Independence Day - July 2019 was a very busy month. Activities began with 4th of July Celebrations, which normally means Bonnie and I go to Big Bear to watch the great fireworks show on the lake and spend a few days at our cabin. This year we were lazy and stayed in Monrovia. The two photos below are from the Monrovia fireworks show held at Library Park in Monrovia.
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Southern California Earthquakes - On the morning of July 4th, and again in the evening on July 5th, there were two massive earthquakes in the small community of Ridgecrest; the first quake measured 6.4, and the second was 7.1 - both the largest earthquakes in California in 20 years. There were also literally hundreds of smaller earthquakes during these days, and continuing for many days after. Fortunately for us, there was no significant damage in the area of the Los Angeles area where we live (although we certainly felt the earth moving), but there has been significant damage in Ridgecrest and surrounding areas.
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Birthday Brunch - On July 7th we had a family Birthday Brunch in the local mountains at the Mt Baldy Lodge to celebrate my reaching 79 years of age - I thought it would take a lot longer to get here than it did. Our gathering included (left to right) Jenny, Bonnie, Bekah, Griffin, Sean, Heather, Me and Tracy. We had a good meal and visit and the second two photos below are fun gifts I received; first is an interesting DVD covering the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and a great book, also covering the PCT, with significant history and magnificent photos, given by my girls. I will read and review this book for many years. The second photo is of "hot socks" that I have been looking for and Bonnie found some for me.
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In addition to the fun connected with my birthday, on July 7th we watched the United States women's soccer team win the World Cup title, beating the Netherlands, 2-0, in Lyon, France. It has been fun following them as they worked their way to this final game. This is their fourth World Cup title.
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Travel to Utah - July 11th through July 17th - This trip was initiated by my planned attendance of the Hadfield Reunion to be held July 12th and 13th in Logan. Bonnie decided not to join me (too many trips in the last 55 years across the boring desert) so I set out by myself, deciding to visit with a number of our friends while on the trip. I left Thursday morning, July 11th, driving to Las Vegas where I met my Logan High classmate, Karma, at Panera Bread for brunch. She looks great and we had a really fun visit. I gave her a photo of the Class of '58 that I had picked up for her at the 50th class reunion held last year. Neither one of us could identify more than about a dozen of our classmates!! I left Las Vegas a little after noon and drove to Cedar City where I spent the night. I had called Linda earlier and arranged to take her to dinner. We met at the Sweet Basil Thai Restaurant, one of her favorites, where we had a really good meal. I'm not an expert on Thai food, but I had their Four Friends Dinner with chicken and really enjoyed it (special sauce and sautéed with baby corn, straw mushrooms, carrots and snow peas- yum!). Linda's sister Annie and her cousin were visiting Linda, but they, and Chad, were at the Shakespeare Festival and didn't join us for dinner. We had a good discussion about all our old friends and fun times and upcoming Sigma Zonk Activities. My habit of taking photos at these visits slipped my mind.
Hadfield Family Reunion - I left Cedar City Friday morning and drove to Logan where I had arranged to stay at a local motel for a few days. The Hadfield Reunion has been held every year for as long as I can remember. It has always been held on the weekend that is closest to July 13th -- Grandpa Will's birthday. The first photo below is Grandma & Grandpa Hadfield on their wedding day in October 1911. The second photo is Grandma & Grandpa, with Grandma holding Uncle Dean, their 10th child, with their faithful dog Prince at her side. Dean was born in March 1928 and Grandpa died of Brights Disease the following year - July 1929. Brights Disease is a type of kidney disease that was not well understood at that time. This photo is a hint of the tough life they lived on their ranch in Grouse Creek, Utah. Grandma managed to run the ranch and raise the 10 children by herself until she eventually moved in to Logan in the 1940s.
The photo below is of the entire William & Grace Hadfield family, minus Grandpa who had passed away a number of years before. Back row: Ronald, Gordon, Myrl and Elden. Center: Max and Nina. Front row: Amy, Norman, Grandma, Dean, and Vonda.
