CHRISTMAS 2009

12-28-09 CHRISTMAS 2009

This was one of my best Christmases. While everyone was not present on Christmas Eve at our home, it was one of the meaningful Christmas events I have experienced. Kenny, Jo and their family left for Kansas on Dec. 21 to celebrate Christmas with the Elliotts-it was the first time in many years they had all been together. Kate, Aaron and their family came over from Parker on Christmas Day. Kenny and Jo returned to G. J. after Christmas so our grandchildren did have some time to play together.

The highlight however was Christmas Eve. After our fondue dinner, a family tradition, we read the Christmas story from Matthew, Luke and 3 Nephi together with the scriptures about Christ’s tender mercies. Then each family member gave one or two incidents in their life where they had been blessed with Christ’s tender mercies. What a blessing. What a testimony to hear the adult children bear witness of how they had felt Christ’s mercies in the lives. I was so grateful to know that each of my children and Gabi had a testimony and had felt Christ’s love and concern for them individually. I realized how blessed I am to have such wonderful family members.

Things have sure changed in my life, I remember as a kid we would get up at 4:00 a.m. to look at our presents Now, with only adults at home for this Christmas, everyone slept in on Christmas morning. Curtis and Michael Waters called us at 7:14 a.m. to share their excitement of what they received for Christmas. All in our family finally arose and we had our Christmas breakfast. Then we opened up our presents with Kim passing them out.

Other items of interest this past week:

1. I talked to all three sisters this week. It is sure satisfying to feel their love and support. I truly have been blessed to have them in my life.
2. I have started on my “Spiritual Book of Remembrance” or my small plates. I called the new book, “Christ’s Tender Mercies to Kenneth Kelly Summers.” I already have started putting things in my book.
3. I found an old file in my file cabinet called “Remembrances.” I had forgotten what was in the file. I was so excited to find in a big envelope many precious things from my mission like my “Ministerial Certificate” and letter s from people I had taught. When I went on a mission, the missionaries were given a certificate signed by the First Presidency stating the bearer was a missionary for the church and a “duly ordained minister of the gospel.” This certificate got me discounts at some clothing stores and was very useful in getting myself out of traffic tickets. I was stopped 9 times by policeman on my mission but never received a ticket-I was given the “ministerial courtesy.” I was touched by the letters I had received from people I had taught who joined the church or their families. These are truly “tender mercies “to me.
4. We all went to a movie matinee. We saw “Invictus” with Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mandela about how he used the mostly Afrikaner Soccer team to unite the blacks and the whites of South Africa after he was elected. Counting the movie my kids took me to in Denver at Thanksgiving staring Sandra Bullock in “Blind ?” I went to two movies during the year-that is one over my usual l quota of no more than one movie per year. It has been years since I went to a movie on my own-I only go when my children pressure me into attending with them. They went to two more movies at Christmastime that I didn’t attend. It’s not that I don’t like movies-I love them but instead of paying to see them, I wait till they come out on TV and watch them for free. I guess I never have gotten over when as a kid in Monticello it was 25 cents to see a movie if you were under 12 and 50 cents as an adult. I changed our cable package in October and November to include the sports channels that cover the Mountain West Conference so I could watch BYU football. It was only an extra $16.00 per month- a great buy-cheaper than a single ticket to a game. But about 20 movie channels came with the package and I started watching movies all the time. I soon realized I was wasting my life away watching movies so the Monday after the Utah-BYU game I returned to my old plan with the cable company. I can’t watch BYU basketball but I don’t watch movies all the time either.
5. Kenny and Jo’s boys loved the snow and the deer. Drew and Ian went sledding at Windgate School and loved it. They also tried to have Gabi’s dog “Louie” pull them on the sled. It was so cold and while the boys had winter coats they purchased in California, they were not really Colorado winter coats. They found out however when they went to Kansas that it was even colder there because of the wind.
6. I am amazed at the price of items I purchase. Food is definitely more expensive but clothes and electronics are cheaper than they were ten years ago. I can buy a shirt or cotton pants for less than I paid five years ago. Most of this is caused by globalization-our products are not produced in the USA anymore but in third world countries with cheap labor. Our country doesn’t produce anything, it just buys. I don’t know how much longer this can continue.
7. On Sunday I attended 5th and 8th wards. I completed the 4th quarter by attending every ward sacrament meeting at least once. Next year I am going to visit each ward priesthood meeting at least one in addition to attending each ward sacrament meeting every quarter. My visiting family gave me a good Christmas present by showing up to sacrament meeting on time.
8. My kids believed I needed help in the wardrobe department so most of my presents at Christmas were clothes. It’s true that everyone of my casual cotton pants were frayed at the bottom but the rest of the pants looked okay. My kids also thought I shouldn’t wear Bolder Boulder shirts everyday so I received lots of cotton pants and cotton casual shirts. I have worn all the shirts and some of pants.
9. We had a big snow storm about the 9th of December and the snow has stayed on the ground ever since that time and it is cold, cold cold. I didn’t walk this week because it was so cold and the roads were icy. I have my rules and unless it gets up to at least 20 degrees, I don’t walk.
10. Gabi is sure a good cook. He fixes the family special meals when we are together. They are always very tasty.

