Sad News

12 May 2018

We learned on Tuesday that our friend, Nancy Pyne, died unexpectedly on Monday night. We had just seen her eight days earlier at her 70^th birthday party, and she looked great.

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It was a real shock to hear she had died. I guess the pneumonia that caused her death hit her hard and fast. It’s still hard to take in the fact that she is gone. We grieve for her family. Everyone who knew Nancy loved her, and she will be missed.

When I was talking with her at her birthday party, she reminded me of something fun from when our daughter, Susy, was in high school and spent time at their house. The Pynes had a dog named Susie, so, in order to distinguish which one they meant when they were talking, they called our Susy, “Susy-two-legs” (and their dog, “Susie-four-legs.”) :-) 

On another note, I was walking through the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building the other day and saw Mitt Romney being filmed and interviewed. I couldn’t hear what was being said, so he may have been making a political ad. I don’t know. Since I couldn’t hear anything, I have no context. My photo isn’t very good because I just grabbed a quick shot on my way by. . . (poor lighting from my angle)

One of the sisters in our zone, Sister Pace, gave the sweetest spiritual thought this week and I want to share part of it with you. She talked about how her grandparents joined the church in Germany in 1901. Her father was born in 1907, and he had one older brother. His parents worked hard so that their family could eventually come to America. (She also spoke of some of the difficulties they faced during World War II because they were German. But, they forgave and moved on.) Then she talked of how much she loves the temple and what a privilege it is to do the temple work for our kindred dead. From Sis Pace: “I have had the privilege of searching out my parents’ ancestors and taking their names to the temple, saying to them, ‘Here are my hands—make covenants with them. Here is my mouth—speak holy words with it. Here are my eyes—see the beauty of the temple with them. Here are my ears—hear the promises and blessings of the Lord with them. Here are my knees—kneel at an alter with them.’ What a glorious experience.”

As the hymn says, “Sweet is the work. . .”