MEMORIES OF WENDY
From the moment Wendy was born, she was smothered with LOVE. This sweet, fair, blonde, precious baby doll was not to be resisted! All babies bring their own individual kind of love with them, but with Wendy it radiated from every part of her. You were drawn to her. A bundle of pure happiness.
As a fairly new baby, she became very sick. The doctors didn’t know what to do, and told Auntie Tia and Uncle Bob to prepare for the worst. This was not something Auntie could accept, and begged Father In Heaven to spare her. Using the priesthood, Uncle Bob blessed her and she recovered. It was a miracle. We all cried tears of joy. I was 6 years old at the time, and I remember it well. Wendy was my real live baby doll. And I fashioned myself her mother while I played house with her.
Wendy was a pretty good baby, but as all little babes do, she would get fussy and cry. Sheri thought it was her duty as big sister (ha,ha. By only a couple of years…) to climb in the crib and get her out and take her to mama and prove she was crying! Sheri slung this little one up over her shoulder with all the confidence of a seasoned babysitter to gather some comfort for her little baby sister. Luckily, Wendy survived!
Her reputation in the family was the baby doll lover. She had a well-loved collection of dollies. All the other siblings knew what to expect on Christmas morning as far as Wendy was concerned! A new baby doll to love and care for. They were her most favorite presents and she nurtured, rocked, sang to, and bundled those dollies. She loved being a ‘mommy’, and those dollies prepared her for when her own little ones arrived.
While living in San Bernardino on Arden Street, she had lots of adventures. One of which was
playing in the mud. Can you just picture tow-headed Wendy covered in mud and loving every single minute of it? There was a place on the side yard that the kids would water with the hose and make a big mud patch. OH! There is such a difference between being careless and carefree! And carefree she was. Although, I don’t think Mrs. Lawrence next door was very appreciative!
Uncle Rodney gave the Walgren family a rick-shaw. Wendy was the little darling that always got to ride in the rick-shaw because she was the littlest. Shelly and Sheri were the designated ‘pullers’ and they will tell you that they were just a bit envious of her position.
Practically everyone who knows the Walgren family, knows that they are campers. Every single kind of camping you can think of. And they are GOOD campers. I remember them packing up their little Volkswagon station wagon to the brim and beyond with the kids tucked in to the nooks and crannies that were left over. Wendy had a teeny space. But no complaining. On a camping trip to Domingo Springs with the Hurdsman cousins, she dropped her fork in the dirt. Auntie Tia told her to walk over to the water spigot near their tents. All of a sudden they heard a shrill, (like her mother) blood curdling, piercing scream. A deer had wandered into the campsite and came right up to the water spigot to get a drink. It scared her to death! Here was the deer not frightened of her at all sharing the faucet with her dirty fork.
She would often get the raw end of the deal on these camping trips when the air mattresses were pushed together and her sleeping assignment was right in the middle. Sometime during the night she ended up on the floor of the tent.
A favorite pastime was playing ‘store’. One time the girls decided to do this in the garage on Arden. Imagine Auntie Tia’s surprise when she came out to check on them only to find that they had emptied all the trash from the garbage cans and set up their ‘store’! The empty tin cans of soup, vegetables, and fruit, milk cartons, cottage cheese, sour cream, bread and chip bags all lined up just like grocery store shelves. Rotten produce piled up to resemble beautiful displays! Wendy was so proud, while Auntie was in shock sending her into premature contractions with David.
We used to have family sleepovers with the cousins. Wendy’s culinary skills began to bud as a little girl when she would pull a chair in our kitchen up to the bread board and be in charge of making the breakfast toast. She took this VERY seriously, and Lisa remembers her making the best and most perfect golden brown toast ever. She would peer into the top of the toaster until it was just the right color.
She and Russell are only 13 months apart and they shared the same grade in school, same teachers, and same homework, and same social problems sticking together through them. She would come and support him playing his basketball games and he always appreciated that.
She loved to spend her summer days tanning in her red bikini with Sheri. Those two could have been poster girls for the Coppertone ads, especially Wendy with her blonde hair and that dark brown tan. The younger cousins used to call her ‘smokin’ HOT!
Wendy didn’t really like to be alone. Even on her dates. She conned David into going with her quite a few times. He was young, and would always ask where they were going. One time she told him they were going to go to the Submarine Races. They drove to Silverwood Lake. He spent the whole time looking at the lake trying to get a glimpse of those submarines. He never did see them and couldn’t understand how they were racing all the while Wendy and her date were making out!
