Happy Birthday Shelley
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
A Short History of Dahl Hatch
Dahl Hatch was born on May 26, 1926. He was the sixth of eleven children born to George P. Hatch and Dora Palmer. He was born in Taylor Arizona which is next to Snowflake and was settled by his great grandfather. H e lived in a brick house with four bedrooms and a path. It was in the center of a 10 acre lot, and the children had lots of room to run around and play. They got their water from a windmill. Bathing was usually a Saturday night project in the kitchen with water heater over the stove.
The big depression was in full force and his parents found business difficult for the general store that they owned and ran. He remembers visiting the store and seeing an ice cream parlor in one end. As times were really difficult, costumers charged all of their purchases and were unable to pay. When the store was empty they were out of business.
With the store closed his father was unemployed as were most of the people in Taylor. The family moved every few years as his father sought employment to support his large family. Dahl said if it hadn’t been for beans they would have all starved. His father found work in St. Johns . He was in charge of the federal project of building privies for all of Apache country. He attended school in St. Johnsfrom 1936 to 1939 until he was in the ninth grade. This was a time of his youth that he remembered most and thought of it as his home town. This small farming town was filled with poor people and everyone worked.
Dahl learned to work early in life. By the time he was twelve he had a job selling the Albuquerque Journal newspaper. He worked for both the local papers, folding papers as they came off the press and then delivering them. He did small jobs carrying wood in by the stove and other things. He had his first full-time summer job when he was fourteen working at a gas station and motel. When he worked for the local farmers he would usually earned about fifty cents for 8 hours hoeing weeds. They had a family project of hauling wood from nearby cedar forests, sawing it up for firewood and selling it for $5 a cord. From that early age he seldom asked for money and was able to buy his own clothes and other things. He says he never had a job he didn’t like.
When his Dad’s job was finished they moved to Kirtland, New Mexico. Dahl says that at his high school there were 14 boys and the school only had 12 football uniforms. He was not large enough to fit any so he and another kid didn’t get on the team but got to play basketball on the second string. It was there that he bought his first gun and paid about $5 for a 22 rifle from the Sears catalog. He enjoyed hunting rabbits and would usually come home with one for supper. Later his father recommended that he sell the gun and buy another better model for about $7. He kept that gun all his life
It was while they were living in Kirtland that his Grandfather Hatch came to visit them one summer and gave each of the children a Patriarchal blessing. While they were living in Kirtland the U.S. was brought into the big war in 1941 and people began entering the armed services in large numbers.
The family moved to Winslow, Arizona where his father found work on the Santa Fe R.R. Dahl was in the 11th grade. There were no homes available so they moved into an old vacant store. Because of the man shortage, he spent a summer working for the forest service as a fire chaser. He enjoyed being out in the forest at Buck Springs with three other boys. They lived in a tent and did their own cooking. They mostly worked on the forest roads but did chase a few fires and put them out. When the summer rains started they were sent home.
The family moved to Provo, Utah in Dahl’s senior year. He graduated in 1944 from Provo High School and attended a special vocational school and studied radio. He hoped to become an electronic whiz at that time. His sisters said that he loved to take things apart and figure out how they worked.
The September after he graduated he was drafted into the infantry and went to Camp Hood, Texas for basic training. When he got to Texas it was hot and dusty. By the time he went out to the rifle range and for bivouac it was cold and raining. He was then sent to the Philippines by way of New Guinea. He spent 31 days on the troop ship in route and very sick. He was soon in combat and out on patrols doing “mop up” work in the jungles until the end of the war. It was a very happy day when he heard about the new atom bomb. They were in a rest camp and were starting to take special training to invade Japan. Shortly after that Japan surrendered and they were sent to Korea as occupation troops to replace the defeated Japanese. Dahl said they were received in a mostly friendly manner. He applied for the signal corps and was sent to Inchon as a telephone operator. Later he was transferred to Pusan and other places. After about a year in Korea he was discharged in November 1946, after serving about 19 months in the Foreign Service. The only time he wore a class A uniform was while he was in route from Texas to California to get on the ship.
