Leah Rangel

Leah (said Lee-ah) was born and lived in the San Jose/Fancisco area of California. She lived here until she was 10 years old. She LOVED it! She loved how beautiful everything was, how there were so many things to do, the beach and she loved how close she felt to her ward and stake. Even though she has lived most of her life in Utah, she still considers herself a California girl.

While living in Palo Alto, her mother would take Leah and her 5 siblings (3 older boys and 3 younger girls – Leah is the middle daughter) somewhere new and exciting every week. They would go to the zoo, parks, colleges, tour downtown San Francisco, museums, the academy of science, ride trains, go to the beaches all along the coast, explore the Redwood forest, etc. Leah loved the busy energy of the her life and definitely enjoys the city.

One of Leah's favorite memories of growing up in California were the ward and stake road shows their ward would put on every year. These weren't not like the road shows we are used to having in Utah. They weren't always competitions between wards. Sometimes they were full on plays. The thing Leah loved was everyone participated including non-members and it brought their ward close. Some of the shows they did were, The King and I, Bye Bye Birdie Music Through the decades and Brigadoon.

When she was 10, her parents decided they wanted to buy a house and ended up moving to Provo and buying her grandparents house. It was quite an adjustment for Leah. Things moved a little slower in Provo than the Bay area of California. But other opportunities came along that she may not have had in California.

Leah was incredibly close to her older sister and wanted to be just like her. When her sister went into middle school, she joined the ballroom dancing team. She would come home after practices and teach Leah the moves. So the next year, and following in her sister's footsteps, Leah also tried out and made the team.

This opened up an extensive part of Leah's teenage life. This was no ordinary team. They traveled all over the western United States performing. Leah was blessed to be very talented. She won a the National Dancesport Championship for her division when she was about 13 or 14 and continued on with ballroom dancing for BYU's youth program. At age 16, however she was recruited by UVSC (at the time) to be on their ballroom dancing team. They travelled all over the world competing and performing. When she graduated from high school she continued at UVSC due to her dance scholarships.

When Leah was in high school, her older sister participated in the Miss Provo pageant and won. Leah, at the strong suggestion of her sister, decided she too would enter for the scholarship money. So during her senior year, as a novice with no other pageantry experience she too entered the Miss Provo pageant and to the surprise of everyone, won!

Leah ended up leaving the dance team. It was time for a new chapter in her life. She continued to attending UVU for about two years, participating in their school news program. She started out as a reporter then got promoted to anchor and then executive producer. Her most memorable interviews were Sheri Dew and Steve Young!

For Leah though, her interest in school was waning. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life. She ended up taking a job full-time. For a single person it was fun to have a job with good pay and too much fun to spend her money, so she just kept working and school was off the radar. She has held a variety of jobs growing up. One interesting one being a lash artist. She learned how to apply lash extensions but never got her license so she occasionally does it for just her friends.

She eventually began working for a real estate direct selling company. This company hired motivational speakers to come in and coach their employees one on one. Her first coach was a man named Joe Rangel.

Leah At this time was going through some hard challenges (as most of us do in our 20's) She was trying to figure out what she wanted in life and who she really was. They enjoyed spending their time together and Joe really valued Leah as a celestial spirit.

Over the next 5-6 years Leah and Joe continued to build their friendship. He continued coaching her and they started casually seeing each other. Joe knew quickly he was in love with Leah, but Leah held him at bay. However, Leah couldn't deny she liked the way her life worked with Joe in it. He made her happy and she liked the idea that a life with Joe would be completely committed to the gospel.

For a long time Leah contemplated over the idea on whether she should enter a serious relationship with Joe and even consider marriage. Finally, she took it to the temple and felt good about marrying him. After she made the commitment to begin pursuing a life with Joe, the romantic love she had been holding at bay came and came quickly. Joe and Leah were married in May of 2013. They started traveling together right away and have been to many international destinations together.