K. K. Summers

CLOSING POST OFFICE BOX 398

December 31, 2009

CLOSING OUT POST OFFICE BOX 398, GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO 81502

Today, December 31, 2009 I closed out Post Office Box 398, Grand Junction, Colorado 81502. This was an important milestone in my life and the life of many other attorneys who used that post office box when they practiced law in Grand Junction.

I had this task posted in my calendar for today but my mind was occupied by other events. Kenny, Jo and their children left for California by nine in the morning and Kim, Connie and Carol left at the same time to return to Denver. I spoke at the LaRue Olson funeral who was one the church pioneers in Western Colorado. I couldn’t get Jim Golden’s key because he was in the hospital with gall bladder troubles so I took my key and Joan’s key to the post office. That is when my mind started to concentrate on just what I was doing and how significant this closure was to me.

On December 31, 2007, the law firm of Golden, Mumby, Summers, Livingston and Kane consisting of Jim Golden, Keith Mumby, Rich Livingston, Bill Kane, Alan Hassler and myself was dissolved. Our lease was up at the Wells Fargo Bank fourth floor where we had resided since May 1, 1979-28 years. Jim Golden was about 76 and had been seriously hurt- receiving a brain concussion while riding his bike in the east tunnel on the Colorado National Monument. He set up an office downtown in a building he owned and did some legal work under the name of James Golden, LLC with Joan, our former office manager doing some work for him in the evenings. Keith Mumby, about a year younger than Jim, was only working a day or two a week and continued his semi retirement by sharing an office with Rich Livingston near Horizon Drive. I needed to retire because of my Parkinson’s disease and set up an office in my den at home where Teresa, my secretary worked part time until May of 2008 when all my cases were completed and my files closed and stored in the new storage unit constructed next to my home. I kept one phone number we had at the firm’s office, 970-242-0197, which I had published in the telephone book so that clients could find me to get information from my files. Bill Kane joined the Traylor law firm and Alan Hassler opened up his own office on North Avenue.

Everything fell in order when the firm was dissolved. It was agreed that the firm post office box would be maintained until clients became acquainted with whatever address their lawyer was using for mail. I agreed to be the “mailman” and check the box regularly and distribute the mail to each attorney. At first, I checked the box everyday but with the passage of time I was only distributing mail once a week. By the end of 2009, about the only mail coming to the box were flyers, catalogues and solicitations so it was decided when the box rent became due January 1, 2010, not to renew. I already had opened in 2007 a new box for me and my business interests so my mail was coming to that box.

Our firm started in about 1935. Keith Mumby has a card printed in 1938 what shows at that date the firm used P. O. Box 398 so this box has been used by the firm at least since that time. The firm was located on Main Street, and then in the 1950s moved to 200 North 6^th Street across from courthouse so there were at least three different locations for the firm but the same post office box during all this time. I joined the firm in 1968 so I was with the same firm almost 40 years.

I took my keys to the window at the post office and told a clerk that I knew I was there to close Box 398 and from his expression and the tone of his voice it was like, “You can’t close this box-the law firm has had this box forever.” This box number was first used in the old post office building on Rood Ave. which now is the Federal Building and the firm continued to use the same numbered box in the “new” post office when it was opened in 1965. The clerk was so astonished at my request he called over another clerk to share this startling news.

Closing the box and then cancelling my business phone number and having any calls to the business line transferred to my home phone until my name disappears from the phone books closes an important chapter in my life and is the final act of my retirement. I feel like the final nail has been nailed in the coffin. No longer will I make trips to the post office on a regular basis to check the firm mail. No longer will I visit other offices to distribute mail. I particularly will miss my visits with Joan, Rich and Keith at their office near the airport and get a nibble of dark chocolate from the bar Joan keeps in the frig for me. I do not miss the pressure of practicing law but I do miss my partners, staff and clients.

