My Baby Brothers

My Baby Brothers

by Marlene Richardson Ellingson

 

I was 10 years old when my baby brother Donald died in the hospital shortly after his birth.  I remember feeling such love for my mother, grateful that she was spared, along with the sorrow at the loss of this baby brother.  Dad warned us that Donald would be covered with bruises from the heavy breathing equipment that he’d had to use during his seven hours of life.  I saw Donald in that little casket all bruised, at the funeral services in our church building.  Then, after our drive to the cemetery in Virden, right before the burial, Dad lifted the lid of the casket one more time.  There on the back of the station wagon, I looked at him again and gasped with awe and wonderment!  This time he looked markedly different.  His little body was so white and beautiful, without a trace of any bruise!  We children received this as a testimony to us that Donald really was in heaven, with Heavenly Father.  I came to know for myself that Families Are Forever and that the temple sealing was real, that I would see him and my other baby brother Dale again. 

 

I was 12 when we got to bring Dale to our home.  A sickly little baby, Dale never really thrived, probably due to his birth mother being on drugs.  The day of his death, I had walked home from school and knew something was wrong just from looking at the house and feeling it.  It was a real blow, for we had each loved and cared for this little brother, praying for him daily.  There was an emptiness in our home.  Yet we were comforted that we’d had him three months and that he’d gotten to be our special Baby Jesus in our Christmas Nativity.  We were also comforted to find out that my mother was expecting another baby (Melvin), which was a miracle since she’d not been able to have more children earlier.

 

We were so blessed, because our friend and lawyer, Bernie Porter, continued with the adoption proceedings, even though the baby was dead.  This was entirely irregular, and must have been difficult to carry out.  Even so, the adoption was finalized, and our whole family was able to dress in white and go to the temple to be sealed to little Dale.  Later, we were sealed to Margie, Dean, and Amy too, all four times having a glorious experience in the Mesa Arizona Temple.  Each time, we would talk about wanting to all be together as a family someday, with our precious, perfect little brothers, in the Celestial Kingdom.

Thatcher, Virden, and Franklin family graves, by Lavona Richardson

Sunday morning, January 19th seven of us (Miriam, Rauna, Joann, Ray, Kenneth, Melvin and I) piled into Rauna's minivan for our "pilgrimage trip" to Virden.

                                                   We enjoyed a good visit as we traveled.

We stopped for as minute at the Gila Valley Temple so that we could take pictures.  I am  happy that  Jay got to go with me to the open house of this beautiful temple.                                    
                               

                   We went to the Thatcher Cemetery to visit the grave of  Jay's grandfather..         

                                                         Charles Edmund Richardson

                                                                He is their great grandfather.

               We drove on to Duncan where we attended the Virden Ward Sacrament Meeting.

                                          We then drove up to the Virden Cemetery.

                                 My eternal companion and two of my sons are buried here.

              I am happy that I had with me six of our children to visit their Dad's grave site.

                                                          This is where I will be buried.

                                      Our children are listed on the back of the monument.

                                           Donald and Dale's graves are in the family plot.

                                   We brought flowers and hearts to put on the graves.

                       Kenneth puts new white rocks on the hearts that are on the graves.

                                                                  Kenneth   took this picture.

                         And  Joann took this picture so that we could all be in a picture.

Kenneth brought a brick that he had cut in half so that we could fix the dimensions of our family plot

                                       We had to move the white rock to move the bricks..

                                              Kenneth did a great job lining up the bricks.

                       After the bricks were laid we added fresh white rock around the edges.

                                                     It looked really nice when we finished.

                                          I enjoy returning to our family plot in Virden.

                         Kenneth did a great job supervising the bricks around our family plot.

It was wonderful to be with six of my children as we express our love for their Dad and little brothers.

After finishing our project at our family plot we ate lunch.

                                                                        I brought sandwiches.

                        I like this cemetery out in the country where i t is quiet and peaceful.

 

                                           One last look at our family plot before leaving it.

                                 I wish we lived closer so  that I could visit more often.

                                        This is the sign on the road going into the cemetery.

                                                 There are lots of good people buried there.

 We drove by the church where Jay attended all the time he lived in Virden.  Lots of other important things have happened here.

                                                                It is always good to return home.

         This is the school where Jay attended.  Now the children go into Duncan to school.

                                   This was the lunch room when Jay attended school here.

                                                       We drove by Jay's parents home.

                                   I have lots of special memories of visiting them here.

                                                   Jay loved to go on outings up here.

                                          We took several good pictures of Steeple Rock.

                                            We drove over to the Franklin Cemetery.

                                         Jay's parents and little brother are buried here.

                                           We pulled the weeds and cleaned up the grave site.

                                  

                                                We brought hearts to put on their graves.

                            My children are blessed to have wonderful grandparents.

 

                                        Jay 's brother was only fifteen months old when he died.

 We stopped again in Thatcher to see the childhood home of President Spencer W. Kimball.

                                                     This is the plaque in front of the home.