Thread #3
Bill Boyle
On a Sabbath Day in Jerusalem, a visitor from Nigeria stood up at church and introduced himself as Eddie Bauer. I approached him after the meeting and told him that my parents had served a mission in Nigeria. When I said that their names were Dawn and Eddie Boyle, he looked shocked and said, "Eddie Boyle? Eddie Boyle? My name used to be Eddie Boyle!" My folks were serving there when he joined the church. People in Nigeria often take western last names because their given names are unpronounceable to westerners. He had been Eddie Boyle for a few years before becoming Eddie Bauer. Certainly a surreal experience halfway around the world!
Sandra Dutson Our son, Devin Dutson, who graduated from SJHS served a mission
in Rapid City, South Dakota. One Sunday, he and his companion attended church in one
of the wards. When they came in the chapel, there sat Leanne and Danny
Shumway!
George and I spent 15 years living in Blanding and enjoyed every minute of it.
Griff was with us 1 year and Devin, 6 years. It was a wonderful experience for
us and when we retired and decided to move up closer to our kids, we were
mighty sad. But life has a way of making things ok. We moved to Lehi and
became part of a great neighborhood. We soon found people there who made
us feel like we were back in Blanding! Linda Laws Sullenburger, Tara Laws
Kauffman and Heidi Adair Dole from Monticello!
Colleen R. Burningham My sister’s husband says
of Monticello, "For being such a small town, you people sure do get around! "
When Lee and I were at the Logan temple last week he was visiting with the
temple worker afterwards. They knew each other from when Lee was a temple
worker up there. Lee introduces me. We do the pleasant standard greets of "it's
nice to meet you." They visit a bit more. The man asked Lee where he was
living now. He answered Monticello. The man then said, "One of my dearest
childhood friends lives on Monticello, do you know Dean Robinson?"
It took everything I had not to burst into tears. I smiled and said, "That's my
sweet Dad. I'm his daughter Colleen." He proceeded to tell me stories of my
dad's childhood. Such a tender mercy that day. My son Cortlan Lyman says,
"The World revolves around San Juan County! It's so true!
Jed E. Lyman In 1969 I was serving an LDS mission in
northern California. My companion was from Chicago. He and I got along great, but
he thought he was pretty hot stuff since he was from Chicago and I was from some little
podunk place called "BLAND"ing.
As we would visit people they would invariably ask where we were
from. Elder Spencer would puff out his chest and say "CHICAGO."
They would say something like, "How nice. Elder Lyman where are you from?"
I would reply that I was from a small southern Utah town called Blanding. Their
face would light up and they would say something like, "Do you know so-and -so?
Or they would say that their uncle, grandfather, sister or former missionary
companion was from Blanding. This happened enough times that my companion
finally said, "What is it with Blanding, everybody knows Blanding or someone
from there?" And he quit teasing me about being from BLANDing!
Jed E. Lyman In 1989 we were traveling in Europe after
picking up Candice's parents at the conclusion of their mission in England. One
day we were walking in downtown Bern, Switzerland when we came upon two
LDS missionaries. We talked to them for awhile and the others in our group
headed on down the road but the one elder kept talking to Candice Lyman,
Marilyn Lyman Roberts (16 years old and not a Roberts yet) and I and would
not let us continue with the rest of our group.
We kept trying to move on but he just seemed to cling to us. Finally as we were
trying to get away, he said, "Are you from Blanding? And is your name Lyman?"
I was surprised and answered that he was correct on both counts and asked how
he knew. As it turned out, before his mission, he had been a roommate of my
nephew at BYU and had come to Blanding with my nephew at Thanksgiving and
had eaten Thanksgiving dinner at our house. I did not remember him. Candice
thought he looked familiar and Marilyn knew exactly where who he was.
Apparently he made a bigger impression on a 16 year old girl than he did on her
dad. These kinds of stories are so common, I have come to believe that Blanding
is the center of the universe!
When we arrived in Kensington, MD to serve our mission in the Washington, DC
Temple, among the first fellow missionaries we met was Don Perry. My sister
had told me to watch for Don and Kay because they were good friends from their
ward in Taylorsville. I started to tell him he knew my sister. He said, "No, you
know my sister."
We were both a little confused until he explained that, because
he knew we were from Blanding, he had come to meet us as his sister is Elaine
Johnson who had just moved from Blanding. We both knew each other's sister!
Steven Wozniak
A connection happened again tonight at the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet 2/8/2018. A guy in my ward asked where I got my Bolo tie. Told him someone in my hometown made it for me. He said he had one like it...said he got it from a Jack. Turns out Mandy N Tyler Jack was his Young Men's President in the State of Washington. Tyler gave him a Bolo tie his dad Rayburn Jack made. Such a small world! (Oct. 2018 update: Just recently I posted about the musical Heritage Fireside held Sept. 30, and mentioned that Sister Walker had been one of the performers. Steve immediately posted on the thread that she had tended his children, when they were living in Pocatello, Idaho.)
More stories from Thread# 3
Always a connection to Blanding, no matter where you go! Thanks Debbie! My mom loves hugs AND connections.
Mexico: Karen Nieves Griffin
Salt Lake, Orem: Jan Podris
