And yet, it took a full decade before we were all married and out on our own; and, of course, much transpired during this period of time. But, before detailing these particular events, I’ll first chronologically document our four marriages:
21 June 1957: Wendell Bartholomew Christenson, Jr. married Barbara Jean Skankey, in the Los Angeles Temple, Los Angeles, California. 141
17 July 1965: Suzanne Christenson married Richard John Tannyhill, Jr., in the Los Angeles Temple, Los Angeles, California. 142
26 August 1966: Andrew Howells Christenson married Carol Louise Geyer, in Salt Lake City, Utah. 143 (Marriage sealed posthumously in the Provo Temple, Provo, Utah, on 21 March 2002.) 144
5 August 1967: Diane Christenson married John Clement Budd, in San Mateo, California, 145 divorced 1993. (She subsequently married Joseph Lyle Keller, 11 November 2004, in the Los Angeles Temple, Los Angeles, California.) 146
Next, I’ll chronologically list the birth dates and birth places of Mom’s and Dad’s seventeen ensuing grandchildren, plus any attendant documentation that I currently have:
23 October 1960: Jody Christenson, Provo, Utah. 147
19 March 1962: Jeffrey Bart Christenson, Ogden, Utah. 148
21 December 1963: Jonathan Robert Christenson, Burlingame, California. 149
1 April 1966: Jennifer Ann Christenson, Los Angeles, California. 150
23 April 1966: Richard John Tannyhill II, Fullerton, California.
28 March 1967: Lisa Ann Christenson, Salt Lake City, Utah.
25 October 1968: Jill Marie Christenson, Los Angeles, California. 151
1 September 1969: Michelle Lee Christenson, Salt Lake City, Utah.
7 January 1970: Linda Suzanne Budd, Redwood City, California.
21 March 1971: Kristen Lee Tannyhill, Fullerton, California.
25 May 1971: Allison Lynn Budd, Walnut Creek, California.
1 September 1971: Michael Andrew Christenson, Salt Lake City, Utah.
27 September 1972: Lauren Michelle Budd, Walnut Creek, California.
22 October 1976: John Christenson Budd, Winston Salem, North Carolina.
18 May 1977: Joanne Christenson, Salt Lake City, Utah. 152
2 February 1978: John Aaron Christenson, Salt Lake City, Utah.
11 May 1980: Daniel Bartholomew Budd, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Moreover, loving her offspring as much as she did, how interesting it is to contemplate that of these seventeen grandchildren only a handful of them were old enough to ever remember Mom before her passing, in 1973. That was difficult for her.
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After Barbara and I were married in 1957, our first location was at Dugway Proving Grounds, in Utah, where I was stationed after being drafted into the Army Chemical Corps. Mom and Dad and the twins visited us during our first summer there. Concurrently, Drew was sent to South Korea, to serve a three year tour of duty with the Military Police Force.
We began medical school at the University of Utah in the fall of 1958, purchasing a small home in Salt Lake City, wherein we lived downstairs and rented out the upstairs. We remained in Salt Lake City through June 1963, after completing an internship at the U. of U. Affiliated Hospitals.
Meanwhile, the girls attended Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, from 1959 through 1963. We saw them occasionally during the school year. As a matter of fact, Diane lived with us for a few months during the fall of 1962, when she did student teaching in Salt Lake City at the conclusion of her formal training. Additionally, Drew boarded with us, too, in the spring of 1963, when he relocated from California to Utah.
In addition, we enjoyed occasional visits in Salt Lake City from Mom and Dad during this five year period, usually at General Conference time, but also at Grandma Howells funeral, in December 1959 153, and at the time of my graduation from medical school, in 1962. However, we reciprocated by visiting them in San Mateo, too: first after Jody was born in October, 1960; and then for a whole summer, at the end of my junior year, in 1961. Again, we returned to San Mateo soon after Jeffrey was born. It was special to be with them as they got acquainted with their first two grandchildren.
Then, in 1963, we moved to southern California, where a residency was pursued in urological training at the UCLA Medical Center for the next five years.
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While the twins were attending BYU, during their last two summer vacations they worked at Yosemite National Park, and became quite serious with two Peruvian boys. According to Suzanne, Mom and Dad visited them regularly while they worked at the park and were, of course, duly concerned about the possibility of matrimony. She reports that they were very wise, however, and gave us a lot of space. She also recalls Mom telling her later that I was spending half my time on my knees in your behalf! 154 Matters remained in an unresolved status for a couple of years as the girls began their teaching careers. Suzanne began teaching in Imperial Beach, in southern California.
