Christmas Card 1992--James and Camber Wed

The big news of the year was the marriage of James, our youngest, to Camber Carlston of Mission Viejo.  They were married in the Los Angeles Temple and have settled in San Diego.  James is working in the mortgage business with Janet and Richard and Camber is working for a medical company and hoping to finish her education.

Linda and Gary were able to take a dream vacation to Hawaii this year and leave all four of their children behind with babysitters (James and Camber).  Gary Pulsipher is doing well as an orthodontist, working in both El Cajon and La Jolla.  Linda is the bookkeeper for Choice Mortgage as well as a very busy mother.

Maria and Mark Valko are back in California (hurray!)  Mark is working in construction and they have a new home in Tulare, CA--a nice little town near the Sequoia forest, south of Fresno.  Mark is working on getting his contractor's license and although California is a tough market right now, they are keeping very busy.  We love having them and their four children so much closer!

John took a month from his job as Senior Manager at Peat, Marwick, and Main (an accounting company in LA) and traveled throughout eastern Europe this fall.  Besides this he had numerous other hiking adventures to the High Sierras and Nevada this year.  Meagan has also gone on several weekend treks to the Sierras and is an excellent hiker.  They will be at Park City as usual for their Christmas skiing.  John's girlfriend Jessica is also getting in the skiing scene and did very well at Park West last year.  Meagan is in 7th grade at Muirlands in La Jolla and will be moving to San Francisco next summer when her mother Jennifer marries.  We will really miss them both very much.

We had another Vida and Merlin Hardy reunion at Torrey Pines Beach this year and Richard and his brother Martin had most of their children and grandchildren--next year we are hoping to get all of Scott's children and grandchildren to join us also.

Except for the same old problems we are managing to keep our heads above water and our feet moving and are just very grateful for the blessings of a loving family, good health, the gospel and warm beds at night.

Thoughts on Life Perplexities , 1993

"I see a light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it's not another train!"

Maria said Mark is just not sure exactly what to do with his life.  I surely know that feeling.

After graduating and working as a teacher for one year I contemplated changing my career to bookkeeping because I really did not like teaching.  Of course,  it was in my junior year when I jumped from an accounting major to teaching because I could not understand the slide rule.  So hard to know what to really do with the rest of your life.

Maria is tending the children and hoping to win the 10 million from Publisher's Clearing House.  Yes, I used to follow that faithfully and then I realized they were quite deceptive and they made you think you were so close to winning and so you keep sending in the papers or whatever.  When I finally realized it was very deceptive, I wrote them a letter and told them so and cancelled my subscription to Reader's Digest and have never read it again.

Maria said there was a man in their ward named Richard Hardy...such a common name.  Maria had a cute phrase I have not heard before but makes you wonder...

"I see a light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it's not another train!" "the story of our lives, huh" she said.  I do know that feeling!!

I wish them well and ourselves, we are in deep trouble, too.

............................................................

Tragedy close to home. 

We had a very nice Vietenamese gardener named Nhan Trinh for our Rancho Bernardo home and this happened to his younger brothers.  He was a broken man when he came to work one day and shared what happened.  We found the complete article in the paper.

I watched Richard as he took him in his arms and tried to soothe him with the truth of the Gospel and eternal life.  So very tragic.

I knew that the young people jumped from this cliff but most of them were local surfers and experienced swimmers.  I have never heard of anyone else dying from the jump but, of course, people do have problems in the churning surf all the time.        

  

Receive a Bank of America Award!!!, 1993

Thursday a representative from Bank of America came with a big package that had a letter, plaque, and Preferred Broker seals to put on our loan packages. We were awarded a Preferred Broker award.  We have a 97% rating she said. 

They rate you by how many loans are submitted and approved and how many remain good loans and also on how complete your loan packages are.  She said there were really not that many who received the award. 

"So many people submit incomplete packages and ours are done so well," she says.  We now receive free appraisals and free locks and our loan packages move to the front when submitted.  Quite an honor!

Bank of America has became very aggressive and well-organized in the wholesale loan business so I enjoy working with them, too.  I sent John's  loan there even though he works for Countrywide.  He also received a special rate there for buying a house in the inner city, something the Feds have come up with I guess. 

Anyway I am feeling very happy about this!!!  All my hard work and organization may be paying off!

Death of a Dear Friend, March 1993

I got word of the untimely death of a college roommate this month.  I figure she couldn't have been more than 52 so it was a very untimely and unexpected death.  I had just met with her recently at the Temple.   She looked and acted extremely healthy.  I am so glad we got to see each other when we did.  

I was a junior the year she started as a freshman at BYU and lived with me and 4 others in the new Family Living Center.

After I graduated and taught for a year in Billings, Montana another college roommate Colleen and I traveled through California to find a great place to teach and we found it in San Diego.

Two years later Marta graduated and wanted to come live with us so we changed our residence and moved to Hillcrest from North Park.  She was not a teacher but worked for the big company Convair and it was a very good job.

BYU 1953

Colleen in back, Janet, Marta, JoAnne in front

We still attended the large 4th Ward building in North Park though and Quentin came into our life and was at our house a lot.  He even took the three of us to Grand Canyon and Phoenix one weekend.  He wanted his parents to meet Marta.  Anyway it wasn't long before Quentin and Marta were getting married and she was the youngest of us all!!!  He was a great guy and Marta was a sweetheart to everyone.  She was just a very good friend.  We all loved her.

