Beach Haven

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.”

Mid-January of 1983 included lots of tasks accomplished, like everything she writes. There was getting her parents off to Pennsylvania after attending Lisa's wedding, getting the newlyweds out the door and accounting for gifts. She also mentions Lisa selling her piano. On January 15 she mentions her and Dad picking up a Basset hound named Sadie, born November of 1981. About the dog she particularly notes, "Fred loves her."

Later that week, January 18, Dad picked up "our cut up cow". For many years they raised a few steers and kept a nice full freezer of beef. She noted that counting all costs they paid about $0.50 per pound. That included buying, feeding, and butchering the steer. Not a bad deal. That same day she notes that Dan got the braces taken off of his teeth, and mentions that his teeth "are beautiful." Really Dan? Are your teeth beautiful?

The next day a snow storm dropped 17 inches at their house. 

Mike's note: This was clearly a week of stress for Mom. This is a lot of change in one week! Despite it all she still managed to write me a letter (I was serving as a missionary in Spain at the time). Don't ask me how she kept all this stuff together. Can you pick out all the simultaneous issues?

From the journal:

1983

Jan 2 - Sunday - Church - chicken and waffles - took down tree - played games - Fred went to work on graveyard shift - wrote to Mike

Jan 3 - New department at work - learned a lot today - nice visit with Mom and Dad after work - washed clothes

Jan 4 - Tues - After a busy day at work, took Mom and Dad in the truck and went shopping for shoes for Dad - also exchanged some Christmas presents - Lisa brought car home from Vegas - cost $186 to fix car.

Jan 5 - Wed - Good and busy day at work - after work took Mom and Dad down for groceries and turned in claim to the insurance man for our towage bill - got a check - finished Crystal's dress for the wedding - Crys gets her braces on next month.

Jan 6 - Thurs - Worked on wedding cakes - went shopping and got more groceries.

Jan 7 - Fri - Finished cakes - pressed dresses - last minute things for the wedding - Lisa and Vince went skating - brought Peggy back.

Jan 8 - Sat - Everyone was fighting for the bathroom - set up church - took food up - wedding started on time - Vangie was late so Ramona took her place - Vangie got there after the ceremony - beautiful ceremony - Lisa looked pretty and happy - Mom cried - Bishop Scott gave a nice talk - Relief Society room full of people - a nice turnout - Fishers - Overdorfs - Newell Barlow - Thrashes - lots of ward members - Sisters Renee Hortin and Ruth Owen were in charge of the kitchen - everything went fine - Dan and Kristin Hoffmeister fixed up the truck with toilet paper, cans, shaving cream, marshmallows, etc. - They found out and made them clean it - Didn't get enough money - don't know how they'll move - they went to Ogden for the night - we lugged the stuff home and cleaned up - tired - got to bed late

This entry relates to a visit to Utah by Lester and Pearl Miller, my mom's parents:

Jan 1, 1983
A new year! Hope it ends better than '82. Got to Salt Lake 5:00am. Stuck here until 8:30am. Don and Alma (Thrash) picked us up. Tired. Washed clothes. Put things away. Took bath. Went in town for milk. Mom called. Her and Dad were at Salt Lake bus station. Had a long wait. Lisa went down and got them in the truck. Went to Tremonton for their suitcase. Not there. Mom and I went for some groceries. Washed their clothes. Hung pictures. 
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