Leah had always dreamed of a big family. It just came to her in a different way than she had expected! Joe already had four children! Christeena and Brandi are in their late twenties living in Oklahoma, Alex, 22 is living in California and Alyssa (17) lives in Lehi with her Mom. Only a year and a half after Joe and Leah were married, it seemed by divine design that Joe’s great nephew, Jermayah, would come to live with them. Joe and Leah took Jermayah in and he is now part of their family. They love this little 8 year old boy and consider him their own. Leah still dreamed of having her own biological children and the blessing came to her just last year. Leah gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Evelyne (Eva-leen) Elizabeth. So now Joe and Leah have six kids! Jermayah and Evelyne are the only two living at home with them.

Unfortunately for Leah there complications with her delivery. The feeling in her legs didn’t come back and after the birth had two very serious falls due to her legs not working. This created quite an extensive recuperation time. It took her about 3 months to walk unsupported and she still feels a little numbness and pain here and there. She said if she had to do it again she wouldn't have the epidural. She had no idea this could even be a problem.

After living in the Millcreek area of Salt Lake, Joe and Leah decided they'd like a bigger home and like to live somewhere that they could have a home with Leah's parents. They chose Kaysville because leah’s two brothers live there and Leah’s parents wanted to be close to their grandchildren. So they were led to the home they bought last spring on Thoroughbred Drive.

I hope you will take the opportunity to get to know Leah. She is a very easy person to talk to. She has led an exciting life. She is open hearted and non-judgemental and very open minded. Her life has been very interesting. She says surprisingly, she's a little shy at first but loves talking with people. She is also so grateful for the prayers of the ward in her behalf and feels they have strengthened and helped her heal from her complications.

Rorie Gilmore

Rorie was born at Lakeview hospital in Bountiful while her parents were residing in the city of Centerville. She was the second child of 4 and the only girl (she cried when she found out her mother had a boy for the last child, but still loves her brother). Shortly after she was born her parents moved to the city of Woods Cross. This was a very fun place to be a child.

The train ran right behind their back yard. Only a chain link fence separated their house from the train. Rorie said they just got used to the chandelier shaking every time the train passed by. In fact, the train provided hours of entertainment for Rorie and her brothers. They loved waving to the conductor and watching the train go by. Their mom didn't know it, in fact, she still doesn't know it until this day, but sometimes Rorie and her brothers would slip out to the train side of the fence and play on the train tracks. The danger of it was exhilarating.

When Rorie was 13 their family moved to Kaysville. They bought a brand new home in the new development on the West side of the freeway. It was the first of the farm land to be subdivided and made available for families to build on. Their home was literally South of Barnes Park. You would cross 200 North at Barnes Drive and there was their house (her parents still live there). At this time, however, Kaysville was still very much a farming community. With theirs being the only neighborhood in West Kaysville and the rest being farm land.

Rorie and her family loved the rural feel. Almost all of West Kaysville was in their ward. All around them were onions and corn growing. Rorie sometimes would ride her bike over to Shepard Lane to babysit for a friend of her mother's. The family loved the slower, more laid back pace of the rural community and they loved how friendly everyone was.

Rorie and her family loved spending time together. Rorie says her parents were just about perfect. Her dad was so patient and she hopes so much to be just like them. The whole family loved spending time together on family fishing vacations. They were avid fishermen and with Rorie being the only girl, she could bait and tackle her own line without any help. She was always the first one to catch a fish.

Their vacations mainly were to Lake Powell, Fish Lake, Flaming Gorge and other fishing venues. However, Rorie's favorite family vacation happened one year when they went to Lake Powell. The day they were leaving for home her dad surprised them all with a spontaneous day at Disneyland. It came out of nowhere for the kids. It was one day down and home the next day. They had been camping so they didn't have any clean clothes. They spent the evening before Disneyland washing clothes out in the sink at the hotel. She loved that surprise.

Once Rorie entered high school, her time was pretty much occupied with being in theater and choir. She participated in school musicals. She preferred however to be a background character so people wouldn't notice her too much. This busy schedule didn't allow her much time to socialize so Rorie did the logical thing and got a job at the Training Table in Layton (her older brother was also working there). This job provided her with friends to hang out with in her limited time.

