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Sunday, September 21, 2014

Life Story -- Bedroom -- Grandma Anna

Written Monday, 28, 2008

Describe your bedroom.

It's big enough for a king size bed, twin beds, 3 chests of drawers, and a dresser mirror. It needs carpet, but we can make it do until our twins get home from their missions.  Then if we find a color we like, we'll get new carpet.  Everything else is OK.  We also have 2 night stands, a cedar chest, and a buffet with the TV on it. The drawers are full of my crafts.  We have a big closet in our bedroom. A bathroom with a room full of closets joining it, and a store room for some of our food storage we use often.

Life Story -- Cultural Events -- Grandma Anna

Written Sunday 27 April, 2008

Do you like to go to the theater?  The Opera?  The symphony?  Which do you like best and why?

I have been to only one opera when I was visiting my aunt.  It was very good, although I couldn't understand the songs they were singing.
 It depends what is on at the theater.  Some are bad and some are good. 
I have never been to a symphony, but I watch a lot of videos and DVDs from Family Films, because they have good morals in them.


Life Story -- Luck -- Grandma

Written Saturday, 26 April, 2008

What do you thing brings good or bad luck?

Some decisions bring bad luck.  Good decisions, listening to the Holy Ghost brings good luck.  What we do makes a difference in the way our lives turn out.  Follow the teachings of Christ in the LDS Church and good things will come.  However sometimes we are given trials to see how we overcome them and grow.

Life Story -- Siblings -- Grandma Anna

Written Friday, 25 April, 2008

Tell what makes each of your brothers and sisters special and different.  What makes each of your siblings special?  Be specific.

This was answered on April 20th, 2008 in detail for each brother and sister.

Life Story -- Grandparent's Careers -- Grandma Anna

Written Thursday, 24 April, 2008

What did your grandfathers do for a living?  Did your grandmothers work, too?

Grandparents McCray
My Grandfather McCray left  his family before they moved here from West Virginia. 


Grandma Berry
Grandfather Berry
My Grandfather Berry farmed and sold grains, hay, vegetables, and fruit.  Grandma Berry worked hard doing laundry on a washboard, cooking, and cleaning. 
My Grandma McCray worked hard gardening, sewing for people, crocheting bedspreads for people.  She had 2 cows and sold milk and butter.  She made her living doing these things.

Life Story -- Family Reunions -- Grandma Anna

We always go to the mountains and some times we have a big crowd, sometimes not.  We usually have games to play together and sometimes we tell stories of our olden days.  Sometimes the same ones are told over and over, but we always laugh.  Some stay for 3 days, some for only one.  But Bill and I stay 3 weeks normally.

Life Story -- Father's Career -- Grandma Anna

Written Tuesday, 22 April, 2008

What did your father do for a living?  How did he get to work?  What time did he go and get home?  What did he do for lunch?  Who did he work with?

He worked at Whitings saw mill to get enough money to buy a piece of property and build his mother a house before he married my mother.
He worked helping build roads, he had a blacksmith shop.  He most of the time didn't for doing work for people.  He also did some freighting in his truck.  He hauled coal for the school furnace.  They paid him.
We never knew when he would be home or when he would leave.  He was a hard worker at whatever he did.  During the 2nd World War the city wanted to see who could plant the best victory garden and non could compare to his.  Anyway, he won.  The winner got a plaque saying the Best Victory Garden belonged to them.

Life Story -- Family Heirlooms -- Grandma Anna

Written Monday, April 21, 2008

Are there any family heirlooms in your possession? Tell about them and how you came to acquire them.

My mother's parents had an old clock that I always loved, even when it stopped working.  I was there when they divided the things and one of my aunts asked if I wanted anything. I said, "Yes. The old clock."  So she gave it to me.  I have such ingenious brothers.  They tore the clock apart thinking they could fix it, but they couldn't.  Soon all of the parts were lost, then next went the clock.  I never did know what happend to it. 
I do have a pottery bowl and thimble that belonged to my dear mother. 

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Life Story -- Brothers and Sisters -- Grandma Anna

Written April 20, 2008


How many brothers and sisters do you have?  Describe them.  Tell a story about you and e4ach of them.

