HISTORY OP DEBRA LYNN LEU

I was born in a good home with two very special people that were to be my mortal parents here on earth. My father, Vernon Delbert Leu, and my mother, Doris Marie McDuffee, had been in love with each other for four years before they got married. My father is the oldest of two sons of Ernest Carl John Leu and Irene Johanna Antoinette Schlueter. They were very strong Lutherans. My uncle Lowell was Dad’s younger brother. There were no other children born in this family. Dad was born in Hadar, Nebraska on the Eppler place in his parent’s home on their farm. The date was May 3, 1931. Both he and his brother were raised on their father’s farm and learned much about caring for the animals and harvesting the crops. There are a few incidents about my father’s childhood in my journal. My mother was born at her grandparent’s home in Kankakee, Illinois on July 20, 1932, (see her history for details) to Richard Arnold McDuffee and Ruby Irene Wesley. She was their only child, after married for 6 years.

At age 17, after completing high school at Norfolk High School where he met my mother, my father joined the Navy in October of 1948. He was stationed in San Diego, California and was gone over-seas for several months at a time. At this time the Korean War was going and my father was serving on board the U.S.S. Phillipine Sea, and the U.S.S. Princeton, both aircraft carriers. He served in the Navy for 4 years, during which time he continued to write to my mother back in Norfolk. They both had each others class rings but were not engaged before my father left. During this time of separation, my father lost my mother’s class ring over the side of the ship and my mother lost my father’s ring in a big snow bank. Need¬less to say, my father was able to come back to Nebraska on leave on a few occasions and they both realized how much they really were in love. In July 1950, while Dad was home on leave, they became engaged. While my father was gone, my mother attended Norfolk Jr. College, and at the same time was a senior in high school, and went on to the University of Nebraska for a year, where she majored in Elementary Education and received her teaching degree in May of 1952. In October 1952 my father was released from the Navy. He came back to Nebraska and shortly thereafter, on December 28, 1952 they were married in a Presbyterian church in Norfolk, Nebraska. My mother’s family were good Presbyterians. They left Omaha and traveled to Kansas and Missouri for their honeymoon. In March my father got a promotion with the Union Pacific Railroad. They spent 3 weeks in Salt Lake City with Dad training, and then came down to Las Vegas, Nevada, which was then only a few small, narrow, hardly paved roads. Of course, “downtown Las Vegas” was here but not nearly as big as it is now.

Their first home was at 2009 Walnut Ave. It was a small house but large enough for the two of them. On April 12, 1954 they had their first child, Michael Steven Leu. He was born at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital and weighed 8 Ib 10 oz. and was 21″ long. He had a rather reddish tint to his blonde hair and big blue eyes. He was a healthy baby and a great joy to my parents. On May 15, just 5 weeks after his birth, he suddenly just went to sleep and never woke up again-—so called “crib death”. This was a terrible tragedy to both parents and relatives but I think it affected my mother the hardest. Even to this day she can’t talk about it very much without crying. When my mother married my father, she began going to the Lutheran church with my father, much to the dismay of her parents. So at this time when Michael died, it was very hard for both of them to accept and understand. Neither Lutherans nor Method¬ists have a definite concept of life after death or of the family as an eternal unit. Michael was buried May 20, 1954 at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Las Vegas, in a tiny little coffin. Even though I did not meet my older brother in this mortal life I still feel as if I know him, and I feel very close to him, too.

In the summer of 1955 I was born, on June 21, a Tuesday at 3:18 AM. I was 8 days late in arriving. My grandmother (my mother’s mother) was here to help Mom with me. Well, on due it started raining and for Las Vegas, a continual hard rain is bad. Charleston underpass was filled to the brim with water. All the streets were flooded and many being washed away.

Mom was really worried but she jokes about it now saying that she might have had to row a canoe through the underpass to get to the hospital. But, a week I entered this world. Both Mom and Dad were very glad to have a girl. Actually they were afraid it would be another boy and the tragedy of Michael’s death was still too fresh in their minds. They didn’t want another boy to “take his place”. The doctor said I looked just like my daddy. I had blonde hair and blue eyes, weighed 5 lb 1 0 oz. We stayed in the hospital only 2 1/2 days but in that short time I rapidly lost weight and went down to 5 lb 2 oz. This was just under the minimum weight limit for going home. For some reason I wasn’t able to tolerate any of the formulas I was being fed. Finally just before we were to go home, the doctor put me on Similac. I was able to keep that down and the doctor was confident that I would quickly improve. I did just fine at home except that I got the hiccups frequently and had a bad case of colic for the first 3 months.

