Westra Christmas - The Previous Generation

When I started up the blog, one of the first things I got up as posts were the Christmas Letters over the years. What was recorded in Dropbox started in 1997 (were they sent out before that?) and copies of the next 23 years (to 2019) are included on the blog, showing how the families changed, and how the newsletters changed. But Lamar&Margie weren't the first Westras to send out annual newsletters, Grandma Lucille did too! I don't know if they were sent out every year, but I was able to find copies of two newsletters, and a few photos ...

• The top left photo was labeled 1950. The one on the right wasn't labeled ... but is likely 1950 too (definitely within a year one way or the other) judging by the ages. Steven was born in 1946, Diane in 1943, Sharon in 1938 ... that would put them about 4, 7, and 12. Dad/Lamar would have been 13 ... where was he? Maybe taking the photo?
• The bottom two photos are from 1962. This is another example of the B&W/Color photo phenomenon. Two pictures ... two different cameras? (Old-Fashioned Film&Photos).  Dad/Lamar is missing from the color photo, so I assume he's taking the picture there. He is in the black and white picture, but Grandpa Joe is the one missing (taking the picture) there.
• The pair of photos (below, between the two newsletters) feature Lucille and Steven ... 1964 in front of the Christmas tree, and just two years later, 1966, as Steven heads out to Germany (mentioned in the 1967 newsletter).
• The first newsletter is from 1967 - Joe passed away in 1965, so Lucille was on her own, although she had likely met Vic, as they married by November 1968
• The second newsletter is from 1972

Christmas Season 1967 News From the Westra Clan

Written by Lucille Westra 

• January: Sharon, Kent and children, Randy, Ricky and Alyson moved to 740 Park Lane, Pocatello, Idaho, where Kent is Branch Manager for National Cash Register.  Diane, Jon and children, Mauri and Brad moved into Sharon and Kent’s lovely home on Adams Street. Steve was home from Germany on a furlough and became engaged to Diana Wathen at Christmas time “66.” He left January 14 for Frankfurt, Germany, to finish his service. He was here a month and we surely enjoyed having him home. 
• March: I went to Pocatello to spend Easter with the Amanns. 
• April: On the 29th of April, Dora Jean Wathen gave a lovely announcement tea for her daughter, Diana, prior to her leaving for Frankfurt, Germany to be married to Steve. 
• May: On May 10, we all went down to the airport to see Diana off on her big trip. May 27, LaMar, Marge and boys, Scott and Chris arrived from Richland, Washington, to spend their vacation in Salt Lake. 
• June: On June 28, Steve and Diana were finally married by the German Court in Frankfurt, Germany. A big mixup on her birth certificate made her wait 49 days to be married. Steve’s cousin, Jim Dunlop and his wife Joyce witnessed the ceremony. They came from Fulda (?) Germany where he was in the service. 
• July: On July 7, Steve and Diana were married by Chaplain Madsen in an L.D.S. Ceremony. The people in their branch went all out to give them a lovely wedding supper and wedding cake and gifts. They were all very pleased. On July 4, I went on a trip to Big Springs, Wyoming with Sharon and Kent and family.
• August: On August 25 I visited LaMar, Marge and family in Richland, Washington. Celebrated little Chris’s first Birthday on September 5. While there LaMar and Marge made their decision to buy a beautiful new home at 726 Saint Street.
• September: In September, Diana and Steve took a wonderful five day trip to London and saw many interesting sights and took lots of pictures. – Their Honeymoon. September 19, Diana left Germany for home. While there she worked in the Finance Department of the Church, and got some good experience.  September 29: Steve arrived home to enter school at L.D.S. Business College, in Technology Computer. It is wonderful to have my son and his wife back from Europe, and know that his two years of service is behind him. They have a cute apartment at 2616 ½ East 21st South.
• November: On November 13 we celebrated little Brad's first birthday. His Dad won quite a few trophies in golf this 1967 season.

Wishing you all an exciting Christmas Season, with Happiness in the New Year. Lucille

