Dash LF#6 Irma & Bob and Mom & Dad

           I loved my brother’s descriptions (here) of a couple who had lived in my mom’s ward for most of Corey’s life. I had known the family who had lived in the house before them.  Lily Black and I were very close friends – until after she moved and we had lost touch. 

          I don’t know if I was still in high school when Howards moved into the house where Blacks had lived.  I don’t recall how many children they had as Blaine was the only one living at home.  He had an older brother who was serving a mission.  I met him for the first time when I was going to Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho.  He had come to drop something off.  I don’t even remember what.  I recognized him as I thought he looked so much like his dad.

          I’m guessing that Bob and Irma were in their sixties when they had moved into our neighborhood.  Over the years we learned a bit about where they were from, how they met, why Bob’s speech sounded as though he were struggling to get the words out.  Everybody in the ward had to have known that they were from Logan and had been raised in much different generation in which things were always a certain way and there was no change.  They missed seeing the world evolve around them.

          But oh, what love and devotion each of them had for the other. We especially noticed it with Bob after Irma had surrendered her mind to Alzheimer’s.  She became fragile and he kept her at home and doted on her.  I did not see them so much after I got married, but had heard about how each of them was doing.

          My own parents saw the world differently.  They knew life outside of Logan, Utah.  They experienced change.  They were aware of diversity.  And they loved each other every bit as Bob and Irma loved one another.  Many years before Bob took care of Irma with her unstable mind, my mom had catered to my dad’s needs as his brain stopped sending signals to control his muscles.  Both couples experienced unconditional love for one another – the kind of love I would be willing to adapt into my own marriage.  Making our love stronger with each passing year and giving to one another more than 100%.