Alphabetically, then (we have nothing but favorites to play, here):
- James B and Renée Allen, with their kids, actually lived at Leola’s and Duane’s homestead at 312 East Sixteenth Street in San Bernardino, during the summer of 1963. The folks, you see, were in Europe at the head of a Brigham Young University Travel/Study excursion. And it wouldn’t do that Brent (18) and Valerie (22) occupy the place unsupervised. Leola and Jim had been heavily involved in the creation of the San Bernardino Institute of Religion. Jim was then its (first) Director and Valerie’s first employer (Some may have seen nepotism in her role as founding Institute Secretary, inasmuch as she was engaged to Leola’s missionary son. We’ll live with that).
Nowadays, Jim rates his own extensive write-up in Wikipedia, where they present him thus: “James Brown ‘Jim’ Allen (born 1927) is an American historian of “Mormonism” and was an official Assistant Church Historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972–1979.”
- Betty Chamberlin made this wonderful day possible by opening her home and her heart to all us strangers. Richard and Valerie met her some years ago, while singing with Utah Sacred Harp, a fascinating cultural and (for us) devotional activity. She sings a clear and true treble and lends a wonderful spirit to our “singings.” We remain amazed at the providential coincidence of our interests in her historic home. We have this gathering to treasure because she graciously proposed it.
- Ann Richards Cox lived with Leola and Duane and their boys in 1956-57, during her senior year at Pacific High School in San Bernardino. We consider Annie our sister on a whole bunch of levels. Her mother, Helen Chipman Richards, was a particular friend of ours in the Latter-day Saint congregation, and Annie was Leola’s Seminary student. Her tribute to Leola appears elsewhere in this document.
- Dane C McBride, MD, Allergist and Immunologist of Roanoke, Virginia, is also active and well-respected in his professional field. We remember him as one of Duane’s and Leola’s young missionaries in Paris, 1967-69. When Duane returned to Paris to resume his mission after the accident, Elder McBride was a member of his staff. At the birthday party, Dane and Richard reminisced about an interesting assignment they shared, under President Grandpappy’s direction, to instruct the district leaders in the (then brand-new and quite revolutionary) Correlation Program of the Church. We need to get that episode written up, while somebody who remembers it is still alive.
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As candid photos go, perhaps not too bad a portrait of our sweet hostess, Betty Chamberlin, at the picnic place.
She and her daughter Fran live rather quietly, in a place of hers that’s very special to us. A couple dozen new faces on her premises isn’t an every-day situation for her. She confided to Richard that she really liked all these people, and that she could handle them properly, two at a time! Even so, she couldn’t have shown us more of what we Francophones call l’accueil.*
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