Bradley Jay Hall
Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, and Matt via hardcopy,
cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail,
Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, Lloyd and Luana
Warner, Diane Cluff, Maxine Shirts via mail.
Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea,
belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit
to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended
family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail
box at any time.
"There isn't a death among the membership of the Nottingham Country
Ward very often. The last death I remember was Brother Jim Jenson,
who was in his 90's when he died (../9802.html). The death I recall
before that was Floyd and Mary Lunt's son, who accidentally drowned
in their new swimming pool. Over the same time, there have been a
half a dozen births each year among members of our congregation, and
this is ever since we moved here in the fall of 1984. What with
women becoming more educated (the primary reason birth rate is
falling in developed nations according to social research), and the
actual birth rate in the United States approaching the rate in
which death's occur, i.e. there we are approaching a steady-state
where for every birth there is a death, it doesn't take much
thinking to realize the Nottingham Country Ward is unbalanced in
regards to births and deaths. Most of the suburbs and new towns
across the globe are artificial environments in this way. And
there are two sad facts associated with this: (1) we tend to take
births and families for granted; and (2) our children don't
appreciate life because they don't emotionally experience death.
Even when there is a tragedy, we tend to shield the kids from it.
And to a large degree, this was the case with the motorcycle death
last Tuesday of Bradley Jay Hall, one of the members of our Ward.
Over the last few months Aunt Sara has sent me four obituaries of
folks I knew when I was growing up and had an influence on my life.
They actually mean more to me than the death of Bradley Jay Hall,
whom I never really knew except from a distance. For today's
Thoughtlet, I'm going to take a few minutes and type out these
obituaries, and summarize my memories about each of these folks.
I'm going to start with a friend named Tom Mazza whom I spent an
exciting hour talking to at NAPE, the North American Prospect Expo,
the first week of January (../0106.html):
<![CDATA[ `Seitel and the professional community recently lost a gifted
geophysicist and dear friend. Thomas A. Mazza, Senior Vice
President of DDD Energy, Inc. died in a skiing accident on
Saturday, March 10.
Tom graduated from Penn State University with a BS in Geology
in 1979 and an MS in geophysics in 1982. He began his career
with Tenneco in the Rocky Mountain Division in Denver before
moving to the International Division in Houston. In 1989 Tom
joined Marathon Oil at the Denver Research Center where he
pioneered the use of seismic attributes and visualization
techniques for exploration. He later worked at Enron Oil and
Gas Company and Presidio Oil, where he became Geophysical
Manager and then Exploration Manager.
Tom joined DDD Energy as Manager of Geophysics in 1996. Here
he helped develop the company by merging the science of 3-D
seismic interpretation with the business of exploration geology
and advanced quickly to the position of Senior Vice President.
Tom was a member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists,
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and Denver
Geophysical Society.
Tom brought vision, energy, integrity, and a larger-than-life
smile to everything he did and everyone he touched. He had a
lifelong passion for skiing, and loved the Colorado mountains.
He also was attached to Jonesport and Beals Island, Maine,
seacoast villages he and his family visited every summer.
Tom is survived by his wife Peggy and daughters Alyson, 14, and
Danielle, 11. Other survivors include his parents, three
sisters, two brothers, and twelve nephews and nieces.
A memorial service will be held at 4 P.M. on Friday, March 16,
at the Greenwood Community Church, Greenwood Village, Colorado.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations may be
sent to the Thomas A. Mazza Memorial Fund to benefit the
children, in care of Wells Farbo Bank, N.A., Attn: Kristen
Conrad, 2350 East Arapahoe Road, Littleton, Colorado 801122.']]>
Tom was a power Landmark user, and we have been friends for several
years. The Monday after his accidential death I recieved a call
from one of his friends at Sietel telling me about the accident
and how often Tom talked about me and how he was sure I would
want to know about the accident. I was truly humbled. I have
no extra money I can put towards the memorial fund right now, and
here I was receiving all of these words about my influence on
Tom. I wonder how often it is that the things we do which are
of most worth to others are not even recognized by us as we go
about our daily life.
