User:Bonniegrieff

Childhood
Having been born of parents who were seekers, I was an avid learner and loved to search out knowledge and truth. All my life I have been a searcher for whatsoever was good and worked toward that goal. As a little girl, I loved going to my grandparents to be able to ask any question and to go to Sunday and Bible School at their Presbyterian Church and Danish Lutheran Church respectively. I regularly rounded up my Grandpa Tambling to listen to me recite the Books of the Bible and help me memorize Bible verses. I followed his example as he would take his scriptures with him as he worked on the farm and memorize chapters and verses. He also memorized and quoted poetry, of which my favorite is "The House by the Side of the Road". This Tambling family farm was a true sanctuary to me from the strict family life I experienced with my father. I felt free to open up and learn as contrasted to the stifling environment when my dad was home.

Searching
Having moved every year due to my dad's continual search for new and better, I learned to come out of my shyness and seek after good friends who would support and sustain me. I loved going to school to be with my friends, who freed my rigid upbringing by playing school yard games with me, especially jump rope, hopscotch, hanging from monkey bars, jax, dancing and gyrating the hula hoop. And I loved my teachers because they opened up worlds of possibilities to me--whether it was Mr. Kortanek recognizing my intelligence or Mrs. Kerbyson validating my underlying feelings.

Places I have lived

 * Gardner, Illinois: As a new baby in 1945, I came to live with my mom at my maternal grandparents' home.  This Tambling farm would become my home away  from home until I married.  As a youngster, mom would put me on the train to visit her parents and even in nursing school I would hop a bus to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Tambling.
 * Dwight, Illinois: Although I do not remember living at my Grandma and Grandpa Grieff's, I used to sit  on their porch and watch my Grandpa Grieff work or listen to soap operas with Grandma Nellie.
 * Joliet, Illinois: When my sister, Betty Joy, was born in 1947, we lived in an apartment in Joliet so that my dad would be close to his air tower work at Midway Airport in Chicago.
 * Evansville, Indiana: My dad was offerred a job at an airport in Evansville, and we moved with him to this southern town.  Altho, I don't remember it, my mom said she loved this place.
 * Frankfort, Illinois: Dad was again offerred a job at Midway Airport and so we moved back to Illinois. Frankfort was the place where I had my first best friend, Juanita Hansen, and I started school in 1st grade.  We had such fun on that playground!  And I loved my 1st grade teacher, who got married during that year as a first-time bride at the age of 60!
 * Worth, Illinois: Then, my dad got the bug to build a house of his own, so we moved to a little community closer to Midway. This was a time of getting our own 2 wheel bikes and having a dog and even a few chickens.  We lived next door to an Italian family who made the best pizzas!  1st time for that too!  I Love Lucy and Danny Knows Best were popular TV shows of the time &amp; we made friends with a family who watched these shows with us--they had girls our same ages.  One day my dad brought a little black puppy home in his suit coat pocket, &amp; we promptly named him Blackie.  We loved that little doggy and since our home was new, we didn't have any trees to shade him
 * Kankakee, Illinois
 * Chicago, Illinois
 * Ypsilanti, Michigan
 * Ann Arbor, Michigan
 * Oak Park, Illinois
 * Leavenworth, Kansas
 * Logan, Utah
 * Amalga, Utah
 * Providence, Utah

These people included peers, cousins and teachers both in school and church. Throughout high school and college, I sought out spiritual truth which included getting to know more about my friends' religions such as Catholic, Jewish, Baptist and other interdemoninational churches. When I was 23 and pregnant for my second daughter, the LDS missionaries were sent to my door by my sister-in-law, Linda Fulford O'Hare, for which I will be eternally grateful. Thus, began my love of the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, such as service, love and seeking out our dead. I was so happy to be able to do proxy ordinance work for my own mother the year after she died and thrilled to receive revelation that she accepted this gift.

Mentors
My many mentors included


 * Presbyterian,
 * Baptist and
 * LDS Sunday School teachers

as well as


 * high school and
 * nursing school teachers.

Seeking out my Family
Now that I am a member of the LDS church, I also have spiritual teachers in the family history center, who have helped me search for deceased family members.