"But Why Miss Ellis"

This past weekend and today at school has been some of the longest three days of my life. Friday during our last home football game one of our seniors passed out. At first the EMT's thought he may be suffering from heat stroke but then, the romor started among the students that Matt had taken some pain pills before the game. The decision was made to have life flight come to fly Matt to the hospital since it is a 90 mile drive. Time went by so slow as the game was delyed and we waited for life flight.

Saturday I got a call from my boss to update me on Matt's condition. The doctors were very sure that Matt had a massive stroke. My response was what? A 17 year boy in good health had a stroke. Who ever heard of this? Matt was in ICU and is at that time he was not able to move his right side. My boss asked that I call my my students in my guide class to update them on Matt's condition and to dispell the romors that Matt had taken pain pills. There were no drugs what so ever found in Matt's system. As you can guess my students were not only surprised but had lots of questions. Some I was able to answer but the question that they all asked that I could not answer was Why Miss Ellis? How do you answer this? There is no answer? I was as honest as I could be and told them that I don't know why bad things happen to good people.

Today in school we called the students together and updated them on Matt's condition. He is still in ICU and is being kept calm so that his brain does not swell. He is still not able to breathe on his own and he still can not move his right side. As the day went on students asked a variety of questions. Once again most I could answer but then one student ask "Why does life suck so much". Again I did not have an answer. I thought what my mom would say when life was in a down cycle which was "Well if you never had a bad day how would you ever know if you had a good day" Since I never really liked this statement I did not give my students this answer. I am sure I managed to say something but I have really do not remember what. I think this is one of those times when there is not an answer.

Please keep Matt and his family in your prayers.

Johanna Theresa Smith

My mom told me once that her mission in life was to be a wife and mother. She never dreamed of a career however being a wife and mother is one of the hardest jobs there is. My mom was born on the family farm in Lebanon, Oregon. (Near Crabtree) She was the 6th child of Peter and Gertrude Smith. There was about a 9 year gap between my mom and her brother, the next youngest. The doctor had told Gertrude that she should not have any more children but they so wanted more. My mom was named after her two grandmothers: Johanna Smith and Theresa Cliff. About a year and a half after my mom's birth her younger sister and best friend Toni was born. The two girls quickly were given the nickname of "The Twirps" by their older brothers and sisters. On the right is the only baby picture of my mother. It was taken at her first Strawberry fair. On the left and below are the twirps.

My mom's early years were spent living on the farm. They had walnuts and hazelnuts (filberts) as their main cash crop. To help support the family Peter worked at the local lumber mill during the day and ran the farm after work. My mom talked of her childhood often. She always felt loved by her parents. She loved school but she did not consider herself a good student. She and Toni help with the chores on the farm. She said that the walnut harvest was often in the rain and cold. By the end of the day her hands were covered black from the walnut casings. She once told me that she never wanted to marry a farmer.

My mom was raised Catholic. Sundays mornings were spent going to church and then having a BIG breakfast afterwards. Mom remembered always having to be at church early. Her father never wanted to be late. They would wait in the car until it was time to enter the church. After mass her dad, Peter, would read the paper while her mother was making breakfast. She would laugh as she talked about her brothers Don and Bob snitching bacon almost as fast as her mother could cook it. My mom always said that faith is a gift and like any gift it is up to us to use it to our benefit. She learned her faith from her parents and she taught her children her faith by her actions. Not just by going to mass but by saying the rosary and reading her prayer book every morning. She even had a prayer book in her car so she could read while she sat at red lights. She never talked bad of other religions, in fact she tried to understand their practices.

When she was 8 her older brother Don was killed when his ship the Liscomb Bay was sunk in the Pacific during WWII. My mom said that when the telegram came with the news her father cried. This was the only time that she recalled him crying. He felt such guilt because he had signed for Don to enter the Navy. This was a real tough time for the family. They were shaken and relied on their faith to understand WHY? As an 8 year old my mom did not fully grasp the entire situation. What 8 year old would? A couple years before my mom's death I found a book about the Liscomb Bay. After reading it my mom said that she felt closer to her brother. At last she understood what he went through. On the left is Don and the Twirps also known as his "Glamor Girls".

When my mom was in high school her parents sold the farm and moved to town. (Lebanon) They purchased a small house on C Street. Life was much easier in town with no farm to worry about. They did have enough yard to have a small vegetable and herb garden and lots of roses. My granny, Gertrude, loved her garden and took great pride in her roses. Living in town gave my mom more free time to enjoy her high school years. She was active with the youth group at church and was in choir at school. She enjoyed movies and music of the time. She loved going to dances with her family. I guess her parents were quite the dancers!