I was christened in the Lutheran Church on July 2, 1955* In spite of the colic I didn’t lose weight-—I actually gained and was quite a chubby baby. When I was l4 months old my brother Kevin Douglas was born on August 28, 1956 also at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital. (My mother had all 4, now living, born under hypnosis by Dr. Starzynski. Mom was sort of a guinea pig for this as she was one of his first patients as he experi¬mented to see how hypnosis would work with childbirth. She says she didn’t have any pain, just feelings of pressure so was able to cooperate with the delivery and see her children born.}

I was always Mama’s helper and probably thought I was Kevin’s mother much of the time. We did everything together. Being that close in age I guess has kept us close all our lives. We made many trips back to Nebraska to visit both sets of grandparents. With Dad working for the Railroad Mom was able to take us at a greatly reduced rate.

Occasionally we were able to travel with our grandparents. Even being that small I still remember how afraid and yet excited I was when my great-grandfather Richard Lynn-McDuffee (after whom I received my middle name) would take me through the passage between the train cars. I thought for sure they would snap apart just as we were going through.

My mother, being a kindergarten teacher, spent many hours with Kevin and I, helping us learn our basic skills before entering school. At age 4 I could print my name, and had been to nursery school since age 3. That was when my mother started working at a nursery school. Kevin and I both attended and were taught Spanish, French, piano, ballet and tap dancing, along with the other basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

On June 3, 1959 ray sister Cynthia Marie was born at Sunrise Hospital. I still remember going to the hospital with Dad and looking through the nursery window to see her. She was a beautiful baby-—thick, dark, curly hair and big dark blue eyes. Kevin and I spent a lot of time being Mommy and Daddy to her, too. She was really the apple of Grandpa Leu’s eye. At age 5 I began attending Halle Hewetson Elementary School. My mother had taught me during the summer the route to take to school. I went down the alley right behind our house, down a few blocks and had to cross E. Bonanza before coming to the school. The first day of kindergarten Mom went with me to the gate. Until then I didn’t act scared, but at the gate I turned back to Mom and started crying. She said it didn’t take long and I was willing to go in by myself. I remember that we’ve always done a lot of traveling as a family. We’ve done a lot of camping on our trips, which I am very thankful for. Since we were not members of the Church then, many of our Sundays were spent doing these other activi¬ties. But if we were home we always tried to attend church. At this time we were all members of the Lutheran church. I believe Dad was still working for the Railroad or else had just begun working out at the Nevada Test Site.

When I was 7 we moved to my parent’s present home at 4312 Esmeralda Ave. It was a new home in a new housing tract. I had to walk 6 blocks to school (Vegas Verdes Elementary School) and it took me quite awhile to learn the route until I found my beat friend, Sherrie, next door. We were only 8 days apart in age and both had long blonde hair. We were almost insep¬arable for many years and were often mistaken for sisters. She also had a sister who was a few months younger than my sister. You can see we all spent many happy times together playing dress-up, and building houses out of cardboard boxes, or making tents with tables and cloth. This year I also became a Brownie Girl Scout. My mother became active in Scouting and later became my Jr. Girl Scout leader. She said that her mother was the one who designed the Brownie Scout flag and emblem.

For first, second and third grade Kevin and I attended a private school at the First Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. We were on a strict schedule there. Each day began with prayer and a meeting in the church. Then we went over to the school building for our classes. The main thing I remember is that we were required to do a lot of memorizing of scriptures, prayers and creeds of the church. The other school subjects were also taught and I usually made A’s in all. I was always on the honor roil and also won the costume prize for a Heldorado dress my mom made one year. At fourth grade I was enrolled at Vegas Verdes Elementary School. My teacher, Mrs. McNamara was one of the best teachers I have ever had. At least once a month we had to write a report, and we were keeping a type of journal which followed an outline of questions the teacher gave us periodically. We had numerous spelling bees, which I loved and did well in. We made paper mache puppets of a famous person of our choice (I did Madam Curie), and then we had to put on a play telling about their life. We went on several field trips all over town, did science experiments and were encouraged to enter our science fairs, and wrote our weekly “5 W’s” about a subject of which we had heard during the week or a book report. We also had to give class speeches and de¬monstrations. Mrs. McNamara was really good with artwork too and made it fun for the whole class.

