Davenport Family Reunion...

     THE JOHN ALVIN AND IDA WALKER JONES FAMILY

From the early pioneers of Thomas Davenport and John Pidding Jones, has come an enormous posterity.  They were the first to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ in England and then the call to join the Saints rang clear in their minds and they sacrificed all that they had to travel to America, trek across the plains, and join the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley.  Soon, however, they were treking again to Southern Utah to settle in Parowan and Cedar City.

Two generations later a grandson of Thomas Davenport would marry a granddaughter of John Pidding Jones.  And so it began...

John Alvin Davenport and Ida Walker Jones were my grandparents on my dad's side.  They were the only ones I ever knew.  My mom's parents passed away before I was born.  I have many, many memories of these amazing people.

On October 11th, the grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even beyond that generation to include great-great grandchildren and a few great-great-great grandchildren all gathered in a huge meeting place in Tooele, Utah to honor this wonderful family.  My sister, Chrisie, did all of the work acquiring the space, making plans for the food, making dozens of tee-shirts and making sure this day would be one that would not be forgotten.  I gathered the family history and provided small books for "sale by donation" to family members who might be interested.  It was a labor of love.

It was a day to remember, for sure.  We gathered around 11:00 a.m. (after some of us got lost trying to find the right street) and spent a couple of hours greeting cousins whom we haven't seen in ages...some of them, decades!  What a joy it was to re-unite in one place and share our stories and some of our pictures and genealogy.

Ida and John had three children: Clynn, the oldest; James Harvey, my dad; and Helen, the youngest and only girl.  Uncle Clynn and my dad were partners for a good deal of their adult lives in a restaurant in
California (Santa Monica).  Helen spent her entire life in Utah.

Uncle Clynn (and Aunt Rilla) had 5 children:  Colleen, Vance, Shannon, Alvin, Betty Jean, and John.  Colleen, Alvin and Betty were at the reunion with some of their children and grandchildren.  Vance and Shannon have gone to live with Heavenly Father and we missed them terribly.

L-R:  2 of Alvin's daughters, Alvin, Betty Jean, Colleen's son, Jack, Colleen and Bud

Harvey (and Florence) had 4 children:  Darell, Florene, Christine and Patricia.  All but Patricia were in attendance.  Patti is suffering from dementia, and unable to travel.  She was sorely missed and I know that she wishes that she could have been there.

L-R:  Florene, Darell and Chrisie

Aunt Helen (and Uncle Cleon) had several children.  The ones I remember are: Loren, Merrill, Harvey, Linda, Laura, and John.  Most of the children live in Utah and John lives in Texas (I believe).  It's sad when you lose track of your cousins and it is cloudy what is going on in their lives.  Loren, Merrill, Harvey and Laura were at the reunion and it was a joy to get re-acquainted with them again.

(I hope I get this right) L-R:
Harvey's wife and Harvey, Loren's daughter, Loren's wife, Loren, Laura, Merrill's wife and Merrill

What a wonderful reunion we had.  The food was delicious (as close to Pickle Bill's Barbeque Beef, Baked Beans and salad as we could get), Chrisie gave a brief history of her family and welcomed all who came; Darell spoke a bit about the memories he had of our dad; Burdell Moody (our adopted brother) spoke of his memories of our dad; Loren spoke about his mom and introduced his family; and last, I gave a genealogy recap of the family history from Thomas Davenport and John Pidding Jones down the line to the present day.  I told a story about a pioneer experience that Thomas and John Pidding had during their trek west.

All in all, it was a glorious experience and one that I shall not soon forget.  I want to include here a few family pictures and some candid shots that I loved.

Aubrey with Van

Elissa with Blair

Hailey and Parker with Trey

Kenny with Van

My amazing family (Minus Mark and children)

Darell, Joan and Burdell

Chrisie's Family

When I look at all of these amazing people (and this was not even all of them because so many were missing) I get a warm feeling in my heart as I realize what Grandma and Grandpa Davenport started with only three children.  What an amazing posterity.  Each one a sparkling jewel in the Davenport Crown.  I love this family.

My Love Affair With Oregon..

The Central Oregon Coast

I live in Oregon!  I haven't always lived here.  I was born in the high desert country of southern Utah.  I was raised on the southern coast of California.  I married and lived in California, Arizona, Utah, Illinois and back to California.  After the passing of my first husband, I re-married and moved to New Mexico.  From there, I moved back to southern Utah then onward to Oregon in 1998.