Dahl thought he was going back to Provo, but when he arrived in California, he found that his grandfather Hatch had died. His parents had moved back to Taylor, Arizona to care for his grandmother. He bought a motorcycle in Burbank where he had been visiting his sister Glena Sherwood and road it to Taylor.
Shortly after returning home Dahl enrolled in Arizona State College and graduated in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in Science. His parents had moved to Phoenix by then so he lived at home most of the time he attended college. Phoenix became his home town and he had many friends there. In June of 1950 after graduating from college, he received a mission call to the Northwestern States. He spent three days of instruction in SLC where he went through the temple for the first time. He spent most of the next two years around Portland, Oregon. He thought it was very wet there.
After returning home in 1952 he worked for the water and power company for a time. He finally went to California to work with his brother-in-law Bill Sherwood for the Century Records Company making phonograph records. That is where he met the beautiful and very eligible Bethe Choate at a stake dance. Bethe was introduced to Dahl and his sister as “Dahl and Dixie Hatch.” She assumed they were married so showed little interest until she figured out what their relationship was. Bethe left for a summer in Europe shortly after they met and her mother, who liked Dahl almost as much as Bethe did, kept an eye on him that summer. They became officially engaged while attending a Hatch Thanksgiving family reunion. It was 1953 and the Hatch family had gathered at a lodge in Running Springs, California. On April 13, 1954 Dahl took Bethe to the Mesa Temple where they were sealed.
They soon bought a home at 2729 N. Myers St. in Burbank where they lived for three years. During this time Dahl decided to go back to college and become a high school teacher. He enrolled at Los Angeles State. After graduation he was hired to teach for a beginning salary of $3800 a year. He then spent seven more years at night and summer school until he received his master’s degree in education administration. His first job was teaching electricity in James A Garfield high school in L.A. He finally located a job working for Compton school district and they moved to Bellflower and located at 10466 Ives St.
During the next few years five children came into their family, Michelle (or Shelley), Traci, Diane, Kent and Rex, all born within seven years.
During the years the family was growing up they went on many vacations and enjoyed his time off as a teacher. They usually traveled during the summer, at Easter break and at Christmas time. The most memorable vehicle of travel was a ‘67 Ford van. They traveled to all parts of the western United States and Canada until the children became older and started to do so many things that they were no longer able to get everyone together for the trips
There was a tradition of the big “Hatch Family Reunion” every Thanksgiving holiday. Usually, they were held in Parker Arizona. The big Thanksgiving meal would be at the Parker LDS church. It would not be uncommon to serve 100 to 200 Hatch relatives at the main dinner. They would spend the next two days playing sport, games, dancing, eating and catching up with the extended family at a park on the Indian reservation nearby. Other traditions included all of the California family meeting at the Sherwood’s in Burbank for a Christmas Eve dinner and program, and gathering at Dahl’s home on the 4th of July for a barbeque and swim party. They also would enjoy a beach party and corn roast in the summer. A day outing into the mountains to gather pinions in the fall was another fun tradition. These events created many fond memories and friendships. Dahl’s family continues to meet every year for a “Dahl Hatch family Reunion.”
Some of Dahl’s great loves and hobbies were Scouting, hiking and camping. The words “vacation” and “camping” were always the same to him. He has been on top of Mt. Whitney four times. He enjoyed music. He was more concerned about the volume than the type. He was famous for his harmonica playing. He could play anything that he could hum. The most memorable being “If I Were a Rich Man”, which seemed to include some extra measures of Da,da,da,da.
Dahl served faithfully in many different calling in the church. He taught seminary, was explorer leader, Sunday school teacher, counselor in the Bishopric three times, on the High Council, Stake Sunday School President and financial clerk to mention a few. He spent many years working with the youth. The young men lovingly referred to him as “Good Ol Brother Hatch”. He was a very good teacher and speaker. He was called to be the stake Young Men’s president when he was 70 years old! At this same time his son Kent was serving as the High Priest group leader at 36 year of age. He served many years in scouting, in the ward, stake and council level. He looked forward to going to scout camp every year.
He taught high school for 35 years, taking only a few days of sick leave the entire time. Being a school teacher gave the family extended vacation time and they used it to see the Western United States. After retiring he and Bethe served a mission to the Family History Center in Salt Lake City in 1992, and later an Institute Service Mission at the Cerritos Institute. They also enjoyed traveling and saw much of the world. He often said he would have liked to be a summer forest ranger, but he bought a house with a yard and that became his master instead.