In fifth grade I had Mr. Connor. It was different to have a man for a teacher but he was really good. I liked him a lot but don’t remember much about what we did during the school year except that he seemed to emphasize math a lot and that was a subject I never had been very good in, and never was. Mr. Connor is now a principal at one of the elementary schools. Since my mom does substitute teaching she sees him occasionally and he still remembers me.

In sixth grade I had another man for a teacher, Mr. Jenkins. This was a fun year. He taught us a lot about music and we learned a lot of songs from him. He still had the spelling and math bees-—in the spelling ones I did great, but not so in math. This was also the year when we felt like we were growing up. Sixth grade was the last year of grade school and then on to Jr. High! We were experimenting with a little make-up and learning a few dances. The 4th-6th graders had to share their half of the playground and the 6th graders always took over the play equipment. We couldn’t wait until we were finally in 6th grade so we could have our choice of everything. The Beatles were definitely in and each day for lunch the back of our classroom was turned into our dance hall. Girls danced with girls and occasionally there would be a boy or two who was courageous enough to dance. Usually they went out to play basketball. But if they stayed to dance, the boys danced with boys too. We were in to listening to KENO radio station and most nights were spent calling the station to make requests as we sat around just listening to the radio and talking about boys (we wouldn’t dare let them know that we were even thinking about them though.) or else we’d dance and teach each other any new ones we’d learned. In 4th-6th grade the girls always wore shorts under their dresses (we hardly ever wore pants to school) so they could hang from the rings or bars and do tricks. Also during these 3 years I continued to be on the honor roll.

I attended jr. high at James Cashman Jr. High. I was on the honor roll almost every time. When in the 7th grade I took a Pre-Algebra class, and in 8th grade I took Algebra. This was the first time I ever got lower than a B, and I got a D in Pre-Algebra. Even though my dad is good in math and tried to help me, it just never made any sense to me. In 9th grade I took Geometry and came out with B’s. But my teacher was very understanding and took time to specifically go over things with me. A few of my friends and I got him to at least start taking the missionary lessons but I never found out whether he joined the Church or not.

On August 23, 1961 my second brother Jaymes Randal was born, also at Sunrise Hospital. He was a cute baby with light hair and big blue eyes. I remember doing a lot of babysitting now and not liking it near as much as with Kevin, when I could be his “mommy”. I really didn’t like changing diapers on Jay and being yelled at and told, “You can’t tell me what to do! You’re not my mother!” by the other two. Kevin and Jay always shared a room, and Cyndi and I shared one. We all had bunk beds. I think that was really a trying time for all of us. Kevin and I felt we needed our freedom and independence and didn’t like sharing rooms with two little ones. Of course we always thought that they were the ones that made the rooms so messy. As we grew we found that we were sharing clothes, make-up, games, etc. Jay was one known for his bad temper and was always getting in trouble. I think to cope for his feelings of being inferior (since he was the young¬est and smallest) he would usually make up lies to get out of trouble. So consequently it was hard for him to break that habit and get rid of the stigma he’d acquired. He usually was accused of stealing someone’s money whenever it came up missing. Even to this day he has quite a temper. I vividly remember having to babysit one night. Jay and Kevin were mad at me for some¬thing. Kevin started yelling at me, I yelled back, Cyndi was crying and Jay ran in the kitchen and came running down the hall to attack me with a butcher knife. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I knew he was just so mad that he’d do almost anything, I ran in the bathroom and locked myself in. I stayed in there until Mom and Dad came home. And when they did I informed them that I wasn’t going to babysit anymore. Jay must have been about 6 or 7 then. Several times Jay would get so mad and would hit or kick things that he broke several windows and put holes in lots of doors and walls. A lot of his allowance was spent in making repairs.

Cyndi was the emotional one. Almost anything would start her crying and her feelings were hurt very easily. Usually she kept this all inside her but sometimes at night I could get her to open up and talk. She said she always felt like I was better than she was. This made me feel bad and through the years we’ve become closer as sisters. When she was little all you had to do was point a camera at her and she’d put on a show for you. She was so pretty that a modeling agency had approached Mom about getting her in the movies even.

