Come With Me...A Glimpse of St. George, Utah...

The year was l987, the month was November. The event -- yet another move. This time it would be only Heather and Billy and I who made the journey to St. George, Utah, driving a U-Haul truck and pulling my minivan behind. I had had my fill of Taos and all of the "Anti" drama there, so I was moving to make a new life for my little family closer to home. It was a painful move, for all involved, but a necessary one for my sanity. I don't know, even to this day, what evil forces came between Dean and I; I only know the spirit -- my spirit -- was telling me I needed to leave and take my children with me. I spent a lot of time on my knees before I received that confirmation.

Living in St. George was both challenging and rewarding. We lived for a short time with my parents. I took a job at the Hospital and began a rewarding career there that would span 9 years.

When I could afford it, Heather and Billy and I moved into an apartment on Sunset Avenue, west of St. George. We lived there for nearly a year. Heather attended Pine View High School near Washington. School boundaries were very strange and Snow Canyon High School hadn't been built yet. Billy was only 3 years old and Grandma watched him sometimes, as well as a baby sitter in our apartment complex.

Billy traveled to Taos, via automobile or plane, and back every 3 months. He spent 3 months with me, 3 months with his dad, and then back to start over. It worked out pretty smoothly until he started school, then, we had to have another arrangement.

In the summer of 1989, while Heather and JerriAnne and I were on a vacation to California, my dad, Harvey Davenport, was killed in an automobile accident on St. George Blvd. He was driving to work early in the morning and didn't see the city truck stopped on the side of the Blvd. and he slammed into the back of it. He hit the steering wheel with his chest and his head hit the window. The impact broke ribs and severed his aorta and he bled to death. There was nothing anyone could do to save him. Next to the death of my husband, Gerry, that was the most devastating day of my life. When I got the call, I literally "hit the floor" on my knees. They just buckled! And I wept. Billy was in Taos, so Mark drove him to St. George for the funeral.

After a year in the Sunset Avenue apartment, we moved to a bigger one that was 2 stories and a full basement. We had a lot more room here. I slept in the basement and Heather and Billy each had a room of their own. The swimming pool was right outside of our living room slider. Heather really liked that feature. She and her friends spent a lot of time in the pool. Billy started Kindergarten while we lived in this place. He would catch the bus right outside of our complex and then I would go sleep until he got home. Working graveyard shifts cuts into ones sleep a lot. He went to Green Valley Elementary School and loved his teacher. I got to keep him for the whole year.

It was while we were living in this condo that Heather brought Elissa into our lives. The circumstances weren't ideal and there were many trials to face, but as soon as we saw her beautiful little face, we knew she was worth all of the trials. Heather worked very hard to finish High School and graduated with good grades in May of 1990. I was so proud of her.

We stayed in the condos for a little over a year and then moved into a rental house in Green Valley. The house we rented was a 3 bedroom one with a neat family room and huge yard. I had lots of roses and probably 1/4 acre of lawn to mow.

We were a happy family -- all together under one roof. I loved our new home. There was Heather and Elissa and Billy and me. For the 4 of us, life was good.