I married about a year or two later but we both had our first baby boys about the same time and Quentin did bring them all down to San Diego and I have a movie of our little pre one year old boys in a playpen tyogether.  They actually named their first daughter Janet, after me!!!   

What amazed me and even her husband was the huge turnout for her funeral, much more than a ward and family for sure.   This was his words in a letter he wrote to me later.  "I am ashamed that I was so unaware and insensitive to the extent to which Marta had touched peoples lives.  She did not speak often of what she said or did as she talked and helped people, and maybe that was why so many would talk to her in confidence and listen to her counsel.  There were so many like yourself who at great personal sacrifice traveled great distance to be at her funeral.  The service was indeed an indication of just how many people considered her to be their friend.  She spoke of you often, held you in high regard and regretted that she could not see you more often.  As I have been able to step back and view the events surrounding her death I can see the hand of the Lord moving in many ways.  What are the odds for us to meet at the temple the week before that caused you to be able to communicate with her.  I can assure you that it was a special time for to be able to talk to you even for a short time." 

Marta was a great listener, I know, and always comforting with a quiet word of hope or encouragement.

In the autopsy it was determined a cancer she had 20 years ago had returned and her immune system shut down and could not fight the infection in her body, though they were using the strongest drugs they could.  

Quentin said, "Let me assure you that I am comfortable with her passing, she had finished her mission here.  She had received a blessing twenty years ago that enabled her to remain and raise her children after her diagnosis of terminal cancer. " 

Marta was a very precious soul who lived a very worthy life,  she will be missed.

Marta's Mom made us all squaw dresses (6 of us)!

4th Ward 1957

Marta and I with some of the Ward guys.

Quentin and Marta

Big Bear Vacation in 1993 so Fun! Miss Our Connie at the Office!

I sent Jeanne $25 for the family reunion in Utah.   I am not sure who will come with us but we will be there.  Richard and I will leave Thursday and stay in Las Vegas and then get to Utah on Friday and stay Friday and Saturday night and then leave Sunday and go as far as Las Vegas again.  We are getting too old to drive it all in one day.

We had a wonderful time at Big Bear last weekend.  John came up on Saturday so everyone was there.  They had put us in three condos stacked on top of each other so it was easy to share food and baby sitting and going to the pool, etc.  We walked, boated, ate, swam, played games and some of the them went mountain biking.  At $35 a night for a condo it was a real bargain.  Even Jimmy's friend Roger was there. John and Jimmy had their traditional monopoly game that went till all hours of the night.  Jimmy won this time.

The boys loved the pool.

John and Kelly getting acquainted.  Climbing trees!

An imaginary collage!

Face painting for Meagan?  Amy.

Current grandchildren above.  All four of our children are married now.

Even Roger, best friend of Jimmy was there.  Richard loves these outings.

Melissa always is photogenic!

We would take out the boat in the afternoon and the children loved that.

It was really a great weekend!!.  So many activities indoors and out.

Lagonita Lodge provided rentals on the boats.

Connie, my evening and weekend assistant has been out for several weeks now because her mother is in such a bad way.   Connie works still at the school in the day, so she needs someone there.

My other assistant is doing much better but there is still so much she does not know.  Always learning, always trying to move on and make things work!!

Christmas Card and Events of 1993

We, Janet and Richard, continue to live at 18391 Camberwell Lane in San Diego, CA 92128 and continue to work in our business Choice Mortgage, but the rest of the family has moved around this year!

John and Jessica Hardy have purchased a condo in Pasadena.  John is now the Tax Director for Countrywide Funding in Pasadena.  Meagan Hardy (13) lives in La Jolla, CA 92037 with her mother and new stepfather.

 Linda and Gary Pulsipher have moved to El Cajon, CA 92020.  Gary is an orthodontist in El Cajon and La Jolla.  Their children are Kristi(10), Craig (7), Amy(4), Kelly(2), and Tanner(3.5 months).

 Maria and Mark Valko have moved to Tehachapi, CA 93561.  Mark is building homes in Tulare and Bakersfield, CA.  Their children are Michael(8), Matthew(6), Melissa(4), and Mitch(3).

       

James and Camber Hardy have moved to La Jolla, CA 92037.  Camber is a Title Rep for United Title and James is an agent for Worldwide Marketing and Choice Mortgage.

Highlights of the year were:

...Janet stayed with her mother in Orem, Utah for 10 days in the summer, Her mother is 91 years old.

...John's exciting new job with one of the largest mortgage banker's in the country!  John buys a home in Pasadena.

...San Diego Temple Open House and Dedication.

...Richard Hardy Family Reunion in May at Big Bear Lake.

...John and Jessica are married in July.

...Tanner Pulsipher is born the fifth child to Linda and Gary in August.

...Merlin and Vida Hardy Family Reunion at Torrey Pines Beach in August.

...Meagan's mother marries in August.

...Michael is baptized in Tulare in September.

...Maria and Mark move into a new home and city in October.

...James and Camber move to the beach in October.

...Linda and Gary move to a larger home with a view and swimming pool in November.

Everyone is blessed with good health and we have been delighted to be able to all live near enough that we can see each other more often this past year.  We are grateful for all our friends and family and wish for all of you in 1994 a very happy New Year!  Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you!
  

A Ski Vacation at Park City!

Some pictures from past and present Christmas's at Park City.