When Rorie was a Junior, a young man by the name of Steve Gilmore started working at the Training Table to save money for his mission to Italy. One day while Rorie was up front, Steve said to other coworkers in the back, « Who's that cute blond working up front? There was a bit of an awkward pause then her brother said, « That's my sister. » Followed by a bit more of an awkward moment. They all took it in good stride though and Rorie and Steve started dating. However, it was only for a couple of weeks before Steve left on his mission.

While Steve was on his mission Rorie wrote (Steve teases her that the letters were pretty sparse while she had a boyfriend for a while) and graduated from high school. She then started college up at Weber State University. When Steve came home from his mission Rorie went to the airport to welcome him home. When he stepped off the plane she thought, « I forgot how cute he is. » 9 months later they were married in the Bountiful Temple.

When Rorie had just started her 4^th semester of College she found out she was pregnant with their oldest child Katie. She was so sick that she would go to class and think the whole time, please hurry up and quit talking. As soon as the class was over she would rush to the bathroom and throw up. She realized this was not a workable situation and so she withdrew from school at that time. She ended up becoming a substitute teacher. She says she was the «mean substitute. » The kids would complain, « It's Mrs. Gilmore. » She's sure she was so grouchy (very counter to her nature) because she was so sick.

After having Katie she became a stay-at-home mom while Steve finished up his degree in business. He also entered the ROTC at the University of Utah. Another child, Rylan was born to them. After Steve completed his degree he started his military career. There first assignment, as luck would have it, was Hill Air Force Base. They lived on base for 1 ½ years and then bought a brand new home off of Angel Street. The new home thing kind of backfired for Rorie. She got pregnant with her second daughter, Kylie and was again so sick the smell of the home made her want to throw up constantly.

Their next military assignment was to Shriever Air Force Base in Southern Colorado. The Gilmores LOVED Colorado. They loved how religious it was there. They loved that there was a different church on every corner. They loved how kind the people were. They loved that their ward really became their ward family and that you were cool just because you showed up at church. But what they may have loved the most was that they had sunshine 300 days out of the year.

While living here and being in the military they had their last two children, Josh and Shelby. Rorie does not recommend having babies in a military hospital. She said she would meet the delivering doctor the day before giving birth because all her babies were C-Section. The last time she had a baby the doctor berated her for having this child telling her she could die because of too many C-Sections. She thought quietly, « well why don't we just send it back then, » but was too nice to say it to his face.

After 4 years, the military was cutting back. It was looking for people to voluntarily leave the service. So Steve got out and started working for himself. They lived there 5 more years very content to stay there forever. However, as always happens in life, the Lord had other plans. In October of 2014 they were traveling back to Utah for a wedding. Out of nowhere and at the same time both Rorie and Steve looked at each other said they needed to move back to Utah. It hadn't even been a blip on the radar.

That week they started looking for houses. For some reason the real-estate agent on the house they now live in wouldn't let them see the house. They couldn't believe it. But they did see the pictures on the internet and really liked it. They loved how each kid would have their own bedroom and the yard was fantastic. Finally, they made an offer without even seeing the house in person, but the agents weren't even going to take their offer. Through divine intervention, they finally made the offer and had it accepted.

Rorie and Steve really like living here. Rorie loves gardening, so having such a large yard is a dream come true for her.

I asked Rorie if she had any advice she would give to her younger self what would it be. She said she would tell younger Rorie not to worry so much about what other people think. Just be yourself because life is so much more fun when your being yourself.

I also asked her what words of wisdom she would pass on to others and she said. Be patient. Learn what fights are worth fighting and don't try and change everything all at once. Just work on one thing and let things happen.

Great words of wisdom. Rorie is such a warm and real person. She is very down to earth. I hope you all get the opportunity to get to know her!

Kylie Allen

Kylie Allen was born in Bountiful, Utah, and lived in Woods Cross while growing up with one older brother and two younger sisters. She has many fun filled memories of going out on her grandparent's boat at Lake Powell, Bear Lake, and Flaming Gorge. She especially loved Lake Powell with its red rocks and warm water. She really enjoyed waterskiing and wake boarding.

When Kylie wasn't participating in water sports, she especially got into the awesome land sport of softball. She started playing it in 3rd grade, and was not only good enough to play on comp teams; she also made it onto the Woods Cross High School team as a freshman. Between softball, school, and working as a waitress at Robintino's (an Italian restaurant in Bountiful that is known for its ranch dressing; supposedly, it is incredible), Kylie stayed busy and involved in her high school years.

