Mountain Top Reunion 1974 - 1977
Held October 3rd 2002
President E. Bruce Preece and Nancy Preece
Pictures
Dear Friends,
Ive waited much too long to write and especially thank those that came to the reunion. Nancy, Gary and I all deeply appreciate those that were able and took the time, and expense, to make it there. President wrote a note after the reunion and titled his subject MTM glow which seemed so appropriate. It has been a couple weeks already but the feelings are the same, what fun we had! Those feelings are only tempered with a touch of sadness for those that werent able to make it for whatever reason.
A special thank you is in order for Nolan graciously offering the use of the Institute building. It is such a beautiful building and added to the atmosphere.
We enjoyed the talks by both President and Sister Preece. You will have to forgive me for not recounting more of what they said; I do not have a good auditory memory. President recounted a number of reasons that October is a memorable month which included their anniversary on the 11th, the beginning of their mission October of 1974, Canadian Thanksgiving, and General Conference among other things. Naturally it wouldnt be complete without some reference to his passion for hunting! Speaking of which, he is in the Grand Tetons right now fueling his Elkaholism as he put it! There was one other event that he had forgotten and that was the 28th anniversary of the creation of the Vernon B.C. Stake on the 12th of October.
Prior to the meeting and after there was a LOT of visiting that took place which was one of the main reasons for this reunion! The die-hards had a hard time leaving to go home!! We hope all that were there enjoyed the opportunity. Some of you checked my mission directory and wrote down names and email addresses. I forgot to warn you, some of those email addresses might not work! Let me know if you are having trouble and need verification. If you really want a copy of the directory I can burn a disk and send it to you, it is much too large to email. Eventually I will get it converted to a mail list that my sister uses to keep track of our ancestral family descendants which is more concise.
Saturday morning after the reunion my niece asked which mission I had served in. When I told her; and she checked to be certain that it was B.C. she told me that her boyfriends father went to a reunion for the same mission the night before! I asked what his name was and much to my delight and surprise found that it was none other than our own dear Brad Smith! Needless to say, they went ring shopping that day between conference sessions and made it official the following week! Nobody in my family gets by without knowing that fun little connection! J
Nancy wanted to remind everyone that didnt send a bio/remembrance before the reunion or bring one with you that you could still do it but address it and send it to Preeces at EBPreece@aol.com ; they would love to hear from you. If you want their snail mail address let me know.
Please keep me posted on changes to your email and snail-mail addresses so I can keep the list current. Keep me posted on the exciting things happening in your lives like mission calls, marriages, and grandchildren; that would be fun to share with everyone else several times a year!
If you live anywhere in the mainland U.S. except Arizona, dont forget to change your clocks back next Saturday!! J This note is way too long so take care and dont get too busy in your lives to stay connected.
Beverly J
It seems like it wasn't long ago when I noted that it was 6 months until
our reunion, NOW IT'S ONLY 6 WEEKS, as of last Friday!! We still REALLY NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU about coming to the reunion or
not, so if you have not responded to my email of Aug. 1st or have not been contacted since then (or visited with Nancy and me during July)
WILL YOU PLEASE RSVP NOW? Really, it's very simple, if you are reading the email all you have to do is click on the "reply" button, write a
little note, then click on the "send" button and that's all there is to it!!!! That should take you less than 2 minutes to do. Some emails
take longer than that to read!! :-) If you don't reply I guess that means you don't want to munch with us? (Sorry, that's a really low
blow, eh?!!)
Here are the details:
What: Canada Vancouver Mission Reunion
1974-1977
President & Sister Preece
When: October 3, 2003 6:00 p.m. to ?
6:00 gather
7:00 meeting
7:45ish-? visit and
munch
Where: Jordan L.D.S. Institute of Religion 9191 South 3431 West West Jordan, UT
This is right at 90th South and Bangerter Highway and is part of the Jordan Campus of the Salt Lake
Community College. The main entrance is on 90th South just opposite the Jordan Hospital.
The Institute building is three stories tall. We will be meeting on the second floor. There is an elevator for those that have
difficulty climbing the stairs.
Food: We would like to invite all that live relatively close by to help out by bringing your favorite dessert
(chocolate is important!) or hors d' Oeuvres (finger foods!) ready to serve! We will provide drink and paper products. (Those traveling long
distances are welcome to contribute if so desired.)
$$: a $5.00 donation is being requested to help defray cost of paper supplies, etc. Bring it to the reunion.
Here's the "more:"
This past week I read an article from Meridian Magazine (online magazine geared to LDS audience) written by the gal that leads United Families
International/Canada. I'm very careful about what is included in these mailings but certainly there are some of us here in the United States
that might not be aware of what is happening with the laws concerning same-sex marriage in Canada and I feel that it merits some attention
since it ultimately also affects all of us. The article can be found at
www.ldsmag.com/ideas/030812canada.html and also tells about the author.