Barbara Bryant was about our closest neighbor all of the time I
was growing up. They lived on the farm due southwest from the
house. Their farmland was where Mark Nelson and I hunted jack
rabbits. I remember as a child riding my bike all the way to
their house and selling them engraved Christmas cards. I think
she was one of my 4-H leaders before Della Garfield took over
(Randy called tonight and said that Della just died, and the
viewing is this week in Salt Lake). I remember how tall
their oldest son Fernlee was. Once Darrel Krueger, who was
much shorter, got on a horse in back of Fernlee, and found
him looking over his head because Fernlee was all legs and
Darrell was all body. Zola was a couple of years older than
me, and was always nice to me on the school bus. Connie was a
year or two younger, had dark hair, and looked a lot like Marti.
After Mom's stroke, Barbara was one of the faithful Relief Society
sisters who regularly visited and cheered Mom up. She was a
jewell. The obituary reads:
<![CDATA[ `Barbara Adams Bryant, 81, returned to her Heavenly Father on
January 18, 2001 in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. Barbara was born
April 12, 1919 in Parowan, Utah to Hugh L. and Barbara Matheson
Adams. She married her sweetheart Forrest Bryant on December
10, 1937 in the Manti LDS Temple. Barbara was preceded in
death by her husband Forrest, daughter Virgina, and brother
Roy Adams. Barbara was a very active member of the LDS church,
The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, a leader in the 4H club
for many years, and worked in the North elementary school
lunch for 23 years.
Survived by her children Fernlee (Sandy) Bryant of Cedar City,
Utah, Zola Bryant of Arizona, and Connie (Jim) Bills of Mt.
Pleasant, Utah; ten grandchildren, nine great grandchildren;
brother Norman Adams of Cedar City and sisters Lillian
Grimshaw of Enoch, Utah and Ruth Halterman of Idaho.
Funeral service will be held Saturday January 20, 2001 at
12:00 noon in the Enoch LDS stake center (3600 North
Minersville Highway). Friends may call Friday evening from
6:00-8:00 PM at the Southern Utah Mortuary and Saturday
morning one hour prior to services at the church. Interment
in the Cedary City Cemetary.']]>
When I was Teacher and Priest age Clint Hunt was in the Cedar City
3rd Ward Bishopric. He has a service station just before town.
He took me on several Aaronic Priesthood commeration campouts,
including to Warm Springs down by Mesquite. He took me Home
Teaching and to gather fast offerings, even though I didn't come
to church much after Grandma Nelson died. He might have been
the scout leader that took our scout troop in kyaks to the base
of Glen Canyon Dam (the first group to do this) and down to Lee's
Ferry. I just don't remember. His wife always welcomed us to
come to their house. I remember feeling good when I visited
there. I don't remember if she was my Primary President or cub
scout leader or not. Her obituary reads:
<![CDATA[ `Rachel Marshall Hunt, 73, passed away May 25, 2001 after a
long illness with Parkinson disease. She was born on July 31,
1927 in Minersville, Utah to Elmer Herbert & Effie Lucille
Hutchings Marshall.
Born at home in Minersville, she grew up with her triplet
siblings Ross & Ruth. After graduating from Milford High
School she moved to Salt Lake City to work along with Ruth &
friends for 1 year. She worked for several places including
Hill Air Force Base. She attended the BAC for 1 year.
Rachel was an active member of the Chruch of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saitns, serving as Primary President, Cub Scout
leader, Stake Relief Society Secretary, visiting teacher;
etc. and a temple worker for 2 years in St. George. After
college, she left for a mission in Texas, where she met her
future spouse Clinton J. Hunt. After a successful mission
she went back to Salt Lake City to work at Continental Bank.
Then she married Clinton in the St. George Temple and moved
back to Cedar City, where they have lived ever since. She
kept the books of her husbands businesses which they ran
their whole lives. She was a 4-H leader for 20 years. She
ran the concessions at the Cedar Shakespearean Festival for
5 years. She was an excellent seamstress and sewed all the
clothes for her children and made dozens of quilts and
blankets. We loved her so much and will miss her.
She is survived by her husbant Clinton of Cedar City, Utah,
children Tama Goodrich (Mark) of Kearns, Utah, Terry C. (Ann)
of Hurricane, Utah, Wayne Marshall of Cedar City, Utah, and
LeAnn Ruthruff of St. George, Utah. Also surviving are 17
grandchildren; her siblings; Howard (Gertrude), Fay (Betty),
Ross Marshall (Eleanore) all of Minersville, four sisters
Phyllis (Karl) Truman, of Minersville, Barbara (Walt)
Messenger of Cedar City, Ruth (Ken) Knight of Minersville
and Aldene (Donald) Jones of Kaysville, Utah. She was
preceded in death by her parents and a brother Jeff Marshall.
