Tender Times

These last five months have been a tender time in my family. I have attended three funerals - one in December, one in April and one in May. It has also brought my family closer together, with more occasions to show each other our love and give each other our support in these difficult, tender times.

I feel somewhat hesitant to write about these experiences because they are private, personal experiences held close to my families hearts. But, I did want to say that there have been three people in my family who have passed from this life. My cousin - Brynn Clausen, my uncle - David Walker and my grandma - Ernestine Cowley. Each person has had there own individual impact on this family and will continue to - as they are each so close to us and forever connected to us.

There is a song that I think of when I think about those I have lost. It is "Lead Kindly Light".  The last verse of this song goes as follows: So long thy pow'r hath blest me, sure it still - will lead me on. O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till - the night is gone. And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

I have felt the cold hand of death reach out and take those that I loved from my life and into the next. I say it this way because each time it felt cold and empty. But, I do know that there is more than I can yet see. As the scriptures say, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then shall I know even as also I am known." - 1Cor 13:12    "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."  - 1Cor 2:9

How Grandma Got Her Name

Grandma Ernestine and Great Grandma Ossie

My grandma and I share something in common - we both have unusual names. People don't know what to do with unusual names. They don't roll off the tongue and so people shy away from them. And in my case, my name is also hard for people to spell. But we each were also blessed to have surnames (Smith and Archibald) that are easy to pronounce and easy to spell.

The origins of my grandmother's name date back to the days in Virginia, where her mother Ossie Pearl Tuck was born and raised. Ossie was a Virginia girl through and through. The Tuck family roots run deep in Virginia. By the time Ossie came upon this earthly scene, the Tucks had been living in Virginia for at least 6 generations. That is until ... the Mormon missionaries came to Leesville and happened upon the door of the John William Tuck family.

In describing the scene when the missionaries first arrived at the Tuck home, Rosa Tuck, Ossie's sister, said, "My father never turned a stranger away from his door, so the first time the Elders came, they were taken in with open arms. From the beginning they began to investigate the gospel and felt like it was just what they had been looking for."

So, it was not too long before the Tuck family decided to leave Virginia, the place that they and their ancestors had called home so many years and come west to join with the Mormons. Just before they left Virginia, they moved a 111 miles south to Lynchburg, Virginia.

While in Lynchburg, Ossie and her older sister Rosa took a job working in a bookstore named Brown & Morrison. There they became fast friends with Ernestine Blackburn. They all enjoyed each other's company so well. Rosa and Ossie began teaching Ernestine about the LDS faith. She was very interested and asked many questions. This lead to an even closer friendship between the three, so that upon Rosa and Ossie going west, they announced that whoever had a baby girl first would name their child after Ernestine, their dear friend.

Ossie was the lucky one and her first born was a baby girl. She was a woman of her word and named her daughter Ernestine, a remembrance of her home - Virginia.