Happy Mother's Day Mom

As Mother's Day approaches I want to tell you a little bit about my Mom.

She was born and raised in Denmark, during the time of the Nazi occupation. She has told us stories of what it was like to live as a little girl in a country occupied by a violent, Fascist regime; a country later racked by the violence of a world war. I won't recount the stories here but I will say that I am amazed at some of the horrible things she witnessed and experienced.

In the years following the war, she watched as her mother slowly died a painful death from a condition that now can be easily treated and cured.

Mom wanted to come to the United States to forge a new life for herself so she put in the time and effort going through the legal process to obtain the required visas. Once here she worked hard in factories, faced bigotry, and went through the long legal process to obtain her citizenship. She became a citizen and eventually married.

In her determination to "become an American", she refused to speak anything but English in the home or abroad, (except when she didn't want us kids to know what she was saying) and staunchly followed American cultural traditions so that we would be a "typical American family". "I am an American" was her mindset, and she was determined to do things the "American way".

During much of my childhood, the same disease that killed her mother was slowly ravaging her. Living with pain was a normal part of her days. She would have died during the 1970s, except that the world of medicine had advanced enough that they were finally able to properly diagnose and treat her condition. Even with all that, she still managed to raise, (and put up with), 5 boys.

So on this Mother's day, I honor my mother's courage, determination, and dogged perseverance. Because of her I can say, (as the son of an immigrant), I AM an American.

 Mom. Post war Denmark, about age 16.

Denmark, (age unknown)

Starting a new life in America.

 

Visiting Grandma/Grandpa Ashby, (late 1960's), (I'm on mom's right, Scott on her left)

My Grandmother's Nazi issued identification papers. There was a razor blade hidden in the little ID case they are carried in.

Posted by: Duane Ashby

Stand and Devour

Thursday I was in Los Angeles with my Regional VP, (Scott), for some meetings at the convention center.  We got out at 5 pm and decided to eat dinner at the original Tommy's at Beverly and Rampart streets in LA.  This is the very first Tommy's.  It is a little building, (12 by 18) right on the corner.  This was the original hamburger "stand" and it got that name because you either eat standing up or in your car.  Around the edge of the parking lot is a wall that has a 2 X 12 plank placed about 3 1/2 feet off of the ground.  You set your food there and stand and eat it.  

One of the other things that has made Tommy's famous is their chili.  It is like no other, very thick and stiff, and tastes great.  It is one of those things that you only should enjoy as a rare special treat because you can feel your arteries hardening as you are eating.  This particular Tommy's is open 24 hours and pretty much non-stop busy.  I was talking to one of the people that work there and she said that every 2 hours they re-fill the wall mounted paper towel dispensers, (used for napkins). 

Here is the "shack" at the corner of Beverly and Rampart Streets, (small white building w/ red roof on right side of photo).  Notice it is right next to the street and it is open air and the cars and busses go whizzing by.

Here I am about to order a double chili cheese burger and fries.

Here is Scott standing in the eating area.  This is why it is called a hamburger "stand"

Posted by Duane Ashby

Classic Cars on a Saturday

On Saturday, April 10th we went to the Murphy Auto Museum in Oxnard.  There are fewer vehicles there than when the museum was at its other, larger, location on the other side of the highway.  The majority of the collection on display consists of vintage Packards from different eras.  There were also a few cars of other makes and models, including a very nice, modern Shelby Mustang GT, (drool, drool).

The Packard touring sedans are still luxurious, even by today's standards and I can imagine how nice it would be to travel in one.  One of the things that consistently impressed me was the use of real wood by the manufacturers when building the interiors of cars.  It just gives the car that special something like no other.

Here are some pictures I took with my phone, (sorry about the low quality images, I forgot to bring a camera).

Keith standing next to a very nice old Packard.  A beautiful car. (look at those running boards)

This Packard looks pretty narrow, but it is an optical illusion of sorts because the back seat area was spacious.  This version was intended to be driven by a chauffeur. 

A very nice old model T.

This one is my personal favorite. A very luxurious passenger area, with lots of wood and several flower vases.  This was also was intended to be driven by a chauffeur.

Dean Hal Ashby, Electrical Engineer, Writer, dies at age 78

Dean Hal Ashby, a long time resident of Oklahoma City, passed away at his home on Saturday, January 23, 2010.  He was born on June 7th, 1931 in Salt Lake City, the son of William Earl Ashby and Norien Evangeline Jarvis, and was the 8th of 10 children.

He was married on June 21, 1957 and is survived by Birthe Wagner Ashby, his wife of 53 years.  Dean and Birthe are the parents of five sons, Scott, Duane, Mark, Paul, and Sean.  There are 11 grandchildren, and 2 great-grand children.

Dean graduated from the University of Utah in January 1959 with a bachelor's in Electrical Engineering.  While in college he was a member of the Lamba Delta Signa fraternity.  He was also a member of the Intercollegiate Knights fraternity.  Later, he attended University Central Oklahoma in Edmond and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science.

In June 1948 Dean joined the National Guard, and was assigned to the 115th Ordinance Company.  He later transferred to the 191st Air National Guard and served as a P51 aircraft mechanics Crew Chief.  While in the Guard his unit was called up to active duty in the Korean War and was stationed at Clovis Air Force base in New Mexico.  He went on inactive reserve status in 1953 and received an honorable discharge in 1955.

He served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sweden from October 1953 through May 1956.  As a faithful member of the church, he served in many positions through out the years.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 30th at 1:00 pm at the LDS chapel, 12020 Mustang Rd, Piedmont, (Surrey Hills area).  Interment will be at the Fort Sill national cemetery.

Practicing for the Future

Yesterday, (Sunday), Keith was the junior companion for the High Council Speaker in Ventura 3rd Ward.  The high councilor is from our ward and plans to use him through out the coming year to help him prepare for his mission.

His talk was based on Bishop H. Burke Peterson's October Conference talk about the "Ity Values".  Keith spoke for almost twenty minutes, which was surprising because we can't get more than a 2 -3 words at a time out of him at home!

The Darkest Month of the Year

I took the Christmas lights down off of the house today and packed them away in their box.  Soon they will be in the attic with all the other Christmas stuff.  The reason this makes me feel sad is that after a month of brightly lit houses, January just seems so dark by comparison. 

During November the nights get longer but then, almost overnight, the night is lit up by lights everywhere.  The early darkness becomes something anticipated, a pleasure to experience. After January 1st though, nothing, just darkness.  I just wish there were a better way to start off the new year.

Maybe we should all put up white and red lights for Valentines day!

The War of the Roses

Today the rose bushes and I had our annual "discussion", (argument is more like it), about wintertime and going to bare-root stage.  The roses, as always, put up the argument that winter had not arrived yet, as evidenced by the sunshine and moderate temperatures.  There is no way it could be time to go dormant, they postulated, why else would they have all these green leaves and flowers all over themselves. 

It wasn't fair they complained, the Geraniums could stay all green and flowery and the roses weren't allowed to, and if I came near them with those clippers, they would defend themselves with all the thorns they could muster. 

I tried to reason with them about how it was nearly January, and that in order for them to grow and bloom properly they need to be cut back, but they would have none of it and defended themselves strenuously.  They tried to scratch and poke and claw at me, but in the end I won out, (as in years past). 

The yard waste can is now full of rose branches, and there they sit, a row of bare rose canes poking up in the flowerbed. 

I swear I thought I heard the daisies snickering.