Friday, July 11, 2014...doing some family history.
A familysearch.org e-mail came saying we could join Ancestry, findmypast, and one other. So I've been doing that. Can't get the last two "joins" to work.
But "Story" popped up for familysearch or Ancestry, so I copied what I'd done of my life sketch up to 1989 for the "Gooding County Roots" book done for Idaho's Centennial.
I have updated it to now.
Then I read that stories of "live" people would not be accepted for family search. So I copied this, and am saving it on our blog.
Traces of Time
Life Sketch of
Eileen Marie Albertson Petersen
TIME: Here are some of my traces of time on this earth...
A Wendell girl who is happy to have married a Wendell boy is Eileen Marie Albertson Petersen. Although her parents Arnold George and Verna Beth Huffaker Albertson were living in Wendell, she was born in the Twin Falls hospital on December 15, 1938, six-weeks premature. Her carpenter father built her an incubator with a light-bulb heat so she could finally leave the hospital.
A vivid childhood memory is all the confetti and celebration in Long Beach, California, the day the war ended
in August 1945 when I was six.
They then returned to Idaho from her dad's wartime shipbuilding job.
I was an only child for ten years because of the medical complications my Mom had when I was born her doctor had told her she would probably not be able to have more children. However, our family had a happy surprise
when my sister, Janice Lynn,
was born 8Jun1949
in Wendell, Idaho.
(Wendell was a little farming town of 1,000 people.)
Eileen graduated from Wendell High school as salutatorian and the American Legion outstanding girl in 1957 (but I need to add that we only had a class of 42). Janice was in third grade.
In December of 1957 her parents moved to Gooding, Idaho, where her mother had been hired as a secretary for the head of the Southern Idaho Production Credit Association.
Eileen's father, as a carpenter, worked all over Magic Valley on many construction projects. He said he could drive to all these jobs from Gooding and he didn't want Verna driving every day on that 10-mile rode between Wendell and Gooding in the winter storms.
(Sorry to drive some of you crazy with my mixture of tenses,
but not sorry enough to worry about editing it now.)
From Henager's Business college Eileen worked in the Executive Offices of First Security Bank in downtown Salt Lake City helping with their newsletters for three states.
During the summer of 1960 (between her two years at BYU (Brigham Young University) while working at the Idaho State Tuberculosis Hospital in Gooding,
she started dating and became pinned to Walt Petersen,
engaged in December, and
they were married June 14, 1961,
n the Salt Lake Temple.
Eileen then helped her medical student husband pay the expenses of his last two years at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, by working as a medical secretary in the hematology department at the Jewish Hospital.
(I didn't even know what the word meant when I was hired!)
Their first child, Mary Jane "Janie," was born in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, 24 Jun 1963, on the day Walt started his internship.
Gary Alan was born in Ft. Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas, 24 Apr 1965.
Their next five children were all born in
Burley, Cassia County, Idaho:
Steven Ray, 12 Dec 1966;
David Byrum, 12 Oct 1969;
Julie Beth, 17 Feb 1971;
Brian Walter, 24 Mar 1973;
and
Jennifer Eileen, 26 Aug 1974.
Eileen was president of the Idaho Medical Association Auxiliary in 1982-83, and served on their state board for ten years, including several years as editor of the newsletter that went to over 950 physicians' spouses in Idaho.
Her interest in journalism started as high school editor, and has included a life story of her grandparents, Dave and Ella Huffaker,
a food storage booklet,
two ward reunion booklets
and seven stake calendar/directories.
She gave food storage workshops
and has served in many church callings,
including ward and stake Y.W. presidency,
Y.W. president, primary president,
and taught in all auxiliaries,
including Gospel Doctrine class.
She is currently adding the photos to her mother's life story
that her Mom and she started in 1980,
when Verna turned 80.
There are 450 double-spaced pages so far.
It's true, as Mac McNutt told Eileen long ago:
"Eileen, enjoy all these children--
one day you will wake up
and they will all be gone."
And in the fall of 1992 that was true.
They were all graduated from Burley High School
and Jennifer followed her six siblings
to Brigham Young University.
All seven have degrees from BYU
and their four sons have advanced degrees.
Janie served in the Argentina Rosario Mission 1984-1986.
Gary served in the Korea Seoul Mission - 1984-1986.
Steven served in the Massachusetts Boston Mission - 1986-1988.
David served in the California Ventura
Spanish-speaking Mission 1989-1991.
Brian served in the Argentina Resitencia Mission 1992-1994.
Jennifer served in the Guatemala City
Guatemala North Mission 1995-1996.
Our Posterity to July 2014 includes our 7 children,
their spouses, and
33 grandchildren
with two more on the way
in September and October 2014.
All seven have been sealed in the temple.
And the two married grandchildren
were sealed by their Grandfather.
Idaho is a great place to raise a family
and we are grateful for our roots in Gooding County.
In 1995 we were called as mission president and wife to the México Mérida Mission in the Yucatán Peninsula. We started with 126 missionaries and
in July 1998 finished
with 170 Elderes and Hermanas.
During the middle Christmas of 1996,
all our children and grandchildren
were able to come be with us.
Walt's brother Dale and
his sister Phyllis,
plus Eileen's mother
were able to come visit us in November 1997 when
President Gordon B. Hinckley visited our mission.
When we returned to Burley, Idaho, Walt worked for seven more years as a family physician, retiring on January 14, 2005.
We were called to serve a medical mission to Central America from March 2005 to February 2007.
We lived in Guatemala City and
Walt was the medical advisor for 10 missions
and about 2,000 missionaries
in Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize,
Honduras, Nicaragua,
Costa Rica, and Panama.
