Ronna's Blog: My brother Vance, the only boy

Well, it's my brother Vance's birthday. If my math is correct he is 47 years old. As a kid we thought only old people got to be 47. I still think of him as a little kid, but he's gone much beyond the little boy I remember. I still remember when he was born. Back then you had to wait until the baby got here to find out if it was a girl or a boy. Mom and dad had been through four pregnancies and had 5 girls. I think dad was a little mortified to think that he, coming from a family of 7 boys, couldn't manage to have a boy. I remember when we were told he was a boy, and how excited everyone was. Of course, he got dad's name. We always used to joke that they tried for one more boy and after Nellie was born decided it was time to quit. Actually mom was never able to get pregnant again after that, and so I would like to think that they loved us kids so much that they were more than willing to have a few more, boys or girls not being a consideration. Anyway, to make a long story short, we all loved Vance. He was spoiled by all of us. He got to do all the special boy things with dad, not to say that us girls didn't learn how to do all of them before Vance got big enough. Now that I look back on it, I don't think dad ever cared that we were girls. He just expected us kids to do whatever he asked. And we usually did. Our parents taught all of us kids how to work, there usually wasn't much differentiation between girls work and boys work. Vance did get to take out more garbages and bring in more wood, and I'm sure he got to milk the cow a time or two. He had a motorcycle, although he did have to get a running start down a hill to get it started. He learned how to shoot guns, that really none of us girls ever did. Maybe because all of us older girls had unknown major eye problems. Vance played sports some, but never really liked them much I don't think. He was pretty little when he was born. I don't remember that he had to stay in the hospital, but maybe. He fell off the wagon wheel couch when he was about 6 months old and broke his upper arm. He got to spend the night in the hospital, because they didn't want to cast it. When mom got back to the hospital the next morning, he was still crying. They already had the cast put on and they send him home that day. Vance was always a good kid. He and some of his "not mentioned" friends did have a little of a wild streak in their later teenage years, but they were all good kids and survived just fine. We always though we kept some of that stuff from our mom, but I don't think we did. She never let on that she knew, but I think she did, and had faith that he would be fine. I really respect Vance as an adult. He always seemed like my little brother until he became my bishop, and then he was an equal and not a "little" anything. I am so grateful that he is my brother, and I love him dearly. I'm glad he chose to come and be in our family.

Vance in May or Jun of 2009. He was so tired. He was being a bishop, doing a handcart trek, working every day and helping us to take car of our sick dad. This is one of my very favorite pictures of Vance. He was tired, but never beaten. He was always there.

Vance riding on a bouncy horse. I still remembe that horse

Vance and Nellie at Dan and Donna's wedding.

Vance and Brecks. He was the bishop by now

Vance in an old walker. I remembe them well, they actually fold up flat

Vance with his cast on. There aren't many pictures of the cast.

Vance at the Provo Temple when he ws in the MTC

What a handsome missionary

Vance rototilling the garden. I was gone when he was a teenager, and never realized about his asthma. I remember him having it, but never how bad. He still suffers from it, but it never stops him from working outside and doing what he needs to do.

Vance at Dan and Donna's wedding. If I recall they were a little stressed over his hair. Dad always kept him buzzed off. He had these nasty cowlicks. A funny thing though, is that he passed those cowlicks onto all of his kids. What a trait to pass down.

Vance & Michelle, Tell, Nicky and Chelan in about 2006

The Muders - this was taken when Nicky graduated from High School

Vance and Michelle on their wedding day. I was living in Alaska at the time and missed his wedding. I'll always regret that. Who would have thought that anyone (Michelle) could have gotten him into a white tuxedo like that.

Vance and Michelle doing dad's nails. Even when he was sick, he like to look good. This reminds me of when Jesus was washing his disciples feet. That was a special time for me when we got to spend dad's last weeks with him, taking care of him, and serving him as he served us.

I'm sure this was someone's idea of a cruel joke. Not really, but you have to admit the hairdos are a little bit much. Us kids hated having our hair done, and so Mom and Marie decided to give us "pixie" cuts. They used to tell us we were so cute. Holy Cow. What a thing to tell a kid when we had no idea of how horritle it really was. Vance was lucky because he was a boy, and Nellie was lucky because she wasn't born yet. Nellie never had to endure our stress.