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday May 29, 2001 at 2:00
PM at the Cedar Eighth Ward Chapel (200 South 200 West).
Friends may call on MOnday evening from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at
the Southern Utah Mortuary, and 1 hour prior to services at
the Church. Interment will be in the Minersville Cemetary
at 5:00 PM.']]>
When I went to Cedar City on one of my dates with Andrea, she
took me to her Institute Class from Brother Graff. There in
the front row was a very opionated little old lady named
Odessa Hunter. I took her daughter Vanna to the Junior Prom,
even though we are second cousins. It was a fun evening,
and still brings fond memories. Her son Brent has rented
Dad's farm from Aunt Sara and Uncle Des (../9830.html).
The Christmas Andrea and I were dating I sang the Messiah
with Brent during one of the practices (../9848.html). He
has a wonderful deep base voice. His wife left him, and he
remarried the Bishop's wife after the Bishop died of cancer.
The Hunters are absolutely the salt-of-the-earth that our
Savior talked about. Odessa's obituary reads:
<![CDATA[ `Odessa Ford Hunter, 82, passed away peacefully Friday,
May 11, 2001. She was born May 22, 1918 in Cedar City,
to Hyrum C. and Johanna Willams Ford.
Odessawas raised in Cedar City and attended Iron County
Schools, and the BAC. She served a mission for The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the
eastern states. She married Grant Rowntree Hunter
June 29, 1944 in the St. George Temple. They spent
their lives together on the Hunter farm in Cedar
Valley raising sheep. Grant preceded her in death on
April 2, 1977.
She was an active member of The Chruch of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints and served faithfully in many
positions. She was a member of the Daughters of the
Utah Pioneers and active in community services. Her
life was dedicated to her family. She was a wonderful
wife and mother and was adored by her grandchildren.
She was a great example to all who knew her and she
had a wonderful sense of humor.
Odessa is survived by her children: Brent (Dayna)
Hunter of Cedar City; Lee (Janet) Hunter, of Bedford,
NH; Mark Hunter of Cedar City; Vanna Hunter of Salt
Lake City; Esther (Steve) Thorsen, Manti; 23
grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She
was the last surviving member of her immediate
family and was preceded in death by her parents;
sisters: LaRue Ford; and Lucille Spencer; two
brothers, Lavon; and O. Clay.
Funeral Services will be held Thursday, May 17, 2001
at 11:00 AM at the Cedar View Chapel, 1925 West 320
South, Cedar City. Friends may call Wednesday from
6-8:30 PM at the Southern Utah Mortuary, 190 North
300 West and Thrusday morning one hour prior
services at the church. Interment will be held in
the Cedar City Cemetery.']]>
When Sara and I were growing up in Cedar Valley, there were
a couple of giants, who were mentioned all of the time. One
of them was George D. Grimshaw. Maybe it is because so many
of my friends came from Grimshawville, a couple of miles
north of the farm: Doug; Dorthy; Alan; Cathy; and others.
Alan was the wild rock band leader in my High School class.
The Keynotes (and later The Mydknight Hour) were compared to
the Beatles, while Alan and his group were compared to the
Rolling Stones. It was a simpler time than what you kids
experience. Although Alan did get involved with drugs, and
certainly brought a lot of pain to his parents. Alan's
older brother Steve has been a Bishop and Stake President,
and is always very friendly to me when we see each other when
I'm back up home. When the basement was flooded (../0006.html),
George and his brothers and kids and cousins and friends were
there to help clean up the mess. Quiet. Kind. Shy. Good.
An example. All undercaptured in his obituary:
<![CDATA[ `George D. Grimahaw, 94, life long resident of Southern Utah,
died May 15, 2001 at his home in Enoch. George was born
March 24, 1907 in Cedar City. He was the third of nine
children born to William Henry Grimshaw and Mary May Hunter
Grimshaw. He married Elizabeth Smith on March 20, 1929 in
Golden, Colorado. The marriage was later solemnized in
the St. George Temple. She died December 18, 1986. He
married Flora Noorlander Dorius on Jan. 5, 1988. She
died Dec. 15, 2000.
He was an electrician and retired from California Pacific
Utilities in 1972 after 39 years employment with local
utility companies.
