+THIS WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2012 FOR THE GIBERIGINAL BLOG+
A week ago Sunday, Sister Sheri Dew* came to Mesa to speak at a fireside for a Young Single Adult Stake in our area. At the time arrangements were first being talked about, the YSA branch involved in inviting Sister Dew was still part of our stake. Because of that, my stake became the host for the event and I got to be the one corresponding with Sister Dew's assistant (I served as Stake Relief Society president at the time.) (In June our little YSA singles branch was incorporated into a YSA stake.) The fireside was wonderful, and the family that was there all got to meet Sheri Dew. At the request of President Decker (our stake president and Jarom's father-in-law) I put together a little thank you gift for her and she actually hugged me after I gave it to her. :)
Anyway, fast forward a few days...Judy arrived in town in time to attend the fireside, then on Monday we started our project scanning mom's journals, personal history, and the family history. We had an awesome scanner borrowed from the Deckers which was fast and would scan both sides of a page at once. Judy returned to Utah on Wednesday and we're now working on organizing the files to get them in a fashion suitable for family consumption--personal history and family history specifically.
On Friday I chose a journal to read of the ones Judy left behind...
Mom recorded in January 1989 that Dad was in the hospital and his roommate was Charles Dew from Ulysses, Kansas. Mom and Dad became acquainted with him and his wife JoAnn and learned of their family--the oldest daughter was Sheri who had recently authored President Benson's biography. Dad was released from the hospital, but the next day or so they returned to visit Brother Dew. Sister Dew gave them a copy of President Benson's biography--signed by Sheri Dew and the Prophet. I went to my bookshelf and took out our copy of the biography and opened it to find that it was the very book given from the Dews to our parents. It has their book stamp in it. After mom's death and dad's remarriage, he gave away many things that were duplicates or wouldn't fit into Karla's house, so that is how I received the book. It was a tender moment to find that tangible connection between Mom and Dad and the Dews.
In reading further into 1990 I found that Sheri Dew was the guest speaker at their women's conference and spoke at Lubbock's women's conference as well. She attended church in their ward in Amarillo that Sunday. Mom was in the Stake Relief Society presidency at the time and was behind the request for Sheri to come. It was so sweet to have just met Sister Dew after the Mesa fireside the Sunday prior and then find this connection with our parents, and particularly Mom.
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