September and Birthdays

Happy Wedding Anniversary on Sept 4 to Gentri and Heber.  And this month has a number of birthdays!

7th - Carly Palmer
8th - Heber Green
13th - Starla Millward
19th - Georgette Shosted
29th - Lenna Brown Hiss

For Carly's 32nd birthday, her mom Lori and Grandma Barbara spent the evening enjoying USU whip U of U in overtime and eating birthday cake and ice cream.  The next morning the three of them toured 7 Historic Logan Utah homes.  What a fun experience (love to do annually)!  Graciously, Daddy Jay watched all four boys.  A lunch was then shared by all Carly's family and Lori, Gran Barbs.

We understand Heber celebrated his 28th birthday with a Pizza/ Cupcake shindig at their home in Lorton, Virginia.  Leo sported a new onesy with his name on the front--made by his mama.

I plan to spotlight Grandma Lenna Hiss with some info from her life and some photos in this blog.

A number of our family members are students this Fall. Mattie is a sophomore at SUU in Cedar city.  He is enrolled in macroeconomics, microeconomics and algebra among other subjects.  He loves being back at school after a hot, sticky suummer in Arkansas.  Judd continues Pre-school in LaCrosse Wisconsin.  Wren will wait a bit longer before she goes, so she and Ford help momma and do Mommy School.  Leo attends Mommy and Baby activities (see photos on Gentrigreen.blogspot.com).  The Palmer boys are attending school in the Willard/Perry area, where they are moving very soon.  Their home is still under construction and is moving along well.  Jay says insulation was added this past weekend.  Jaxson attends 2nd Grade at Willard Elementary and has made a new friend by the name of Brigham Perry.  Nasch is a first grader at Perry Elementary and is making many new friends.  Graedy is starting into Pre-school in Perry and loves to go, although was a bit anxious at first.  Ryder and momma take care of each other while waiting to pick up the brothers.  They stop by the new house regularly, to check on things.

Grandpa Matt started back to his second year of teaching seminary at Stansbury High School.

Grandpa Matt and Grans Lori experienced a shift in their ward situation, which allowed Grandpa Matt to be released from his position as bishop of the Grantsville Clark-2nd Ward.  He plans to garden more, and re-build the playhouse for the grandkids, and other projects.  They will now be in the Grantsville 10th ward.

LENNA BROWN HISS  1900-1980

Lenna was born on 29 September, 1900 at Mt. Pleasant, Utah, to Hans George Brown and Anna Orthelia McClenahan Brown.  She grew up in Mt. Pleasant where she was given much love, affection and attention by her parents.  She was an only child until she was 17 years old, when her brother George"Bud" or "Mac" McClenahan Brown was born.  Lenna loved poetry, music, and was taught manners and etiquette.  These remained very important to her throughout her life.  Her favorite poem shows this:  "A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever" by John Keats.  She learned the value of good manners which to her included elements such as the use of correct grammer, as well as consideration for others.  

We could say she was "particular" in everything she did.  She sought excellence in school and continued her academic training at the University of Utah where she was trained as an elementary school teacher.  She was particular in her teaching, both in Wales and Stockton, Utah.  She was particular in music and the arts.  She excelled at playing the violin, and this is how she met the love of her life:  Alfred George Hiss.  

Her parents and Bud moved to Stockton to continue in their pursuit of raising sheep.  Stockton was a mining town, not as quiet as her home in Sanpete County, Utah.  She taught school there, concentrating on reading, writing and arithmetic, self-discipline and good manners.  A local family band which played for community and social events including Maria, Charlie, Bill and Alfred Hiss wanted to add a violist to their group, so Lenna went to play with them.  Alfred walked her home that first night.  They soon fell in love and were married in 1923.  Not long after that, her parents and Bud moved back to Sanpete County.  

Alfred and Lenna started their married life on Main Street in Stockton and lived there their entire lives.  Here, they gave birth to four children and raised them:  Dorothy Lenna, Frederick, Calvin(died at age 2 of hydroencephilitis), Anna Barbara.  Lenna loved to grow beautiful flowers at their home, and Alfred often had a vegetable garden.  The grandkids remember eating tomatoes, rhubarb, and sliced bread with real butter there.  We loved grandpa's green salad with chopped pickles and pickle juice, Grandpa's mush, and the beef roasts we enjoyed on Sundays.  There was a big hill behind their house, Old Tabernacle, and we loved to climb and run down the hill--avoiding the prickly pear cactus and snakes.  

Grandma Hiss always encouraged us to read stories from one of the many magazines she had displayed on the piano.  She loved her family talked to each of her children daily by telephone, and wrote numberless cards to her family and many friends and acquaintances.  She loved to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  She was a primary and relief society teacher for many years.  She loved General Conference and hearing the words of the prophets.  She read everything of good report she could find and was a regular in the Bookmobile as it stopped near her home every month.  She tatted, and sewed.

In about 1959, she slipped and fell on ice, and broke her shoulder.  She never did have a driver license, and Grandpa Alfred drove whenever they went anywhere.  In 1979, she experienced a series of strokes which incapaciated her, frustrating her greatly.  She died  October 13, 1980 at her home in Stockton with her husband and sweetheart by her side.  She is buried in the Tooele City Cemetary.  Her photo shown below, is at age 20.