News from Lucille and Vic Burgener and Our Families

1972 Christmas Season

• February: On the 1st, Steven married Jan Thompson. She had a son Mike who was 5 years old. Now Steve has a ready-made family. We welcome them into our fold. This brings our grandchildren to 17. The Steve Westras live at 1727 Roberta Street. He bought this home a year ago, and is still working for Christensen Diamond Products Co as a programmer.
• March: Randy Amann became an Eagle Scout. We went down to Provo for the ceremony. We are very proud of Randy.
• April: Randy is a motorcycle enthusiast, and he won a huge trophy in the Widow Maker's Climb at the Point of the Mountain. He has won numerous trophies and was featured in the Provo News with pictures and story.
• May: We went to visit the Blomquists in California over the Easter Holiday. It was a fun trip. We all had an exciting time at Disneyland. We also visited my sister Maxine in Los Angeles, and our sister and brother-in-law, Alice and Paul, in Las Vegas.
• June: LaMar and Marge and family came for their annual vacation and visited us for two weeks. While here, LaMar was offered a job with Univac. He accepted and they went back to Richland to settle their affairs and sell their home. Gladys Burgener came for June Conference and we had a nice visit with her.
• July: Jon won the City Parks Golf Tournament this year, with a $1000.00 prize and a beautiful trophy. We went on a vacation to Campfire Lodge, Montana, then to Yellowstone Park, and on the way home, spent three days at Lava Hot Springs, swimming and golfing.
• August: The Westras arrived to be permanent residents of Salt Lake again. They found a lovely new home at 1677 Hermitage Circle, and entered their children, Scott and Chris in Woodstock Elementary School, Granite School District. LaMar started his new job on August 21st. We feel really blessed to have our children back with us again after eight years.
• September: Diane and Jon bought a lovely home in Vernal. A split level, 3-bedroom home at 427 South and 4th West. They are enjoying being homeowners.
• October: Barbara and Eb flew to Salt Lake and visited us for a few days. They drove a new car back to California.
• November: Gladys, Ron, Shauna, and Lisa came from Renton, Washington for Thanksgiving. It is nice to have our family around us on these special occasions. 
• December: Eldon has two more quarters of school to become an accountant. He is hoping to find a good job and finish up after that at night. Karen has started a job in the Community Training Kitchen and will be under the Rehabilitation Program.

1972 - At Grandma Burgener's House

Chris's Clark Start

 This will be backdated to 1972

Mom shared some memories of when the family first moved to Utah in 1972 ...

Chris was just turned 6 and in Mrs. Clark's 1st grade. Her husband had Meniere's Disease really bad and couldn't work, so she started teaching school.

I considered having Chris repeat Kindergarten, since he was small and young for his grade.  Also, they hadn't taught reading in kindergarten in Richland.  But still having 3 little ones at home most of the time would be hard, so I went ahead and sent him.  Having lunch at school was scary for him at first, so Mrs. Clark let him eat with her in the classroom.  He started out very behind in reading, but was so smart, he ended up being the best reader in his class and the principal awarded him a big yellow book about cars, trains, airplanes, etc.  Mrs. Clark would reward the kids with a small paperback book every time they read 20 books.  Chris is very competitive and that really motivated him in reading.  That is where I got the idea of the reading charts and reward after 20 kid books or 10 chapter books I have made for some of your kids.

Looking through the saved stuff, there were quite a few reading certificates and awards for Chris for the years to come. Looks like Mrs. Clark's jumpstart had lasting effects! Thanks Mrs. Clark!

Wish we had a written booklist like we do for Shane at age 11. 

Chris did comment that "A Wrinkle in Time" and its sequels were favorites.

Little White Dress

The little white dress ... it was old, passed down through generations. Of course the Westra girls don't remember trying on the dress, but they were familiar with the pictures and some of the story behind it. It was over a hundred years old... 116 years old when Wendy wore it, 118 when Jenny tried it on.

Both of the pictures above were taken at Grandma Lucille's home (Wendy in the back yard, Jenny on the driveway). The dress was originally Lucille's grandmother Laura's when she was a little girl. Born in 1853, Laura likely wore the dress in 1854 when she was a toddler. I checked out family search to see if there were any pictures of Laura,  Olive (Lucille's mother) or Lucille in the dress, but couldn't see any. 

But there is a picture of Dad/Lamar's sister Sharon in it when she was a year old.

... and a picture of Sharon's daughter Alyson when she was a year old.

Fun to see a little piece of history worn by different family members!

Early Poems from Scotty

If you check out the POETRY label here on the blog, there are several sonnets penned by Scotty.  There are several inventive invitations to the annual Father's Day (Father's Dad 2020), a couple Covid-inspired creations (Covid 2020, Covid Free World) and more, including the MOLES one shown below.

Scott shared this September 17, 2019 after Dad/Lamar went in for a skin check.

 (See the email correspondence on the WriteOn blog). 

Going through "the boxes" of saved stuff the parents have collected over the years, some of the earliest known poems written by Scott Edward Westra were discovered. Featured above, there was a complete booklet, mimeographed and stapled together, showcasing an entire classroom's odes to WIND. This was compiled in March,  when the wind blows in (like a lion or a lamb, depending on the year). The year this was written was 1972. At this time, the Westra family was still residing in Washington, although the move to Utah would come later that year (in August). Scotty would have been in the second grade, and his poem is there in the center (retyped below as well).

Wind

Wind whistling by

Bends the trees

Runs across the grass

Flies my kite up high

Sings a song to me

Wind

When Mom/Margie was looking through things, she  found a journal entry about little Scotty from 1970. He would have been in 1st grade at the new Sacajawea II school. His teacher, Mrs. McIntyre had noted how good he was at poetry and art, at just 6 or 7 years old. His teacher typed up his poems, with his drawings, bound them into a book and put it into the school library!

... there was another paper with a poem saved in the box, a rhyming dedication to the folks.

(Mom's notation ~ Scott age 9)

How sweet! No wonder this was saved for over 50 years!

Check out Little Lamar's poem for his mother!