Letters between Perry and his Mother

Harriet & Renee

August 12, 1971

Dear Perry,

With a common lead pencil I will attempt a letter. It seems I cannot keep track of my good pen. Gene, we are glad you send us a card once in a while. It helps a lot.

We hope we can get to see Harriet while she is out here. I figured she would get very lonesome for Renee. And the birthdays in August! Nelson has had his then there is Dale, Harriet and I. Give Dale and Harriet our birthday greetings!

It is warm today, and I suppose the heat will increase. We have an air conditioner in our house here in the kitchen window. It helps a lot. The last two weeks has been given to house, yard, garage and basement cleaning. When Hazel starts anything, she does a thorough job of it, and I mean thorough! All of my objections amounted to exactly nothing. But it all looks nice, and I will try and keep it better. Hope bought paint and helped with the west bedroom. Hope came for awhile. She is scheduled for another scout campout for Grant and has to cook and prepare. Meanwhile, she will stay with June while Grant is gone.

Dad and I went to the temple yesterday with our neighbor. The temple was closed during July, so it was crowded yesterday, and we were both tired today.

You know Kizerians came from the old world, and Mormons had a hard time of it there and it was hazardous to try to flee to the U.S. But Sister Kizerian told it all to a worker who worked on our ward chapel several years ago, and he put it all together in a drama, and it has been staged in several cities--Salt Lake for one. It was put on in our stake quite some time ago, and it was good and interesting. I think Brother Kizerian must have told you how their people were persecuted by the Turks, didn't he?

David and Barbara came Sunday to show the baby and visit. He is really a sweet child, and I think he will look like David. Maybe I can get this in the mail yet. The mailman came and brought such nice letters from all of you--Jan and Renee. My! That was wonderful that Renee got first place in her English class composition. All our love, Mother & Dad

"A hot August day in LA" 1971

September 3, 1971

Dear Mother,

It was surely good to talk to you this morning. It was good to hear your voice--it still sounds just as good as it always did even when I was a child; although, I suppose you are not feeling real comfortable with your arm up in a cast. I'm glad you like the flowers. Even though they were a day late for your birthday, I guess it was quite appropriate that they were there when you got home from the doctor.

Gene and I just got back from Sacramento Monday. We were up there Friday through Sunday night to visit Marian, Warren and family. They are surely a wonderful couple and have a very happy home. They like Northern California, their house and their ward. And everyone in the ward really likes them too. So it was very pleasant to see them in such happy circumstances.

I am going to send you a copy of Jan's last letter. We are surely happy with his service. I think you will enjoy this last letter. The other children are all well and happy too so we feel very blessed. Renee and Harriet are up at MIA Girls' Camp this week so Gene and I are here alone with her mother. The girls always like camp.

Soon we will all be back in school again. Then it will be the full rush schedule 5:00 am to 8:30 pm. Gene and I have quite enjoyed this summer even though we haven't taken any long trips. We have taken a few little short ones close around here.

We bought us a new little car--really little--a Datsun. With most of the family gone, it should serve our needs quite well. On the trip to Sacramento we got 39.6 miles per gallon! Can you believe it? Of course we kept it right on 60 mph all the way as it wasn't completely broken in yet. Coming back we traveled 65 to 70 and still got 38 miles per gallon.

Linda and Eric are blessing their boy John Leslie this Sunday. Dale, Brother Hartman and I will all stand in. I guess we'll have them all here for dinner. It will be partly Dale's birthday dinner since we didn't get over for his birthday. Well, please be careful so that you don't take any more falls. Love, Perry & all

September 22, 1971

Dear Mother and Dad,

I guess I shouldn't expect to get a letter from you, Mother, with a broken right arm and Dad with his poor vision, but I have been wondering how you are. Perhaps you can persuade some of the other members of the family up there to write me and keep me informed. But I suppose you are both ok or I would have heard.

I suppose you are getting some nice autumn weather up there now. This is a nice time of the year in Utah. It is nice here too, but not quite so dramatic as up there with leaves changing color and all. Last week we had a real searing heatwave. It got up to 115 in Pomona. But now it has passed and I imagine old summer's back is broken now.

I thought I was going to get to come up and see you a couple of weeks ago. A man in our ward has his own plane and he was going to fly up. He invited Renee and me to go with him, but then it fell through when he was unable to get some repairs on his plane in time. But I, or we may get a chance to come up some time or else we are going to fly you down here. I hope you are still considering the latter possibility.

We surely do get good letters from Jan. We are so pleased and proud of him and the good work he is doing. But we are pleased with all of our children. They are all on the right track and working hard to stay there. Did we tell you that Renee had straight A's for all of her work at BYU last summer?

We are surely glad that Renee and Harriet got to visit with you last summer. They told us all about it, and it was almost like visiting there ourselves. Harriet has quite a way of telling things which made it particularly enjoyable. She said that Gene and I got to go up there and visit last year while they stayed home, so now it was their turn, and I guess that's right.

When we were visiting up in Sacramento, a young man came up to me and said he remembered me and especially you two from out in Roosevelt. He was Robert Stolla. I'm sure you remember the Stolla family. He surely did speak highly of you and said to give his greetings. He was also in our Pomona Ward a number of years back.

Well, I'm sure I don't have to remind you to be careful. Dad, you take care of Mother, and Mother you take care of Dad. Love, Perry

November 29, 1971

Dear Perry and All,

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now we look forward to winter and Christmas. We had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving Day. Norma and Alan asked us out there with all of the Mangums. Sharon was not there. She was in the hospital with another new boy. That makes three boys and three girls. The last one will be named Douglas Robert. Norma had us bring home a supply of the dinner, so we had plenty for the next day.