My mom loved her life. She was so proud of her family. Her children and grandchildren were her source of entertainment. When the grandchildren were little she could spend all day just watching them play. She may not of wanted a career but I am grateful that she was such a success in her career as a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. Mom thanks for being such a wonderful mother and friend!!

HOMECOMING

This past week was homecoming. Homecoming is Jordan Valley is very different from when I was in high school. I do not even remember much of homecoming at good old Cleveland High but I am sure we had one. Here in Jordan Valley each class creates a float for the parade. Of course students are not allowed to work on the float during the school day so we work on them after pratice. This gives me time to go home and cook dinner for my class. Nothing fancy but something to fill their stomach. We usually work until 8 or so depending on what we are doing. It is a long day but it does give a teacher time to see the students in a different role.

This is a picture of the float my class created. There was more work than it looks like. It took a couple nights to weld togther parts of the float. We did not win but we did get thrid place out of 4.

In addition to the Friday parade and games Jordan Valley has a bon fire. This year my class had to get the wood for fire. During the summer our crow nest on the football field caught fire. The powers that be at school decided we should the left over wood for the bon fire. The problem is that we had to knock down the half burnt stand and move it to the bon fire area. Thank goodness we have 5 boys in the class because the did most of the work. In the end it was a great bon fire.

The kids doing jumping jacks around the fire. I have no idea why. After jumping jacks and a few cheers then it is story time.

I enjoy spending time with my class but I am glad that homecoming is over!

A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Things have been busy starting the new school year. After a summer of sleeping in and staying up late it is kinda hard to get back into the swing of things. Not just for the students but for me as well.

This year we have 26 students in the high school and 9 students in the middle school. We only have 6 girls in the high school. Just enough to make a volleyball team. For basketball I am not sure if all the girls will be playing. If not we may not have a team. The big question so far this year is: Who will be the Homecomming princess for the freshman class. The class has 3 boys but no girls. In the 25 years that I have been teaching in Jordan Valley we have never had this problem. My class, the sophomores has one girl so we are set. I guess the freshman class advisor will have to decide what to do with her class.

We are currently in a wonderful weather situation. Cold nights and days in the high 70's. For the last couple weeks it has been in the 100's and my classroom was misreasable. With 17 computers my air conditioner was running 24 hours and it still was in the 80-90's in the room.

We have been going through some computer problems. Our computer people change networks during the summer so we are having growing pains. The big problem is that the yearbook file from last year is somewhere in computer limbo. I have asked our computer guy several times it he could tell me how to get to it and he keeps telling me that he will work on it. So far no luck. .

I hope that the growing pains that we have had so far will change and things will go great for the rest of the year.

What is in a Name

Not being a parent I have no idea what kind of things parents consider when naming thier children. Over the last few weeks I have been entering family information into my family roots program. Most of our family names are the typical John, James, Mary and Jane. However every once in awhile I will come across a name that jumps off the page.

The most unique male name so far is Tuberville. Tuberville's parents were named John and Nancy so it does not appear that his name is a family name. (I have not yet found any other Tuberville). Was his named based on a place. We do have our share of names like Tennessee and Missouri so maybe Tuberville is a city where they lived. I have no evidence of this but anything is possible.

Some parents just like the way a name sounds with the last name. Maybe this is what was the case here. So what is Tuberville's last name? Looney. That is right Tuberville Looney. . . .

Sister Karen Turns 53

Today is my big sister Karen's birthday. This is truly a day for celerbration

As you have read in my neice's blogs Karen had a stroke a couple of months ago. Her progress has been wonderful and it has reminded us all how short and special our lives are.

I thought I would share with you some of my favorite pictures of Karen!


Karen and Eric in the back yard of our house on 32nd street. Mom always had us stand in front of the flowers.










Karen as a little tyke. It does not seem that the strollers back then were made for the comfort of the baby. Where did mom put all the shopping bags? I also love the lamp. So fifties.









Sitting in Dad's chair in the living room of the 32nd street house. Karen was always a sharp dresser. Very 70's sweater and scarf!









Karen in her curly look. I liked it so much I had to get the same look for myself.











The early Stephens family. Michelle with no hair, and Karen and Casey with similar looks.

Karen and Mom stopping in the parking garage for a quick picture. We were on our way to Chad's graduation.



Karen thank you for all the love that you show and give me. My life is special becaue you are my big sister!

Who would think to put their foot behind their head?

To start with I do not think I have ever tried to put my foot behind my head. In looking through some old photos I came across this picture of Michelle.
Now I noticed in Michelle's blog that there was not a picture of her trying the foot behind the head task. So I offer this as proof that at one time she did try but failed. Maybe it is a family trait that my nephew Chris has. In all the famiy pictures that I have come across I do not have any other of my neices or nephews trying this amazing task. Or is that our family never really thought about trying!


Congrts Chris your are truly amazing in many ways! Love ya all