He and Bethe made it possible for their family to have many Dahl Hatch reunions, alternating one year with all their children and grandchildren and the next with just the original children and their spouses. Some of those vacations included beach houses at Ventura and Cambria, Aspen Grove Family Camp, Cabins at Sundance and Cedar Breaks, Cruises to the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska just to mention a few treasured memories.
Dahl passed away November 25, 2008 after battling pulmonary fibrosis. He was 82 years old. His last journal entry dated Nov 14, 2008 stated, “A phone call from Christopher and Lindy to announce great-grandson ‘Hunter Dal Cannon.’ All is well in Zion!”
The big depression was in full force and his parents found business difficult for the general store that they owned and ran. He remembers visiting the store and seeing an ice cream parlor in one end. As times were really difficult, costumers charged all of their purchases and were unable to pay. When the store was empty they were out of business.
With the store closed his father was unemployed as were most of the people in Taylor. The family moved every few years as his father sought employment to support his large family. Dahl said if it hadn’t been for beans they would have all starved. His father found work in St. Johns . He was in charge of the federal project of building privies for all of Apache country. He attended school in St. Johnsfrom 1936 to 1939 until he was in the ninth grade. This was a time of his youth that he remembered most and thought of it as his home town. This small farming town was filled with poor people and everyone worked.
Dahl learned to work early in life. By the time he was twelve he had a job selling the Albuquerque Journal newspaper. He worked for both the local papers, folding papers as they came off the press and then delivering them. He did small jobs carrying wood in by the stove and other things. He had his first full-time summer job when he was fourteen working at a gas station and motel. When he worked for the local farmers he would usually earned about fifty cents for 8 hours hoeing weeds. They had a family project of hauling wood from nearby cedar forests, sawing it up for firewood and selling it for $5 a cord. From that early age he seldom asked for money and was able to buy his own clothes and other things. He says he never had a job he didn’t like.
When his Dad’s job was finished they moved to Kirtland, New Mexico. Dahl says that at his high school there were 14 boys and the school only had 12 football uniforms. He was not large enough to fit any so he and another kid didn’t get on the team but got to play basketball on the second string. It was there that he bought his first gun and paid about $5 for a 22 rifle from the Sears catalog. He enjoyed hunting rabbits and would usually come home with one for supper. Later his father recommended that he sell the gun and buy another better model for about $7. He kept that gun all his life
It was while they were living in Kirtland that his Grandfather Hatch came to visit them one summer and gave each of the children a Patriarchal blessing. While they were living in Kirtland the U.S. was brought into the big war in 1941 and people began entering the armed services in large numbers.
The family moved to Winslow, Arizona where his father found work on the Santa Fe R.R. Dahl was in the 11th grade. There were no homes available so they moved into an old vacant store. Because of the man shortage, he spent a summer working for the forest service as a fire chaser. He enjoyed being out in the forest at Buck Springs with three other boys. They lived in a tent and did their own cooking. They mostly worked on the forest roads but did chase a few fires and put them out. When the summer rains started they were sent home.
The family moved to Provo, Utah in Dahl’s senior year. He graduated in 1944 from Provo High School and attended a special vocational school and studied radio. He hoped to become an electronic whiz at that time. His sisters said that he loved to take things apart and figure out how they worked.
The September after he graduated he was drafted into the infantry and went to Camp Hood, Texas for basic training. When he got to Texas it was hot and dusty. By the time he went out to the rifle range and for bivouac it was cold and raining. He was then sent to the Philippines by way of New Guinea. He spent 31 days on the troop ship in route and very sick. He was soon in combat and out on patrols doing “mop up” work in the jungles until the end of the war. It was a very happy day when he heard about the new atom bomb. They were in a rest camp and were starting to take special training to invade Japan. Shortly after that Japan surrendered and they were sent to Korea as occupation troops to replace the defeated Japanese. Dahl said they were received in a mostly friendly manner. He applied for the signal corps and was sent to Inchon as a telephone operator. Later he was transferred to Pusan and other places. After about a year in Korea he was discharged in November 1946, after serving about 19 months in the Foreign Service. The only time he wore a class A uniform was while he was in route from Texas to California to get on the ship.