We all have to do what we can to strengthen families and prevent this kind of ugliness.
Okay, I know I'm leaving something out of this mailing but it will probably take me a week to figure it out so expect to hear from me next
week!
Beverly :-)
P.S. A happy welcome to Roy Mower and Lyle Richins to our mailing lists. :-) Sorry guys, it took us awhile to find you!
August 1, 2003
Dear Friends,
Guess what today is? Uh-huh, another month; Friday, August 01, 2003 to be exact!!! I don't know about you but my summer is disappearing fast!
For most of us here in the west (U.S.) we had sweltering hot weather but the last day of July brought a blessed rain shower to the Sacramento
Valley. :-) Never have I appreciated rain more!!
A couple weeks ago Nancy, Gary and I met to finalize some details on the reunion while I was in Utah. Here is the plan:
What: Canada Vancouver Mission Reunion
1974-1977
President & Sister Preece
When: October 3, 2003 6:00 p.m. to ?
6:00 gather
7:00 meeting
7:45ish-? visit and
munch
Where: Jordan L.D.S. Institute of Religion
9191 South 3431 West West Jordan, UT
This is right at 90th South and Bangerter Highway and is part of the Jordan Campus of the Salt Lake
Community College.
The main entrance is on 90th South just opposite the Jordan Hospital.
The Institute building is three stories tall. We will be meeting on the second floor. There is an elevator for those that have
difficulty climbing the stairs.
We also need to know how many are going to be at the reunion in order to plan for our munchies so I need to know one of the following:
A. definitely planning to be there! :-)
B. really want to be there but not sure :l
C. totally unable to make it this time :-( (there had better not be very many of these or I'll haunt you!!!)
The only individuals excused from sending me this information are the ones that I visited with while I was in Utah!
Take care,
Beverly :-)
July 1, 2003
Dear Friends,
Hopefully those of you that dont live in Canada or have Canadian heritage remember that today is Canada Day! Earlier today I was on the Yahoo home page and saw that Vancouver is anxiously waiting to hear if they get the bid for the 2010 winter Olympics! That answer will be given on Wednesday. Meanwhile, I found some fun stuff about Canada and Canada Day. If you go to Canada.com and click on Vancouver you will be able to find all of it.
Since last month we have added enough more names of missionaries to our found list to bring the total to 198!! Thanks to some of you for helping by passing along some of the contact information that was needed to locate them. As always we are appreciative of spouses and relatives that help us keep in touch with our missionaries.
July means we are getting much closer to our reunion in October, so dont forget to circle, highlight, or otherwise mark October 3rd on your calendar as the magic day for our get together. Also dont forget to write some things you remember about the time spent in Beautiful British Columbia along with your testimony on an 8.5x11 paper and send it to:
Nancy Kener 8537 Scottish Dr. Sandy, UT 84093
While we are in the patriotic mode, have a happy 4th of July!!
I will be spending a couple weeks in Utah this month but will still be able to access my email if anyone has any information to pass along.
Take care,
Beverly J
June 10, 2003
Dear Friends,
We have flown from one month to another almost without blinking and eye! For most of us it is summer---with long days, short nights and one
activity after another! When you are checking your calendar to plan ahead, please be sure to turn to October and circle the 3rd! The more
people we have at the reunion the more fun it will be. :-) At the end of July or first part of August, we will send out a map and some more
specifics on the reunion.
As you reflect on those glorious days in that "Beautiful British Columbia," write down a few of those memories and send them to:
Nancy Kener 8537 Scottish Dr. Sandy, UT 84093 Nancy wants to put them together to give to President and Sister Preece
as a surprise at the reunion. You are invited to include your testimony and one 8.5 x 11 page will do. (Sorry, I haven't time to translate that
to metrics!) Please do this even if you don't think you can make it to the reunion.
A thought by Elder Robert D. Hales that I read recently so well defines the motivation behind all the work for this reunion and is something to
consider. "We cannot endure to the end alone. It is important that we help by lifting and strengthening one another."
We are very excited that we are still adding to our number of "found" missionaries. At this point about two thirds of our total number of
missionaries have been contacted. I personally appreciate the spouses and relatives who allow us to use their email addresses to keep in
touch. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you also to those that wrote me from the last email, it was fun to hear from all of you.
Take care,
Beverly :-)
May, 2003
Dear missionaries,
Can you believe that it is May already? It seems like only a few days ago when I wrote the last email but we want to make good our threat to
maintain contact at least once a month so it will be hard to forget that we are planning a reunion for 3 October 2003, the Friday evening before
General Conference that will be held in West Jordan, UT! :-)
Now, in order to know that all of you are READING these emails and that you know about the reunion, we need two things:
1. Please respond by sending your current address and phone number, (in case the email address dies and to make sure I have it
correct), for the directory, and-
2. Let us know if you are planning to attend, (we will understand if it is impossible, but try!!), so we can have a general idea of how many
are coming.
