The Road Trip

Visiting Shirley and Tuacahn

June 19-21, 2017

Verla Galloway, Amy and Jeanette Hugh

Amy, Verla, and I went on a fun trip to see two plays at Tuacahn: Shrek, the Musical and Disney’s Newsies, the Broadway Musical. We have the fortitude of our pioneer ancestors having survived 115-120 degree heat. 

  We visited Shirley both coming and going, the real purpose for our trip.

 Shirley wanted to go for a walk.

 Yula's formal attire.

 Visiting Yula, Shirley's friend who was raised on the Arizona Strip

and was our guide the two times we went out to walk where Daddy walked.

 She told us that she had walked to the freeway that morning.

In this heat?

It's over 100 in Cedar City.

As we were leaving town, Amy spied her.

She wasn't woofin'. 

In her flannel pajamas no less.

Shirley is fully dressed, lying in bed all day.

Yula wanders the town in her PJ's and cowboy hat.

 We sat in an air-conditioned building and watched the pre-show in comfort at Tuacahn.

 One way to keep cool.

We were as comfortable as if we were in an air conditioned palace.

I wish we had a picture of me draped in a giant icy wet towel.

I almost shivered in the 115 degree heat.

Spray bottle fans, icy scarfs around our necks and on our heads,

wet clothes; ice to suck.

We even shared our ice with our seat neighbors from San Francisco.

 Tuacahn always has a horse or two, cars or buses or both, and fireworks. 

You can count on it. 

 Another trick to be cool. 

We bought a frozen lemon aid and all shared it while looking at the sheer red cliffs and monumental scenery from the air conditioned café and gift shop.

After breakfast in the morning, we came back to the room and watched a movie about an African girl who won chess tournaments. Based on a true story. Touching. Queen of Katwe (2016).  Starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, and Madina Nalwanga, the film depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl living in a slum in Katwe who learns to play chess and becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her performances at World Chess Olympiads. We drove over and up Bluff to a Vietnamese restaurant we’ve been to when it was in Washington. Closed for the week. Just our luck. So we drove across the street and ate at the Crêpery. Verla didn’t like hers. Amy and I split and we liked both of ours. Verla bought a dessert and we shared it. We all loved that, of course. We went back and watched another movie in the coolness of the motel. You couldn’t be outside. Unusual heat wave. Mary and Martha. I fell asleep in this one but neither Amy nor Verla liked it.

 When we got back to our motel room at midnight after the show,

our door was wide open.

We were sure all our money, credit cards, iPads, computers, and kindles would be missing,

Nothing was gone.

There was no one under the bed.

We must not have closed the door tightly.

Who says there are no honest people left in the world?

On the longest day of the year, Summer Solstice, June 21, 2017, Verla, Amy, and I stop in to see Shirley on our way back from St. George. We promised her on Monday that we would stop by Wednesday and ask her the Esplin Round-Robins questions.

 Verla noticed Shirley's fingernails were painted. “Who did your nails?”

 “Kind of a bonus, I guess,” she answered. 

“I wasn’t that interested in having it done.” 

In the comfort of her bed, Verla read the questions to her. (Sometimes I quoted her and sometimes I wrote the essence of what transpired.)

1. Tell about your favorite aunt or uncle. Why him or her?

“That’s a loaded question. I don’t think we should have favorites,” she reproaches. Then continues: “I like Aunt Lucy in lots of ways. I didn’t appreciate what a tremendously talented woman she was. Aunt Esther was the one we liked to have come because she told stories. I don’t want to put them in a situation like that. They have different circumstances. I like people for different reasons.” 

2. What is your favorite hymn? Why does it have a special meaning to you?

Again she expressed her dismay of being compelled to choose a favorite. We tried to get her to admit she liked “Count your Many Blessings” because Mama used to go in the front room and accompany herself on the piano as she sang it after Daddy died. Shirley just smiled like “are you asking or answering the questions?”  “I like patriotic songs,” she conceded. “I like the song we sing at New Year’s -  Auld Lang Syne.”

3. Write a want ad that describes you.

Verla coaxed: “You are a good gardener.” “You have to realize,” Shirley counseled, “that you’re not going to garden again. Mama was an excellent gardener. She was a good gardener because that’s what she liked to do.” Back to her Want Ad or as we re-phrased it, “How would you like your obituary to read?” “I like current events. I can’t understand how Daddy could be so interested in current events when he was out in the hills.” Then she confides, “I wasn’t very happy today. I wasn’t very kind.” They took blood in two places. That reminded us of what one of the workers whispered in her ear as we walked the halls with her on our way down. Then she told us. “This morning, Shirley said she was going to burn the place down.” “I said,” Shirley clarified, “If you don’t shape up, I’m going to burn the place down.”  

4. Have you ever had an experience where you introduced someone to the Gospel as a member?

Shirley didn’t forget but she’s modest. “How about the Harts you brought into the Church? How many?” “Oh, hundreds of Harts. It’s been enough years now that people forget and think it’s always been that way. Nellie taught literature in Relief Society for 26 years before she joined. One year, prevailed on by the Stake authorities, they told her that she wouldn’t be able to teach. It was probably the Book of Mormon or something like that. Other than that, she taught for 26 years. Most of the big Hart family joined the church after Charles and I were married. (I’ve heard Shirley say before that no one ever thought to ask them to join the Church.  But Shirley had a mother who was to be reckoned with. She wanted her daughter to be married in the temple. In order for Charles to get married in the temple, he had to be a member. The New Castle Ward didn’t even know how to contact the missionaries to give the family the lessons.) "Charles joined in December; Trusten and both parents in May; Bill awhile later. After they joined, they certainly must have felt like they were more like the community. Mary Lou went to BYU but she never joined. Allen was interested but he was influenced by his first wife and later his second.”  Hundreds of active Harts in the Church today because of a Mormon school teacher with a stalwart mother who came to town.

Thanks Amy for a great trip!