale Chase was his brother’s best man. Julie had graduated from B.Y.U. and had a teaching certificate. She got a job at Franklin Jr. High teaching English and reading. Roger continued his school, but he still did not do well. He did not study. Julie taught for three years. Roger worked for the city a lot and had other part-time jobs. Finally, he stopped taking classes and took over a little grocery store, the Pic and Pay. What a terrible decision! It required someone there all the time. Julie helped a little and so did I. Roger did not know how to run a business. He was a soft touch for anyone who needed money. His employees stole him blind. Roger and Julie moved several times. Julie quit teaching. She felt she had given Roger enough time to finish school—and she had. There was a growing estrangement between them. They were not good for each other. One good thing came out of their marriage—their little daughter. Robin Gayle Chase was born July 24, 1979. They both adored her. Roger left the store and began to look for other work. He worked for a time at Robert’s Service Station. This was a bad time for Roger and Julie. The continued to grow farther apart. There was very little money ad they had to live very frugally. Julie really worked hard to economize and live on very little. They spent little time together. Julie taught dancing and tried to keep her life busy. Roger was away from home a lot. Sad, sad! They were both good parents to Robin and loved her deeply. Finally, they separated and then divorced on Oct. 6, 1981. Julie remained in their apartment and Roger moved back with me for a time. I’ve never been able to figure out what went wrong in their marriage. I think Roger, because of the women he had known, and Julie, because of the men she had known, came to marriage with quite different ideas about what to expect from marriage. They had so much in common, their love of the out-of-doors, their interest in politics and the world and other things that one would have expected a good marriage. But it never was. They were incompatible. They did not enjoy being together. I felt terrible about it, but there was nothing I could do. I did tend my dear Robin a lot. So did Esther and Wright Hanks. I am fond of Julie. I was glad when she met someone else and wanted to marry. Glad for her but sorry for Robin and me because I knew the sage of Roger and Julie was over and I would see less of Robin. Julie and her new husband were married in a civil ceremony in the Logan Temple. Her bishop advised this because she and Roger still had a temple marriage. The bishop said that after a time, because she was remarried, that she and Roger would be able to get a temple divorce with no blame or charges against either of them. This happened. Julie and Roger did not want to hurt each other, the just wanted a divorce. Julie and her husband moved to Boise. This was terrible for Roger, the Wrights and me. We had all been with Robin several times a week. It was especially hard for Roger because Robin mattered more to him than anyone else in the world. He spent much of his free time with her, took her camping, to ball games, and other things. He continues ro see Robin about once a month for a few days, but it isn’t enough for him. Julie has custody of Robin now—but who knows what the future will bring. Roger wants his daughter with him part of the time, like summers. He has always sent Julie child support, pays all of Robin’s medical bills, buys some clothes for her and gives Julie extra money for extra things—like trips with a dancing group, Christmas, etc. He loves his daughter and wants to support her. Julie has been a good mother to Robin who is a nice, delightful little girl. Julie has had two sons with her present husband and I believe is happy. Roger went to work for Simplots. He has been there about six years now. He makes good money, but will not stay forever. It is dangerous work, has almost no retirement benefits, is hard physical work and is boring. He has to do shift work which is something a body cannot adjust to. He has become very active in the union. He handles all the men’s grievances. He is the number two man in the union at the plant. He spends lots of time helping people. Roger stayed with me for a while, then moved into an apartment, and finally bought a little house where he lives alone. He has fixed up one room for Robin. She loves to come and stay with him. Depending on Roger’s work, Robin sometimes stays with me. She is the center of Roger’s life. During these years my parents, had been aging. After a year of increasing ill health, my father died Sept 23, 1972. He was 81 years old, having been born Nov. 2, 1891. He just seemed to get more and more weary. Finally, he closed his eyes and died. He had worked very hard all his life. He kept dwelling on this as he approached death. He was a very bright man. He could understand things easily. He always read a great deal. He could make or fix anything with his hands. He always loved to be around people and he loved to talk. I’ve always felt that I was closer to him than were any of his other children. He was also close to Danny, Verna’s son. Danny lived with him and Mama quite a bit. It was a shame that he didn’t establish a closer relationship with other members of his family. He and Mama could never agree on how to do anything. It seemed they each tried to do what the other one didn’t want. There was an exception though. Mama fell and broke her hip and never really recovered from it. He was patient and good with her for the last few years of their lives together. Mama had a sharp tongue with him. He seldom did anything that pleased her. She definitely often made him look worse to his children than he was. Yet she was proud of the many things that he could do so well. She just wasn’t sensible in the way she approached him to get him to do something. If she had used her head a little more, she could have steered him to do more what she wanted. Instead, she was usually trying to force him into something. He was stubborn, she was stubborn, and so the quarreled. His funeral was held in their Rigby Ward and he was buried in a lot they had waiting in Pocatello. Mama lived alone for a while after his death. Just a few days after his funeral whe went out to hang something on the clothesline. As she came back to the