3. please send this and any future updates to: b7bair@sbcglobal.net
or mtmcanvan@byu.net (the latter is a permanent forwarding address
to me)
One other thing about that directory, as far as I'm concerned it should be treated the same as our ward directories and any other church
information-with a great deal of respect. I hope that we can use the information to re-establish contact with one another and for future
reunions.
This little email will be a little bit longer than I want but I need help. There is a list of missionaries whose email addresses have died
and for whom there is no other contact information. If you know how to contact any of these individuals, will you please do so and let them
know they are "lost" to us again and to send the information that we need? Thanks!!!!!
Jeffery Broeker, Donald Chatterton, Ted Clifton, Kelly Evans, Kenneth Eyre,
Kelly Farmer, Robert M. Garrett, David Griffiths, Gregory Layne Hoskins,
Layne Jones, Richard Loosli, Gene Ludlow, Bob Lystrup, Jim McAllister,
Danny Miller, Brian Nichols, Ray Preece, William Wood, *Duane Allen,
*Elwin S. Haderlie, *Robert Holmes, *Vickie Homer Boling, *Kathy Puckett Carter
*just need email address
Now, if you think that I'm stooping pretty low just to get email, you're absolutely right and I love it!! Please prove to me that it won't take
6 months to get this information from all of you! Thank you, thank you,
thank you for all the help you give me!
Take care and write soon.
Beverly
MTM Reuion Reminder - 6 Months and Counting
April, 2003
I hope all of you enjoyed General Conference as much as I did yesterday and today. What a special time of year this is! From my perspective
here in California there are tons of flowers in bloom that remind me of British Columbia and all the gorgeous flowers that greeted us as our
little group arrived in May. :-)
We are officially at 6 months and counting until our reunion at October Conference time!!! Since there are some names that have been added to
the email list as of the last message that was sent out; here is what we have planned so far:
Date: 3 October 2003
Place: West Jordan Institute (easy access from the Bangerter Highway).
Before the summer is over we will probably have more details of the evening planned so we can let you know. The most important thing is to
plan to come if at all possible and visit, visit, visit! The other most important thing is if/when you change email or snail mail
addresses/phone numbers, don't forget to send it to me, PLEASE!! b7bair@sbcglobal.net or mtmcanvan@byu.net We are gathering names and
addresses to put into a roster so that we don't have to work so hard to plan future reunions and hope to have it available on CD(less costly and
easier to transport) and a few hard copies for those who are allergic to computers. :}
We are still looking for missionaries but have found about 180 so far. The general consensus from those we have talked to is that we are
"family" and need to re-establish the friendships that we had as missionaries and support one another. Our sympathies to Nancy
(Kowallis) Kener who just lost her mother last week, we have been working closely together on this reunion.
Here's a thought I came across today: "The years have come and the years have gone, but the need for a testimony of the gospel continues
paramount." President Thomas S. Monson Ensign, Nov. 1999, 20
Take care and have a really great week,
Beverly :-)
ANOTHER MOUNTAIN TOP MISSION REUNION!!
For those missionaries that served under President Preece from
October 1974 to July 1977 we are planning another mission reunion to take place October 3, 2003! At the end of the reunion last July,
President Preece expressed a desire to have another reunion and concentrate on finding the missionaries that served under him. Thanks
to Dixie Adair for getting this all started, now a couple of us "oldies" decided to keep it going! We have blown off dust from old records, and
searched for names everywhere and thanks to some sentimentality, we have a nearly complete list!! Please look carefully at the list
below, if your name is on it or you know someone that is not on it or how to
contact someone that is listed on it, please send an email to Beverly Bair, b7bair@sbcglobal.net; or Nancy
(Kowallis) Kener, swissmr@juno.com . Don't forget to mark this date on your calendar, it won't be half as
much fun without ALL of you there if at all possible!!
Your October 2003 Mission Reunion Committee,
Gary Deaton, Beverly Bair, Nancy Kener
Hi Everybody! January 31,2003
Seems hard to believe that we have come to the end of January already but the older we get, the faster time goes!! Our reunion committee is happily adding more individuals to our found list, at last count we have about 175 missionaries out of about 312 located and accounted for, but we are working hard to find as many as possible. President Preece is looking forward to seeing everyone.
Please dont forget to circle 3 October 2003 on your calendar! That is the Friday before October General Conference. Even if right now it seems impossible, think about it. For those of us that were able to get together last July 2002, the time spent was worth it.
If there is ANYONE from the mission you talk to that hasnt been contacted, PLEASE let us know. Thanks!!!
Please send any updates to mtmcanvan@byu.net
Have a great day!
Beverly J
The Reunion 2003 Committee (Gary Deaton, Nancy Kowallis Kener, Beverly Bair, and anybody else we get to help!!)
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