To commemorate our return home this time our kids planned a family reunion for us to all rendezvous at Disneyland,
which is one of our favorite family-friendly places to be.
We were called to serve in the Boise Idaho Temple
on the Saturday mid-shift
from March 2007 to March 2008.
It was a 2 hour 40 minute drive each way.
Walt was also called to serve on the
Twin Falls Idaho Temple building committee.
Just after the dedication of this 128th temple
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
on August 24, 2008,
we served another medical mission
from September 2008 to March 2010
in the South America South Area--
Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Walt watched over the health o
f 2,500 missionaries in 12 missions.
Walt had served his first mission
in Uruguay 1954-1957.
During this mission he received
4,000 calls from the
mission presidents' wives and missionaries.
How he knows there were
this many calls is
because my duty was to keep
a record in the computer
of each missionary health concern
and what he recommended.
When we returned to Idaho,
we told our children and grandchildren:
"This was our last mission...
three missions for a total of
six and one-half years.
We're home for good now."
We were called as workers in the Twin Falls Temple for the Wednesday afternoon/evening Spanish-speaking shift.
In September of 2010 Walt was called
as a sealer for the temple
and we were assigned to do two shifts,
the second being the mid shift on Thursdays.
A year and one month after we returned from Argentina
we were called by President Henry B. Eyring's secretary
for an appointment with him.
On April 19, 2011, President Eyring t
old us that the Prophet had been given
a list with our names on it.
He prayed about it
and President Monson has asked
me to call you to be the
president and matron of the new
San Salvador El Salvador Temple.
Will you accept?
I believe what Walt's mother taught him:
"Never turn down a calling."
President Eyring told us that the temple was scheduled
to be dedicated on August 21,
and they would like us to be there
a month before that
for President Petersen, and his two local counselors
--that he was to choose--would need to interview
about 400 members to become temple workers.
I was relieved that we would be able
to be home on June 14, 2011
for our 50th Wedding Anniversary.
Our kids hosted a wonderful
Open House for us in June
for this milestone in our life.
We were also in the process o
f changing our garage turned teenage game room
to now being a bedroom on the first floor
for my 91-year-old mother to come live with us.
She had been living for two years at Highland Cove
where my sister, Janice,
had arranged for her to be watched over
since at age 89 her sight and hearing were failing,
and she wasn't able to safely drive.
She was currently becoming
more confused and
did not qualify for the
"independent" section of this facility.
Now we didn't know what we would do about having
"Grama A." being taken care of.
Julie said:
"We want to have Grama A come to live with us."
What a blessing that turned out to be for
Grama A during the last two years of her life.
She passed away on July 31, 2013,
at the age of 93 1/2.
We are so grateful for Julie and John
caring for her during that time.
And we are grateful for Janice
also doing so much for her during
our absence during our four missions together.
As I type this for family search
on July 10, 2014, we have a little over
three months until we return
once again to our home
in Idaho on November 1.
Well, I guess we will be flying out of El Salvador
on October 31 since the
new temple president and matron
are arriving on October 30
from their home in Costa Rica.
We have four families in Utah--
Gary, Steve, and Julie are in Saratoga Springs,
and David in Draper;
Janie is in Rexburg, Idaho;
Brian is in Tennessee,
and Jennifer in Minnesota.
They are urging us to move closer to family.
We may one day do this
since Walt is now 80 and I am 75.
Walt had back surgery in May 2012;
then open heart surgery on March 19 this year.
He and I are both doing well
and believe we will be able
to finish this 3-year-3-month call.
We have been going by this little saying I found:
"Idaho born, and Idaho bred,
And when we die, we'll be Idaho dead."
Before that time comes,
I leave you with my testimony of
the truthfulness of The Gospel of Jesus Christ
restored by Joseph Smith,
the Prophet of the Restoration.
I love the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
President Thomas S. Monson is the
Prophet of God today for the whole world.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
our Savior and Redeemer.
What a blessing to be able to be
forgiven of the things I have done wrong.
I long for His Glorious Second Coming.
I honor the Priesthood of God.
My wish is to always obey
the commandments of God
and be true to my covenants--
baptism, temple, and whatever
is asked by our loving Heavenly Father.
I look forward to thanking them all in person,
including our Heavenly Mother.
I am thankful for every blessing in my life.
My prayer is that I may
be worthy to be with
my eternal sweetheart,
Walter Ray Petersen forever
and may our children, their spouses
and our grandchildren and beyond
receive the righteous desires of their hearts
and be loyal to the great heritage
we have from our ancestors
and The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
Eileen A. Petersen - July 10, 2014
waltandeileen.blogspot.com
Grandparents: Paternal
Clarence Albertson 1887 Idaho - 1955 Idaho
Blanche Ilene Hartwell 1894 Utah - 1966 Idaho
Grandparents: Maternal
Simpson David Huffaker 1891 Idaho-1982 Idaho
Ella Louise Morris 1891 Utah -1982 Idaho
Great-Grandparents: Paternal
Charles Albertson 1845 Ohio - 1911 Kansas (but lived in Idaho)
Mary Ann Hepworth 1854 Utah - 1892 Idaho
Byron Joseph Hartwell 1872 Utah-1949 Idaho
Jane "Janie" Dunn 1873 Utah-1944 Idaho
Great-Grandparents: Maternal
Welby Richardson Huffaker 1862 Utah-1915 Idaho
Martha Winn 1864 Utah-1894 Idaho
Franklin Newberry Morris 1860 Utah-1936 Canada
Elizabeth Ann Mitchell 1860 England-1938 Canada
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