He was an active member in the Chruch of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. he was a former counselor in the
Enoch Ward Bishopric, counselor in the Parowan Stake
Presidency, and Patriarch in the Cedar City North Stake
and was an ordinance worker and sealer in the St. George
Temple. With his wife Elizabeth, he served a mission to
the Arizona-Holbrook Mission in 1975-1976. George was
a talented musician, and was a former member and director
of the Enoch Ward Choir, played the banjo in the Enoch
Orchestra, and was a member of the Master Singers. He
often sang duets with his friend Elwin "Bud" Armstrong.
He is survived by seven children: Clara Mae (Oleen) Hatch,
Monticello; Arlen (Cathy) Grimshaw, Enoch; DeAnne
(Clarence) Stubbs, Parowan; Steven (Carla) Grimshaw,
Monticello; Richard (Charlotte) Grimshaw, Washington;
David (Colleen) Grimshaw, West Valley; Alan Grimshaw,
Las Vegas. Also surviving are 37 grandchildren and 73
great-grandchildren; a brother: Randolf of Enoch and
two sisters: Rose Ina Richardson, Enoch and Wilma Hicken,
Provo. Preceded in death by two sons: Robert and Kent,
two infant grandchildren: Alan Oliver Grimshaw and
Elaine Hatch, and a great-grandson: Judd Paul Harris;
brothers: Hunter and Henry; and sisters: Dursilla Smith,
Ruth May Witt, and Afton Hodgson.
The Family wishes to thank the staff of Southern Utah
Home Care for their loving service.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, May 19, 2001
at 11 AM in the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints Enoch Ward (555 East Midvally Road). Friends may
call Saturday morning from 9:30 AM until time of services
at the chruch. Interment will be in the Cedar City
Cemetery under the direction of the Southern Utah Mortuary.']]>
As you can tell, except for Tom, who died in an freak skiing accident,
these folks all lived full lives. Most of them eked out a living
in Cedar Valley, and that is not easy. There were the same kind
of trials we all get to face. Instead of Houston floods, it was
`this is the driest year we have ever had.' However, they each
represent lives well lived, and I hope, as you contemplate Bradley
Jay Hall's motorcycle accident and untimely death, you each take
a few minutes to think about what you want your eulogy to read. I
just re-read mine (../9846.html), and I'm satisfied I'm on track.
This has been a busy week. Monday and Wednesday were spent at
Texaco on the Africa project. Monday night was David Moore's
Board of Review. First time I have had a scout in one of my
scout groups get his Eagle award. Jeff Jurinak did all of the
work to help David finish up. Guess that says a lot about my
ability as a scout leader. Tuesday was a Ward Temple day.
Andrea and I did two sessions and two sealings. Anne Lund was
in the first session (../9807.html) and Andrea did a name for
her. I worked at II&T on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday
afternoons. Wednesday evening was busy. Helped Andrea clean
out the dutch ovens, went to Matt's Scout Camp orientation,
helped the Venturing Crew make cookies at our house, then had
a meeting for parents and youth involved in the High Adventure.
Thursday morning I left the house at 4:45 for a 6:30 AM flight
to Denver. I spent the day at Aspect Petroleum working up
3-D data on the San Luis Swell in Rio Grande County, Colorado.
It was a fun day. The geophysicist, Evan Genaud, and I became
friends, and I expect we will talk more about him over the
coming weeks and months. I spent the evening with Bob Wentland
at Chroma Energy in Boulder, and looked at John Andrew's and
Jake Eisel's prospects and went to dinner with them in Boulder.
I was wiped out by the time I found a hotel room at a La Quinta
in Auroa, close to the Denver airport and to where Marti's
Grandma Llewellyn lived.
Rachel brought Andrea down to Gessner and I-10, where I met her
coming from II&T's office downtown at 5:30 Friday evening.
What a traffic mess. We went to Wulf Massell's birthday party.
It was a chinese cooking lesson. The food was wonderful. The
folks were really neat. I was one of 3 geophysicists there,
which really suprised me, with all of Wulf's work in geophysics.
It was a wonderful evening, and Andrea came home with a new
cheese shredder and an autographed Chinese Cookbook. It was
a really nice evening, and we should do this as a family
sometime. Sort of like Melanie's idea of going to New York.