I think some of this question has been asked before.  There were 16 of us.  So I had 9 brothers and 6 sisters.
1)  Lee was the oldest.  He served in World War II.  He was very active in the church in later years.  About 8 years after he married Jean Marble.  She was converted and then they remained faithful in the church.  They worked in the Mesa Temple for years.  Then the Bishop called them on a mission to Vancouver, Canada.  About three days before they were to leave, he had a massive heart attack and died.  The temple presidency wrote a letter to his wife and said he would feel at home with the angels because of working in the temple with them for so long.  He was always so kind to me and kept in touch with me.  I was asked to speak at his funeral.
2)  Quentin was next and I don't remember much about him.  He married Hazel Halstead.  She had one daughter and they had one and adopted 2 more children.  He left St. Johns and moved to Tucson, Arizona.  to work for  his uncles.  When his wife died, he remarried again and I only saw her a couple of times.  But I was asked to speak at his funeral also.
3)  Sibyl was next and she was a beautiful baby.  when she was about  she had spinal meningitis and it affected her brain and she didn't learn to walk for a few years.  Even though she wasn't able to learn much, she always had a sweet happy disposition.  Everyone loved being around her because she was so happy.  I think it was the angel in her.  My children loved to have her tell them stories.  She had 2 children.
4)  Lorna was next.  She was a hard worker.  she worked at the post office for Albert Brown for quite a few years until she married Jake Scarborough, had 2 boys then they moved away for a while but came back and staye3d here.  Jake passed away many years ago, but Lorna is still here.
5)  Kelly was next.  I didn't know him because he died of pneumonia at about age two, before I was born.
6)  Deaton was next.  He was next.  He was a gentle, tender person.  He married Nancy Brown.  They had one son (Kelly) and adopted another son, Pat.  He was always so kind to me and my family.  We all loved him dearly.  His boys were young when he passed away.  Kelly was married when his mother left, and Lorna raised Pat.
7)  Colleen was next.  She was probably one of my closest friends.  We were very close in age.  We sang a lot together, but she got upset because I always sang the melody.  I never could hear the harmony, so I couldn't sing it.  But I still try to sing the harmony and I'm still not successful.  She has done and is still doing a lot of genealogy on the McCray line.
8)  Anna.  I'm next and Bill and I have served 13 years at the Concho Branch and are still there.  I don't know for how long.
9)  Bill is next.  When he was young he went with, I think, Alvert and Elda Brown to Salt Lake City to the Children's Hospital.  He was there alone for a long time and came home with someone.  He wasn't very old when he went.  I wondered how my mother could stand having him there alone.  I really thought about it after I had children.  Then our youngest son passed away with cancer and our 2nd son passed away August 10, 2007.  The same day President Faust passed away.  Our daughter is the only one left, our daughter Linda.
10)  Gabe was next.  He was a very hard worker.  He and Barbara, "Bobby", had 12 children and they all turned out nice.  They have their problems, as all families do, but we love all of them.
11)  Corrinne is next.  She is married to Elmer Lee Mager.  They had a beautiful daughter and she died at the age of 6.  Then thy adopted 2 more, a girl and a boy.  They are a happy family.
12)  Terry is next.  He married Sarah "Sally" Freeman.  They have several children.  I don't know them as well as I do some of the others.
13)  Phillip is next.  He married Marie Neff.  They had 5 or 6 children and he left this good Eternal family for someone not at all active in the church.  He know he made a mistake, but the threats are so violent, he just stays with her.
14)  Kay, a twin.  She and Kathy sing a lot together.  For funerals, weddings, and church.  In fact, they are singing this Sunday in the Concho Branch.  They will sing "Abide With Me, Tis Eventide".  Kay was a beautician for a long time.  Now she and Kathy own the Safire Restaurant in Round Valley.
15)  Kathy was next.  She is very talented in painting.  She can either start at the top of a picture, or at the bottom, and they all turn out beautifully.  She has had a lot of orders for paintings, and still does.  She also was the postmistress for years, then retired so that she and Kay could run the restaurant.  She and Kay still sing together.  heir voices blend beautifully.
16)  "Teed", Douglas, is last.  He married Ginger Mills and they have a nice family.  Teed is suffering with cancer right now, but they are giving him extra strong radiation treatments, and hopefully he will get better.  Ginger fell and broke her hip, but she is doing good now.