Through all of these life adventures, I
have been most grateful to have Barbara at my side. I have come to the
conclusion that the best way to evaluate anyone from a Gospel standpoint, since
our hope is someday to improve and be on the path to perfection, eventually, to
become more like the Savior, would be to develop as he did. We read in Luke 2:52, that Jesus grew in
“wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Consequently, we need to develop in the areas
of intellectuality, physically, socially and spiritually. Throughout our lives
together she has exhibited these qualities in amazing ways.
Intellectually
Barbara is intellectually very
bright. She was a distinguished graduate
from BYU. She had majored in secretarial
skills, e.g. shorthand, type, and business English. She minored in accounting and German (so she
could understand more of what her Swiss-German uncles and father were saying
when they conversed.)
She obtained a secondary teaching
certificate and was hired to teach her major specialties at Boxelder High
School in Brigham City, Utah. [Actually,
she had made such an impression on the faculty during her undergraduate work
that, just before returning from her mission, she was invited to become a
faculty member in the School of Business at BYU to teach her major skills!]
Musically, she is accomplished. She played the violin in the BYU Symphony
Orchestra and was blessed with a remarkable mezzo-soprano singing voice. Although never having studied Spanish before
her mission, she was a quick learner and developed speaking the language with
skill and a very excellent accent. She was, and is, a gifted speaker who
threads solid content laced with good humor.
I observed that she was a prodigious
worker who tackled any assignment with dedication and enthusiasm. She was always busy, crocheting, sewing,
typing, or whatever. [Obviously, her
mother had seen to it that she had learned excellent home-making skills of
cooking, cleaning, patching, laundry and all that goes into being a home
maker.]
Physically
I learned that she was blessed with a
healthy body. As a young girl in the 4-H
clubs in Wasatch County, she had won the prize as being judged as the
healthiest young girl—two years in a row.
(She had her first cavity filled by the dentist after giving birth to
six children!)
Socially
I have never known anyone who could make
friends more effectively than Barbara.
She was always interested in others and they recognized it. She was an excellent conversationalist and
she always wanted to know more about anyone she met. Later, I recognized that she would be among
the first to recognize new move-ins in the ward and would see that she met them
and quickly thereafter, they would receive a welcoming fresh-baked loaf of
bread, or whatever. No one was ever left out from receiving an invitation to
whatever activity or party in which our children were involved. She was, and
is, a consummate affectionate “people person.”
Spiritually
Barbara was blessed with a solid testimony
of the Gospel, a remarkable gift of faith and solid commitment to do what is
right. She studied the scriptures,
Gospel doctrine, kept up on General Conference messages. She still reads the entire monthly
Improvement Era or Ensign. She was
curious and always wanted to know the “why” of doctrinal issues. She received her Temple endowment blessings
as a single university graduate as soon as it seemed appropriate and at least a
year before receiving her mission call.