The ten families take turns organizing the Reunion each year and for 2019 it was the responsibility of Uncle Dean's family. Sheila & Sterling Lundgren were the active hosts this year and they did an excellent job. The flyer for the Reunion is shown below.
The first two photos below were taken at the Friday night gathering at Max and Marie's home in River Heights and the third at the Saturday gathering at the Merlin Olsen Park in Logan.
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Julie and Jim didn't attend the family reunion, so on Saturday afternoon I went to their home in Providence and had a good visit with them. Their youngest son Christopher was just leaving their home when I arrived so I got a short visit with him. His arms were full of packages and he explained that he buys almost everything he needs on Amazon; he doesn't feel comfortable having deliveries at his condo, so he has everything delivered to his parents home. Julie & Jim are doing okay, but they seem a little overwhelmed by Jim's back problems and Matthew and his boys living with them.
Visits With Friends - Friday evening, after the evening session of the Hadfield Reunion, I stopped by the Covert's home and had a good visit with Barbara & Quent and Amy. Barbara & Quent were going to Nephi for the weekend to see the famous Ute Stampede rodeo, but we agreed to get together Sunday night for dinner and to ride over to Bear Lake on Monday.
Saturday evening I had a good visit with Ted & Dixie, first at their home in River Heights and later for dinner at The Beehive Grill. Ted & Dixie have had an more than their share of medical problems over the past months, so I was interested in an update. Dixie has a regular medical treatment that has her situation in control and she seems to be doing fine. Ted has a number of problems, going way back to problems with his knees and his back, but currently dealing with the affects of "Giant Cell Arteritis", a situation which has resulted in some loss of vision. Plus, he was recently bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider and has a apparatus on his leg recovering the spider's venom. So he has some challenges, but he has a good attitude and is dealing with each of the problems. As you might expect, Dixie is in control of their current activities.
Sunday morning I met cousin Judy at First Dam and we hiked/walked the Highline Trail up Logan Canyon. The sign at the end of the trail said "Authorized Use Only" so we assumed we were authorized. I left before seeing Judy & Randy at the Friday night Hadfield Reunion, but had a good visit with Judy at Herm's Grill.
After Sunday's visit with Judy I had a lazy day, doing some reading and riding around Logan viewing my prior homes, schools, etc. etc. I stopped by the statue of Merlin at USU, which always brings back memories of all sorts. One disappointment was that one of the plaques seemed to be deteriorating - I'll send the photo to USU and ask that they increase their attention to required maintenance.
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Sunday evening I joined Barbara & Quent for a few drinks and conversation. They said they had good time at the rodeo in Nephi, although there was a heavy rain storm just before the rodeo and it made some of the events pretty muddy. Although we had planned on going out for dinner, we did "take-out" from Chili's Restaurant and had dinner at the house. Amy joined us and we had a good visit.
Monday morning Barbara, Quent and I drove to Bear Lake. The ride through Logan Canyon never gets old - it's one of the most scenic drives I do. We had a good lunch at Cooper's Restaurant & Sports Bar at Bear Lake West - it's always fun to eat on the deck with a great view of the lake. After lunch we drove all the way around the lake, which now has an asphalt road all the way around, and has significant development on the East Shore. Before returning to Logan we made a stop at LaBeau's in Garden City for the traditional raspberry shake.
When we returned to the Covert's home in Logan we again stayed at home for dinner, bringing some food in from Panda Express. Amy joined us and we had a good visit.
