Beach Haven

Week of April 25, 1983

Dad had some back trouble, but went to work anyway. They had some early fruit forming on their trees. Then snow hit that week and they lost most of it. As a secretary Mom reported to a number of the company leaders. They put some money together and bought her some flowers and a desk organizer for Secretary’s Day.

That Friday they had a party for Dad’s birthday. Lisa helped cook the food and run errands for Mom to get ready for it. The party was well attended with a lot of people filling the house. Dad wanted to go fishing on Saturday, but the weather was not cooperative. On Sunday it was announced that the Stake boundaries were changing and their ward would be split. 

Week of April 18, 1983

Some work continued from the previous week cutting up trees that had fallen in the yard of an elderly neighbor woman, Alice Booth. They were joined by neighbors, the McIntosh family, who were somewhat new to Honeyville. The McIntoshes also joined them for a Family Home Evening that week.

Later in the week a cannery trip yielded 62 gallon cans of dry foods. There was a planning meeting to attend for Dan’s school trip to California. Dad had to leave on a Navy Reserve trip to San Diego that weekend. There were some more difficulties over the way Lisa’s first husband was treating her. She decided to give up on waiting for him to come up with some money, and she started looking for work.
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Week of 28 March 1983

Mom was happy because while driving home after work and shopping she was able to hear Crystal’s school choir singing on a Logan, UT radio station. Dan was involved in something called “The Marathon to Anaheim” at school. She was unsure about it, but supportive. That Friday she mentions the first “Bishop’s Sweetheart Ball”. She was part of the committee that organized it. On Saturday, she and Dad spent the day looking for a car. Their current one was getting high on miles and burning oil. They bought a Dodge Omni (silver). She noted, “It’s our first new car ever.”

​That Sunday was Easter. It was also general conference for the church. They got a few inches of snow. Dad left for work about 10pm that night. As he left the wind began to blow hard and kept up all night. Mom and Lisa had a long angry call with her first husband. She noted, “I didn’t get to sleep until well after midnight.”

Week of 14 March 1983

Mom went for a mammogram because of a lump she found. Separately found out she needs a piece of bone removed from her foot. She made 4 or 5 cakes this week. She didn’t say what they were for. I swear some weeks reading Mom’s righting seems like a show from the Food Network. She describes baking, making icing, decorating, taking them to some event, assembling them onsite, and then watching for reaction of the recipients.

​As usual there were a slew of chores. She, Dad and Crystal were all sick a few days that week. She notes writing letters to a number of family and friends. Then on Sunday, she picked Lisa up at the bus depot. Lisa came home after a short stay at her in-laws, then grandparents in Pennsylvania. Although Lisa made the cross country trip alright, her two bags did not show up with her.

Week beginning 21 Feb 1983

This is a continuance of summarizing journal entries from my mother, Paulene Beach.

She was happy with the results of a cake she made over the weekend. In an earlier entry I shared the bit about Dan damaging it and a middle-of-the-night repair. A letter came from me (Mike) while serving on my church mission in Spain. She noted they would be getting $2040 back from their tax return. Dad left for a two-week training exercise with the Navy reserves. She put in work on a baby quilt for Lisa.

This week she found out the new position she put in for at Thiokol went to someone else. That Wednesday evening, Dan went skating with the German club. Mom and Crystal played the card game War. The week was a never-ending list of chores. Crystal helped out Heather Hoffmeister serving food at someone’s wedding (she didn’t say who’s). Dan helped set up chairs and tables for at the church for a Boy Scout dinner. Dan and Crys each had a friend sleep over that week, while Mom stayed focused on a baby quilt for Lisa. Dan seems to have been active with the German club. Late in the week she ran him to a football game with the club. He was also in a play that week and went to a stake dance on Saturday. Picking him up in the evening made for several late nights that week.

Lisa was making plans to return to Indiana. She intended to take over management of a skating rink while her husband worked before entering the Army. She was feeling isolated enough to ask Mom if Dan could spend the summer with her running the skating rink while her husband went into boot camp. Mom was worried about her. Mom also had trouble shaking a headache most of the week. She also expressed missing Dad.

That Sunday was a missionary homecoming in the ward for Ron Seamons. It made her miss me while I was serving. She expressed missing Dad again as well. Dan was helpful in drawing a Goliath on butcher paper for her upcoming Relief Society meeting. It was ten feet tall. Crystal made 'stones' out of tin foil to use with Dan’s slingshot. To round out the week, she was asked to make a cake for the Relief Society birthday, continued on Lisa’s baby quilt, and wrote a letter to me on my mission.

Week beginning 14 Feb 1983

Happy Mother’s Day! Here is another take of me summarizing a week in the life of Paulene Beach based on her journals. We love you Mom! Hope you’re keeping busy in the spirit world.