Dahl thought he was going back to Provo, but when he arrived in California, he found that his grandfather Hatch had died. His parents had moved back to Taylor, Arizona to care for his grandmother. He bought a motorcycle in Burbank where he had been visiting his sister Glena Sherwood and road it to Taylor.
Shortly after returning home Dahl enrolled in Arizona State College and graduated in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in Science. His parents had moved to Phoenix by then so he lived at home most of the time he attended college. Phoenix became his home town and he had many friends there. In June of 1950 after graduating from college, he received a mission call to the Northwestern States. He spent three days of instruction in SLC where he went through the temple for the first time. He spent most of the next two years around Portland, Oregon. He thought it was very wet there.
After returning home in 1952 he worked for the water and power company for a time. He finally went to California to work with his brother-in-law Bill Sherwood for the Century Records Company making phonograph records. That is where he met the beautiful and very eligible Bethe Choate at a stake dance. Bethe was introduced to Dahl and his sister as “Dahl and Dixie Hatch.” She assumed they were married so showed little interest until she figured out what their relationship was. Bethe left for a summer in Europe shortly after they met and her mother, who liked Dahl almost as much as Bethe did, kept an eye on him that summer. They became officially engaged while attending a Hatch Thanksgiving family reunion. It was 1953 and the Hatch family had gathered at a lodge in Running Springs, California. On April 13, 1954 Dahl took Bethe to the Mesa Temple where they were sealed.
They soon bought a home at 2729 N. Myers St. in Burbank where they lived for three years. During this time Dahl decided to go back to college and become a high school teacher. He enrolled at Los Angeles State. After graduation he was hired to teach for a beginning salary of $3800 a year. He then spent seven more years at night and summer school until he received his master’s degree in education administration. His first job was teaching electricity in James A Garfield high school in L.A. He finally located a job working for Compton school district and they moved to Bellflower and located at 10466 Ives St.
During the next few years five children came into their family, Michelle (or Shelley), Traci, Diane, Kent and Rex, all born within seven years.
During the years the family was growing up they went on many vacations and enjoyed his time off as a teacher. They usually traveled during the summer, at Easter break and at Christmas time. The most memorable vehicle of travel was a ‘67 Ford van. They traveled to all parts of the western United States and Canada until the children became older and started to do so many things that they were no longer able to get everyone together for the trips
There was a tradition of the big “Hatch Family Reunion” every Thanksgiving holiday. Usually, they were held in Parker Arizona. The big Thanksgiving meal would be at the Parker LDS church. It would not be uncommon to serve 100 to 200 Hatch relatives at the main dinner. They would spend the next two days playing sport, games, dancing, eating and catching up with the extended family at a park on the Indian reservation nearby. Other traditions included all of the California family meeting at the Sherwood’s in Burbank for a Christmas Eve dinner and program, and gathering at Dahl’s home on the 4th of July for a barbeque and swim party. They also would enjoy a beach party and corn roast in the summer. A day outing into the mountains to gather pinions in the fall was another fun tradition. These events created many fond memories and friendships. Dahl’s family continues to meet every year for a “Dahl Hatch family Reunion.”
Some of Dahl’s great loves and hobbies were Scouting, hiking and camping. The words “vacation” and “camping” were always the same to him. He has been on top of Mt. Whitney four times. He enjoyed music. He was more concerned about the volume than the type. He was famous for his harmonica playing. He could play anything that he could hum. The most memorable being “If I Were a Rich Man”, which seemed to include some extra measures of Da,da,da,da.
Dahl served faithfully in many different calling in the church. He taught seminary, was explorer leader, Sunday school teacher, counselor in the Bishopric three times, on the High Council, Stake Sunday School President and financial clerk to mention a few. He spent many years working with the youth. The young men lovingly referred to him as “Good Ol Brother Hatch”. He was a very good teacher and speaker. He was called to be the stake Young Men’s president when he was 70 years old! At this same time his son Kent was serving as the High Priest group leader at 36 year of age. He served many years in scouting, in the ward, stake and council level. He looked forward to going to scout camp every year.