Wendy loved at wedding receptions as the bride and groom were leaving, to say, “They are off to explore the 7 wonders of the world!” All the younger cousins thought that was such a grown up declaration and wanted to know what it meant. She would just smile.
If you haven’t heard, Russell is known as “the Big Cheese”. Wendy dubbed this title on him at church when he was speaking before leaving on his mission. And it has stuck ever since!
She sent a card of encouragement to him in Ecuador. On the front was an illustration of a big animal with an umbrella protecting a smaller animal. Inside were words of love and reassurance. He kept it all these years, and during a particularly difficult time for her not too long ago, he sent the card back to her with the same message. Wendy lived her life by the adage, What Goes Around Comes Around.
Wendy had style. She had flair. Her make-up was always perfect, and her hair and especially her bangs went perfectly. She loved fashion and her ‘bling’! Rarely would you catch her without her jewelry on and nails done.
She was organized and meticulous. An unbelievable crafter. She could handle a drill, hammer, or a saw with no fear. Her home was full of the things that made her ‘tick’. Her tole painting, her scrapbooking. When her niece, Tiffany, got married, she quietly went around taking pictures and later on surprised her with a beautiful wedding album. The caliber of detail, journaling, and expertise in this scrapbooking gift overflowed with care and love. No one had asked her to do this. She just volunteered it of herself. So many of us are recipients of her compassion and giving. She never really expected anything in return. You could often hear her say, “I felt so happy doing it for them!” And she really meant it. I have hanging in my laundry room a small placque over the sink that she made for me many years ago ‘just because’. It says: “May you find the strength to face tomorrow in the love that surrounds you today.” She had no idea, nor did I, how much that would mean to me in future days when I faced some of my own trials. I needed that sentiment and love from my dear little cousin.
She had good talks and conversations with others. Wendy loved to send letters or cards with confetti in them. We learned to open those envelopes slowly and carefully!
After one family get together, I was going on and on to my dad about how much fun I’d had with a particular cousin who I had really enjoyed being with. He in turn said to me, “Well, you know who my favorite is? Wendy. She has no guile.” I’ve never forgotten that.
After her initial surgery and chemo, she attended a Look Good, Feel Good class with Sheri where they learned tips on wigs and makeup. The instructor asked for a volunteer and Wendy pulled her wig right off. Sheri exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! Your head is perfect!” and from then on she had more confidence.
A favorite gift was a box full of daily inspirational thoughts from a friend. She would pick out a particular one that inspired her and share it with Shelly each week during their Saturday phone calls. Those triggered long conversations together of hope and love.
When she was first diagnosed with cancer, she asked David for a blessing. He did all he could to prepare to give it. A priesthood blessing is always a sacred experience for the priesthood holder, the one receiving the blessing and those present. He was strongly inspired to bless her that she would be healed. And she was. For a while. Later on when the cancer returned, she asked him again for a blessing. This time the spirit told him she would not have a long time left on the earth. He struggled with the result of the two blessings, and grew in learning to accept Father In Heaven’s will and trusting in His wisdom.
One of my favorite memories is going to the temple with her. I was there with her when she went for the first time to receive her endowment. And when she returned again many years later. She was so excited and nervous at the same time. But so pleased that she had accomplished this goal. We held hands the whole time and shared something unique that can only be found in that sacred place. It was but a glimpse of that precious eternity she has moved on to now.
While I was a Primary child, the chorus to the song I Am A Child Of God was changed. I had learned it as Lead me, Guide Me, Walk beside me, Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must know to live with Him someday. Only one word was changed: Know to DO. Teach me all that I must DO, to live with Him someday.
Wendy came to understand that it is not enough to KNOW.
It is not enough to FEEL.
It is not enough to TALK.
We must WALK the WALK. We must DO. We must learn all that we must DO, and then DO IT, to live with Him someday.
She bore her burdens well, and because of them she had increased empathy for others, keeping her baptismal covenants to mourn with those that mourn and help bear another’s burden.
My dear family, and brothers and sisters. It has been said that the mark of a good funeral is in its ability to move those who attend to evaluate their own lives and make course corrections however large or small. Let’s each of us participate in this process in the days to come.