Because of her hardwork, she saved enough money that she was able to pay to go on a month long experience of a lifetime right after her high school graduation. She went with a friend to Africa to do humanitarian work in Zambia and Zimbabwe.  She loved working there to help the people, but made sure to throw in a little, well deserved play, too.  She went on a safari while in Africa and spent two days in London on her way home.

Upon coming home, she enrolled at Salt Lake Community College and was able to get her associates degree pretty fast due to the college credits she received in classes she took in high school. After that, she started working full time as a dental assistant at a practice in Bountiful.  She is still working there these 5 years later, now as the office manager!  

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, however, let's go back to her junior year in high school. She met her husband-to-be all the way back then through a mutual acquaintance.  They quickly hit it off and dated a bit before his mission, wrote all throughout his mission, dated for a year after his mission, and then got engaged.  They were married 5 months after that in the beautiful month of June in the Salt Lake City Temple.

Her husband, Casey Allen, and her share a love for traveling.  Besides getting to go on a cruise to the Bahamas for their honeymoon, they have recently gone on some amazing trips together.  They went to Ireland last October and to Hawaii just two months ago.  So, where else does she dream of exploring? Fiji, Tahiti, or somewhere else that sounds like a tropical paradise!

For right now, they may put off traveling for a little while, though, since they are really looking forward to buying and moving into their first home.  For the past two years, since having their beautiful daughter Paige, they have been living with Casey's parents (David and Michelle Allen) in their home on Equestrian Parkway. They are so grateful for this time that they have been able to save for the next phase, but Paige needs her own home soon since she may be way too spoiled. She is the first and only grandchild on both sides of their families; she is also the first great grandchild in the families! So, really, how could she not be spoiled since it is her birthright;o)!?!

"What might their next phase entail?" you might be wondering. Kylie is hoping it includes a relatively new home somewhere in the Davis county area; more kids (four sounds nice, but maybe more); time outside (sitting in the sun, going to the pool, and going on walks); delicious salmon, steak, and Mexican dinners (some of Kylie's faves); maybe a few 5Ks (or maybe a half marathon if her hubby convinces her); many more amazing adventures to distant (and hopefully many tropical) places.  Hopefully, most of all, a little boy to carry on the Allen name since her husband is the only grandson in his family.  No pressure, right!!!!!

Before they venture towards a happy and incredible future, let us all join in getting to know Kylie better.  She is so kind and friendly! No wonder she still has a group of good friends from high school that her and her hubby get together with quite often.  No one would want to lose a beautiful friend like Kylie!

Meet Terryn Stagge

Terryn spent the first 5 years of her life in Bountiful Utah. She was born to Julie and Roger Hendrickson (also in our ward, in fact they live one house away from her) . She is the oldest of 6 kids, 3 boys and 3 girls. Terryn said when she was 16 years old her youngest brother Griffin was born; so she had lots of experience working with kids. She babysat and helped with their family's younger children quite a bit.

Terryn's family set up their permanent home in Kaysville Utah in the up-and-coming Hess Farm development. Terryn lived there until she graduated from Davis High School. When Terryn was young she enjoyed dancing. She was on Luv to Dance's (a dance studio still operating here in Kaysville) competition dance team in elementary and went on to be part of a small competition cheer team in Junior High.

In high school Terryn really liked hanging out with her friends. She also really enjoyed academics. She is a math girl. She really likes the black and white aspect of math. She took AP Calculus as a Junior and finished high school with a few other AP classes under her belt. She also participated in DECA (Distributive Educational Clubs of America) which is a business club. That really ended up being a good thing because Terryn liked to work.

She worked at the GAP in high school. She enjoyed working and the independence it provided. In fact she liked it so much that during her senior year of high school she took work release and was working there at least every other day. She was full on into the mall working culture (enough to know she doesn't want her kids working at the mall in high school).

There was another employee at the mall; his name was Nick Stagge. He was the manager of Zumiez. Terryn knew who he was but they never really hung out together. Imagine her surprise when two weeks before leaving for college at USU he came into the GAP and asked her out. They had a few days before Terryn headed to USU.

