"Finally, a Pinterest Idea That Worked!"

Whitney had spied several braided buns that would look good with her hair. This afternoon we grabbed the bobby pins and the brush. Voila--

Winter Walk

I took my Cannon 50mm fixed f1.8 for a walk this afternoon. It turns out that the photos look better in black and white than in their original color. January is like that--bleak, gray and dingy. The deer and birds were my only companions, plus a chocolate Lab gnawing on a deer carcass as I passed on my way up the Havasupi Training trail.

A Sunny Day to Say Goodbye

Dear Bradleykins (Bradley has about 6 months left in London on his mission.),

                I want to let you know that your Great Grandma Prediger died last Tuesday. She had congestive heart failure, but that doesn’t kill a person right off. Monday morning in the wee hours, 2 AM, GGrandma got up and fell hitting her head really hard. Steve was sleeping and didn’t know she had fallen until he received a call. GGrandma must have fallen on or triggered the monitor she wears around her neck. She seemed lucid until later that afternoon when Uncle Steve called my mom, Grandma Hillyard to come over. GGma didn’t recognize Carol, my mom. She had black and blue spots from the fall.  My mom stayed with her till she died at 5AM the next morning.

We believe a bleed in her brain caused her death. The nurse advised my mom and Uncle Steve to simply let her die naturally, rather than rushing her to the emergency room. My mom really appreciates that advice, now, looking back on the situation. As a close, loved-one you can be racked with guilt making a decision like that, although it’s for the best.  I’ll attach the eulogy I wrote for GGma. I read it at the grave side service we held for her. It was like a mini funeral. Although there was a temperature inversion in Murrary, UT that afternoon at 1PM, the sun shone brilliantly down upon us. We miss GGma, but we knew her body was failing. I was pleased to meet Grandma & pa Hillyard’s bishop, Bis. John Stowell. My dad worked with him for several years as his ward clerk. Bis. Stowell conducted the grave side service because GGma’s bishop had jury duty. This bishop was released from jury duty, rather rejectedJ, and he hurried to GGma’s graveside. These men are amazing. The service they provide is so important.

                A funny part of the service actually occurred afterwards conversing around the grave. Shannon, Whitney, Daniel and I had practiced the Primary song, A Child’s Prayer, which we were scheduled to perform while we were in the car headed to the graveside. Paul, Janelle and their boys were scheduled to sing, as well as, two darling little girls, Ari and Bella Triafon sp? who visited GGma Prediger with their mother as volunteers. Dear Bis. Stowell closed the program after Paul’s family sang—YES!!!—but before the Smith family had sung. I was not about to inform him of his mistake. There had been enough singing.  The funny part was Aunt Janelle. She came up to me immediately afterwards and said, “How did you draw that Get-Out of Singing card.  NO FAIR!” I smiled, and smiled, and smiled. They didn’t know how lucky they all were because I didn’t sing. While earlier the Smith family practiced in the car, Bob, sweet man that he is, kept quietly singing in-tune for me as I practiced the descant part of “A Child’s Prayer.” Do you remember what a hard time Bob/Dad had teaching me the Cougar fight song as we drove from Kimberly, ID to our Lindon home? It’s hilarious to remember, but not so funny as its happening.

                Dad and I are going to visit Grandpa Smith at the University of Utah hospital. At a doctor’s check up this past Friday the nurse discovered that GSmith had an extremely low hematocrit level. After much consternation trying to admit GSmith to the hospital, 6 hours later at 1AM, he was IN! There must be a “bleed” somewhere, but the hospital must perform testing and, of course, no testing will happen on the weekend; however, GSmith received a couple of blood transfusion and is in ICU. Dad and I are going to encourage Kirma and Anita to get him hospice care which is provided in your own home.  GGma Prediger was in hospice care and it was a life saver. Hum, is that a bad pun in the last sentence?

                Dad and I had a very good visit with Anita, GpaSmith and GmaSmith at the University of Utah hospital. I’ll let Dad tell you about it. After we returned home I texted Mariah and we delivered her birthday cake with traditional song included. I covered the top of her cake with M&M’s because her name is Mariah Moody—her initials. Now, I’m off to watch Sherlock. I’ve got a date with Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the homeliest UK actors out there, but I love Sherlock.

