A Brief on Richard and my Courtship, Wedding, Marriage, Children and Death

Linda asked me if we had any wedding pictures.  And technically, no we didn't.   My story is told elsewhere but technically Bill, the helicopter pilot and boyfriend,  and I had set a date for a summer wedding.  He was a Christian Scientist and I was a Mormon but we finally decided to go for it anyway.  But someone up there had different plans for me! My parents who were in Utah and on their way down for my wedding came on down anyway to sympathize with me after we called off the wedding.

So I have these pictures at the beginning of the summer of 1959 .  Incidentally I did not see these pictures until just a few years ago when my nephew printed all of my Dad's movies online and I was able to take some individual pictures off of the film, that is why they are not really clear.

Anyway somewhere else is all the drama of this visit.

And then Richard came into my life just before Labor Day 1959 when I returned from BYU Summer School.  My friend had called me and said she had someone she wanted me to meet who had just moved in.  I said, "No way, not interested."

But that Sunday after Sacrament Meeting Richard came charging up and introduced himself and asked if I would go to the Fireside with him, I was going with Danny, he asked for a date Wednesday night, I had one with Bob, he asked for one Saturday and I had one with Clinton and so he asked what about tomorrow Labor Day to Balboa Park and I said OK.

Since I had broken up with Bill, who I had gone with almost since I moved to San Diego, these guys from the ward thought they would date me now.  And Richard was blown away by my popularity, but it was just a one week thing.  There is more to that story but anyway he began spending most of his time at my place and then took me to meet his mother in Las Vegas and decided we had should get married but we did not have any time off till Christmas and we were together all the time and fully committed to each other by then.  We had known each other only six weeks and had both broken engagements behind us.  Richard wrote a lovely letter to my parents explaining we would marry in the Temple later and thanked them for shooshing all the other guys away.  I found later that his parents did the same thing, elope when their parents were traveling and then marry in the Temple later!!!!

So we planned to elope one weekend, get married by the Bishop and then go to LA for a fast honeymoon and back to my teaching school and his appraising job on Monday.  All plans went well until Scott, his brother, found out and those details are somewhere else about the "wedding" he planned and cake he bought, etc and all his family and Vida  came to San Diego for a early Friday evening wedding.

 But no one took any pictures.   I had a on a lovely dress (I wish I had a picture) and the principal over my class for me and I had lots of time to dress.  It was early evening in a big hotel room with family and Cake and the Bishop and did we eat anything?  Cannot remember.  We had taken earlier pictures for the announcement or whatever we might need but no one was prepared with a camera that night I guess.

And then soon after we married on October 23 Mom and Dad came to San Diego again and we took pictures with them that were almost like wedding or honeymoon pictures.  Here again, these pictures are taken off the movie film.

 So we met the Sunday before Labor Day 1959, were married on October 23, 1959 and baby John was born August 19, 1960 and we went to the Temple on November 4, 1960 and Linda was born June 28th, 1962, Maria was born November 15, 1963 and James was born June 27th, 1966.  Richard died on November 27th, 1996.  John died on April 5th, 2004 and it is now 2023 so I have had lots of time alone to gather memories and records and put this all online and what is most important is in Family Search as well.  Our life is an open book online!

Easter 1937 and Christmas 1937 and 1940 in Glendive, Montana

Pictures from David's Book of Remembrance 

1--These are pictures I do not remember seeing before in my books but the first picture is Easter

on the South Side at the white house on the corner.  This was the third house we lived in in Glendive

and I was probably 4 in spring 1937.

 

Those are huge buttons on our coats.  I assume they came from the Karl Johnson store Dad was 

managing.  But I know I wore a lot of hand me downs.  I wonder if Mom got things from rummage

sales, too.  We all look very nice though you can see scuffed shoes and David's pants are not new.

We did not have a lot of money, that I know.  When I eventually get to go to school, I remember

wearing clothes more than one day in a row and changing after school and hanging up my dress or

blouse and skirt with straps.  Actually those are the only school clothes I remember in first grade. 

 Luckily the store clothes will become a great blessing in our life, especially in high school and college.

These look like small Easter baskets by today's standards.  We would have had our hair rolled up in

rags the night before to make it curl on the end.  We would have been going to the Congregational

Sunday School where Dad sang in the choir.

2-It is winter and we are wearing anklets which is interesting.  I have on a different coat and David just 

has on a sweater.  This is also on the South Side and was probably 1937 because Carole has 

evidently not been born yet and we have our Christmas dolls.  This was the Christmas where Mom 

had us follow strings to find our dolls and David got the Kayo doll.  