When I first moved to Oregon, I was prepared for nothing but rain.  But Oregon is more than that.  Yes, it rains nearly 8 months out of the year, but we do have winter and we do have summer.  It is the rain that gives Oregon its lush green color year round.  And it is the rain that creates such amazing hiking adventures for Oregonians.

Dean and I love to explore (when we have some free time to do that) and we have discovered only a handful of the amazing beauty that this country has in store for us.  I am going to share some of those hiking adventures here,

Though "hiking" isn't what you think of when you visit the seashore, its miles long beaches do offer some of the most spectacular views of God's amazing creation--the ocean shores of the Pacific.  These are my favorite walks and uplifting to the soul.  There is a song I heard once that says, "When you stand beside the ocean"...you feel so small!  And it is true.  I stand at the edge of the sea and view eternity.

Just twenty minutes east of Lincoln City, there is a beautiful hiking trail.  It is called Drift Creek Falls.  It is a favorite hike for the Mickelson's.  It is just my kind of a hike.  Not too strenuous and not too long.  We like to pack a lunch, enjoy the scenery and then take our refreshments in the beauty under the falls and next to Drift Creek.

Just south of Lincoln Beach, there is a WorldMark Resort--The Resort at Gleneden Beach.  Since we are members, we like to "get away" for a weekend and walk the grounds and feel pampered.  Walking among the beauty of a landscape is another of my favorite things to do.

Another peaceful place to enjoy a leisurely walk in beauty, is the Connie Hanson Gardon in Lincoln City.  I love to stroll the lanes and discover the beauty of the landscape.  We took Dean's Dad here for a walk recently and he loved it.

While we are on the subject of gardens, Oregon has some amazingly beautiful ones.  There are the Rose Gardens in Portland, the Tulip Fields in the Valley, and this year we visited the Dahlia fields near Canby, Oregon.  Though none of these walks through the gardens would be considered a hike, I do like to get my exercise "strolliing" through beauty.

Let's leave the coastal and valley regions for a bit and check out the beauty of the mountains.  Oregon has several beautiful ski areas in Central Oregon.  Dean, Billy and Ingrid spent time on the slopes of Mt. Bachelor, while I enjoyed the peace of the condo below.

Just for fun, I am going to throw in some photos at random and put a title on each one.

Fogarty Creek on Oregon Coast

Hebo Lake, Oregon Coast

Enjoying the walk at Hebo Lake

Dean stopped by L.C. Kite Festival

Kite Festival

Cannon Beach Sand Castle Festival

Sand Castle Festival

Watching a Wind Surfer at L.C. Beavh

A Fall hike to Fall Falls, southern Oregon

I didn't realize there were so many beautiful things to see in Oregon when I moved here.  Every season has its beauty and every season offers a new adventure for us.  I'm getting a little old for the strenuous hikes of yesteryear, but wherever we can find beauty, I am usually game.

One last hike I wanted to share is the one we most recently discovered.,  Right in the middle of Lincoln City, not a mile from our Church, there is a wooded area that we hiked through.  It is mysterious there with tall pines and mossy trees.  The path is covered with the roots of the trees and I gave it the loving name of "Root Canal!"  We shared a picnic lunch there yesterday and some quality family time together.

I'm sure there will be future hikes, walks and strolls for the Mickelson's.  I am glad that God has given me such beauty to enjoy on my journey.

A New Milestone,,,Seventy-five Years, and still ticking...

Three quarters of a century, as tine is calculated by man, this little bald head poked her little head into the world, took her first breath on earth, and cried!

What do I think when I look at this picture?  The first thoughts that come into my head are those of gratitude!  Gratitude first for my Heavenly Father's Plan which introduced to me somewhere in that vastness of space, called Heaven, His great love for His children.  Because of His Divine Plan, each of us are sent to this earth for the purpose of (1) to obtain a body, and (2) to be tested to see if we will do those things that He has asked us to do in order to return to Him.  And I am grateful for my parents who chose "life" for their second-born child; grateful that I was born in a generation when women take having children as a great privilege and blessing, instead of being able to make choices not to have a child.