house, she was crying and unsteady on her feet. She fell on the step and broke her other hip making surgery again necessary. It was the first time she had been left alone and it was only a few minutes, but it was long enough. She stayed with Lula quite a bit and Phyliss a little bit when she came home from the hospital. She stayed with me some, but I could only have her in the summer since I had to teach school. She finally went back to her home and Lula and Phyliss looked after her, mostly Lula. Phyliss called her every day and I went up frequently, but most of the burden was on Lula. She went to her house every day, took her to the store and the doctor, paid her bills, took her to church, did her laundry and everything else she needed. I took her on frequent little trips. Verna was living in California. Mama went down two winters and stayed with her and Bill for a month or two. Jim visited her a few times in Rigby. During this time a tragedy occurred. Jim was living in Hyrum and working in the library there. He loved the work but was dissatisfied with some of the people around him. He stole some old, valuable books to add to his collection. Others in the library had done the same thing, but Jim was caught and blamed for all of it. He lost his job and barely escaped jail. Mama was in California with Verna at the time. I made the decision to not tell her. I was hopeful that things could be worked out so she’d never have to know. She sensed something was wrong and kept asking questions. Finally, Ileen’s sister Rose Marie told her. That poor old lady was devastated. She was old and not well. She could do nothing. Jim had always been the apple of her eye. She thought more of him than all her daughters put together. She sat at my kitchen table, laid her head on the table, and cried and cried. She felt such despair! She always felt I should have told her. Perhaps she was right. If it had been my child in trouble I would have wanted to know. She only saw Jim a couple times after that. When it was time for school to start, I had to put her in a rest home here in Pocatello. I could not stay home with her. I had to teach to support myself and some of my family. Phyliss’ house was not set up to care for her. Lula had reached the limits of her endurance and could no longer have her. She had gotten so she needed twenty-four hour a day care. I tried desperately to get someone to come and stay with her but I could find no one. She kept falling and I could not get her up alone. So she went to Eastgate where she lived for a year and a half. She hated every minute of it. She felt all her children had abandoned her. I was heartsick, but there was nothing I could do. I could not get a decent doctor for her and had to let her be under the care of the terrible doctor who was there. He gave her medication which caused her to hallucinate. She really suffered during those awful times. After a few weeks the doctor stopped the harmful medication, she was moved to another wing and she felt better. She always hated it though. I was very good to her. I went up three of four times a week to see her. I did her laundry, took her for rides and sometimes I brought her to my house. I took her out to dinner. I purchased whatever she needed. I feel good about the care I gave her. Verna called frequently from California and wrote often. Neither Lula nor Phyliss came to see her for about six months. Phyliss wrote occasionally. After a few months Lula began to write her. She had about reached the breaking point when she cared for Mama. Jim stopped once to see her when he was on his way back from Idaho Falls. He had three children with him. He never called her, never wrote to her nor even sent her a Christmas or birthday card. I guess he was so caught up in his own troubles he had no thoughts for anyone else. I’ve always thought if he thought a little about her his own problems might have been less. One time a man called her long distance. The nurses hurried and got her to the phone. She was sure it was him and was so excited. It was Danny who loved her and called her frequently to see how she was. She began having little strokes. She had to be taken to the hospital. Fortunately, the dreadful doctor was on vacation and had gotten old Dr. Howard to care for his patients. Dr. Howard was wonderful to her and to me. I called Phyllis and she came down. I had been at the hospital a lot and decided to go home for a few minutes while Phyllis stayed with her. As soon as I got home, the phone was ringing. She had died, but Phyllis was with her. The last few days of her life she was unconscious most of the time. She died Dec. 12, 1977—just five years after her husband. She was 84. Her funeral too was held in her ward in Rigby. All her descendants were there. The chapel was filled. It was a beautiful service. After Papa’s death she selected a tombstone for their graves in Pocatello. It took her several years of little economies before she had it paid for. But it was installed and waiting for her. She didn’t want to be a burden to anyone so for years she kept up monthly payments on an insurance policy to bury her. There was some problem about getting a payment mailed. She was on day late and the policy was cancelled. However, her house was sold. It brought enough money to pay her burial expenses and leave each child about $2000. That of course was from both Mama and Papa. In the years since her death, I seem to miss her more and more. I think of her a lot. I’m glad she was taken as she was—quietly in her sleep—and I’m glad she isn’t still her suffering. She was afraid of dying. I don’t know why because she was a good woman. She did look forward to seeing her mother, her husband and the three little babies she had lost in. infancy. I always knew she loved me and would do anything she could for me, as my father also would have done. Mama had a sharp tongue only for Papa. With everyone else she was kind and patient. Her life was one of hard work and sacrifice for her children. She helped and encouraged her children and helped them set and attain goals. She was always trying to make things better for us. She never in all her life every had enough money to do more than just scrape by. The economies she practiced were unbelievable. She made every penny count many times. She was very clean about her person and her