Terryn attended USU for one fun semester. She transferred up to Old Navy in Logan. Nick would come up and go out with her to dances and she would come down and hang out with him. By the end of the semester she decided she liked him enough that she would transfer to Weber and live at home, seeing what would happen in their relationship. Once she came back she worked again at the mall at Anchor Blue and Nick continued managing Zumiez and they had a lovely mall romance. Complete with lunch dates!

They were engaged by May and married in August. But Terryn was tired of the mall atmosphere. Retail still paid pretty well and offered her the flexibility of schedule for school so she took a new job at Pier One. While working there, she got pregnant and had their first baby. A beautiful little girl named Parker. At that time, Terryn quit working and stayed home with her baby.

By this time Nick was now the district manager for Zumiez and was doing well. He didn't really plan to pursue a degree but Terryn felt strongly he should. So on her urging he started taking night courses and got his degree in Business Management.

When Parker was 16 months old, a tragedy happened in their family. Terryn says it’s still so traumatic she doesn't really like to think about it much. Parker was a pretty good little toddler. She wasn't a climber or overly curious but once while Terryn was in the other room a dresser and TV fell on Parker. She ended up with a skull fracture and traumatic brain injury and was life-lighted to Primary Children's Hospital.

There Parker would spend two weeks in a coma. The hospital told her that the severity of the brain injury couldn't be determined until the brain swelling peaked and came down. Nick and Terryn were told this would happen within 24-48 hours of the injury so with a bolt in poor little Parker's head to monitor the swelling, they waited. After 10 days the swelling still hadn't subsided.

During this time prayers and fasts were offered and blessing were given to Parker and to Nick and Terryn. One particular blessing was so precious and spiritual this it gave them tremendous comfort. It was given by their Bishop to Parker. In the blessing Parker was told that the Savior had been in Parker’s room and had put His hands on her and whatever the Savior touched would be healed. They were also told that spirits from those who had gone before and spirits that would yet come were there with her. Parker was told that healing would come but they would need to be patient.

Nick and Terryn hung on to these blessings and hoped for a miracle. They were told there was a possibility she would never walk or talk again because of the brain injuries, which included areas to the sides, back and frontal lobe of the brain. After 10 days a scan was performed and they realized that Parker had developed a permanent blood clot in her brain that had caused the swelling to not recede. After 2 weeks though the swelling was down and Parker woke up. After she woke up, she spent another few weeks at the hospital.

Parker did recover as best as she has been able to. She had to re-learn to walk, talk, eat, roll over, everything all over again. It was like they had a 16 month new born baby. How grateful Terryn was that she was able to stay home and help Parker heal. Helping Parker recover took a lot of time. Even now as Parker learns in school she struggles with some things probably due to the brain injury. Because of Terryn being at home, she is able to give Parker the help she needs in keeping up with her classes and her homework.

Interestingly enough when Parker gained words back she would point to pictures of angels and say, « Mimi. » Then when Terryn was pregnant with their second child, Parker would point to her tummy and say, « Mimi. » The Stagge's thought this was interesting but didn't know why she did it. Then 2 ½ years after Parker was born they welcomed their second child into their home, a beautiful little girl they named Maisie. Parker started calling her Mimi right away and to this day, that's her nickname. Terryn wonders if during that time in the hospital one of those who visited and comforted Parker was her little sister Maisie.

A few years later, the Stagge's welcomed their 3^rd child into their home. A beautiful baby boy they named Hendrix. By this time, Nick was building the training program for Skullcandy and was traveling a lot. Then GoPro came along and offered him a job with their company. He would have to move to California for a year and travel over half the time but then they would send him back to Utah. That didn't sound like a great set up with kids and school so the plan was for Terryn to stay in Syracuse, sell their home and start building their current home in Kaysville.