Tuesday morning I left Logan about 6:30 am and drove to Park City where I visited with Nel & Gary at their home. We had talked earlier about possibly going out for brunch, but Nel fixed some coffee and breakfast snacks and we stayed at their place and talked for over two hours. Since Gary is the Grand Dope of Sigma Zonk, and is scheduled to give a speech at the 2022 Big Zonk, we spent some time discussing the reasons and plans for that gathering to be the Final Big Zonk. We also caught up on our families and all common friends. When I left Park City I drove to Mesquite, arriving early enough that I visited Oscar Cuellar, Director of Food & Beverage at the 1880 Grille at the Conestoga Golf Resort. I've had some ongoing discussions about the possibility of holding the 2022 Big Zonk Reunion at the Conestoga Resort. I stayed at the Highland Estates Condo Hotel Monday night and had a fine dinner at the in-house Hugo's Restaurant.
Wednesday morning I left Mesquite early and drove home to Monrovia. It was a fun trip to Utah with many good visits with friends and family. I spend Thursday catching up with Bonnie on what had happened while I was gone (we had talked by phone every day, so we were both pretty much up-to-date on each of our activities) and getting ready to drive to Big Bear on Friday where we were attending the Humpherys Family Reunion on Saturday, July 20th.
Humpherys Family Reunion - The Humpherys Reunion has always been smaller, and to my best recollection, did not begin as early as the Hadfield Reunion did. The five families take turns hosting, like with the Hadfield Reunion, but in recent years we have only held the reunion every other year. This year was mother's turn (the June Humpherys Hadfield Family) and Pam & Dale had agreed to host the reunion at their second home in the Sugarloaf area of Big Bear. Dale contacted members of the five families regarding the date and location of this reunion. Some history of our Humpherys ancestors is summarized below.
The photo below is Grandma (Janet) & Grandpa Humpherys on their wedding day in November 1907. They had a family of five and lived at the family home in Etna, Wyoming. Unfortunately, Grandma Janet became deathly ill with severe pain in her abdomen in March of 1920. She was taken to the hospital in Afton by sleigh, but passed away five days later, being diagnosed with a ruptured appendix. She was just thirty-eight years old and had been married only thirteen years. June, the youngest child and my mother, was just 2 1/2 years old when her mother died.
After Grandma Janet's death, Grandpa and the oldest two boys, Rich and Dean, went back to working on the ranch, while the three youngest children, Adell, Hyrum and June, were initially cared for by various relatives in Star Valley. Soon after Grandma Janet's funeral, Adell and Hyrum were sent to Logan to live with their Humpherys grandparents. After two months, June was sent to Logan to live with Grandpa's brother Thomas and his wife. Before a year had passed, Thomas sent Grandpa a letter saying they had become so attached to June that they could no longer care for her unless Grandpa would allow them to adopt her. Grandpa immediately drove to Logan and took June back to Star Valley where she initially stayed with her Grandma Gardner (Grandma Janet's mother).
Grandpa had dated Eliza Jenson before meeting Grandma Janet, and Eliza, a school teacher in Brigham, had never married. Grandpa met with Eliza at Christmas in 1920 and they agreed to marry. They were married in April 1921 and in June of that year the full family was together at the home in Etna. In the fall of that year, Grandpa rented the ranch and the family moved to Logan. All the children went to Logan High School, and Adell, Hyrum, and June went to Utah State University.
The family photo below, from left to right, is June, Rich, Hyrum, Dean and Adell. In front is Grandma Eliza (the only grandma any of the Humpherys grandchildren ever knew) and Grandpa Ray.
The reunion in Big Bear was small, but fun. It's not worthwhile summarizing the reasons some family members couldn't come to the reunion. I believe those that did attend enjoyed the visiting and the old family stories. Attendees were Pat & Kent Larken (the Hyrum & Billye Humpherys Family), Stanley & Joanne Thurman, and Chris & Mandi Thurman (the Adell & Stewart Thurman Family), Pam & Dale Hadfield (the June & Ron Hadfield Family), and Bonnie & Ron Clair Hadfield, Jenny & Mike Stueve, and Bekah Stueve Horn (the June & Ron Hadfield Family).
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So it was an active July through July 20th - I went on a motorcycle trip with Dennie on July 22nd, the Annual Summer Scooter Ride, but that will be posted in a separate Blog.