I began my life in the little town of Cedar City, Utah.  It is where my pioneer ancestors came after their very long trek by ship from England and Scotland to America.  And then another very long trek by covered wagons across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley.  And, on their arrival, they were sent on yet another trek to southern Utah to settle the area.  Life for those early pioneers was hard.  Life for my parents was hard.  And never once did I hear them complain.

When I was 2 years old, my parents went on a trek of their own...to southern California.  Life for me in southern California was not very hard.  I was taught to follow my parents teachings, pay attention in school and eventually I would be prepared to build my own life.  I was, for the most part, an obedient child.

I spent my formative years in Santa Monica, California, graduated from high school, and then began a trek of my own.  I enrolled in Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and never would call Santa Monica my home again.  (Well, except for the 5 short months in 1969, when we stayed with my parents while looking for a place to settle.)  It was at BYU that I met the "man of my dreams"...literally!  He wasn't tall or dark, but he certainly was handsome.  Gerry Henderson was a Graduate Student, studying for his Master's Degree in Geology, and I was a Freshman.  There were 9 years separating us...scary at first, but comforting as time moved on.

Gerry and I were married in the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1958.  Our moves (trek) took us from Santa Monica to Mesa, Arizona to Sacramento, California to Lodi, California to Salt Lake City, Utah to Champaign/Urbana, Illinois to West Los Angeles, California and finally, to Rowland Heights, California.  The year we settled in Rowland Heights was 1970, and the Henderson's trek was over.

In the interim, we added 5 beautiful children to our family.  Five children who would bless our lives tremendously, try our patience at every turn, and knock us to our knees on more than one occasion.  But my greatest trial that would set my feet upon the path of a new trek was the one which hit me like a Mack Truck going 75 MPH on the Interstate.  It knocked the wind out of my sails.  Gerry, the love of my life, my eternal companion, my teacher, my friend, the father of our children, the man I counted on to keep me traveling on that straight and narrow path, was called home to be with His Father in Heaven.  Emptiness filled my soul and emptiness was all that I could feel.  The year was 1981.

A little over a year later, in 1982, because a prayer of loneliness was answered, my Heavenly Father sent me someone who could fill the void.  He knew my needs and Dean Mickelson met most of them.  Heavenly Father also knew I needed to be challenged some more in my life...to prove to Him and to myself that I would be worthy of an eternal home some day with my family.  And this new marriage tested me...in oh, so many ways.

With Dean, my trek continued.  We started our lives together in Taos, New Mexico; then we moved to Raton, New Mexico (where our son, Billy, joined the family); back to Taos, and in 1988, we separated and went our separate ways.  Dean remained in Taos and I moved to St. George, Utah.  Eleven years later, and through circumstances I won't go into here, we drifted back together.  Our second wedding was in a beautiful rose garden in Eugene, Oregon, under a cherry tree that was over a hundred years old.  We figured perhaps that would be a good omen for a second beginning.

Our Oregon trek has taken us from Eugene to Redmond and Crooked River Ranch to Brookings on the southern coast to Lincoln City on the central coast.  Lincoln City is where we call home today.  We have been here for seven years.

Would I trade a single moment of this long and chock full of experiences of every size, shape and color for any other life?  Never.  Because I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and He knows my life from beginning to end.  He knew I would make the choices I have made in my life, because I am His daughter.  He knows my spirit...He gave it life.
 
I have been blessed in so many ways I will not take the time to number all of them.  I have been blessed with love in my life; I have been blessed with 6 amazing and beautiful children and a sharp step-son that I cannot keep up with; my children have given me 14 grandchildren and 5 step-grandchildren; my grandchildren have given me 6 great-grandchildren and 2 step-great-grandchildren.  What more could any woman ask for.

And so you can see, the trek of my 75 year life has taken me many places, given me unlimited experiences, offered me more than one opportunity to grow and I have kept my promise to my Heavenly Father that I would be "an obedient child" and return to Him one day.  Seventy-five used to be the "age of man" at which time he looked forward to laying this old body by and blending it with mother earth.  That is not so, today!  Today, man's lifespan is more in the 80's (and many live well past 100)...if one is to be blessed with a long life, and if the life is not cut short by disease or accident.

And so, I look forward eagerly for perhaps another 10 years or so to get right the things I may still need to learn and finish whatever it is that I was put here to do; and I have been given a new lease on life for the purpose of finishing it!