Kevin has always been very quiet. He didn’t let his emo¬tions show much and was never out-going. He had a few close friends but usually preferred to be by himself. When my dad started working at the Nevada Test Site a Larry Shepherd became a close friend of his. Brother Shepherd and his wife, and Dad and Mom belonged to a square dancing group. Kevin and I belonged to the youth square and round dancing group. We all really liked it and were in several performances. Well, the Shepherds had a large family and were, of course, LDS. I guess they had chosen Dad and Mom to friendship. Dad smoked and had his usual glass of beer every night and he and Mom drank occasionally. I always was in charge of making the pot of coffee for when Dad came home for dinner. Kevin, Cyndi and I had a taste or two of Dad’s beers but that was it. I don’t think we ever had a real desire to even be old enough to drink or smoke. Anyway for se¬veral months the Shepherds were friend shipping us through the square dancing, family activities and a cottage meeting, as they were then called. Mom and Dad attended but neither wanted to see any missionaries. But the missionaries came anyway; and Dad would always just shut the door on them. They were per¬sistent and finally, after talking with Mom, he let them in. They showed Man’s Search for Happiness and that was the turning point. Mom says it really answered so many of her questions relating to death and a life afterwards and for the first time she didn’t feel so much sorrow about Michael’s death. Elders Lynn Hartman and Doug Kvamme taught us the lessons using the flannelboard discussions and filmstrips. And, of course, the Shepherd family became very close friends. Dad said the thing that impressed him was that they had so much fun getting drunk on water (at the square dances). On March 11, 1969 Mom, Dad, Kevin and I were baptized and immediately confirmed at the Las Vegas Stake Center (now the Reed Whipple Center on Las Vegas Boulevard). Cyndi and Jay were not old enough yet. Then a year later, in April, we were all sealed together as a family in the St. George temple. We were unable to go in March because Cyndi and Jay had chicken pox. This was a very special day. Even Kevin and I had to wait in the nursery though and that was quite boring. But then came the time when they had to find white clothes to fit all four of us. I was 11 and they gave me a dress that really was too big—I remember it hung midway be¬tween my knees and ankles. I really felt funny when I had to leave that room and go where people could see me. But entering the sealing room I suddenly felt calm. Everything was so pretty and peaceful. Mom and Dad looked so happy. The sealing was special-—I held hands with a young man who was standing proxy for Michael and ever since then I have felt a strong bond between Michael and I that I hadn’t felt before. It was really hard for Dad to quit smoking but by substituting candy (the only thing that worked) he was able to quit before our baptism date. But, being really thin before, and then eating all that candy he quickly put on pounds. And both Mom and Dad had a hard time doing without the coffee. Pero and Postum took its place, Soon after going to the temple Dad was and then made a High Priest and has held leadership positions ever since. He has developed a talent and love for genealogy and has done a tremendous amount of work for our family. Mom has taught in Primary, MIA, and been the President of Primary, MIA (also in the Stake Presidency), and ward Relief Society President. Her greatest love was in MIA working with “her girls”.

When I was in grade school my best friend, Sherrie Warner, (also our neighbor next door) invited me to Primary with her. This was my first exposure to Mormonism. I remember Mom telling me, “Now, they’re going to tell you some strange stories about some man named Joseph Smith but don’t believe them.” And the lesson that day just happened to be on the First Vision. Well, it all sounded perfectly logical and believable to me. For several weeks I’d go to Primary with Sherrie and found that that was where all my friends went too. So, after joining the Church in March until June when Primary ended, I filled all the requirements for graduation from Primary.

Entering MIA that fall was a new and fun experience. I had great teachers for my Beehive classes: Janet Cassels, Cherrill Mendenhall, and Sue Barlow. They were all actively interested in each one of us. In MIA Maids I served in the Presidency both years and also both years as a Laurel. When I was a 2nd year Beehive I had my first boyfriend, Gregg Mendenhall. He was really tall, lived just down the street, and his mother was my teacher. He was quite popular at school and was on the Jr. High basketball team. Well, we had a lot of pressure from my best friend, who was also quite popular, to go steady. Here we were only 13 years old and yet she had persuaded me that it was the thing to do and she was trying to convince him of that. Luckily he said he couldn’t go along with the idea of going steady so young. He was always the one I’d dance with or do anything with at our Scout-Beehive activities. We remained really good friends even to this day. At this time I was also being pestered by my other teacher’s son (Cassels) and he kept after me until I was married, I sure wish he hadn’t decided to pick on me. I could never get away from him, it seemed. And even when I was engaged he couldn’t understand why I couldn’t and didn’t want to go out with him. I suppose it was all a learning experience for me. At this same time another boy, in whom I was not the least bit interested, also decided to chase me around.