He taught high school for 35 years, taking only a few days of sick leave the entire time. Being a school teacher gave the family extended vacation time and they used it to see the Western United States. After retiring he and Bethe served a mission to the Family History Center in Salt Lake City in 1992, and later an Institute Service Mission at the Cerritos Institute. They also enjoyed traveling and saw much of the world. He often said he would have liked to be a summer forest ranger, but he bought a house with a yard and that became his master instead.
He and Bethe made it possible for their family to have many Dahl Hatch reunions, alternating one year with all their children and grandchildren and the next with just the original children and their spouses. Some of those vacations included beach houses at Ventura and Cambria, Aspen Grove Family Camp, Cabins at Sundance and Cedar Breaks, Cruises to the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska just to mention a few treasured memories.
Dahl passed away November 25, 2008 after battling pulmonary fibrosis. He was 82 years old. His last journal entry dated Nov 14, 2008 stated, “A phone call from Christopher and Lindy to announce great-grandson ‘Hunter Dal Cannon.’ All is well in Zion!”
Friday, March 20, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Here are a few pictures from Michaels volleyball tournament in Ventura on Mar 7. His team took 7 straight matches and won the tournament. Michael was named the tournament MVP.
Ironically, they played Arroyo Grande in the championship game and won easily. Michael's basketball team lost to Arroyo Grande in the first round of CIF play a few weeks ago. Sweet revenge - just a different sport. In that game Michael spiked a ball off a players head which bounced off the ceiling and out of bounds. Ouch!
2008-03-08
It is Diane’s birthday and the Sabbath. The sun is shining, and it is a beautiful day. It was day light savings this morning so we all had to get up an hour earlier after staying up too late to watch a movie that David rented (Express) which made me cry. We decided that the Sabbath should be a day of rest, so after we set our Sunday goals (journal, Duty to God, choir practice, setting up home teaching and visiting teaching, piano hymn practice, reading New Era and Ensign) we analyzed if there was time for a nap and decided that the “day of rest” was just a trick to make Sunday seems more peaceful.
We are planning a weekend with all of Dave’s sons next week. So far we have the excitement narrowed down to snowmobiling, tubing, shotgun shooting, a trip trough Draper temple, and of course eating too much. I will post pictures after the event. In the meanwhile, I will post the video that we showed at Connor and Gabe’s Eagle Court.
It was fun to have Mom spend a few days with us. We had a family night where the kids got to ask her questions after we watched Russell’s video show of Grandpa’s life pictures. How much did Grandpa and Grandma Choate pay for their first home in Burbank? Answer: $4,000. Man – we should have hung unto that property!!!
Happy Birthday to Diane!!
Love, Traci and David
Carson & Hunter
Hunter is starting to actually make faces for the camera.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
I'll follow Diane's lead and post the family letter on the blog. We celebrated Rick's birthday by taking some buddies to Point Dume in Malibu for some rock climbing.You would probably recognize this spot as it is used in most beach scenes for movies, tv shows and commercials. We picked a perfect day - 78 degrees and no wind.
This shows Rick just about at the top. Thanks to Cory who was the belay man for at least 2 hours straight.
Next comes Michael in the road show. He was undoubtedly the best nerd in the stake. I think he secretly enjoyed wearing the big rimmed glasses and short cut pants.
Otherwise life is moving along. Brandon is enjoying his time at BYU and finds time for weekend trips to explore caves and hike in the snow. He wants to stay there for the spring term so he won't come home until June. Having too much fun, I guess.
There is never a dull moment at work. You'd think after retiring the Countrywide name we could take a break from the press, but they have just moved on to bad mouthing Bank of America now. One moment congress is beating up their CEOs for flying in corporate jets and sponsoring junkets, and the next moment they are getting on the same jets and going to their junkets. I guess you must leave all shame at the doorstep to be qualified for political office.
Rick turned 14 and will be ordained a Teacher next week. He is eager to join his friends in his new responsibilities.
All of us are looking forward to warmer weather and longer days. This makes time for more biking, hiking, running - or even enjoying some down time in the backyard.
I hope everyone is doing well. Let's hear from the others too.
Kent
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