Bear testimony…
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
From the moment Wendy was born, she was smothered with LOVE. This sweet, fair, blonde, precious baby doll was not to be resisted! All babies bring their own individual kind of love with them, but with Wendy it radiated from every part of her. You were drawn to her. A bundle of pure happiness.
As a fairly new baby, she became very sick. The doctors didn’t know what to do, and told Auntie Tia and Uncle Bob to prepare for the worst. This was not something Auntie could accept, and begged Father In Heaven to spare her. Using the priesthood, Uncle Bob blessed her and she recovered. It was a miracle. We all cried tears of joy. I was 6 years old at the time, and I remember it well. Wendy was my real live baby doll. And I fashioned myself her mother while I played house with her.
Wendy was a pretty good baby, but as all little babes do, she would get fussy and cry. Sheri thought it was her duty as big sister (ha,ha. By only a couple of years…) to climb in the crib and get her out and take her to mama and prove she was crying! Sheri slung this little one up over her shoulder with all the confidence of a seasoned babysitter to gather some comfort for her little baby sister. Luckily, Wendy survived!
Her reputation in the family was the baby doll lover. She had a well-loved collection of dollies. All the other siblings knew what to expect on Christmas morning as far as Wendy was concerned! A new baby doll to love and care for. They were her most favorite presents and she nurtured, rocked, sang to, and bundled those dollies. She loved being a ‘mommy’, and those dollies prepared her for when her own little ones arrived.
While living in San Bernardino on Arden Street, she had lots of adventures. One of which was
playing in the mud. Can you just picture tow-headed Wendy covered in mud and loving every single minute of it? There was a place on the side yard that the kids would water with the hose and make a big mud patch. OH! There is such a difference between being careless and carefree! And carefree she was. Although, I don’t think Mrs. Lawrence next door was very appreciative!
Uncle Rodney gave the Walgren family a rick-shaw. Wendy was the little darling that always got to ride in the rick-shaw because she was the littlest. Shelly and Sheri were the designated ‘pullers’ and they will tell you that they were just a bit envious of her position.
Practically everyone who knows the Walgren family, knows that they are campers. Every single kind of camping you can think of. And they are GOOD campers. I remember them packing up their little Volkswagon station wagon to the brim and beyond with the kids tucked in to the nooks and crannies that were left over. Wendy had a teeny space. But no complaining. On a camping trip to Domingo Springs with the Hurdsman cousins, she dropped her fork in the dirt. Auntie Tia told her to walk over to the water spigot near their tents. All of a sudden they heard a shrill, (like her mother) blood curdling, piercing scream. A deer had wandered into the campsite and came right up to the water spigot to get a drink. It scared her to death! Here was the deer not frightened of her at all sharing the faucet with her dirty fork.
She would often get the raw end of the deal on these camping trips when the air mattresses were pushed together and her sleeping assignment was right in the middle. Sometime during the night she ended up on the floor of the tent.
A favorite pastime was playing ‘store’. One time the girls decided to do this in the garage on Arden. Imagine Auntie Tia’s surprise when she came out to check on them only to find that they had emptied all the trash from the garbage cans and set up their ‘store’! The empty tin cans of soup, vegetables, and fruit, milk cartons, cottage cheese, sour cream, bread and chip bags all lined up just like grocery store shelves. Rotten produce piled up to resemble beautiful displays! Wendy was so proud, while Auntie was in shock sending her into premature contractions with David.
We used to have family sleepovers with the cousins. Wendy’s culinary skills began to bud as a little girl when she would pull a chair in our kitchen up to the bread board and be in charge of making the breakfast toast. She took this VERY seriously, and Lisa remembers her making the best and most perfect golden brown toast ever. She would peer into the top of the toaster until it was just the right color.
She and Russell are only 13 months apart and they shared the same grade in school, same teachers, and same homework, and same social problems sticking together through them. She would come and support him playing his basketball games and he always appreciated that.
She loved to spend her summer days tanning in her red bikini with Sheri. Those two could have been poster girls for the Coppertone ads, especially Wendy with her blonde hair and that dark brown tan. The younger cousins used to call her ‘smokin’ HOT!
Wendy didn’t really like to be alone. Even on her dates. She conned David into going with her quite a few times. He was young, and would always ask where they were going. One time she told him they were going to go to the Submarine Races. They drove to Silverwood Lake. He spent the whole time looking at the lake trying to get a glimpse of those submarines. He never did see them and couldn’t understand how they were racing all the while Wendy and her date were making out!