When I was 15, and attending Clark High School, I met Terry Bunker and through him I met Brent. But I also met Ty Erickson. So while these other two guys were giving me problems I was trying to get to know Ty and Brent. (The history of all that is in another folder.) During those years Terry Bunker left on his mission, and Ron Hollis was gone at this time too, I had never dated Ron but he started writing to me and I answered until he asked me to wait for, him and marry him when he returned. Then a missionary in our ward started sending me cards and flowers I was getting response from all the wrong people it seemed. When Brent turned 16 we began going out steadily.

I received my Glory to God award in MIA in September 1972. This is similar to the Duty to God award that the boys receive.

In high school I was a member of the Drill Team so was practically part of many of the school games and all the assem¬blies. This experience helped me overcome much of my shyness, and it was fun. I was able to go to the one State game we had in Reno when I was a junior. We stayed in a motel one night and had spent that afternoon practicing our routine outside in the cold wind and it had started snowing. Since we had been “conditioned” to hold as still as possible, when not performing but out on the field, we found this very hard to do in that cold weather when we had very short skirts on, no coats or sweaters, and thin patent leather boots. But we all survived and only a few of us caught even a cold.

Brent entered the mission home on January 10, 1976. I had been two years ahead of him in school and a year older in age. So while he was finishing high school I enrolled in the two-year nursing program at UNLV. Brent and I had been active in the Volunteer program at Sunrise Hospital and I had been a Cherry Striper at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital. This training and experience is what helped me obtain a scholarship through Sunrise Hospital which I received each semester through¬out nursing school. Nursing and helping other people has always been an interest and goal of mine. Brent had worked in the operating room, emergency room, and occasionally on the floors. I worked on the floors until I was 18 and then Brent and I went in the emergency room together. So, in December 1975 I graduated from nursing with an Associate of Arts. Brent went on his mission the next month. My state board exams were in February and I only had two weeks to study for them. Right after Brent left I was hired as an R.N. at Valley Hospital. Of course the permanence of the job was contingent on my exam results. I started out working the day shift for two weeks and then was moved to the graveyard shift. I worked there for 1 1/2 years (until August 1977) still on the graveyard shift. I of course passed my State Boards which were two days, 6 hours each, of exams. I was able to work as Charge Nurse quite often which meant I was in charge of the whole floor, and I had one L.P.N. and one Aide to help me. Sometimes I was down on the first floor with only one hall, and I was all by myself. I learned a lot from all that.

Soon after I’d been there for 6 months they started putting me in the Intensive Care Unit. Then they sent me to a class to train me in recognizing heart arrhythmias and how to treat them. Prom then on I was a permanent member in I.C.U. That was scary because one night I was left in charge and I do not like being in charge of 11 people’s lives. Luckily nothing happened that night. But I had my share of Code 99′s and trying to revive people.

In August I went for an appointment with my family doctor, Dr. Richard Nilsen. 1 knew his nurse as she was a member of our ward. Dr. Nilsen asked me if I would be Interested in working for him. I had been praying for a day-time job for a long time and this, seemed to be the answer. I was earning $6.25 and hour at Valley and Dr. Nilsen would pay me $7.00 an hour. His nurse was having to move so he needed an office nurse. The benefits were good—-he’d treat everything he could for free. He still treats me and my family for no charge. Brent and I were already planning to be married when he got home and I wanted a day-time job for then, which was in 5–6 months. So I gave my two weeks notice to the hospital and started working for Dr. Nielsen. It sure was different than hospital work but not near as much pressure and most of his staff was LDS, as was he. I worked from 9:00 AM until noon, if we were lucky, and then 2:00 PM until whenever we finished, I really liked it. And whenever he went on vacation we got a vacation (usually) and also got paid. He taught me how to do allergy testing and give the allergy shots. I had a lot of new and different experiences just working in his office. Brent was as excited about the job as I was—I called him to let him know. He was released from his mission a month early, on December 10, 1977. I met him at the airport with his mom and dad and received a great big hug from him. Boy did that feel good! I hung a big sign on the front of my house saying, WELCOME HOME, BRENT! And Mom helped me tie yellow crepe paper ribbons all over in the tree in our front yard. There’s a song that says, “Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree. It’s been (2) long years, do you still want me?” Brent’s face was just radiant when he saw us at the airport. I was really ner¬vous and kept thinking, “I wish I was a mouse so I could hide in his dad’s pocket and just watch all this. Brent left Chicago in −6° weather and arrived, in Vegas where it was 70. He sure looked funny carrying a coat on his arm. And on the way home he asked me to marry him, but “not officially” he said, “until I’m released.” That was on a Saturday and he wasn’t released until Sunday night. He had gone to the Minnesota-Minneapolis Mission but it was split while he was there and he left from the Illinois-Chicago Mission. We were married on March 24, 1978 in the St. George temple. All of Brent’s family, several re¬latives, friends, even Dr. Nilsen, and my parents and friends were all there. We had about 60 people in the big sealing room and Pres. Grant M. Bowler, the temple president, sealed us. That’s a day I’ll never forget. All our friends who had been through before their missions used to come over and tell me how neat the endowment ceremony was. I wanted to go so bad!