Sara wrote and asked if we would all be paying our own way to
New York. Today, that is certainly the case. Hopefully, some
of these wells will come in, and we will be able to help with
some payment for some of you. My experience is people don't
enjoy something unless they contribute, and so I am interested
in knowing who is interested, and how much you are interested.
Saturday morning started slower than I hoped. Bryan Bentz in
Connecticut is building some Infinite Grid (SM) tools for me
(http://www.walden3d.com/dynamic/ig), and he was not going
to have any images until about 3:00. So I took Rachel and
met Andrea at Bradley Jay Hall's funeral service. It was
impressive. On the cover was a beautiful picture of the
Orlando Temple where he and Kimberly were sealed for time and
eternity in a second marriage for each of them. His friend
Randy Horsak referred to him as `a patriot, who lived to make
a difference.' Sounds like my mission statement, `continuing
to make a difference.' Steve Short in our ward said he `wrote
his senator, and everyone else's senator' when he was concerned
about a political issue. George Schlutz, a counselor in our
Bishopric, gave an outstanding talk. From my notes he said:
<![CDATA[ `This grief will be turned to joy. Life is fragile and temporary.
It is worth the effort to live life to the fullest. These are
good times to take pause and reflect on our own life. Who am I?
Where did I come from? Where am I going? What if we gain the
glories of the world and climb the ladder of success and come
to the end of our life and find the ladder of our life was
standing against the wrong wall. The Book of Mormon gives us
knowledge of the right wall. We come to this knowledge by
asking and by The Holy Ghost. There are three reasons for our
life: (1) to have a mortal body; (2) to learn the difference
between good and evil; and (3) prove we can do all things we
are commanded to do. Brad was baptized, received The Holy Ghost,
attended his meetings, and as far as I know kept the commandments.
He went to the temple and was sealed for time and eternity. Brad
lived life successfully and so we should not grieve for him.']]>
Bishop's Camp's comments were also insightful:
<![CDATA[ `When someone close to us passes on we feel pain. We can live
with them forever more, if we but patiently endure. At funerals
the tears are real. Not because of separation, but for the
interruption. Death comes to everyone. Death is not the end.
The spirit lives. The change is necessary to receive
immortatility. It is ordained of God. It is a comma, not an
exclamation mark! Each of us have the opportunity to apply
the atonement in our own lives. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
that plan. We may not understand everything. Why now? We are
promised we will not be left alone. We each have much to live
for. I know. May you find peace and joy in the coming days
and years.']]>
Saturday ended later than I wanted. Bryan sent the images. Les
Denham helped me get them on the workstation at II&T. I worked
there until about 9:00 PM, then worked at home on the presentation
for Monday and Tuesday until about 2:30 this morning. Good
presentation, and I'm getting too old to do this kind of stuff.
Sacrament meeting was nice today. It was the first time I ever
recall being in a sacrament meeting where a brother and a sister
were both going on a mission. Sallie Snideman is going to
Romania, where Andrea's nephew is. James Snideman is going to
my old mission. Sallie is almost as pretty as Audrey, and she
said, when the Bishop asked her about dating vs. going on a
mission she responded by quoting from the scriptures:
<![CDATA[ `They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me.']]>
James said:
<![CDATA[ `The real test in life is not knowing how to read the music,
rather it is practicing and applying our knowledge. ... Our
happiness is the true test of how well we are living the gospel.']]>
Matt and I Home Taught the Moore's this afternoon. They leave for
Jakarta next month. When we went to Haden Hudson's, he wasn't
home. However, his son Bo was, and Bo ended up following us back
to the house and taking a Book of Mormon. He is seriously
thinking about a mission. He had his girlfriend with him and has
graduated from High School. It was a neat visit. I gave the
Family Home Evening on Love Languages. Then Andrea and I went
to a Sunday Evening Discussion (fireside) which Bishop Camp spoke
at, with Matt and Rachel tonight. It was really good, and I'll
save his key story for another time. The cookies we made
Wednesday night were the refreshments, and they were good too.
When I called Grandma Nelson a few minutes ago, she said to tell
all of you hello, and that she loves each of you. It would be
nice if you would write her a letter. I hope you each have a
good week, and that you each take a moment to reflect on where
you are, and where you are headed. Maybe this reflection will
prove to be some of the uexpected good coming from the untimely
death of Bradley Jay Hall."
I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements
of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how
important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy
it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of
distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets
go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at
rnelson@walden3d.com.
With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)