Elizabeth Kemeny

 

Elizabeth's story began in Mexico before she was born, where her mother and father met and married. Her father converted her mother to the church. Her mother knew she wanted a better life for their children so they legally immigrated to the United States which was not nearly as difficult back then than it is now. Elizabeth was born in San Antonio, Texas and she is the 7th of 8 children. When she was 6 months old, their family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas which is right on the Coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They lived until Elizabeth was in 7th grade.

Elizabeth has very fond memories of her childhood in Corpus Christi. Her parents ran a photography studio. Her father was the photographer and her mother would help him by retouching the negatives and painting the colored pictured with oil paints. They were gone a lot running their business. This gave Elizabeth and her sister a tremendous amount of freedom, which wasn't that unusual back then. Her parents would often give her and her sister a nickel for the day and they would entertain themselves by going to the candy store or the Mexican bakery and playing to their hearts content. It was a very different world than today. Elizabeth and her entire family would also go to the beach all the time. Elizabeth LOVES the beach.

When Elizabeth was in 7th grade her parents decided their children were all growing up and they wanted them to go to Brigham Young University (BYU). So they moved to Provo, Utah. Throughout her teen years Elizabeth did everything with her older sister. In Jr. High, they played in the Dixon Jr. High band. Elizabeth played the clarinet and her sister played the flute. They did this all the way through until they graduated from Provo High School.

In 1969 and 1970 When she and her sister graduated they went to a school called ECPI. It was a school where they learned how to use computers. In those days the computer would take up a whole room. It would print information on long index cards. She finished with that schooling a year later.

So now that she was done with high school and had gone to computer school, at the age of 18 she moved away from her family to Tucson, Arizona. Her brother was living there and she moved in with him and got a job as a medical receptionist. She loved the job! However, she missed her family and her sister terribly. So after a year, she quit and moved back to Provo.

When she came home, she and her sister joined a BYU student ward. One Sunday her sister performed a flute solo and a young man in the ward named Luis Kemeny was very impressed by her. Later they found out that he was in their student family home evening group. Luis came to the group and met Elizabeth after that, he only had eyes for Elizabeth. They had a quick courtship and became engaged.

When Elizabeth got engaged to Luis, her sister also announced she was engaged. So they decided the logical thing to do was have a double wedding! They were married in December at the Salt Lake Temple. Both couples sat together in the sealing room. Elizabeth's sister was married first at 9:28, because she was the oldest and Elizabeth and Luis were sealed at 9:32. Afterward they had a joint reception with two cakes and two lines. They had a marvelous band and a fantastic dinner for all. It is a treasured memory for Elizabeth.

After getting married Luis completed his last year at BYU and Elizabeth worked at a car dealership as a receptionist until she had their first son. From there Luis entered a master's program at Thunderbird International School of Management in Arizona and taught Portuguese there (after all he is from Brazil). Elizabeth worked at the nursery in the school with her little boy and eventually became the director.

After graduation Luis took a job in Buchanan, Michigan. Elizabeth however, wanted to live in the city so they found a home in South Bend, Indiana. They loved it there. The thing Elizabeth remembers most was the severe winter weather. They would have ice storms and blizzards in the winter and they lived there during the infamous Blizzard of 1977. One winter they were at their stake center which was an hour and a half away. When they came out of the building they were having an ice storm. They got in there car and drove home. By the time they got home the armor of ice on their car was so thick they couldn't get out. They had to punch the door of the car before it would budge. One time they went to church in -25 degree weather.

Luis wanted to move up in his career so he took another job in Palo Alto, California (the Bay Area). By this time their family consisted of the two of them and 3 boys. They LOVED California. Being in the mission field brought such a sense of inclusion. They also had a fantastic activities director in their ward and the ward did plays and road shows every year which really brought the ward together. Elizabeth's children grew up performing.

In 1993 Elizabeth had a life altering development in her life. It is something she does not talk much about because she doesn't want people treating her any different. She has not wanted it to define her and how people relate to her. I asked her if I could share this part of her story in hopes that it might help someone else going through a similar situation. She agreed hoping this will give comfort, help and answers to anyone else.

She knew something was not right with her health. She was exhausted all the time and her body was not functioning correctly. At this time she had had 3 more children, all girls. The youngest was 4. Finally she went to the doctor and after eliminating all other causes the doctors gave her the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is a condition that can severely limit the quality of your life and in some cases can even be disabling. Elizabeth was very scared. She had 6 beautiful children and they were all young. Elizabeth decided she wasn't going to give in. She would fight!

First, Elizabeth petitioned her Heavenly Father. She expressed that she had 6 beautiful children and wanted to be able to do all the things necessary to raise them. She read through her patriarchal blessing and realized a line jumped out at her. That the Lord had many things that he needed her to do to be useful to him and his work. She then sought a Priesthood blessing. She sat in her bishop's office and it was filled with so many men from the ward who she loved and admired. They all laid their hands on her head and gave her a blessing. They were spiritual giants. The ward also held a special fast for her. She used all of her spiritual resources.,

From there Elizabeth did all she could to study MS. She also learned about the food we eat and how the additives and hormones effect our bodies. She then started doing all she could to clean up her diet and eat in a way that would give her the best quality of life. She remained proactive and decided she wouldn't give into self pity, that if she needed something done, she would find a way to get it done. With all these things together, Elizabeth was the recipient of a miracle. For 13 years she lived symptom free of MS. Not one flare up. She knew her Heavenly Father answered her petition so she could raise her children.

The year after Elizabeth was diagnosed with MS, she and Luis decided to move. Her father had passed away and her mother was living in a great big house in Provo all by herself. It was decided that they would buy her mother's house and move in with her. This way they could take care of each other. Elizabeth says moving to Provo was absolutely the best thing they did for her children. Living in Provo gave their children a very family friendly environment to live in. It also allowed her children easy access to BYU, Utah Valley University and the University of Utah. She is so grateful they chose to come to Provo.

They lived in Provo until last year. They decided with her daughter, Leah Rangel that they wanted to find somewhere to live together. Elizabeth has 24 grandchildren and dreamed of living close to them. She has 2 sons living up here in Kaysville. So Leah and Joe and Elizabeth and Luis all looked for a home here. That is when they came upon the home they are currently living in.

Elizabeth loves living here. She feels like it is a dream come true to live so close to her grandkids and be a part of their lives. She babysits them all the time and can now attend all her grandkids events.

I asked Elizabeth what piece of advice she might give others. She said, “The only thing that matters in life is your family and especially being a mother and raising your children.” She hopes young parents will embrace the idea of actively raising their children, building their character and teaching them the gospel. She knows the importance of providing more than the physical necessities of life and teaching them how to become self-sufficient physically AND spiritually. She says raising kids is like putting money in the bank. Every minute you spend with them, teaching them, helping them is money in the bank. The deposit is the only deposit that really matters. Later in their lives they will reap the benefits of rich character. She also says work hard, but be sure you play hard together too and laugh.

We are so lucky to have Elizabeth Kemeny in our ward. She has such a wealth of experience for us to draw on. She is kind and loving and loves to help and teach others when she can. I appreciate Elizabeth's willingness to open up and share her story so we can all be lifted. Take the time to get to know Elizabeth, she is a beautiful and rich spirit.