After eating a special lunch at the Leonardi’s restaurant we went back to Vegas. Our reception that night was from 7:00 to 10:00 PM with a program at 8:30. So many people came and we were really blessed. Terry Bunker was best man, Kevin and Jay Leu were groomsmen, Cyndi Leu was maid of honor with Janalee Williams and Julie Fisher as bridesmaids. Paul and Chuck Williams, and Bradley Haines were ushers. Our colors were maroon and pink. I felt very fortunate to be able to wear my mother’s satin wedding gown. A sister in our ward added to the neckline to make it suitable for the temple and did the alterations.

We were up until 2:00 AM opening gifts at my parent’s home. The next day we left on our honeymoon to southern California. We went to almost all the amusement parks and had borrowed my parent’s camper to stay in. We were gone a week and had a great time.

I continued working for Dr. Nilsen and we lived with Brent’s parents. In May they left on a full-time mission to Glendale, California, so we lived in their home while they were gone. Also in May I found out that I was pregnant. We were really excited about this. But when the morning sickness started I wasn’t too excited anymore. In fact, I first got sick on Mem¬orial Day weekend when we; were up at the cabin with my parents. I was miserable most of the time up there. But to tap it all off Brent and I left before anyone else did and unknowingly took my parent’s car keys with us. I was sick all the way home and when we got home my dad called to tell us what had happened. They had to stay up there, we had to turn around and drive all the way back up by Cedar City (a 5 hour drive to the cabin) and then come back home so we could all be to work in the morning. We got home at 5:30 AM and I had to be to work at 9:00. And I had been sick all the way home. Dr. Nilsen was really good and gave me pills and an occasional shot for my nausea. And while up at the cabin Brent gave me a husband’s blessing—that’s what really helped. I only had morning sickness for 3 weeks. We picked out the names of Jared Brent for a boy and Heidi Lynn for a girl. We didn’t have any insurance so decided to go to St. George to have the baby. I had heard of a good doctor (Dr. Staheli} and that the hospital was really nice and the cost was less than half of what it was here. The doctor’s fee was $325 and the hospital bill came to $500. Here the doctor’s fee was 5800 and the Hospital ran about $1000 for a 3-day stay. The baby was due on January 20, 1979. My last office visit was about a week before the baby was due, Dr. Staheli said it would most likely be another 2 weeks. Well, at 8:00 AM on the 20th my water broke. We drove to St. George (the doctor was out at his farm) because we knew the baby had to be delivered within 24 hours. I didn’t even start labor until about 9:00 or 9:30 that night. At 1:00 AM my contractions were 2 minutes apart so we went to the hospital. Brent was so tired. He had been up all day and worked a shift of 5:00 PM to 1:00 AM so he hadn’t had all his sleep. Then he was up all night with me at the hospital and our first son, Jared Brent, was born at 7:43 AM on January 21, 1979. He weighed 6 lb 13 oz and was 19 1/2″ long. He looked so tiny and had just enough dark hair on his head to say that he had hair. We were so happy! He was really a good baby for about a week and then started getting colic. He had that colic for about 3 1/2–4 months and was awake every 2 hours around the clock. I was exhausted so Mom and Cyndi came to help a few nights. He was blessed on February 4, 1979 with my dad and Kevin assisting.

