Thaddeus Dale Wright

Thaddeus Dale Wright. Born Saturday Oct. 29, 2011 at 1:29 am. He was a whopping 9 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long!! The biggest baby yet and the biggest that night at the hospital! The very tired and very blessed parents just after Thad was born.

My handsome 4 boys!

Jonas holding Thad for the first time with the help of Grandpa.

Keat holding his little bro.

Now the story...Friday morning I woke up feeling sick. Turns out I had the stomach flue ): Lots of throwing up etc (I'll spare you the details) ALL day. In the morning, I had thrown up once and just thought it was because of labor. So I went to my friend Rachel's house so she could work on my feet (to expediate the labor). When I came home and continued throwing up etc, I knew I had caught the flu bug because it was going around. Needless to say, I was in bed with a bowl the rest of the day.

Jas took the boys and our nephew to our ward version of trunk or treat. Around 7 he came home and our wonderful home teacher came over and helped Jas give me a blessing. I finally stopped throwing up. After talking with his two sisters who are nurses, I took some imodium. Finally I was able to hold down water and sprite (thanks again to Rach!)
I was beyond tired and tried to go to sleep. That's when the conractions started--at 11 that night. They were fast and furious, so we were off to the hospital at 12:15 thanks to Jas's parents rushing to our house. We made it to the hospital at 12:45.

When they checked me they told me I was dialated to a 6 1/2, where I freaked out asking if I was too late to get an epidural. Later, the nurse confessed that I was at a 8 1/2, but she knew that I would have a strong reaction, so she fibbed. Unfortunately I was dehydrated so it took 2 nurses and the anesthesiologist and some 5 tries to get an IV going. They had to pump fluids in quickly before I could get my beloved epidural. There was some crazy moments like needing oxygen because I was getting dizzy and my blood pressure was dropping and some more throwing up, but the team at Ogden Regional were fantastic (d0 I sound like a commercial?!) I felt I was in good hands, especially after my blessing and having Jas holding my hand next to me. I love that man.

This little/big babe of ours wanted to come quickly and I delivered by 1:29 am--less than an hour after arriving. Yes, I did still partly feel the pain because the epidural hadn't fully kicked in, but it was dulled thankfully.
We feel so blessed to have him in our family--It's like he was always here. Thank you to all our wonderful friends and family for all of the love, support and help. Much more to blog, but I'm off to nurse my beautiful baby boy. And then, get some sleep!

Grandpa Tingey story with President Kimball

September 26, 2011






Reflective Moments with President Spencer W. Kimball



In 1960, I reported to BYU to be one of the supervisors of the Seminaries and Institutes with Boyd K. Packer, President Kimball took us under his arm and encouraged us to do whatever we could to bring the gospel to the Lamanites. He always referred to Native Americans as Lamanites. To him, that was a royal name and evidence was they were the only ones who remained true to the Church when Christ brought the gospel to the descendents of Lehi.



President Kimball was a very gentle, kind person, and especially to the Lamanites. He always greeted everyone with a little kiss on the cheek and complimented them for whatever they might have done. He was certainly loved by the Lamanites and by everyone that knew him personally.



When President Kimball was an apostle, he encouraged Bro. Packer and me to establish seminaries on the reservations, wherever possible. We also organized institutes of religion at the Navajo Community College and other Indian colleges. He was very desirous that these people learn about the Book of Mormon and the great promises to them found in the book. He always called it the exchange of gifts. Their forefathers gave us the Book of Mormon, which to him, was the greatest material gift in the world. If they will receive this gift and use it the way the Lord meant it to be, it would first, teach them the true doctrine of Jesus Christ because it was the keystone of our religion. Second, if they used the Book of Mormon properly that they would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which was the greatest spiritual gift in the world, and if they followed the promptings of the Holy Ghost, it would bring to them the gift of Eternal Life, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God.



President Spencer W. Kimball felt it was necessary for the Native Americans to have an education in order for them to rise and claim their heritage. He started the Placement Program where the children of the Native American migrate workers could be placed in good Mormon homes where they would see a family in action. Only children from dysfunctional families on the reservation who were LDS would be able to come and live in good Mormon homes in Utah, Idaho, Arizona and elsewhere. It was important they see a family in action and how the father and mother have a responsibility to each other and their children. He was convinced they could only learn by experience and not just by hearing the gospel. It was a wonderful test of faith for the Native Americans parents who would send their children to strangers in such faraway places. The results were very promising. To me, it is one of the best things the Church ever did to help the Native Americans. We see the good results in leadership positions in the tribes today. The one misfortune was they did not keep track of these young people on computers so they could be encouraged to be active in the Branch’s and Ward’s when they returned. Fortunately, many of them are strong members of the Church as proof in the two books written on them, “The Blossoming of the Rose” by Dale Shumway.



