Uncle Owen and Aunt Maureen and Tithing

Dad, Mother, Joan and I went to American Falls, Idaho in 1951 for Dad to start a business as a gasoline and oil distributor. Dad borrowed about $2,000-$3,000 from Uncle Clarence and Aunt Maureen to start his business there. The distributor who had preceded Dad had been dishonest. When Dad started he didn't have a single customer. It was a hard beginning.

Dad went out every day to meet the farmers to try to get their business. After a few months Aunt Maureen called Dad and asked him how he was doing. Dad replied, "Maureen, I don't even make enough to pay the rent on the house". Aunt Maureen said, "Are you paying your tithing?" Dad repeated, "Maureen, I don't even make enough to pay the rent". Aunt Maureen counseled, "I don't care how much you make. Pay your tithing".

Dad did as Aunt Maureen told him and paid his tithing faithfully. He never again didn't have the money for the rent. Dad became a successful businessman in Idaho and after five years was offered a little better distributorship in Provo. We moved there and he built a very fine business.

Two of the things Dad always told us growing up was "pay your tithing and stay out of debt". I have been grateful for those words of wisdom.

~ from Tyra Christensen Barrett

We Stand on Their Shoulders

We stand on the shoulders of so many people.

This fall our family have been collecting stories of all kinds. It seemed to us that we'd like to share the ones about some of the people upon whose shoulders we stand.

The poet John Henry Newman wrote,

"Lead, kindly Light,. . . .Lead thou me on!. . .

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone.

And with the morn those angel faces smile,

Which [we] have loved long since, and lost a while!"

This photograph at the left is one of Owen, Miriam Barker, and Dad's Father, Bernard Niels Christensen. Grandfather Bernard and Grandmother Maud Rosalie Driggs Christensen are some of "those angel faces which I have loved long since, and lost a while."

We hope you'll enjoy turning your thoughts and hearts to some of our loved ones this New Year!