Jean McIntire Partridge - 90th Birthday

My mom turned 90 on the same day as General Conference Sunday (October 7, 2007). My sister, Beth Merrill and Brother, Bob, and I decided many months ago to try to have a major party to celebrate. In order to avoid conference-related conflicts we decided to have the party on October 13th in Provo, Utah.

We talked and brain-stormed and shared ideas until we had a pretty sizeable group and a great location. Beth did the bulk of the work because she lives there and she's Beth. That's what she does. She does for others.

Beth did some research and suggested the Wilkinson Student Center on BYU's campus. We had the penthouse with a view on three sides. The room was very nice and the staff was tops. The meal was good too.

Beth and Bruce were there with their clan, Craig and Andrea Merrill, Devin and Maddi Merrill, Karen Merrill, Diana Merrill, Brandon and Janette Pace and Julie Hinkson (Julie's husband, Ralph is in Iraq).

Cathy and I were there and we had Kevin and Kim with us. Adam and Myisha, as well as Jacob had planned on being there but Jacob went and got engaged to Meredith Black (soon to be Partridge), a very good thing, and they are getting married in the Timpanogos Temple on November 10, 2007. So those members of our part of the family, who could really only afford one trip to Utah, decided to do it in November.

Bob and Kathy were also there, of course, and they had Brian, Heather and Gene Condie, and Megan with them.

Also present were Mom's sisters, Deniece Starich, LaVon Pleasants and Marge Matich, mom's Sister-in-Law, Ruth McIntire, Marge's husband Joe Matich, and LaVon's two daughters, Rebecca and Amber.

There were also some great grandchildren and maybe one or two other folks that I forgot to mention. We had a nice program where some of the grand kids gave a little recount of fun times with grandma. The highlight of that was Craig who talked about a special spritual experience where he was once invited to give grandpa a blessing.

Another major highlight was a DVD presentation of wonderfully edited photographs of all segments of grandma's life which Diana put together. A significant part of the DVD was a major and touching emphasis on Dad, who, of course passed away a few years ago, and who we all love and miss a lot. He was (is) really a good man.

On a lighter note, Bob and I sang, "M-O-T-H-E-R" to mom ("M" is for the million things she gave me, etc.) with Beth accompanying us on the piano.

Everyone seemed to have a great time and Mom, sensing a locked in audience, prepared and delivered a sermon, worthy of Sacrament meeting, that was directed at her relatives who she alone believes are in need of repentance. I say she alone, because we are all in need of repentance and the targets of her sermon are wonderful people in many ways. They are loving, giving and sharing human beings whose lives in many respects set enviable examples for the rest of us even if they don't go to church as much others might. As Forrest Gump might say, "That's all I'm going to say about that."

Anyway, it was a great event.

On Saturday morning, we had Kevin and Kim meet us at our hotel (Little America) where we enjoyed an excellent breakfast buffet and a real nice visit. Kevin and I discovered that the workout area was kind of neat with exercise equipment arrayed in such a way as to be able to watch a big screen TV. So he came back later and we exercised while watching USC's football team struggle to a win over Arizona.

The buffet reminded me of the previous weekend when we drove to San Jose and looked on proudly while Adam was sworn in as an officer in the United States Navy. He is a reserve officer for now, and must finish his last year of law shool, pass the California Bar Exam, and complete Navy Officer Indoctrination School next fall. Then in January, 2009, he goes on active duty as a regular Naval officer in the Judge Advocate General Corps.

The reason the buffet reminded me of the previous week is that we were staying at a very nice hotel (Hyatt) in San Jose that also had a great breakfast buffet and we had Adam and Myisha over for breakfast there.

Our children bring us our greatest joy. And our daughter's in law, Kim, Myisha and (soon) Meredith, are like having fantastic daughters only we didn't have raise them. Their parents did that and did it very well.

So life is good as we head into fall and then winter.

And, not that I'm counting, but there are now only 195 calendar days until we put our house up for sale (May 1st, 2008).