Wendy loved at wedding receptions as the bride and groom were leaving, to say, “They are off to explore the 7 wonders of the world!” All the younger cousins thought that was such a grown up declaration and wanted to know what it meant. She would just smile.
If you haven’t heard, Russell is known as “the Big Cheese”. Wendy dubbed this title on him at church when he was speaking before leaving on his mission. And it has stuck ever since!
She sent a card of encouragement to him in Ecuador. On the front was an illustration of a big animal with an umbrella protecting a smaller animal. Inside were words of love and reassurance. He kept it all these years, and during a particularly difficult time for her not too long ago, he sent the card back to her with the same message. Wendy lived her life by the adage, What Goes Around Comes Around.
Wendy had style. She had flair. Her make-up was always perfect, and her hair and especially her bangs went perfectly. She loved fashion and her ‘bling’! Rarely would you catch her without her jewelry on and nails done.
She was organized and meticulous. An unbelievable crafter. She could handle a drill, hammer, or a saw with no fear. Her home was full of the things that made her ‘tick’. Her tole painting, her scrapbooking. When her niece, Tiffany, got married, she quietly went around taking pictures and later on surprised her with a beautiful wedding album. The caliber of detail, journaling, and expertise in this scrapbooking gift overflowed with care and love. No one had asked her to do this. She just volunteered it of herself. So many of us are recipients of her compassion and giving. She never really expected anything in return. You could often hear her say, “I felt so happy doing it for them!” And she really meant it. I have hanging in my laundry room a small placque over the sink that she made for me many years ago ‘just because’. It says: “May you find the strength to face tomorrow in the love that surrounds you today.” She had no idea, nor did I, how much that would mean to me in future days when I faced some of my own trials. I needed that sentiment and love from my dear little cousin.
She had good talks and conversations with others. Wendy loved to send letters or cards with confetti in them. We learned to open those envelopes slowly and carefully!
After one family get together, I was going on and on to my dad about how much fun I’d had with a particular cousin who I had really enjoyed being with. He in turn said to me, “Well, you know who my favorite is? Wendy. She has no guile.” I’ve never forgotten that.
After her initial surgery and chemo, she attended a Look Good, Feel Good class with Sheri where they learned tips on wigs and makeup. The instructor asked for a volunteer and Wendy pulled her wig right off. Sheri exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! Your head is perfect!” and from then on she had more confidence.
A favorite gift was a box full of daily inspirational thoughts from a friend. She would pick out a particular one that inspired her and share it with Shelly each week during their Saturday phone calls. Those triggered long conversations together of hope and love.
When she was first diagnosed with cancer, she asked David for a blessing. He did all he could to prepare to give it. A priesthood blessing is always a sacred experience for the priesthood holder, the one receiving the blessing and those present. He was strongly inspired to bless her that she would be healed. And she was. For a while. Later on when the cancer returned, she asked him again for a blessing. This time the spirit told him she would not have a long time left on the earth. He struggled with the result of the two blessings, and grew in learning to accept Father In Heaven’s will and trusting in His wisdom.
One of my favorite memories is going to the temple with her. I was there with her when she went for the first time to receive her endowment. And when she returned again many years later. She was so excited and nervous at the same time. But so pleased that she had accomplished this goal. We held hands the whole time and shared something unique that can only be found in that sacred place. It was but a glimpse of that precious eternity she has moved on to now.
While I was a Primary child, the chorus to the song I Am A Child Of God was changed. I had learned it as Lead me, Guide Me, Walk beside me, Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must know to live with Him someday. Only one word was changed: Know to DO. Teach me all that I must DO, to live with Him someday.
Wendy came to understand that it is not enough to KNOW.
It is not enough to FEEL.
It is not enough to TALK.
We must WALK the WALK. We must DO. We must learn all that we must DO, and then DO IT, to live with Him someday.
She bore her burdens well, and because of them she had increased empathy for others, keeping her baptismal covenants to mourn with those that mourn and help bear another’s burden.
My dear family, and brothers and sisters. It has been said that the mark of a good funeral is in its ability to move those who attend to evaluate their own lives and make course corrections however large or small. Let’s each of us participate in this process in the days to come.
Bear testimony…
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
1 comment:
Beautifully said.
Love Mom
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