Well, before they could even put their house on the market a man knocked on their door. He told them he was looking to buy houses for a real estate agency in the area that wanted to convert the houses to rental properties. He wondered if they might be interested in selling their house. It was like a house selling fantasy! The man asked them to submit a price they wanted to sell for. They did and the company even countered above their asking price. The catch was, they had to close and get out of the house right away. Being now homeless Nick and Terryn decided they would all go live with Nick in his studio apartment in San Francisco for the summer. Imagine that, a family of 5 in a studio apartment. Needless to say, they didn't spend a lot of time in the apartment.

After the summer was over, Terryn and the kids moved into Nick's parents while Woodside finished their home. Then they moved into our neighborhood. Shortly thereafter Terryn became pregnant with their 4^th child, Theo. Also as a great blessing, a few months after Nick moved back to Utah a company named Experticity offered him a job that included regular working hours and no traveling! The Stagge's took it gratefully.

One day when her kids are older and all in school, Terryn would love to finish her schooling and become a nurse.

Terryn loves living in our neighborhood and just like everyone else, is sad to hear that the ward is splitting. She can't think of a street or area she doesn't want to be in our ward. She loves living in Kaysville again and says it just feels like home.

I asked Terryn if she had any advice the grown up Terryn would give to her younger self and this is the quote she gave me, «Work hard, stay humble and be nice to people. » I think that quote sums Terryn up perfectly. We are so lucky to get to know Terryn. Hopefully you will all take that opportunity.

 

Bring up your Children in Light and Truth

RS activity March 9th 2016
Speaker Kaye Smith: Handout

Kathy Preece

Kathy was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and lived with her family in the home built by her Grandfather until she was 16.  Her father was a farmer and one of her favorite memories was picking fruit with her family in the orchard in Bountiful.  She was paid 10 cents per pound to pick cherries.  Bottling fruit was fun when the whole family worked together with the promise of going to the Bountiful Drive-in if they could get all of the fruit canned before evening.

Kathy's mother was a talented musician.  She made sure Kathy had piano lessons at an early age.  When organ lessons were offered in the basement of the Assembly Hall by the Church organists, Kathy was enrolled in those lessons.  She enjoyed practicing on her ward organ and was called to be assistant Ward Organist while in high school.  

Kathy’s father instilled in his children a love for higher education.  She started her college years at the University of Utah.  After meeting and marrying her husband, she transferred to BYU where he was attending school.  After finishing a year at BYU and giving birth to their first child, her husband was given the assignment to open the Church Education Program in San Francisco.  Kathy was determined to finish her degree by taking summer classes at BYU and completing home study classes through the mail.  The dream of graduating from college came true in 1968, when she received her B.S. degree and her husband received his Doctorate.  A favorite pictures is of Lee and Kathy in graduation gowns with three children lined up in front.    

The next adventure for Kathy’s family was when her husband was assigned to be Rocky Mountain States Division Coordinator in Denver, Colorado.  They bought their first home and it was a joy for the children to have a yard. They brought a horse and a milk cow with them to Colorado.  Thanks to a friend who let them use his farm to house their pets, they had the best of all worlds.  The Colorado Rocky Mountains, only an hour away from their home, provided opportunity to camp and hike.  

While living in Colorado, the young family set some patterns that would follow them for the rest of their lives.  The children began taking music lessons and playing sports, in that order.  Family Home Evening, Family Council, and reading the scriptures together were started.  Since Kathy’s husband was never on the bench with the family at church, the practice of sitting quietly through a FHE lesson helped everyone behave at church.  Kathy always sat on the second row so that her husband could give the kids “The Eagle Eye” if they misbehaved.  

Kathy’s husband went to Utah for General Conference the spring of 1975.  He went to Cache Valley to visit a seminary teacher he had supervised in Colorado.  The teacher took Lee to see some property “across the Blacksmith Fork River” that was for sale.  Lee fell in love with the 25 acres and his dream of owning his own farm was in sight.  He put a down payment on the property and then went about asking the Church to transfer him to Logan if a job to teach opened at Utah State.  That opportunity came sooner than Lee and Kathy ever expected.  A year later, the family put their home up for sale and moved to Hyrum, Utah.  Since they had 7 children by this time, no one wanted to rent to them.  An Institute teacher with a large family saw their need and rented a small home to them while they built their home in Nibley.  It was a huge endeavor to get a right of way into the property and build a bridge across the Blacksmith Fork River.  There were tons of rocks to clear and vines to pull down and burn.  But, what a blessing to have work for the children and in the end a beautiful, private place to nurture kids, plant gardens, and raise animals.  The farm became a place for family reunions, scout campouts, and ward parties.  