President Kimball was very anxious to help the Native Americans in other ways besides education. He encouraged us to start many special programs: farming, cattle raising, community development, leadership programs. Howard Rainer continued promoting training programs his whole life and trained thousands of Native Americans in leadership skills.



When Spencer W. Kimball became President of the Church, he increased his influence with the Lamanites. He himself personally was encouraging LDS Native Americans to come to BYU, where they were given special help and tutorial assistance. At one time, BYU had more than 700 Native Americans, which was more than any other University at the time.



President Kimball was also very dedicated to helping them grow and develop in the Church and wherever he went, he insisted on having the Native Americans participate rather than let the Anglos assume the leadership positions and do most of the teaching. He and President Tuttle, when they supervised my mission and afterwards our program, would always say, “We want participation, Dale, not perfection.” So, whenever they went to a meeting, they would always insist that the usual Anglo song leader would bring a Native American up and help them lead the singing. They would try and put a Native American to play the piano, they would insist that all talks be given by the Lamanites. He was always reminding the Presiding Anglos that it is participation that matters most. We will worry about perfection later.



An interesting experience on one occasion after I returned from being Mission President and mailed a letter to President Ted Tuttle, he called me on the phone and said, “Dale, I think you better check your secretaries. I received your mail but there are two or three glaring errors in the letter. I kindly reminded him, “Oh, I thought we want participation, not perfection” and he quickly recanted and said, “That’s right. That was a nice letter if you are training students” which we were “to be secretaries on a work scholar program.” We never heard any further complaints.



President Kimball had a serious throat operation for cancer and was told that he should use his voice very sparingly. He decided to go and live on the Navajo reservation in the Chuska Mountains in a Hogan owned by Sister Polacca. She was a wonderful Native American woman living by herself but owned two Hogan’s. She invited President Kimball to live in one. Sister Polacca took care of his needs and helped him in every possible way. They became very dear friends and often she would just sing Indian songs to him rather than engage him in conversation. This helped his throat heal properly. It was a beginning of a very dear friendship. He always remembered her and asked us if we can do some special things for Sister Polacca. In those days, we used to hold large Indian conferences at BYU and have 500-600 Native Americans come and participate. President Kimball called me on one occasional and said, “I hear that Sister Polacca is coming to your conference.” In his kind humble way he asked, “Would it be too much trouble for you Dale to bring her to my office? I would love to see her. I haven’t seen her for a couple of years.” Of course, Jeanette and I were thrilled to take Sister Polacca to his office. When we arrived at his office with Sister Polacca, he was very busy and we waited for perhaps 30 minutes. She kept saying Spencer’s, she always referred with his first name, is too busy and didn’t have time to see her now and we must leave. I encouraged her to be patient; he really wants to see her. He finally rushed out, embraced her, gave a little kiss on her cheek, and thanked her profusely for coming to visit him. He was overjoyed to have her come to his office. As soon as she saw the same relationship existed when President Kimball lived in her Hogan, she became a very different woman. She said some funny things such as “My Spencer, you sure have it nice in here. We never had anything like this in our Hogan.” President Kimball would reply, “I really don’t need these things. The only thing I use is my desk and my little bed.” She then mentioned that he kept the office too warm, and if he had to chop the wood as they did on the reservation, he wouldn’t waste so much fuel. He had her sit down and just sing some Indian songs to him. He sat amazed watching her act out the songs for half an hour. I knew we shouldn’t stay longer or Bro. Haycock probably won’t let us back in his office again. When his assistant came in, I told President Kimball we surely needed to leave now. He responded, “Dale, you can stay as long as I want you”. He went on with his conversation with Sister Polacca for about another 15 minutes and again I said, “President, we really need to leave”. He said, “Dale, if you need to go, you can leave, but Sister Polacca is going to stay here with me. I’m the president and I’m going to tell you when you have to leave”. It was most enjoyable to watch the wonderful relationship that blossomed again between them. Finally, with the encouragement from President Kimball’s assistant, Bro. Haycock, we took our leave. He gave her a warm embrace, thanked her for coming and said how she brightened his day and brought back such wonderful memories. We then started to walk down the hall she called after me and said, “Wait just a minute Brother Tingey this is the happiest day of my life. You see, Spencer still loves me.” President Kimball reminded us, “Take her to the best dinner at the Lion House and I will pay for your dinners”. I did pay for it and someday, when I meet the president and it is appropriate, I’ll tell him that he owes me one. Sister Polacca always remembers that wonderful visit. When she died, President Spencer W. Kimball asked if I would go and represent him and speak at her funeral. He couldn’t get away. He knew I had a plane but was afraid of small planes. It was a joy to go down and represent President Kimball and see the wonderful turnout of saints who also love Sister Polacca for her wonderful service, dedication and example in the Church.



