Today would have been Dennis' 72nd birthday

Dennis and Maxine

Today would have been Dennis' 72nd birthday.  To some it may sound old, but to me it doesn't since I am not too far from that age myself.  Dennis was born November 27, 1940 to Russell and Ruth Irene Johnson Smith in American Fork, Utah.  He passed away in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 15, 2012.  Less than four years later I was born, then two others after me.

Growing up I remember some of the games we would play as kids and usually with a few friends.  Hide n' Seek was a popular one and we'd play for hours until it got too dark to see anymore.  Other games were kickball, softball and basketball.  Soccer was not very popular where we lived.  And there was Annie Annie Over, where you would throw the ball over the house to others on that side.  You may find the rules on the internet if you want to take a stab at it.  And of course there was the traditional game everyone play called Kick The Can.

Living on a farm provided us with lots of work and interesting encounters with such varmints as snakes, rats, mice and other farm pests. The snakes ate the rats and mice so weren't as bad.

We had a good dog named Smokey, the color of dark smoke, and a bay mare named Pet, which Dennis and I would wrestle over to see who got to ride her for the afternoon.  She was used for work on the farm too, such as pulling a cultivator or a rigged up board to level the ground for planting, or pulling a large wagon which held a tank of spray for the trees in the orchards.  Pet was a good horse, with one unfavorable habit of biting especially when she didn't want to be haltered and rode.

Dennis worked hard on the farm.  He seemed to put his heart into doing the work more so than his siblings.  He later took a job at a service station nearby just up the street from us and my friends and I would walk to the station to see him, and occasionally to borrow his car.  After he met Maxine, his future wife, he was lovestruck and his attention went to her. Goodbye car.

 Dennis was a great help to mom and dad while Dad was alive and well.  His interest in working outdoors seem to have continued throughout his life.  When Lanny and I would visit Dennis and his family I would notice how meticulous he and Maxine had cared for their property.  Dennis hated weeds or at least didn't like them on his property, nor do I.  I lay tarp in the garden and that helps a lot.  So rather than weeding, I spend my time in the garden sweeping! Rather weird, isn't it!
Beats flying around on the broomstick!

Angie and Amy holding bunnies
Take a good look at the background and how neat and

well groomed it  is. No weeds either.

I have included a picture of Dennis ready to throw a saddle on his horse.  It was on one of our visits to Utah.   He and Maxine had taken us somewhere to ride the horse.  Gary is in the background wondering about the whole ordeal, but he did go for a ride.  Each kid mounted the horse and rode around for a few minutes, including your's truly.  We are not a horse family although I did enjoy my horses while I was growing up, Pet (wasn't really mine) and SageKing.  He became hard to handle I needed DeAnn's expertise to get him in shape.

Dennis and Maxine's children didn't come into the picture in a lickity-split  like manner.  I guess they were too preoccupied in Heaven and delayed their descent to earth for a few years, but they did come and have been a blessing to their family.  Just to look at Dennis tells it all: 

I looked up events which occured during the year Dennis was born and here are a few:  The vehicles looked something like this:

Marvel Heroes are popular now with heroes like Spider Man, Thor, Hulk and others.  But we had Superman and Lone Ranger.  I bet you didn't know the original climax for Superman had General Zod, Ursa and Non destroying the planet, with Superman time traveling to fix the damage.  The character first appeared in action Comics two years before Dennis was born, June 1938.

Dennis liked John Wayne who had his first big movie in 1938.  He had a collection of John Wayne movies I remember seeing.  Lanny shares the same passion for the "Duke".

An event that caught my eye was the 1940 U.S. Census being launched.  I spent over a month indexing the 1940 censuses not too long ago.  

On Dec 29, 1940 President Theodore Roosevelt delivered a radio speech that reflected on the events of 1940 and on the future of American involvement in what was soon to be WWII. 

Scientists learned that plasma can be substituted for whole blood transfusions; the Rh factor of blood was discovered.  Food is freeze dried for the first time.

CBS demonstrated the first color television in New York City and WNBT in NYC became the country's first regular television station, broadcasting to about 10,000 viewers.

I remember when we got our first television set.  It was a RCA and shows were broadcast in black and white.  I don't remember Dennis being drawn to the television as much as some.  We hurried home to watch Mickey Mouse Club and later American Bandstand, after our chores of picking up apples and sorting them were done.

Apples was a big thing in our lives, it was the main source of our family's income.  I just finished a book called My Antonia written by Willa Cather in which she had a quote about the everygreen tree, "the talking tree of fairy tale; where legends and stories are nestled like birds in its branches."  Here's my take on that quote: "The Apple Tree, the talking tree of life where stories and dreams are nestled like apples in it's branches waiting for one to eat of its substance and nourishment."  Sorry, I'm not the writer, Richelle is.

  

I remember Dennis spending a lot of time in the Uintahs and Provo River Valley and Lake Powell.  Lanny and I made a trip with Dennis and Maxine to Lake Powell.  What a beautiful place.  I have slides but can't very well show them here, so have found some good pictures from the internet.

Uintahs

, 

These are beautiful spots and it is easy to understand why he loved the outdoors so much.  Our adventure is coming to a close, so will leave with these few words and pictures:  We rally around Dennis' memory not just on his day of  his birth but always.  God bless his family which has become quite an abundantly fruited "apple tree" of Dennis and Maxine's prosterity.

Love, Arlene and Lanny

I don't have a picture of DeAnn and her complete family but they are all in this family picture and are on the left, excepting Elizabeth who is in the light lilac colored jacket in front. First three from the left are Jesssica, Shantell, Russell, and DeAnn and Kevin are standing behind Russell.

      

Amy, Jacob, Katanya
front: Kirsten, Cruz and McKay

Michael, Haley, Korver, Olivia