Ted Blanchard

Happy birthday, Bob. I sure enjoyed our time together last September. Best wishes.

Posted on: Sep 11, 2015 at 11:09 AM

I remember Van playing his steel slide guitar and singing.  We had some good time together.  In elementary his family would go into Murry to see the show playing there ever Friday night.  I remember tagging along with him a several occastions.  We lost a great friend when he passed.  Fond memories, all.

Above is a portrait of Mary that was done by our dear classmate, Babs Petri Beattie, a few months before Mary died..  Mary and Babs were both diagnosed with breast cancer about the same time.  As many of you know and now all can see, Babs was a wonderful artist.  I put this portrait on a medallion that is attached to Mary's headstone.

Hydee! Glad to see you registered. I called your office (you were on my list to find) but you weren't there. I noticed that you were up for an award in the business community. Way to go! Hope to see you at the reunion.

Hi, Barry. You are the mission president of the mission in which I served back in 1967-68. At the time I believe that I was the only missionary in the misison who could speak and understand the New Zealand Maori language and so I was assigned to areas where there were many old Maori individuals who didn't speak English. In Ruatoki (down by Whakatane) we met, taught, and baptized a 96 year old Kuia, her granddaughter and her great grandson. She couldn't read and couldn't speak English and so I gave her granddaughter a copy of the Maori Book of Mornom and she read it to her grandma. I recall that she was very touched by the notion that children under the age of eight who died were pure. She had some very powerful dreams that confirmed her commitment to the Church. It turned out that her son was the highest Maori functionary in the Church of England, at the time. When he found out that we were teaching his mother, he visited her and tried to dissuade her from listening to us. She flatly told him to never talk to her like that about "her church." She believed that God kept her alive just so that she could have the opportunity to join "His true Church." Because of her age and frailty we baptized her in a font in Rotorua where the water was heated. My final area was in Ruatahuna on the southern-most edge of the mission at the time.

Hi, George Hope all is well. It would be great to see you at the reunion.

Hey, Lyman. Hope to see you in Sept. I'll be there for the week leading up to the reunion.

Hi, Craig. It's great to see you on this site. Mr. Hill is my uncle. I never took a class from him but he let me hang out in his shop from time to time. I've since regretted not taking a class from him. He was a great teacher. He went on to teach at BYU and then retired. He and his wife live in Salem.

Happy Birthday, Diane. See you in September.

Fine sentiments, Greg. See you in September.

It's great to see your pictures. Hope to see you at the reunion.