Christmas Letter ~ 1989

Retyped for easier reading ... photos from the 1989 Dropbox folder

Hello to our family and friends! Here's short synopsis of our 1989 family happenings. 

Lamar is still working at Unisys as a computer systems analyst. He was released a couple of weeks ago after seven years as a counselor in the Bishopric. It's still been too busy to notice much difference time-wise, but I have a loooong list of things for him to do one of these days, so I hope things lighten up after Christmas. We have to get things done in the house during the winter, because the yard is his top priority from March until October! He loves working in it!

Margie is teaching the Social Relations/Compassionate Service lesson in Relief Society and trying to keep things running smoothly at home. 

Scott just turned 26 and has been graduated from BYU for two years now. He has spent these two years working as an accountant for the Arthur Young Company (now Ernst and Young). He took the CPA exam in November, but won't hear until February if he passed all or part of it. He is serving as Elder's Quorum President in the Young Adult Ward of our Stake.

Chris returned home from his mission to Columbus, Ohio, on October 6. He had a wonderful, successful mission and loved it. He is how 23 and started at BYU on the Fall block schedule. He is just starting his senior year in Psychology. He still loves physical fitness and running and mountains and nature. He loves life and people and it very active in his student ward and in dating (making up for the past two years!) He is working as a psychiatric technician at the Utah Valley Medical Center and enjoys that also.

Wendy is 21 and is currently serving a mission in Atlanta, Georgia, teaching the deaf (American Sign Language). She has been serving 5 1/2 months now. Her address is: 3863 Memorial Dr. #305; Decatur, Georgia.

Jeni, 19, is a Freshman at Snow College, where she received academic and Honors Dept. scholarships to cover tuition, books and room and board (which saves her and us a bundle!) She is enjoying singing with the L.D. Singers and will be in the musical The Sound of Music in a couple of months. 

Shane is 13 1/2 and is in the 8th grade. He is doing well also. He has a pet hamster named Bartholomew.

Derek is a cute, toothless 7 year old and is in the 2nd grade. He is fun -- and noisy-- to have around.

We hope you are all healthy and happy and have a wonderful Christmas and a terrific New Year in 1990!

The Westras 

(this will be backdated to December 1989)

"Used To You Already" ... Mission Return

Chris left on his mission in October of 1987. Derek would have five years old. So two years later, comparison pictures of Chris and  Derek. Mom remembers as they picked Chris up from the airport and were traveling home in the car, Derek commented  "You've only been home a few minutes and I'm used to you already!"

Related Posts ...

• If you ever find a picture or event and wonder when it happened (a birth, leaving for a mission, new house, etc), remember there is a great Westra Timeline that lists all these events in order! It's also in the family dropbox. Good information!
• For more funny sayings, check out the Cute Quotes page (Derek's cute quote above as been added there!)
• Check out the labels (Missionary, Chris, Derek) for similar topics!

 

Jen - School Snapshot

 

Ah, school picture day. Sometimes they turned out, sometimes they didn't. Class pictures now feature just the faces of the other kids, their school pictures (you can check out the collages and elementary classes of  Callahan and Keaton) but it includes their names too, which is good for remembering in future years. In the olden days, it was actually a group photo, and sometimes they'd take it more than once to try and catch people who might have been absent. So the group photo wasn't always the same day as "picture day" ... here, the 2nd and 5th and 6th grades the individual photo and class photo happened on the same day, but the other years based on the different clothes/hair, the group shot was a different day. 

Preschool with Pauline Hogsen

Elementary Years at Woodstock

Jen had the same teacher as she entered and exited elementary ... Mrs. Diamond taught Kindergarten in 1976 and for several years after, but was moved to 6th grade in 1983. Jen has fond memories of all her elementary teachers, although she had been nervous about Mrs. Bullock (3rd grade). She would make you write "I have never ________" (whatever you did wrong) 100 times! So Jen just didn't do anything wrong *Ü*  Chris and Wendy had her as well ... I believe it was her class that introduced the family to the book "Sonny Elephant" which was a favorite, and which Mom/Margie picked up at a school sale many years later. 4th grade was a "split" class, and the teacher (Mrs. Bjarnson would end up being in Jen's ward years later after Jen was married). 5th grade was in the "Pod" ... a big open area with two classes in it. We saw the obituary for Principal DeGraw in July 2020, age 87. 

How many class pictures can we round up from the other Westra siblings?

There are a few in the school folder on Dropbox.

See the School Daze post for all the Westra siblings school pictures, glimpses of the schools; Woodstock, Bonneville Jr and Cottonwood High School and Remembering Woodstock ... as the elementary school was torn down and rebuilt in 2011.  Check out Dad/Lamar's elementary memories!

Graduation 1989 - Jen

You'd think in the 50+ years since my grandmother graduated from high school, and the 28 years since Mom/Margie did, that there would be more than ONE PHOTO to showcase for a high school graduation.  There is actually one additional one in Dropbox, but my eyes are closed. Ah, back in the days of film cameras, when pictures were limited and you didn't know what they looked like until you had them developed. 

I can actually envision another set of photos ... me and lots of different friends. I think it was graduation (it was afterward, no cap and gown), or possibly seminary graduation, but I haven't been able to locate the pictures. They are just a blurry memory in my mind.  Maybe they'll turn up at some point and I can update this post.

I don't know that we did the official graduation announcements. I recall not really even wanting to go to graduation. I dislike ceremony. But of course I went. I was in the program, singing with the Acapella and Madrigal choirs.

Because Cottonwood has one of the largest auditoriums in the state, our commencement was held at the high school, on the same stage I'd performed on many times. I didn't keep a copy of the program myself, but it was shared in a Facebook group in future years. 30+ years later, all the names are still familiar, and I remember both songs the choirs sang.

I had my high school diploma in storage ...

It is interesting to compare it to Grandma Zada's high school diploma. 50+ years, and the same font is used. Different schools, but the look is so similar! Here they are side-by-side ...

 

Zada's Graduation ~ 1936

Graduations 2021

... a couple years later, there would be a graduation with an associates degree from Snow College. No program saved, even though I was on it (said the opening prayer at the baccalaureate service). I remember Wendy came down. Couldn't find any pictures (1991 is VERY sparse in Dropbox). After Snow was BYU. I did graduate (off-season, after Summer semester) ... I didn't participate in any ceremony (no cap and gown) and I'm not sure if I ever picked up my actual physical diploma. 

I managed to graduate from college without any debt. 

Thanks scholarships!