My Ray was born ---
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ray! (DAD, GRANDPA, UNCLE, BROTHER, ELDER, etc)
Today is Ray's 79th Birthday -- and he's still going strong!
What a delight for him to be able to continue serving the Lord, even at this advanced stage of his life. Hoooorah!!
We continually look back on our lives in wonder and awe at all the wonderful things we've been able to do -- it is certainly a treasure book of memories!
From our early struggles with getting Ray's schooling finished and starting our family, to all the years in the Church Educational System (Arizona, Montana and Utah) and the joys of missionary service (Barbados, West Indies; Roanoke, VA; St. George, UT; and Palmyra, NY) we have enjoyed the choice blessings of our Heavenly Father.We have three WONDERFUL children -- Kevin, Kristi, and Glenn and they have blessed our lives continually. And then they have given us eleven ADORABLE grandchildren -- (4) Kristin, Justin, Kyle, Kelley; (5) Jaron, Trisha, Clinton, Tanessa, Jacob; (2) Brooke, Jacob. And in turn some of those grandchildren have married and have given us eight simply DARLING little great grandchildren -- Emmy, Carter, Ashton, Lilly; Ali, Grant; Corgin; Addi. (P.S. I want to add that we also have some GREAT in-laws in our family: son-in-law Brent Simonson; daughters-in-law Edith Ann Hamblin and Susan Hamblin. And several grandchildren in-laws: Heather Simonson; Katie Simonson; Daniel Evans; Jacob Larsen.) What else could we ever want?? All of you have blessed our lives tremendously!! THANK YOU!
Ray has had a wonderful life -- from his carefree days in Eagar, AZ where he enjoyed the small town atmosphere of knowing everybody in town and sharing his life with lots of relatives and many great friends. Enjoying his life as a "cowboy" and small town "dude."We met in Provo, UT when he came to go to college at BYU. Here he found another fun family to be a part of his life, he loved them and they loved him! It was a school year romance for 2 years, with Ray returning home each summer to work for the US Forest Service. Then in June 1950 he accepted a mission call and served in the West Central States Mission for 2 years. We became engaged in Nov. 1951 with a "mail order" ring sent from the missionfield. Ha! He returned from his mission in June and we were married August 15, 1952 -- six weeks after his return. It has been a wonderful life together!!
The purpose of this little bit of history is to let all of our family (children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren) know what a GREAT man this Grandpa is. He honors his Priesthood and loves the Lord, he has a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He loves serving the Lord and also serving all those around him; he loves all of his family with honorable devotion and sacrifices many times so others can be comfortable and enjoy life.He has always made my life enjoyable and happy and I THINK I WILL KEEP HIM!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HONEY!!!
10 comments:
Happy Birthday Grandpa! We hope it is a good one. We love you.
Happy Birthday Grandpa, I can only hope my life story at 79 years old would even be half as great as yours! I love you and we will always share a special bond!!! Tess
Happy Birthday Dad! I'm so glad that mom put this post on her blog...I wanted to post a birthday blog for you, but I had hardly any pictures, but I wanted to say what a great father, and example you are to me. I would have said that I admire your loyalty, your dilligence, and your awesome sense of humor...I love that you always try to see the very best in people, even when there doesn't seem to be much to see...you are always positive and corteous and considerate. I love you and look up to you always...
Happy Birthday Grandpa!! We love you so much and think you are the best example to us. I was thinking the other day and remembered how much fun we had growing up around you. I told Ali that whenever we went to visit Grandpa, he would always tell us bedtime stories. He would let us help him make up the stories and we loved it and thought he was so funny. She thought that sounded really fun and I was very happy that I remembered that because it is one of my favorite memories with my grandpa! Happy Birthday and I hope you were able to enjoy your day!!
Happy Birthday Grandpa. . . (a little late) You are such an amazing person and I am so lucky to have become part of this family. I love the example you set and our kids pray every night that Grandma and Grandpa can "get home safe". I hope you had a wonderful day and that the Lord continues to bless you and Grandma. We are sure enjoying your ward here, the people are just amazing! Love ya Tons!
Happy Be-lated Birthday, Uncle Ray!! We sure love you guys! We do feel it a privilege to know you and have enjoyed the time we have spent with you, out there in New York and here in Utah. One of the many favorite things about you that I love is your sense of humor!! Keep it up!! And keep those younger missionaries in line for us!! Hee Hee
Happy Birthday Elder Honey. It is good to read your lovely wife's tribute to you. 79 and counting not to shabby.
We loved reading about your history. Ray, you look and seem much younger than your age. Guess your young wife keeps you looking good! Thanks for your friendship and example. love, Flynns
Dear Elder and Sister Hamblin,
Happy belated birthday to the old geezer. We love your blog and reading your comments on our blog. You are such great missionary examples to us and all who know you. The time is flying by too fast. We are at the 6 month mark and hoping the time will slow down so we can accomplish all we have to do here. We were thinking that you are at about the 1 year mark. We would one day like to serve a Church history mission. That would be so fun and you have the added blessing of being ordinance workers! That is like having your cake and eating it too. We miss the Temple so much. We will get to the Johannesburg Temple in July.
Keep up the excellent work,
E/S Bird
birdr2We think it is wonderful that Ray could be on a mission on his 80th birthday.We hope our health and mind will be with us when we are 80
We wanted to wish Donna a Happy Birthday on saturday April 11. We hope you can have a big ice cream cone.
You are a great example to all of us. Love the Birds
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