In November 1979 Brent’s parents returned from their mis¬sion. The July previous we had bought a repossessed 12′x60′ mobile hone already in a family park. Brother John Vandawalker helped get it for us. It was quite run down but with lots of help we fixed it up. It has 2 small bedrooms but it’s ours. We paid $5500 for it. The space rent was $155 a month and now is $180 a month.

Brent has been in school year-round since he got home from his mission. He is majoring in psychology and will grad¬uate this August 1981. He enters graduate school here at UNLV in September. He has worked for Varsity Contractors, Summa Corporation and now for United Parcel Service, since we’ve been married. He brings home between $180-$200 a week. He is now the Financial Clerk of the Las Vegas 47th Ward and I am a Cub Scout Den Mother. Jared is 2 1/2 years old and we’re expecting our second baby next week, July 9th. This time I only had morning sickness for a week. Someone suggested drinking raspberry leaf tea when you get up in the morning and eating papaya enzyme whenever you feel nauseated. I tried them both and they really worked. This baby we are having here at Women’s Hospital with Dr. Coffman delivering. We started out going to St. George again because I really liked it there last time. But on Valentine’s Day this year our Toyota truck, which we’d only had a year and loved, was stolen right out of our driveway. It was never recovered. We had carpeted the back so it would be more comfortable for sleeping in, and it had Brent’s tools, two sleeping bags, Jared’s stroller and car seat in it. So, without transportation to get to St. George we changed doctors to Dr. Coffman here. This time we have insurance to pay for it. The doctor’s fee (since I came in after half my pregnancy had started) is $500 (usually $1000) and the hospital bill will probably run over $1000. We have Heidi Lynn still picked out for a girl and Joel James for a boy. I picked out the girl’s name and Brent picked out the boy’s.

While living at Bunker’s we were in the 14th ward. Our bishop was Glen Alleman. I held positions as Jr. Sunday School pianist and Relief Society Home Beautification Leader. Now in the 47th ward I’ve been Relief Society Chorister, Laurel Advisor, and now Den Mother. I can really say I enjoyed being Laurel Advisor the most. I loved working with the girls that age.

Since we’ve been married I think we see less of each other than we did before. Brent has been in school during the day and working at night. So we see each other on weekends. It’s hard, but we’re glad for the time we do have together and try to use it in doing something as a family. Brent spends as much time as he can with Jared. Jared loves wrestling or playing chase with his daddy. We are trying to teach Jared some basic pre-school skills and he’s really picking them up well. He knows his ABC’s, can count to 20, can tell you how old he is and where he lives, knows the way to both grandparent’s houses, and knows several songs. We try to use the principle of per¬suasive love rather than punishment and if punishment is needed we make sure he understands why and then follow it with love. We’ve really learned how quickly children learn by example. Jared picks up many of our bad habits or little acts or sayings faster than we imagined.

I plan to continue my history in my journal. I have already written a history of how Brent and I met, our dating years and up to our marriage. This is kept in my Book of Remembrance. I want my children to know that I have a testimony of the truth¬fulness of this Church. I gained that testimony gradually but really had a strong witness given to me during the summer of 1972 when I went to B.Y.U. for summer school. I really didn’t want to go up there but I grew to know myself better and became much closer to my Father in Heaven while there. I also gained a strong testimony of the need and reality of our prophet being a true prophet. I love BYU and always had the desire to be able to go there with Brent. I want to teach my children early in their lives about the reality of Heavenly Father and Jesus, and the blessings we have so I have begun collecting several children’s church books, and helps for teaching gospel lessons to young children. We as parents feel a great desire and need to keep our family close. We’d like to be able to take at least one really fun trip a year. We’ve taken Jared to Sea World, San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Country when he was a little over a year old. Then this May we took a weekend and took him to Disneyland. He loved it and always asks to go back. In January we plan to take Jared and the baby back to Disneyland and to Marineland. Jared loves animals—especially Brent’s sheltie dog, Holly, which I bought for Brent for Christmas the month before Jared was born. I feel so blessed to be a mother and to have such a great family. Brent is, and always has been, a great example of what every faithful Saint should do. He is very conscientious in any job he has. He really honors, respects, and magnifies his Priesthood. These are what really attracted me to him. I am so grateful that he has this Priesthood and I have a strong testimony of it’s power and the spirit that attends it.

Source: Brent Bunker