June was surely pleased with your telephone call. She said, "Perry calls me every Thanksgiving." Yesterday Gene, Carma and family called on us. They were on their way home, and Lorin is going back with them to stay awhile. He has retired now from his job, so he can travel and visit if he wants to. Gene lives in Loveland, Colorado. Thanksgiving time has so many wonderful foods. Just try to imagine anyone going hungry. Yet I suppose somewhere in the world, someone is hungry.

My broken arm is doing very well. It hurts in the wrist when I bend it. The report called it a "shattered arm". I am glad my nose wasn't broken too as they at first thought. So many times you have said, "Now Dad and Mother, try not to have any falls."

We got a good letter from Jan yesterday. If I answer all of his questions, it will take a little while. He certainly has a wonderful spirit. We would certainly like to see all the family members. When I look at their pictures, I have to smile with pleasure.

I haven't seen the mailman. (He is just going down, so he will be back real soon.) So I will get this in an envelope. Love to all. It would be good to see all of you. Mother & Dad

December 2, 1971

Perry hosting one of many Thanksgiving dinners

Dear Mother & Dad

It was good to hear from you and to know that you had such a good Thanksgiving day. I am glad that you have such fine thoughtful grandchildren. I thought of having you down here, but I guess that is impossible since Dad refuses to fly. I still think you should do it though. We would surely love to have you for Christmas.

We had a houseful for Thanksgiving. Renee flew down with a member of our ward. He flew up to get his daughter who is at the "Y" too. We also had Linda, Eric and family, Dale, Carol and family. Later Pierce and family came over. It was a beautiful day and the afternoon the children all went outside and played games. Then toward evening as it began to get cool we put a nice big log in the fireplace and then they all came inside.

Then Friday night Dick and two of his children (actually one of his children and the Indian boy who is staying with them) came in from Utah. They stayed until Monday morning. All in all it was very nice. Now we have Christmas to look forward to. Marian and Warren are coming down then. They spent Thanksgiving with the Bodily's in Idaho, so they are spending Christmas with us.

Mother, I am surely glad that your arm is healing ok. I surely pray that you will not have another accident. Now winter is here you will really have to be careful of the slippery steps. I wonder if you shouldn't keep a little bucket of sand handy.

I am glad that you have Hope and Grant so close that they can give you close help. Also Hazel, Walter and grandchildren are all there for help and comfort too. Of course we have Gene's mother here so we can help her. But I'm afraid she doesn't appreciate our help. She so wants to be independent. She keeps saying how she wants to go back to Los Angeles and have a little apartment of her own. Yet we know she isn't able to do that and so it seems like we are keeping her here almost against her will. Of course if she could be on her own, that is what we would want for her, but we know she can't so we keep her here and help her the best way we can, which is in the ways she can't help herself.

Of course that is really the whole plan of salvation--doing for others what they cannot do for themselves. So after you have done what you can for yourself, don't hesitate to let others become Christ-like by helping you.

We surely do get wonderful letters from Jan, and I am glad to hear that he has written you. We are certainly grateful for the lives that all of our children are living right at this point and pray that it will continue and even improve. Linda and Eric are both active in the ward here. Linda is an excellent Sunday School teacher and Eric is active in the priesthood and is a home teaching supervisor. Marian and Warren are very active in their ward in Sacramento and they have so many good friends. Warren is a counselor in MIA, a Sunday School teacher and a seminary teacher. Marian is Junior Sunday School chorister and Primary teacher.

Dale and Carol are active in their ward and are doing a real good work with the youth. Dale is the explorer leader and has explorers in activity the like of which is beyond memory of anyone in the ward. Of course much of it is because of his interest in mountain climbing, so they have a mountaineering post. They have a lot of activity, go places and do things which is what young people like. Carol is an excellent wife and mother. (And mother again in just a few weeks.) She has also been the girls camp director in the ward.

Renee has really a remarkable scholastic record. She went up to the "Y" with a near straight "A" average and so far she is holding it in college. Besides that, she has a wonderful disposition (much like yours, Mother) and a sweet spirit which everybody loves.

Harriet is really a delight. She is so much fun to have around (albeit she thinks it is a gross injustice to be the last and be left alone with two "old people.") But I don't know what we would have done if we had stopped having children before we got Harriet. But Harriet often feels that she stands in the shadow of Renee because of Renee's scholastic record (although she actually isn't very far behind) and because Renee is so sweet. I told her once that she and Renee are like a bottle of 7-Up. Renee is the sugar and she is the "kick." But Harriet is really quite a leader and organizer. She was in charge of the Girl Life program in our stake this past year and it is really amazing how she could organize and get people to do things.

I guess this is really a thanksgiving letter. Thanksgiving originated as a thanks for the harvest. Well, this is my harvest.

Renee & Harriet with the "living" Christmas tree

December 6 - This started out as a Thanksgiving letter and it looks as though it's going to end as a Christmas letter. That is one thing I usually try to do--get a letter written to my parents and sisters for Christmas. It makes me think of when we used to each make something for each other for Christmas. I'm a little far away for that now, but I do still try to make a few meaningful marks for the family. So here it is "writ' by hand."

It's beginning to seem like Christmas and Christmas makes one think of home. I surely hope the season will be a happy one for you. Much love and best of wishes, Perry