Love your guts, my BOY,

MOMOMOMOMOMOMOMOMOM

Esther Ann Prediger, My Maternal Grandmother, Died Today

Ann and Carol

     Before I was born an old gypsy woman told my grandmother she would live to be 90 years old and find love again. 

Esther Ann was blessed with two beautiful girls during her first marriage, but not a faithful husband. She wanted to find love again. After leaving Germany during the occupation in 1948 after the end of WWII, Ann returned to the USA to seek a divorce. One look at my beautiful grandmother and the gypsy woman could have easily predicted she would find love again. She was gorgeous and vivacious, but 90 years of life? That would be extraordinary. 

     Sixty-six years later, my beautiful grandmother, and doppleganger of Elizabeth Taylor, died this morning at 5AM in Salt Lake City, UT after 92 years of life. Her daughter, Carol, tended her through the last hours of her life. Although Ann was not conscious, her body fought approaching death and Carol was glad that Ann was unaware of the physical throws of this transtion. Ann's son, Steve, was exhausted from the past several days of assisting his mother. He had accompanied Ann during most of her last widowed years of life. 

     Esther was born on March 3, 1921, in Logan, Utah, to Anna Jane Sant Hatch and Hyrum Ezra Hatch. 

 Her parents cherished her and her brothers toughened her into the most ravishing tomboy Holly, Colorado had ever experienced. 

Esther Ann and Paul

The caboose of the family, Martha, was a beloved sister to Ann, now, no longer the "only girl."

Martha and Esther Hatch

     Her beauty wasn't wasted on a retiring personality, but rather Ann's keen mind and wit drove her to perform hilarious monologues for admiring school and church groups. Her talented seamtress mother clothed her in lovely dresses and even used Ann's close friend in Colorado as a "dress form" to create a formal gown for Ann who needed a formal dress for the Utah State University formal in Logan, Utah. Ann's teens years were a dancing, delicious blur of group games and dances in the sugar company warehouse and her mother's good cooking.

     Regarding Ann's first marriage, beautiful Ann was deceived by Clayne Tripp's handsome cleft chin and engaging intellect. 

Esther Ann and Clayne Tripp

But the delightful result of their union were two highly intelligent, exquisite daughters. 

Lynda and Carol Tripp

After the divorce and beginning anew in California, Ann later met and married (21 Aug 1949) Byron Prediger, a handsome chemist at the company for which she worked.

Byron and Ann Prediger

 On April 6, 1953, Ann and Byron bore a dark-haired handsome son, named Steven Hunter, in Downey, CA, near their home in Hollydale. 

Steve Hunter Prediger

     The oil business took Ann and her family to Houston, Texas, where she raised her family and Byron joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints being baptized on May 27, 1971. 

Carol, Lynda, Steve, Ann

Ann and Karen Hillyard, granddaughter.

Lynda, Ann, Steve, Carol

Byron and Ann were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on July 28, 1975. During this time Ann would often visit her daughter, Carol, in Utah. Ann loved trips to Star Valley, WY, and floating and fishing the warm water of Lake Powell, UT. 

Ann Prediger

Byron Prediger

Ann Prediger Lake Powell, UT

The highlight of one trip to Lake Powell was hooking an enormous cat fish in the fertile lake waters near the houseboat dock used for sewage sucking services. 

Steve Prediger catching fish.

Ann Prediger and grandaughter, Renae Hillyard Star Valley, WY

     Ann was charming and engaging till the end. Loving hospice nurses and assistants wept when they heard about her death.  The last several years of her life she bore the burden of blindness by listening to books on tape which she would borrow through the library system. Her son, Steve, helped her attend family holidays and feasts. Throughout nearly a century of life she reigned as a benevolent matriarch, and that gpysy woman got it wrong--Ann never married a third time for companionship.

Brandon Hillyard, Ann, Darin and Ryan Hillyard, great-grandsons.

Ann and Bradley Smith, great-grandson

Ann, Thanksgiving 28 November 2013