Mom was always driving Rose and me to Washington to see her father, Watt, and her sisters Joyce, Gladys and Ruby. She went to Alaska when we were young leaving us in Yelm, Washington, with our Aunty Joyce and Uncle Gilbert. We loved it there driving the go-cart in the woods, swinging, playing in the ant hill. The first time she drove us to Ontario, Canada, to meet her father's relatives I was nine years old. Her dream was to go into every state and to accomplish this she had a big map of the U.S. on our living room floor and she penciled in her route. So when I was 13 we set out on this last trip of trips through every state visiting every place of interest imaginable on our way to Ontario, including Mexico. Her cousin Pearl and Pearl's husband Paul would entertain us around the piano singing and playing accordion I believe. Pearl made rhubarb pie and to this day I have a fondness for it. This was the summer before we joined the Church on March 25, 1961, and then Mom died ten months after our baptisms, not before fulfilling her dream of seeing all the states. To my knowledge Hawaii is the only state she didn't visit. Hawaii joined the Union in 1959 and she died in 1962. As a postscript, Mom would often run out of funds and her oldest son Don would send her money. This happened for Alaska as well as our trips to Ontario.
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