Some of the sweetest memories for Kathy are the times she and her husband served in church callings together.  When Lee was Stake Patriarch, she was his scribe.  Preparing spiritually for giving a blessing required fasting and prayer but it was worth it when the blessing was given and the spirit of the Lord was present.  Teaching Gospel Doctrine class through all the scriptures was also a special opportunity.  And, Scouts!   Yes, with 7 sons, of course being Scout Master was part of it all.  Kathy was 11 year old scout leader and since her husband was Scout Master, he did the camping with her boys.  It was great for Kathy and Lee to see their sons and many other boys in the ward receive the rank of Eagle Scout.

Traveling to Israel and walking the paths of the Savior together was a treasured opportunity.  One special morning they got up at 4:00 a.m. and went to the Garden Tomb.  The Gardener opened the gate allowing them to sit quietly by the tomb and to think of Jesus being resurrected in that land of Israel.  

After living a life of good health, in 1987, Kathy’s husband’s health suddenly failed.  After having surgery for colon cancer, Lee’s health didn’t improve.  A year later he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.  He had to retire early from teaching.  The little farm proved to be the medicine to help him live for an additional 26 years. Kathy was blessed with support from family, especially from a son and daughter-in-law who lived in their basement and helped with Lee for 8 years.  There were others who helped her in the later phases of Lee’s illness with transporting him to church and back, bringing the sacrament to their home, or tending him so Kathy could go to her peaceful place, the temple.  

Kathy’s last day with her husband was just prior to leaving to attend Women’s Conference in Provo.  She visited Lee in the nursing home and explained she would be gone for 3 days.  He smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Kathy, I will be fine.”  Lee’s smile was a gift because he hadn’t smiled very often for years.  While Kathy was at Women’s Conference, on May 4, 2013, Lee passed away into a much better world where he could once again walk, ride a horse, and teach a lesson.  Lee and Kathy were 3 months shy of their 50th wedding anniversary.  

So, what does a single woman do with a 25 acre farm?  After trying to take care of it for a year, Kathy’s family decided it made sense to sell the farm and move her closer to family.  Although it was extremely hard to leave a place that she and her husband had built from scratch and where her 39 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren loved to come to visit, it was the right decision.  Landon, her youngest son, provided a beautiful home in his basement for his loving mother.  Best of all, Kathy says she is near the grandchildren she loves!

Kathy’s enduring love and her self-sacrificing spirit are something that we can all smile about.  I cannot wait to get to know her even better as she teaches us as one of our most recently called Relief Society teachers.  Her wisdom and strength are going to be such a blessing to so many of us. I hope to grow up to be like her!

Mandi Haverkamp

Mandi was born in North Odgen Utah on the east side and lived there until she was about 11 years old. She was the middle child of 3 (2 girls and one boy). Mandi and her sister and brother were very close and spent a lot of time together growing up. In fact her brother lives in the Bridlewalk development in the Pioneer Park Ward. His name is Brian Pipkin.

Her parents worked for Amway in the company's pyramid organization. This was a very good job for them. By the time they were 28 years old, they quit their jobs and just did Amway to support their family. When Mandi was 11 years old, her parents hit the diamond level of Amway (super high up). From here they were able to sell their little home in North Ogden and bought a large home in South Ogden on the East side. This was so fun for their family. Her parents also started traveling and training.

By the time Mandi was in high school her parents were traveling extensively doing Amway. They didn't want to leave their kids at home, so Mandi and her siblings did homeschool. Being Non-Denominational Christians, they enrolled with Abeka (Christian homeschooling curriculum and videos). Because it was private homeschooling academy, Mandi and her brother were able to attend Bonneville high school for fun classes. (The one Mandi remembers best is art.) Her brother was only 16 months younger and he skipped a grade, so they attended high school and graduated the same year. This experience helped them be even closer.

