Heather’s Story

My mom and dad, Linda and Dave, met at a Rick’s College dance. 

Here are some of my mom’s words:

Dave went to Ricks College dances, although he didn’t really enjoy dancing. I met him at a Helaman Hall Dance. I danced with other guys that night, but it was Dave that walked me home. We dated each other, but also dated other people. We spent many nights together visiting. We enjoyed laughing and talking to each other and had a lot in common.

My mom’s sister described the two of them meeting in this way:

I will never forget when Linda first met Dave; she came home from Ricks College and said, “I met the best looking guy in the world. He’s a football player, he looks like a body builder, and very handsome”

My dad’s close brother described it in this way:

As brothers we always talked to each other about the girls we dated. Never had Dave talked about anyone so highly as he did about Linda. He said that when he saw her at the dance she just stood out, and he felt like he just had to go ask her to dance and get to know her. He asked her to dance and they danced a couple of dances. He began talking with her and they ended up talking for the rest of the evening because they felt they had so many things in common. They both came from families of eight children. Both of their parents were from Burley. Dave continued to date her through the rest of the year. When he came home from school that summer to work all he could talk about was Linda. He thought the world of her and he was very proud of the many talents she had and the many fine qualities that she possessed. He was sure that Linda was the right one for him from the very first time he saw her.

My parents were sealed together for time AND for all eternity in the Idaho Falls Temple on November 23rd 1974.

My mom wrote this:

After we were married, Dave worked at the ROTC building cleaning. He took pride in buffing and waxing the floors to make them shine. His job required him to be at work at 4:00 a.m. A full day of school waited for him after work. With a busy schedule of work and, school, and a new marriage and providing for our family, I don’t remember him ever complaining. He simply accepted life as it was and made the best of it.

Later, when their first baby came, who was my older brother Kory, he came seven weeks early. He weighed three pounds and thirteen ounces.

My mom wrote this:

After Kory was born, I quit my job to take care of him. Dave took on another part time job cleaning at our church in the evening, sleeping for a short time and then getting to work by 4:00 a.m. at the ROTC building. I had to set the clock and feed Kory every three hours because he was only four pounds when we brought him home. Dave did the best he could with a new baby waking up at night, working two jobs, studying and sharing some of his time with us. Life was not easy, but we were happy.  

My dad majored in biology at BYU and then was accepted into the physical therapy program at the University of Utah, so they moved to Salt Lake. This is where I was born.

My mom wrote this:

A few weeks before Heather was born the manager of our apartment decided he didn’t want more than one child living in the apartment. He told us we had to move. Dave found some University housing on the hill, and we moved about two weeks after I gave birth to Heather. Even though it was hard, the new apartment had two bedrooms and was better for our children.

When my dad finished school he got a job at the Idaho Falls, Idaho LDS hospital and also another local hospital. They lived in a home in Ammon, Idaho and that is where my little sister, Aubrey was born.  

My mom wrote this:

Aubrey was born in the LDS Idaho Falls hospital where Dave worked as a physical therapist. He was so proud of her and told his friends at the hospital to go and see her. She was a beautiful baby, with a good temperament. She held a special place in her dad’s heart. When we brought her home he helped change diapers like he did with the other children. He was a loving and caring father. After work he held Aubrey and made a fuss over her. Sometimes he would lie down on the floor, and put her on his stomach, which seemed to make her content. Sometimes when I would get up with her in the night he would want to hold her for a while before I fed her.

After working for awhile my mom and dad talked many times about moving to a different place and getting a different physical therapy job. They fasted and prayed about moving to the Preston and Malad area. They were small towns, but growing with potential for new work. My dad began working in Malad during the week to get things set up for the new practice. He would then go back and work at the Idaho Falls LDS hospital on the weekends. My dad would leave early in the mornings on the days he would travel to Preston.

On October 13th he left to go to Preston. It was a foggy morning. On his way there he was in an accident. He was taken to the Pocatello Idaho hospital.

My mom wrote:

While at the Pocatello hospital I was told Dave was in a one car roll over and had probably fallen asleep at the wheel. He went off the soft shoulder of the road. When he tried to correct the car and pull back on the road, the car flipped and rolled. I think the accident had something to do with the fog too, but no one knows for sure……..When I arrived at the Pocatello hospital the doctor took me into a room to talk to me. He told me Dave would not live. We called for the elders to give Dave a priesthood blessing. I called Dave’s parents house to let them know what happened. Dave passed away two days after the accident.

My dad was 26 years old when he passed away. My brother, Kory was 5, I was 3 and my little sister was 5 months old.

This is not how life was supposed to go right? My mom wasn’t supposed to lose her husband at 26 and I wasn’t supposed to lose my dad before I even got to know him. That wasn’t in my plan… but I am coming to realize that that was God’s plan. I, in my very limited earthly point of view have a hard time understanding this thing called death. But death is all part of Heavenly Father’s Plan. It’s part of the wonderful thing we call and have learned about all our lives: The Plan of Salvation.

I have felt the sting of my dad’s death. But there is something wonderful in the scriptures that talks about this sting.

Mosiah 16:6-10

6 And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption.
7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

That sting I feel is swallowed up in Christ.

I’ve always known I would see my dad again. What a blessing that has been in my life. Doing family history work gives us a connection to heaven and that’s part of the draw for me… that I know that I have my dad on the other side and other loved ones who have passed on before me. There’s something so special about family history work that you can only feel when you’re involved in the work.

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