Wood family

This page is being written postmortem.

I need help filling in blanks that I do not know.

Recently While talking with one of my boys I realized that I had not

built a photo file of Jill. Rather than just put a bunch of photos out on

Shutterfly I have decided to add some here with commentary.

A few things I have, A baby photo from Koy's file.

I owe a big debt of gratitude to Martha and Koy for preserving and making the following photos available.

These are through the early of Jill and her family. When the caption says myself, that refers to Martha, whose photos these are.

I do not recognize the name Cathy, but she must be a cousin.

Who is it that taught the younger sisters to show a little leg?

It was in 1963 that Jill and I met. There was still some time to pass before her last name became Wood.

However this is how Alan Wood came into her life.

Jill has a cousin Harold Higgins from Pocatello, Idaho, At least at the time that is where he lived.

Iona was a small farm town and Jill asked Harold if he could round up some friends and Jill would round up

some of her friends and they would get together for a group date. I do not remember all of the names

involved, but it was decided to meet at Jill's house and just have a party there.

Harold brought a number of friends with him. Ricky, Alan and others. Jill had Bonney, Julie and others.

It is surprising how names go away when you don't keep in contact.

At any rate the group met and soon we had separated out . Rick and Bonny, Alan and Jill and on down the line.

Of course some did not pan out. It seems that Harold, Ricky and Alan had at least one more group meet.

It was a date for Senior Graduation night. There was a problem with the actual graduation date.

Pocatello High School and Iona High School had their graduation ceremony and all-night party on the same

night. Well Harold, Ricky and Alan left right after graduation and drove to Iona. When they arrived there all of the

activities were done. They picked up the girls and then returned to Pocatello. After spending the whole night

traversing around Pocatello they all returned to Iona, Of course a stop at the Highway Cafe was actually

a needless event for when we got to Jill's place Armenia had a full breakfast waiting for everyone.

That started Alan and Jill. Shortly after graduation Alan went into the U.S.Navy for two years active duty.

We wrote to each other until Alan's blunt manner came up. Jill had a friend who helped her get a job at

Jackson Lake Lodge. Alan and Jill were writing until Jill complained about how difficult it was to clean the cabins

and make the beds. Well Alan was very sympathetic and understanding and replied by stating;

"Well you had better get used to it because that is what you will be doing for the rest of your life."

I don't know why she quit writing to me!

At any rate that was the last letter Alan got from Jill for quite a while.

And no that baby Jill is holding is not hers.

Armenia would remark that from time to time Jill would dig in her cedar chest and find the photo of Alan and remark

"I wonder where he is and what he is doing?" After one such interlude Armenia said why don't you call Harold and find out?

She did and found out that I was on a mission in England. So out of the blue I received a letter. Now it was my turn

to turn bashful. It seems that one of her relatives had sent me some money for my mission and I had not sent a thank you, and

was embarrassed and as a result did not reply. So my photo went back into the cedar chest.

Then out of the clear blue Jill received a call asking her out for a date in Pocatello to a ward play. Some date, it turns out

Alan had responsibility for helping to put it on and we did not spend a lot of time together that evening. That was the start though.

Later that year Alan asked Jill to marry, thinking it would be in the spring early summer. Well was he ever surprised.

It would seem that I had no idea what was involved with a wedding. First everyone in the family had to be contacted and

determine when they could get there. Then the planning started. Well the date was finally selected and it was to be in August.

A lifetime later Alan and Jill were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. August, 22, 1970.

It is difficult to verbalize our early years. It was a normal start in life. We were not really young,

yet we were. We were both 25 and had the whole world before us. We settled into a routine fairly

quickly. I was going to school at ISU and Jill was doing some substituting. I had a supplement to our income

in as much as I was going to school on the GI Bill. We were involved in church activities, I was in the Elders Quorum

presidency and Jill was involved with the girls program. Thinking back we were as boring as could be. We did some traveling,

though it was mostly for support of others. I was the best man, or second best for Irving Browning and we went to

SLC for his wedding. He would later point out that I was wearing cowboy boots, but it was really just brown shoes.

I had looked for some black shoes but could not afford them.

It was at that time that we attended a rehearsal by the Tabernacle choir and saw Marylyn Youlle.

She had just become engaged and she was able to meet and visit with Jill. We were involved with our famalies and

spent a fair amount of time with them. My sister Sheri was going to ISU later on when I started working at the site,

and would often come by.

The following two photos were taking at home in Mink Creek. I had invited Jill down and we were listening

to the state of the art reel to reel stereo player.

Here is another from around that time.

We were engaged in april or May of 1970, but I did not understand all that went into the preperations

for a wedding. It was not until August that all of the family could make it to the wedding.

A shower was held for Jill and I have no idea why I was there but here is the damning evidence.

We were marrided in the Idaho Fslls Temple, Then we had two receptions, the firstin Iona and then the

second later in Pocatello at the folks home at Mink Creek .

From the Left Rich and Armenia Rushton, George and Viola Wood, Irvin Browning (best man), Alan and Jill Wood, Maxine Kirk, Sheri Wood, Unknown,

Martha Miskin, Dorthy Jenkions, Julie Stoor, and the last three not remembered.

This next one is of her bridesmaids.

The reception cutting the cake at Iona.

Here we afre leaving the reception.

