A long ago birthday -

In 1922, Harry Francis Terrill wrote this letter to his son, Harry Porter Terrill, who was turning 6.  The poignancy of the letter is underscored when you realize that on August 12, 1925, Harry Francis died.

Not sure of the date on this family photo, but it was certainly only a year or two before HFT died.  Pop is the boy in the middle of the photo.

Today would be Pop's 98th birthday.  He is shown here with Helen, and his niece Sonny.

Pop was a fine man, and those of us who knew him miss him still.  And as more and more details in his life are made available to us, we love and understand him even more.

Family history - a treasure trove of memories - we should be sharing our memories of this fine man.

Happy Birthday Pop - and Happy Groundhog Day too!

happy birthday to grandpa terrill

Grandpa Terrill with his mother Alberta Porter Terrill - around 1917 or 18.  And the family dog I presume.

Happy Birthday Pop!!

Today is Pop's birthday - some of you know him as Grandpa Terrill.  

He shares his special day with the groundhog.

He's been gone from us for 23 years.  And yet his memory is alive and with us always.

It's good to share stories and memories of our experiences with him, so that the younger children will have a sense of who their grandfather was.

Never so much rejoicing as the day he was baptized.

Wishing we had more of his stories to tell.

A special man in all of our lives.

A hard worker and very conscientious in his work ethic.

A man who left his family with a great heritage.

Take time today to share a Grandpa Terrill story - here or with someone who loved him too!

The Night's Tail or The Twitching Hour

This is what senior citizens do on a slow Wednesday night!

"On your marks, get set, go!!"

So we rousted ourselves out of bed at 4:30 a.m. - after enjoying a night at Dodger Stadium with our good friends the Daines - to get ready for the Fontana Half Marathon.

Arcelia - and little Arcelia - ran the 5K, I walked the 5K - with an astonishing sub-20 minute mile!! Woo-hoo - let's hear if for GrannyBabs!!

And Dad, Mr. Runner himself, took 3rd place in his age group!! Once again I missed the mark, telling both Arcelias that the soonest we would see him was 9:30 a.m. - and he cruises in at 9:15!!

And for those of you who notice such things, note that we now have real a/c here at the old homestead. Of course I have been lobbying for it for many years - guess the moral is to never give up!

Various and sundry vents now dot the "ceilingscape" around here. And it all comes with a new heater too.

The fun never stops around here!!

This weekend - up to now anyway!!

Harry, Dawn and kids took off for Sycamore Cove this weekend - after our stint at the temple today, we drove up PCH to visit them.

It was a mite chilly, but we had our love - and a nice fire - to keep us warm! Also some fun storytelling (goes well with S'mores and foil dinners!)

Isla much preferred being inside the motor home!!

Mmm - some yummy hot chocolate too.

Ella enjoyed being the babysitter.

And Porter enjoyed the loft sleeping arrangements.

Esme and Annika were there - maybe Bonny got some shots of them!! She drove over with the girls - H and D and fam will be going to the "one true ward" tomorrow with the Bolanders.

Porter asked to go to bed!

Maybe we just need a motor home in our driveway for bedtime!

Grandpa adopted his Grandpa Bob persona and told a "tall tale" around the old campfire.

Good times with the cousins!

As usual, Harry planned and executed a fun time for all!!

One of the winners in the Newton Scooter race on Friday in 8th grade science.

I helped three kids made scooters. George's did fine on all it's trial runs - and then bombed on test day!!

But Jonathan's won. Hailey's didn't do well either - we tested indoors - and the final test was outdoors. Mr. W. said that shouldn't have made a difference - but I think it did. Oh well, we had a lot of fun - and one out of 3 ain't bad - especially for a non-scientist, non-engineer like me!

Who knows what Sunday holds? Dad is speaking in Sacrament meeting with Melanie - we'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Terrill

February 2nd - Groundhog's Day - and Grandpa Terrill's birthday. He was born in 1916, so he would be 94 years old.

Dad doesn't know the exact date on this one - probably some time in the 1940's.

This is from Karen and Jeff's wedding reception - and that's Sunny in the middle. I think many of the older grandkids remember Grandpa this way.

This is a deer hunt shot from the late 70's. Dad grew up going deer hunting with his dad - even when he no longer cared about shooting a deer, they went and enjoyed the adventure together. And it was on deer hunting trip that Grandpa started reading the Book of Mormon!

Here is Grandpa with Hannah - it was a family Easter party in 1986 - and this photo shows a quality Grandpa possessed that maybe everyone didn't see all the time, but he was tender and compassionate - especially with small children. Hannah had her casts on and probably wanted to be down on the ground with all the action, but I remember that day quite well. Grandpa held her and talked to her and smiled and she was content to sit with him. And I was certainly grateful that she was so willing to stay with him.

This was the family Christmas party when Grandpa announced that he was getting baptized. Those of us there will never forget that night. And I know many of you have memories of Grandpa being Santa.

I always had great experiences with Grandpa. One time he came to Utah - probably to go deer hunting, but he had spent the night at our house - when we lived in Harris' place in Centerville - and he complimented me on the casserole I had made for dinner. He said "Prepared foods and restaurant food always tastes exactly the same. Give me a good casserole that tastes different every time you make it." I've always remembered that.

Towards the end of his life, when he was somewhat diminished by Alzheimer's , he always remembered who I was. He would call here for dad - whom he never got confused about either - and he'd say, "Barbara, is Harry there." And one time, when Harry was not there, and I thought I'd engage him in a little conversation - sometimes that helped him get his bearings - he said, "You have a good man there."

As Dad grows older, he resembles his dad more and more - especially the way I remember first meeting him. He has a lot of the good qualities Pop possessed too.

We would all do well to reflect on Grandpa's love and devotion to his family, his willingness to work long and hard, his strict attention to detail, and his sweet tender heart.