I flew a small Cessna on my mission. The brethren said, “Don’t ask permission to use a plane, better to just fly until someone tells you not to”. Even Elder Legrand Richards, who loved to fly because he had kidney problems. He said riding on those rough dirt roads were very distressful for him.



On one occasion, President Kimball did question me about the plane and asked, “Dale, I understand you fly some on the reservations. I hope it’s not very often because it certainly worries me. How often do you fly?” In a joking manner I just said, “I never fly more than once a day president”. That seemed to satisfy him although I have always felt guilty because he did not understand I flew often.



On one occasion flying home late at night, I pushed my light control button to turn on the airport lights, which is standard procedure. However, they never came on. I then circle and buzzed the little pilot lounge where the manger slept, but he didn’t turn on the lights. I then buzzed the mission home, which would signal my wife to come pick me up. When she arrived, she woke up the manager and said, “Turn on the airport lights”, and he said, “Don’t you read the newspaper or listen to the radio? The airport has been closed”. Jeanette said, “Can’t you see my husband is trying to land”. She asked, “Well, what will happen?” He told her, “There are trenches dug across the run way. If he lands, he will hit the trenches and the plane will flip over and the gas tanks on top will explode”. That gave her great concern. She rushed back to the mission home and brought eight elders out to the landing strip to pray for my safety and land somewhere else. I had landed there so many times I thought I could land in the dark. I have done it before on the reservation with just a missionary parked with light from his car. I only need to see where the runway started. I made nine attempts but I had the feeling I wasn’t sure of the landing. On the ninth try, I remember flying past the windsock when I heard a voice say, “Go to Winslow”. It surprised me but I took it seriously and headed west. My wife saw me turn west, jumped in the car, and drove 50 miles to the nearest airport to pick me up. Jeanette excitedly told me how blessed I was that I didn’t land the plane.



As I mentioned, President Kimball was nervous with airplanes and while some Brethren like Elder Hunter were flying airliners back and forth in California, he was still riding the train.



It was interesting watching President Spencer W. Kimball as he talked and interviewed people. Many wanted to tell him about problems with the Native Americans. That’s one of the difficulties the General Authorities have to deal with. He would listen patiently to some long story about a Native American who didn’t rise to the standard of the white man’s expectations. Then President Kimball would request, “May I ask a special favor of you?” Of course, the person would respond in a positive way and say, “Of course President, by all means”. President Kimball would say in a very kind and gentle way, “May I ask you not to repeat that story again? It is not helpful to members who are trying to help promote the Lamanite work.” It was always an astounding blow to people who could hardly believe such a request would come from the prophet. However, he did it in such a kind, gentle and understanding way. They were always touched by his sincerity and love.



When traveling, President Kimball was very careful, or as he said, “penurious with Church money”. To me, it seemed he was very tight with Church money. He didn’t feel that we should go to hotels. I longed for a hotel room because of the busy day and knowing the people want to keep him up half the night talking or having a home evening. He felt we should stay with the members and share our spirits with them and share their goodness, whatever the circumstances. I thought it would be nice sometimes to go and have a hot cooked meal after work. President Spencer W. Kimball liked to just have a little bread and milk and said, “We’ll have a little cheese with that. How will that be?” To him it was a big treat to add cheese to his menu. He of course was very careful about spending Church money. He taught me some good lessons.