home. This she had learned from her Pennsylvania-Dutch mother. Our home was always a warm, loving, comfortable, clean place. The cleanliness was hard-gained. Most of her life she washed on a washboard. I remember seeing her hands fiery-red, swollen and raw in places after her day of washing. She moved frequently as my dad say greener pastures. Most of the houses in which we lived were very poor with two to four rooms, no electricity and no water. Many of them had bedbugs in them. How she worked to get rid of them! With a cloth she would soak all the cracks in coal oil and after a day to two scrub them down. She’d just about get on house. Cleaned up when we’d move on to the next. She had many talents. She learned to make drapes and worked at Petersens to keep Phyliss on a mission. Her crocheting and quilting were works of art. She loved to embroider. Much of her crocheting and embroidery work were done on flour sacks she bleached and washed. She won many prizes at fairs for her work. She could make beautiful clothes, many of them out of old things which had been given to her. She could cut clothes out without a pattern. She made most of her children’s clothes. She worked hard and was never idle. She got a lot of pleasure from her garden, especially her flowers. She loved to read and read a lot. There were always lots of books in our home. She was very active in church and Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. She always taught a class of young children. They really loved her. The last months in her home her little paper girl really looked after her because she loved her. She had a special ability to make friends. She had several very close lady friends. I’m grateful to her and how I miss her! I look forward to seeing her again! Back to Rick and Jeff. Jeff bagan going with Katie Mecham. I loved her. They went together, often breaking up, for about three years. They finally married, but it ended in divorce. Jeff just wasn’t ready to settle down. I don’t think either of them will ever meet anyone who will mean as much to them. Katie remarried and is happy. She wanted children and to get on with her life. Jeff finally remarried too—Cindy Lewis. Jeff and Cindy were married at her parents’ home in 1985. Roger performed the ceremony. Both Jeff and Cindy work for the railroad. They live in Salt Lak. They have two sons, Colby and Bronson. Jeff is a good man. He is always thoughtful of me. I truly love him. Rick went to I.S.U. a little and then went to BYU. After a year he went on a mission to California. The mission was good for him. He gained a testimony of the gospel. When he returned from his mission he went back to the “Y”. He began going with Micci McInnes. She is a doll! I liked her much better than his high school girlfriend. They became engaged and were married Aug. 19, 1980. The continued school. Micci was working for and R.N. at the U of U. She took some classes from the “Y”. It was hectic for them. Rick graduated from the “Y” with a degree in zoology. He had planned on being a dentist. He was accepted at the University of Nebraska. He graduated from there with a DDS in 1985. He wanted to be an oral surgeon but could not get in a school then. He is presently working in the emergency room at Cook County General Hospital, hoping this will help him get in a school of oral surgery. Rick was finally accepted in a school of oral surgery in Chicago. His four-year school began the summer of 1987. Rick and Micci have three darling boys, Zeke, Taylor and Conner. Micci finished her nursing program and has worked to help Rick through school. They are happy together. They are very active in the church. I am so very proud of Rick. He had to work very hard in school; but he persevered. I don’t worry about him and Micci. They are set—on the threshold of a great life. DerraLee, the boys’ sister, has earned several degrees. She is in the field of recreational and hotel management. She is very good at it. She has moved around a lot. She is not happy. I sort of foresaw her future when I taught her in the seventh grade. She bitterly resented the way their father left them. She, in my opinion, doesn’t trust men enough to have yet established a good, permanent relationship with any man. I worry about her. Lynnette, the other sister, married Randy Rehrer. I, at one time thought Roger and Lynette might get together, but they didn’t. They have remained very close friends. Lynette and Randy have six children. He is the football coach at Highland High School. Lynette stays at home with their six children and about five other children she babysits. Randy came from a home in California with no religion and an aimless, goal less, unthinking background. He has made great improvement, but he and Lynette have an up and down life. He joined the church but there was no real conversion. Lynette tries so hard to raise her children well. They are always clean, well fed and loved. Randy loves the children too, but the burden of the family is Lynette’s. She takes the children to church, checks their school closely and supervises their many activities. She is about two incompletes short of a B.A. in home economics. She’ll probably go back and finish. However, for now she wants to spend her time with her children. She wanted to have them and wants to stay home and raise them herself. I love her. She lives in town. I see her a lot and can rely on her for anything I need, as I hope she feels she can rely on me. Her mother is in Blackfoot and helps Lynette a lot with her children. I don’t help her enough. By the time I help Carolyn with her fiver boys and have Robin a little, I run out of time and energy. But how wonderful to have so many people I love near me. Roger has always liked to be involved in lots of things. In 1985 he decided to run for a seat on the city council. It was an exciting, close campaign. However, he lost. He had med a young lady name Janis Rhoads. They were married Dec. 27, 1985. He sold his little house and moved in Janis’ house. They are very comfortable and get along well together. Janis is an especially lovely person. She has an important job as head of an agency that handles problems for the poor, the aged and the sick in Southeastern Idaho. She is a career lady. Robin comes to see them frequently. Roger arranges to be with Robin at least once a month.