Of course we had been appraised of the romances, and so in October 1964, after receiving a telephone call from Dick Tannyhill, a former college chum and roommate of mine at BYU and a fledging dentist in the area, I invited him to attend a ward elders quorum party with us—and also invited Suzanne to attend, as well. Fortunately, as they were both coming out of unsatisfactory relationships, they hit it off well and began dating regularly. They were married in the Los Angeles Temple nine months later. 155
After Sue and Dick married in July 1965, Diane decided to accept a new teaching opportunity, in Kitzigen, Germany (near Frankfurt a/M), where she was hired to teach 1st and 2nd graders of United States Army military personnel. Shortly after her arrival, she met her future husband, Jack Budd, an Army captain, who was the personal helicopter pilot for the commanding general. Although not a member of the LDS Church, Jack was a fine, religious person, and he and Diane eventually decided to marry.
They were married by the bishop of the San Mateo Second Ward, on 5 August 1967, and following their honeymoon, subsequently returned to their duties in Germany.
Then, in October, Mom and Dad went to Europe for a three week visit. This was Mom’s first visit to that part of the world, and Diane reports that the two couples had a marvelous time, as they visited parts of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland together. Diane laughingly recalls that on their visit to the Walker Hotel at Berchtesgaden, in southern Germany, the site of Hitler’s recreational retreat, Mom and Dad were able to occupy a suite usually reserved for generals. The luxurious bath tub was four by eight feet in size, and looked out over the beautiful lake. Mom couldn’t get over it as she took her bathes! 156 Mom and Dad also evidently visited Florence, Italy; Paris, France; and England before returning home.
In December 1967, when Jack was discharged from the service, they decided to settle in northern California, and the two couples grew even closer. We became each others best friends, recalls Diane. After we moved to San Carlos, we ate together nearly every night, shopped together, and went to plays and movies regularly.
Diane also remembers that Dad taught the Gospel to Jack nearly every night around the dinner table. Moreover, the four of them attended Church together on Sundays, where Bud Quist, Dad’s office manager in the San Mateo office, taught the Gospel Essentials class…Jack didn’t have a chance, and soon joined the Church!
Dad also took Jack under his wing in a business sense. His business was booming—the size of a small insurance company—and he would have loved to pass it on to someone in the family. I was a physician; Drew was not inclined in that direction; and so Dad did all he could to groom Jack.
At first, it appeared that Jack would be able to fit right in: he was excited and the income was generous. But, as the months drew on and responsibilities grew heavier, evidently he felt that he did not wish to continue. Thus, Dad eventually ended up fully retiring and selling his remaining stock in the business, in 1969.
Diane also remembers that during the two years that Dad and Jack worked closely in the insurance and estate planning arena, the two couples traveled together extensively, as well: New Jersey and the east coast (including Palmyra, New York, and Niagara Falls); Hawaii; Boulder, Colorado; and Spain/Portugal. They enjoyed many happy times together.
Moreover, she also recollects Mom occasionally talking about two of her other all time favorite trips, taken before Jack joined Dad in 1968, as rewards for Dad’s sales prowess: Banff, Canada; and Mackinac Island, Michigan. 157
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Suzanne and Dick remember some happy times with Mom and Dad, too, while Diane was working overseas in Germany before her marriage to Jack. After Jon-Jon (Richard John II) was born in April 1966, the folks came down to southern California every two to three months for a week or two at a time. Dad came down for business purposes and to have dental work at Dick’s hands, and Mom and Sue enjoyed talking, house decorating, and sofa upholstering. Sue remembers the long talks she had with Mom, as an opportunity for Mom to unload and unburden and to come to terms with various issues.
Furthermore, when they came, they loved to eat at Lowry’s Prime Rib Restaurant—and to visit the Santa Anita Racetrack. Dick was part owner of several racehorses and introduced the folks to the world of horseracing. At first, they were reluctant to go, but they eventually got quite caught up in the excitement of the pony runs—especially Mom. One day, Dick recalls asking her: Are you having fun? With a smile on her face, her quick retort was: I haven’t had this much fun since I joined the Church!
Interestingly, Sue also remembers that Jon-Jon was born on the same day, 23 April 1966, that Grandma Christenson died 158; so, being in Salt Lake City at the time, Mom couldn’t be with her when her first child was born. They visited a week later. Additionally a couple of months after that, along with Jon-Jon, Sue also recalls making a short car trip with the folks back to Salt Lake City, where they all met Drew’s fiancée, Carol Louise Geyer, for the first time. The two were married civilly in August. 159
Drew got a real gem in Carol. Quiet and somewhat reserved, she was not a member of the Church when they married, but later converted. What is more, besides holding down a responsible fulltime job throughout their entire thirty-three years of marriage—certainly, with Drew’s incapacitating health issues later on, she ended up being the major breadwinner—she was a true, behind the scenes, spiritual backbone for the family, as well. In fact, she took out her temple endowments barely a month before her passing, from uterine cancer, in July 1999. 160 As already recorded, Drew passed away some fifteen months later, on 31 October 2000.161
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Living first in Santa Monica, and then in Granada Hills, our little family saw the folks regularly, too, during their southern California visits. But, being in the midst of our urological training, we couldn’t spend as much time with them as we would have liked. Nevertheless, all of the family in southern California did get together from time to time when they came.
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