He told me on one occasion when he went to sleep at the home of a very prosperous Stake President. They gave him the guest room with a very tall bed that he could not climb into. So, he got back and gave a run and jumped up on the bed and the whole bed fell through the frame. He was embarrassed to say anything and just slept in the bed, with it all apart on the floor. He never wanted to trouble or bother anyone.



He was very anxious to provide small, but adequate, chapels on the reservations. We try to work with the Native Americans to secure permission, which was very difficult. They had so many regulations in the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the reservations and with the Department of interior. We would meet with leaders and try to get some help. On one occasion, President Kimball went to Chairman Nakai, President of the Navajo Nation, to visit him. He waited and waited and each time, the secretary would tell him that he is busy. Finally, after a 3 hour wait, she said that he had to leave and went out the back door. President Kimball was very calm and accepted the situation and said, “We’ll try again.”



On one occasion, President Kimball wanted to invite some Native American leaders to the Church Office. They are sometimes very nervous or suspicious about coming to the Church Office. He agreed to put on a dinner at the top of the Church Office building for the National Indians Association, which was holding a conference in Salt Lake City. It was very risky because they had their own programs. Howard Rainer and I thought it would be an opportunity for President Kimball meet some of the leaders. President Packer reminded us, “You better make it good. We can’t stand a failure.” We were really under the gun and were out soliciting Native Americans, inviting them to come to a dinner that they didn’t know or understand. Thank goodness enough people came to make a good showing so we were grateful for their participation. Neither President Kimball nor Elder Packer knew how close it came to being a failure.



After all these years of meeting with Native Americans, we now have good friends and contacts on reservations who will help us because they know we are trying to help their children with scholarships.



One of the things that amazed me about President Kimball was that he would be willing to go to meetings or Conferences, even when he was feeling very ill and in a great deal of pain. I always felt sorry for him, but he never complained or made excuses. He just said, “We have to go and participate.”



On occasion, we would have a pre-meeting with the leaders and then hold a Conference or the main program. President Kimball would say, “Dale, you go out and start the meeting. I just need to lay on the floor here for 20-30 minutes. I will come in and everything will be fine.” I was always very nervous starting the program, wondering if he might not wake up or remember his commitment. He always showed up just in time to speak and encourage the people. He had a wonderful, kind, positive way of motivating people and getting them to see the bright side of life , encouraging them to put their trust and faith in the Lord. He is the only one that you can really count on.



President Kimball seemed to like me because I worked with Native Americans. He called on me to speak at different times and even pray in General Conference, which made me very nervous. He also reminded me not to praise him or give him recognition and glory because that is for the Lord. People are honoring his office not him personally.



Ned Winder, who was President Kimball’s assistant on the Missionary Committee, was able to joke with President Kimball. On one occasion, Ned asked to be excused to use the bathroom next to President Kimball’s office while they were assigning missionaries. As he was leaving the bathroom, he saw a package of macaroons, soft mushy marshmallow goody, so he grabbed one and popped it into his mouth and walked into the room. He realized that the macaroon was stale and hard as a rock. He walked over sat down and was carefully trying to bite the edges and soften the cake when President Kimball leaned over to Ned and said, “Ned, have you been stealing my macaroons?” and Ned, in his humorous way said, “That’s true, and if I break a tooth I’m going to sue you President.” He liked humor and Ned was a great one to put a little humor in everything.



It was always a joy to meet with President Kimball and tell him what we were doing. He was very interested and supportive.



On one occasion, I was kind of longing to go back to the easy life teaching at BYU. I asked President Kimball, shortly before he died, “President, how long do you think I should stay working with the Lamanites?” He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and a smile and said, “Dale, just stay with it ‘til you die. It’s not forever.” So, I am working on that premise right now at 87 to keep going as long as I can because he said, “the Lamanites would never rise to claim their heritage without an education” and that “Education is the key that will open the door of opportunity for them” and we have certainly seen that happen these past 50 years.

BABY#3!

It's true...we are having another baby!! Just found out last week that it's another boy--our specialty! The boys are beyond excited to have another brother! Our little guy is set to join our family on Halloween. He is healthy which makes us so happy. Been much sicker this time around, hoping that I am almost out of the sick stage.
My favorite part of being pregnant has been the impact it has on our two little boys. K and Little J are so sweet asking how I feel, noticing my belly getting bigger, and (my fav) praying for our baby.