I am not sure if it is the same Christmas Marilyn got a tricycle and it seemed the whole living room floor

was full of things.  That Christmas must have been a very good year at the store!  So the bountiful year

with an electric mixing bowl for Mom  and a tricycle may have been 1938 or 39.

We moved to a this house on the North Side Heights the summer of 1940 and we have our Christmas 

dolls so Carole would be 2 and I would be in second grade.   She was born in November of 1938 and I 

turned 6 in January 1939 and went to first grade on the south side at Lincoln School in September.

Dad was able to purchase this house and we had lived in 4 other houses since moving there in 1934.

This house was about a hundred years old I think.   It was remodeled when I was at college.  The man

looks familiar but can't think who he is, salesman or?  We often had missionaries eat with us but why a 

single man?  I usually wore pigtails.

Linda and Maria in Copenhagen in 2009

I was looking for my spider picture and ran across this darling one of Maria and Linda on our Scandinavian trip in 2009!!  Such beautiful and talented daughters.

 

My Sister Carole

I can't remember what Carole was showing me here but we often send pix back and forth when we get new glasses or whatever.  Anyway, she looks very pretty and it is a nice picture.  She will be 83 this year on the 12th of November.

Here is a funny picture of Carole and Mom and Carole's pets, she always had some around.
 

My Sister Jeanne

Since Covid no one can go into Treeo and visit Jeanne so Julie visited her outside and had these pictures taken in December, 2020.

 

About My Brother Dave

About My Brother Dave,

                               By Carole Fuqua, Dave’s youngest sister.

My last words to Dave were, "I love you, now just try to relax, you have done a great job keeping it all together."  But he couldn't relax, partly because that's the way he is, and partly because of his illness.

But today, I want to tell you about Dave as my brother.  There were 12 years between us, and three other sisters, so when I was 5 he was 17. I remember the music he played over and over ..."the girl that I marry will have to be as sweet and as soft as a nursery".  That's the part I remember.  He often took me on his dates in high school and she was pretty, but when he went to college and met Dorothy, his dreams really had come true.

 From them on whenever I played dress-up, my name was always Dorothy, as I, too thought she was beautiful and sweet and soft as a nursery.  Dave told me later she was also pretty tough as a sheepherder’s daughter could be.  And Janet says the music he played over and over and over the first summer home from college was “I wonder who’s kissing her now?”

You couldn't know Dave without fun, funny and happy being in the equation. When he put me on his handlebars to deliver the morning papers, it could also be exciting.  I often liked to sleep in his bed, because we could turn off the toggle switch on the radio with a string by using our toes and we could stick our gum on the metal headboard.  

One day he was tickling me so hard my mom came after him with a broom to stop him.  David was mischief and a tease, Janet remembers being his sidekick when they would climb up to the attic window and threw snowballs at all those passing below.

He used to announce the high school football games on the radio but not all the parents thought his offside comments about their sons were as funny as he did.

When he brought Dorothy to Miles City to run the Anderson's store, they had a cute little apartment over the store and my favorite photo is of Dave pretending to blow his nose in Dorothy's beautiful long hair.

I can just see him and his older brother, Dick, setting out the doll buggies and dolls for Christmas morn for all their little sisters.  Mom said that was what they did and I can imagine the fun he had with that.

Dave and Dorothy Serving!

Being the last sister, my memories of childhood with everyone there were few but happy. When life got really serious and my own boys began missions and college, Dave was always there to open his pocket book, send clothes and keep an interest in them. He escorted my Dave when he received his endowments in the Idaho Falls Temple for his mission.  David cared and he showed it.

Time has flown and when it is all over, all we have left are our memories.

We are so glad our memories of our brother Dave are happy ones.

Hardy Family Christmas Party-White Elephant Gifts, 2017

Keira, Meagan, Eden, Janet

Jimmy, trying on Ugly Christmas Sweater Gift

Matt and Eden, Maria

Nico, Keira, Meagan

Charli, Camber, Linda, Keira and Meagan

Lea and Friends on Couch, Camber

Matt and a special friend!

What surprised Keira? 

 

Pretty Meagan!

I like this!  Keira chooses well!

Keira and Meagan

Do they fit?

Mary trying to choose well.

Lea looks a little nervous.

Great white elephant gift.

Johnny, Linda, Mary

 

Meagan and Nico

And that is a wrap!!!  Great picture!

Hardy Family Christmas Party--Eating, 2017

Matt, Meagan's husband, Camber

Craig, Matt

Matt, , Meagan

Maria, Janet, Linda, A Favorite Picture

Linda, Gary, Johnny

Meagan, James