Friday, July 18, 2008

Hello Out There

Good morning all,

Greetings from my little corner of the world. Most of you know my story however, I will not assume that is true of all; at the risk of being redundant I will give a Reader's Digest Condensed version:
At the time of our home fire in Penrose, (February 1943) I was age five, Marlene was age three, and mother was three months pregnant with a brother, James Orvil, (J.O.). Mother moved to Lovell where we lived with her parents for the interim of constructing a new home next to the Lovell schools. Mother remarried in 1947 to Walter S. Robb, a man from Cowley she met while working at the sugar factory. Four children were the issue of that marriage: Rick, Georgia, MaryLou, and Dean. I graduated from Lovell High School in 1955 and attended BYU for a year. In March 1957, I entered the USAF with a "loose" promise of transferring to Aviation Cadets as soon as a class opened--the results of the Russians launching Sputnik. The Air Force goofed! My first duty station was at a small fighter group base in Duluth, MN. My best friend and next-door neighbor, Bart Lynn was also stationed there. We hung-out just as we did as kids for nearly 9 months and I was sent to a new airbase located in Grand Forks, ND. I met and married the only eligible girl in the Branch and we continued with our education and raising a family of six children. I was recruited by the General Foods Corporation and sent to Chico, CA where we lived for 37 years. My True Love was struck down by uterine cancer and passed away at our home in Chico on September 5, 2001. She was buried in the Penrose Cemetery on September 11, 2001, just as the planes were hitting the World Trade Center in New York. I retired in 2003 and moved to Lehi, UT as a result of prayer and inspiration. I am living "the good life," with a lot of volunteering, traveling, and maintaining contact with loved ones. I am grateful to Dwight for permitting me to participate in this venue for extending my contact with you. I have managed to condense 65 years of my life in less than a hundred words; I will try to be more brief in the future. My signature close are the final words of Joyce: "I love you more!" I have spent my life saying "goodbye" to loved ones, I never want to close without expressing my love--no matter how "corny" it sounds. -- Phil

3 comments:

Louise Blood said...

Welcome aboard! It's good to hear from you, a new voice, from a kindred Penroseite.

Elizabeth said...

It is remarkable, Phil, that you can condense your life into such a synopsis. We always marveled at our mother who took a page and a half, and dismissed the Great Depression with the words, "We survived the Great Depression, and it wasn't that bad", or something to that effect. Thanks for sharing.

Judy said...

I have read your sign-off for some time on your emails, and did not know the significance till now. I am sure there is so much more we can learn from you. One is the busy, constructive way you have spent your retirement years as a single. Thank you for taking time to write and post....Do it again!