After working on Monday, she ran kids to the skating rink in Ogden. While they skated she visited long-time friends the Fisher family. We knew them when they were temporarily stationed in Pennsylvania back in our early church membership. They eventually transferred to Hill AFB and were living in Roy, UT at the time of this entry.

Mom was interviewed for a new position she was up for at work. She was nervous because the boss she would be working for depended heavily on dictation and the increased demand for short-hand that would place on her. That Friday she took Crystal and a family friend, Heather Hoffmeister, to a “mother-daughter thing” at school.

That Saturday, Dad was back at a Navy Reserves event. He was also working a lot of overtime to keep up to all the family expenses, mostly for needs by us children such as sustaining me on my full-time church mission. Dad continued to go to work despite a bad cold. Mom was packing for him as after working the overnight he was leaving the next morning for a Navy training trip in the Caribbean.

​Among an endless list of tasks documented, she also notes receiving a letter from her step cousin, Martin Hartman. She notes how he and his wife Barbara have always been among her extended family favorites. They indicated a desire to visit in the summer. She wrote to them later that day.  That Sunday was an interview with the Stake President to renew her temple recommend. She quilted for about five hours and wrote to me on my church mission. Dan had woken her up at 11pm that evening. He had ‘accidentally’ put his hand in a cake she had made. So she got up and fixed the cake.
 

Week beginning 6 Feb 1983

​A snow storm caused Mom to be late getting home on Monday, making for a short Family Home Evening conducted by Crystal. She got letters that week from Mike on his church mission, and another from Lisa feeling sick from pregnancy. Lisa encouraged Dan and Crystal to visit over the summer. Perhaps she was feeling a bit homesick.

Crystal had to go to the orthodontist this week to get spacers put in. More interaction with Lisa made it clear she wanted to stay with our grandparents since her in-laws were not supportive. Our cousin, Jeff was asking to do the same thing so Grammy Miller called to chat with Mom about it. Seems Grammy wasn’t really in a position to take in either at that time. Despite that, Grammy Miller seems to have let Lisa go to PA from where she was living. PA was closer for her than UT. Mom was worried because of the heavy snow in the weather report, but Lisa made it safe at least. At issue was that her husband of that time, Vince, was in basic training in the military. They had no money until he got paid. The in-laws were very negative about everything which put Lisa in a bad place.

Spring-like weather that Friday. That week Mom put in for a job that came up within Thiokol. It was a “six” level job. She said she was sure not to get it since she was new to her current position, and so many would apply since that level job was rarely available. Her boss wasn’t happy to hear about it. Dad and Dan had valentines and candy waiting for her and Crystal when they got home. Dad was working overtime that week which meant leaving for work at 10p.

Saturday brought time at the temple, then a bunch of tasks. Don Thrash gave her a tunnel to go with the family Christmas miniature train set. While she was away and Crystal was with the Thrashes, Dan had decided to clean the house for her. He had even dusted! The evening was full of other house chores (laundry, dishes, etc.). Don Thrash had been working on their taxes for them, and was expecting them to get a return of about $2000, clearly much needed. The evening ended this way for Mom, “worked on embroidering and watched a movie, wrote letters.” Dad had a Navy Reserve weekend duty after working all night.

Sunday brought church, choir practice, more letter writing and embroidering. 

Week beginning 31 Jan 1983
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A change of work starts this day. Mom began working in the Manufacturing Engineering Section after a transfer within Thiokol. Rumor mill depicted her new boss as “bad” and the others in the section in a nice light. This boss was on special assignment for a few months so she was glad for the time to learn the new job before needing to “contend with him.”

That same night Lisa called to say she might be expecting her first child. She notes Crystal was sick enough that they called in the home teachers for a priesthood blessing. Stressful day I’d say.

​Cris’ illness caused her to miss the next day of work. Not the best start to the new position. That week she went on to begin embroidering a pillow case for someone (not noted who).

In her notes on the last week of January 1983, she notes an awful experience within a family close to our family. A young man in that family had been drinking and driving. He hit and killed another young man (only 29) who had stopped to help a woman whose car was stalled in the rode. “Her door was open and the man was behind the door.” The driver in question “hit the open door and threw the man up against his own car several feet ahead.” She noted in her journal how upset the young drunk driver’s family was.

In typical fashion, Mom focused her energy in the wake of the news. She spent much of Saturday cleaning house, then took food to the family of the drunk driver. It was a busy day for Dan as well. He helped his German teacher move, then went to a football game, then came home, cleaned up and on to go to a skating party. She also noted all the tasks Dad knocked out through the day around car repair and some crafts work.

​That Sunday (30 Jan) was Grammy Miller’s birthday so they spoke on the phone. Next came the list of tasks accomplished in her matter-of-fact style: “Went to church, had family scripture study, wrote to Mike and Lisa, made pepper steak and rice for supper, choir practice, gave the scripture and prayer in Relief Society today, rested.”