I asked Mandi since they traveled so much where was her favorite place to go. She said Hawaii. That they went there to the islands of Maui and Kauai every year. She said she remembers one year in particular. They stayed in a hotel that had several different levels of pools all connected by water slides including a water elevator. She said that year they never left the hotel. Now honestly, who wouldn't love that!

After high school Mandi attended the ATC up in Ogden. Here she received her pharmacy technician certification. This was a great blessing to her. It gave her a way to get a good job without having to attend a lot of school. She really didn't enjoy school work. She says she isn't a school type person.

While she was living at home, working as a pharm tech, she was set up on a blind date with her first husband. They moved in together and later married. Then at the age of 23, Mandi received one of the greatest blessing in her life. She gave birth to a beautiful son, Kason. Things in her marriage didn't quite go the way she hoped however, and after 5 years of marriage, she and her husband divorced.

After her divorce Mandi was on her own with Kason for quite a while. Getting divorced was very hard, but Mandi knew the most important thing was creating the very best situation for her son. She said she really learned how to let things go. She learned to put her feelings aside so that her ex-husband felt comfortable being there for her son. She loves the fact that Kason and his dad are so close now and she says even though their marriage wasn't the best for them, Kason feels like he has the best dad in the world. What an amazing gift she has given to him!

Several years after her divorce Mandi went out to a bar with some friends for a night off while Kason was with his dad for the weekend. She noticed a handsome guy there who wasn't paying attention to any of the ladies in the bar. He was being himself watching a game on the TV. She loved that he wasn't being part of the meat market scene. She was so impressed that she sent her friend over to talk to him. She later came over to where he was watching the game and they started talking. But disappointingly, they didn't hit it off. He did ask for her number but she didn't really want him to call. She skeedaddled out of there quickly.

About a month later, she and her friends went out again to the same bar. He was there again. He approached her and they started talking. This time sparks started flying and after that they were talking and spending a lot of time together. His name, as you might have guessed was Matt Haverkamp.

Matt worked for Kiewit Construction as an engineer. It was a great job but he would be sent to a city for 6 months or so, to work until the project was completed, he would then be sent to a different city. After completing the project in Salt Lake he was being reassigned to a different city. Mandi and him talked about what they should do. Matt knew there was no way Mandi would leave the area. She did not want to move Kason away from his dad and she really liked her job at Wal-Mart working as a pharm tech. So they decided to give a long distance romance a try.

Even though the long distance romance was trying at times, it was also a lot of fun. Matt had a good job and he was a bachelor so he had some money and frequent flier miles to fly out to see her or fly Mandi out to see him about every 3 weeks. They also did fun things like both fly to Cancun or New York for the weekend. It was a very fun courtship!

After a while Matt and Mandi decided it was time to settle down. On one of their weekends away Matt took Mandi to Zion's National Park where they hiked the strenuous and gorgeous Angel's Landing. At the top Matt proposed. Since this was Mandi's second marriage she didn't really have a preference on their wedding. Matt however had grown up in a small town in Iowa and had lots of family and friends there. It was important to him that they get married in Iowa. Mandi said their wedding was a whole town party complete with a sign flashing inviting everyone to come to the marriage. She said she loved it and would never have wanted to get married anywhere else.

Not long after moving in to their current home in our neighborhood, Matt and Mandi celebrated the pregnancy and birth of their beautiful daughter Macie. Now at 18 months old, Macie brings a lot of joy and laughter to Mandi’s life. Mandi enjoys and loves spending time with her entire family now.

Shortly after Macie was born, Matt was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He had surgery and they thought they had gotten all of it. However, a few months later they discovered a small piece of the tumor had remained On the 31^st of next month Matt will go back in and they will find out if the tumor has grown in size or not. Once they will know that, they will know how to proceed.

Mandi says she and Matt have loved living here. She says everyone has been so nice and supportive of them in their difficult situation. They appreciate so deeply all the help others have offered from meals to babysitting (especially since they have an 18 month old daughter) She wants to thank everyone for all they have done.

I hope you will all take the opportunity to talk with Mandi and her family. They are so friendly. We are so grateful for their acceptance of all us LDS neighbors and their willingness to let us be apart of helping them through their trials. How lucky we are to have them in our neighborhood.