It was Monday  evening that I got a text from my brother-in-law, Cal Loe, indicating that he received word from Michael Gardner that his mother, Mirial Gardner, had passed away.  Upon further inquiry I learned that a memorial service would be held on Friday, February 22, 2019 from 4 - 8 pm at the Bunker Mortuary in Las Vegas.  I in turn contacted Shauna and Kevin to see if they wanted to attend as I thought I should attend.  Shauna said she wanted to attend and she would be glad to take us in her car.  Kevin indicated that he might be able to come over after work.
Shauna picked me up at 2:45 on Friday afternoon and it took us a little more than an hour to reach the mortuary.  We were among the first to be there to meet the family.
All of my children always referred to Mirial as Aunt Mirial even though they were second cousins to her.  And, I was always referred to as Uncle Roy by her children.  Mirial was a favorite cousin for Anita.  We always tried to stay in contact with the Gardners.  Mirial married Harold Garner at a young age and Harold was well established with his father in business and he was doing quite well financially. Their marriage started out with a new home and they seemed not to struggle financially as did the other cousins , as Anita I I did , as did Wanda and Evelyn with their families.  After Anita and I and our family moved to Oregon, we enjoyed frequent visits to see Mirial and Harold.  They had a very spacious home and it was always fun to be there for a family gathering.

Upper  Photo:  Mirial and her son Michael and his wife. Seated by Mirial is Gary Lee.

Lower photo: Mirial at our 60th wedding anniversary

A Reflection
Today is the sabbath.  I've been feeling a little down in my spirit,complaining: wow is me! why don't I feel more joy in life, etc.  etc. I accomplished quite a little bit in my shop yesterday.  I came in early to watch the news, but drifted  off to sleep as there is not much for Saturday evening anyway.  I got started a little early on family history work, thinking that would buoy up my spirits.  I soon got a call from my son Dave so very excited about selling his truck and buying a new one.  How excited he was and I was so happy for him.  His excitement was a little contagious as I was uplifted by it.  Anyway, I got back to family history with some of that excitement.  I in the process of attaching historical records to cousins, some of whom were not very close cousins but had lived during the 19th century, I discovered that I was finding many who had become lost in the record keeping, especially, spouses.  I soon found that I had added more than 10 persons to my temple file that needed ordinance work in a matter of only several hours.  Further more, I had added an equal number the previous week.  By the time I went to bed I was so elated with what I was able to accomplish in a short period of time.  I went to bed feeling great joy and thanksgiving.
I began reflecting upon what I was doing in family history work and why was I so blessed to have the patience and interest to set at my computer  for hours at a time scanning through records of persons that lived over a hundred years ago trying to find if any were missing.  Everyone I know at that hour of the night while I was at my computer was watching a movie or some sporting event.  Why is it that I am spending this time of my life engaged in , what others may call "boring work"?  What drives me to spend countless hours reviewing the lives of dead ancestors?    I am not sacrificing anything!  I'm not making a conscientious effort to do this work.  It just interests me to the exclusion of other things to occupy my mind.  I love making things of wood and I do spend time so engaged.  I know I'm a boring person, not well read, can't converse, can't speak very well.  But, I do find joy in helping those who have gone before me receive ordinances that pertain to their salvation.
I'll relate an experience I had last night in the records I was finding.
My 3rd great grandmother was Polly Russell and she was married to Lovel Gibbs.  I descend through them through the Gibson line.  My mother was Hazel Vanessa Gibson.  Polly Russell had a distant nephew, how distant I don't know, by the name of Charles Russell.  It was Charles Russell that I will relate to you of what I learned about him.  His record showed that he had no wife or children.  I soon learned that he lived during the 1900 and 1910 census with a different wife listed for each census.  One was Alice and the other was Ruth.  The 1900 census showed that he had recently married Alice and she had not given birth to any children, but there were three sons in the family.  The 1910 census showed that there were some of the same sons and two additional children and they had been married only 7 years and his wife's name was Ruth.  To make a long story short,  Charles had three marriages, the first was in 1881, Ida Warner, and they had tree sons, Ida died in 1899, Charles remarried in 1900 to Alice Green and then she died in 1901 without children, then he remarried for the third time in 1902 to Ruth Strickland and they had two children.  All five children were missing from the family record as well as their spouses.  So it was a great treasure trove of a family that needed to be included in the Russell family.
RHB