Then the reception at home and cutting the cake there. I don't recall if the photo was taken or not

but as we cut into the cake all was well until we got to the second layer, then it got tough to cut.

We tried but then the cake started to mash in. No one told me that there was a layer of cardboard between the cake tiers.

By the way we saved the top layer for the one year anniversary. Again no one told us it was styrofoam.

We set up housekeeping in Pocatello at 824 West Bonniville. For a while we lived a normal life. Jill was on

the young womans staff at girls came, and we went camping and did all of the fun things,

Here is a photo of Jill at home.

The house was a small two bedroon where you had to walk through the one bedroom to get to the other

bedroom and then the bathroom. When you came in the front door the kitchen was to the left through

the front room and the bedrooms were to the right. Ther was a set of French doors between the two

bedrooms, and the bathroom was all the way in our bedroom. It had a half basemwnt with just enough

room for a coal bin and a huge coal fired furnace.

We became good friends with the Millers and Julie was on the girls camp staff. Julie is on the left.

As soon as Jillfound out that she was pregnant she came out and said can you tell, and I took this picture.

Jill had a very closeknit family but they were not able to get togather that often.

This is onetime when they did.

Left to Right back row Maxine, Jill, Dorthy, Martha

Front row Rich, Armenia, Jim.

For those who feel that they are not getting everything they want in life, Jill was in high school when they got a phone in the house.

And the only reason was that Rich had become the watermaster and needed it. Then also did not have indoor plumbing

until Jim was born. Bath water was heated on the cookstove and poured into the tin tub, which was placed on the kitchen floor

for the occasion. As with the Stucki family the Tolman family held thier reunions at West Piney. Only they held it over the

4th of July weekend until the stakes in Idaho Falls all started using the facility. Here is a photo of Jill there.

For our Honeymoon we stopped at West Piney for a family reunion and then over the pass and across the desert

to Bayhorse Lake. Since it had rained it was a little wet in a couple of spots but when I could not make slow I backed up

to get a run and when I stopped backing up and started going forward again Jill asked me what ARE YOU DOING, and

my reply was I'm getting a run so I can get through the wet area. Then her response was"YOU DAMN STUPID FOOL".

B we made it and cooked a steak and potatoes up there, but I had an uneasy feeling about the area, and we were the

only ones up there. So after we ate we went dont to the main Salmon river and camped there. This photo is from

a later trip to Bayhorse. I borrowed a canoe to use on the lake.

I have other photos of Jill fishing and trips we made. As I round them up I will add them here.

At some point they will all be added to Shutterfly.

Another trip we took was to Horse Creek Hot Springs, in the Salmon National Forest. It is a beautiful place in a valley

north of the Salmon River tucked up against the Montana border. We made an August trip up there.

For this trip we had Mike and Shelly. The next morning when we woke up it was cold, real cold. Here is a photo

of Jill fixing breakfast with the kids.

Then we decided to leave this nice valley and seek a warmer location. The valley was overcast, when we got to the top of the valley on the way out

we could see the clouds below us. The valley was socked in good. This is a photo as we left the top and headed down to warmer climes.

The next stop was the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

After this we drove back up the river to the mouth of Indian Creek. Just below the Indianola Ranger Station.

Now we changed from waking up cold to waking up hot.

Actually as I look at this photo it must have took us a long time to come out of that valley, just look at how the kids have grown.

Where is this? Beats me I had thought it was as I described in the front of the photo, until I really looked at it.

This is a random photo from Dad's cabin up Pebble Creek.

After I started working we did all of the normal things, we camped, went on trips with friends, one I recall was to Meadow Lake with

friends, a young couple like us, Another time we went to Loon Creek with Carl and Julie Miller and thier daughter, the end of that trip

is covered in the section about automotive troubles. We also in later years went with LeeAnne and Rick and family.

The early years were full of good things. We were busy with our life. Jill spent a good amount of tome visiting teaching, she took

that calling most seriously. It seems that she always had a smile on her face.

I'm going to stop with a family photo with all of you kids. Taken in the house in Blackfoot on Alexander.

Dear children, the following images may be dificult to view, They are the Christmas family photos taken at Mink Creek.

They cover the years of 1980 to 1989. They will help you to understand the emotions that you were dealing with.

I will make comments about the photos that will help you understand what you may not have been aware of.

Christmas 1980

Christmas 1981

Your mother had been in a wheelchair for a while.

Christmas 1982

Christmas 1983

Christmas 1986

Sometime when your mother was stressed her hand and arm would fly around so I was holding it still.

Christmas 1987

One of the side effects was the gaunt look you mother has.

Christmas 1988

Your mother had a difficult time sitting upright. This was the best we could do.This was to be her last Christmas at Mink Creek.

The next year was an effort to keep things as normal as possible for your children.

I loved your mother and took as good of care of her as I was able. I know we had a difficult time through it

and a lot of it you kids were not even aware of. But it did have an effect on each of you.

Please remember the good times and do not beat yourselves up over your reactions.

Life is difficult enough to just work through it. I would likeyou all to know that I am proud of the end

results you have achieved. Please remember that your mother loves and cares for each of you.

I am sure that she is watching over you as much as she is allowed. Dad.

Well that is the photo quick tour.

For now that's all. More to come after I visit my other storage in LV.