Memorial Day Weekend Part 3

Memorial Day is the best.  Eric commented once all was said and done that nothing connects you more to family history than Memorial Day and remembering your roots.  This Memorial Day, we slept in, packed the trailer up, and headed back to SLC with stops at cemeteries along the way.

Our first stop was the Fairview Cemetery.  We always came to this cemetery with my grandma because the family here was her family.  She was raised in Fairview and her parents and grandparents were all buried in that cemetery.  Our first stop was Bert and Geneva Tucker.  They are my great-great-grandparents through my Grandma Colleens line.  Bert was struck by lightning and died young, but Geneva lived to be quite old.  My Dad remembers her because she died when he was 14.  He said she was a grand lady.  She had a really fun house with a wood stove and loved to see her family.  She could cook, sing, and play the piano.  She had a weave and she would take scrap fabric and weave them into rugs.  My Dad said that she was truly a pioneer-era individual.  

Our next stop was George and Anna Tucker.  These are my great-grandparents.  George died of a heart attack young and my Dad doesn't remember him at all.  Anna was his grandma and he loved her dearly.  I grew up my whole life hearing about her legendary sugar cookies.  My Dad said that he and his brothers would go to her house and she would make cookies and they would eat the dough because it was so delicious and then the cookies were even better.  Last year my Dad started making sugar cookies like her and they are delicious.  Everyone says that his cookies are very close to hers.  Anna died when I was 7, but she had Alzheimer's for nearly all of her later life and so my parents never took us to visit her because they didn't want us to remember her like that.  My only memory of her is her funeral, but I remember she was dearly loved.  

I like to think that my piano playing ability comes a little bit from her because she was a great musician.  She taught several kids in Fairview how to play the piano.  My Dad has a friend from work who was from Fairview and learned to play the piano from her.  His sister had an accident and lost the tips of her fingers and Anna still taught her to play the piano.  I wish I would have known her, but because of the blessings of the temple, I know that I will someday see her again. 

We then ventured to the old Fairview Cemetery to see Nancy Joy Tucker.  Nancy Joy was my grandma's favorite relative because she was a true pioneer.  She crossed the plains, lost her husband in Iowa, and still continued on to Salt Lake City before settling in Fairview.  On the back of her tombstone is her family tree back five generations to come to Massachusetts in 1635.  My grandma loved her so much that she and my grandpa put a new tombstone on her grave and we visit it every year.  

After Fairview, we headed north to Payson to see my Mom's other set of grandparents.  I remember both of them, although my Great-Grandpa Lewis died with I was only 5 so I don't remember him very well. My great-grandma Edith lived to be 97 and we went to her birthday parties every year.  I remember when I was young I never wanted to go to parties but my parents always made me because you show up for someone who is 97 years old.  I'm glad that we always went to those parties.   Edith was always happy even though her life wasn't always very easy.  She lost two children and lived a very humble life but she was always happy.  Lewis didn't like very many people but he always liked my Dad because he was a cowboy.  He knew my grandpa from the Spanish Fork cattle auction and really liked my Dad.  I hadn't ever heard that before. 

Our final stop was the Springville Evergreen Cemetery to visit Eric's grandma Patricia Troff.  She died when Eric was only 6, but she left a lasting impression on his mind.  When my Mom was picking up flowers she asked what color we wanted for Grandma Pat and Eric told her to get purple because that was her favorite color.  Eric and his family lived with their grandparents the winter before Pat died and Eric became very close to her.  She would always bake on Tuesdays and would make Eric a special roll with sprinkles on it and he would eat it while it was hot.  She also wrote him a letter the day that he was born that is one of his most prized possessions.  I always find myself crying at her grave even though I never knew her because I wish that I did.  She sounds like a remarkable woman who died far too soon.  

In the end, I felt my heart turn towards my ancestors this weekend from being in the temple that my family loved and visiting several gravesites, and reminiscing about loved ones.  The most important thing in my life is my family and this weekend my testimony was strengthened that I can be with my husband, parents, siblings, grandparents, and even great-great-grandparents that I've never met again. Families are Forever.