I have been blessed most abundantly by the Lord, my partners and staff. My partners have all been very honest, honorable and outstanding men. They have all been good lawyers. They have been my friends. I have had dedicated and loyal secretaries, receptionists and bookkeepers. The practice of law has been very good to me and allowed me to support my family and work in the church. I remember that night in the summer of 1963 at our Beaver Creek cow camp cabin when I discussed with my dad what occupation I should pursue and decided to become a lawyer. I think how fortunate I was to obtain admission to the University of California at Berkeley, meet Clarissa and get a great legal education. I think how blessed I was to find employment with Golden and Mumby the first trip to Grand Junction, our first choice of where to live. Many doors opened for me in the legal profession here. I particularly am grateful I could use my legal talents to acquire church properties, especially Ragged Mountain. I have had a chance to serve in the Kingdom Of God in Western Colorado and believe God brought me here to do His work. I believe God has been in control in my life and I will be eternally indebted to Him for my blessings. Every blessing, privilege and opportunity I have had is because of Him.

K. K. SUMMERS

From the San Juan Record 70 years ago. Hyland Hotel. KKS

REPORT 12-21-2009

REPORT 12-21-2009

I love Christmas time because my kids come home for Christmas. Everyone will be here, but not all at the same time. Kenny, Jo and children came home on Friday, December 18th. Mya woke up at four in the morning so Jo suggested, because they were already packed, that they load up the kids and get started. They were in Las Vegas by nine in the morning and arrived here in the early evening. The boys immediately were looking for deer. They are very comfortable at our home-they know where they will sleep, where the toys are and what good things their grandmother will have for them to eat.

Getting Kim here was another matter-it was just another chapter in Kim’s story of all the things that can go wrong when she flies between Washington D.C. and Denver. This time she was scheduled to leave Washington at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, fly to Atlanta and then to Denver. This flight was delayed two hours so she couldn’t take it to Atlanta because she would have missed her connection to Denver. She rebooked to fly through Milwaukee – she had to get out that night before the 1.5 to 2 feet of snow arrived the next morning and shut down the airport and the city. The plane coming to D. C. to take her to Milwaukee had mechanical problems and return to its base and another plane was sent to D. C. She finally boarded the plane to Milwaukee at 9:00 p.m. but then had to deplane to reboot the aircraft computer to fix mechanical problems. They finally reboarded at 11:00 p.m. and went to the de-icing area but had to go back to the terminal since the co-pilot had no flying hours left. The plane then had to de-ice again and she finally left at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning on the last flight out of the airport and probably after the curfew was normally in effect. The passengers were ready to lynch the flight crew and the terminal employees. Big bonus though-she was in the first seat in business class. She arrived in Milwaukee at 3:00 a.m. and was offered a flight leaving in two hours back to Atlanta and then to Denver but she knew better than to return to the east when she wanted to go west. The airline put her up for the night in a hotel, gave her a free voucher for a round trip ticket anywhere in the country to be used within a year and she finally left Milwaukee at 1:30 in the afternoon and arrived in Denver at three where Carol and Connie (who had flown in from Austin) picked her up and brought her home to G.J. The important thing was she got out of D.C. before the airport was closed because of the snow and she arrived safely at our home. Gabi and Catherine arrived earlier in the day much to the delight of the three Summers boys.

Historical events of the week:

1. This fall we have observed three bucks in our pasture which I wrote about last week. Kenny, his boys, Gabi and I went for a walk in the trees and found the largest buck dead, lying on its side under a tree in the leaves where the snow hadn’t covered the ground. Kenny couldn’t find any marks on the body and decided it died of old age or poison. He lifted up the head and very large antlers (six points on one side and four on the other) and took a picture with his cell phone with Drew and Ian each holding an antler. He then sent his friends and family a text with the picture informing everyone that Ian and Drew had bagged their first deer. Tyler, from Oklahoma, Jo’s brother texted back that he wanted to mount the alters-he is an amateur taxidermist. Sunday morning, before church, Kenny and Gabi, using the tools available at my house, (cross-cut saw, machete, wood saw and shovel) removed the head and Kenny took it in the minivan to Russell, Kansas to deliver it to Tyler who will be there for Christmas. I will miss watching this magnificent creature in my pasture-already the four point has taken over control of the deer herd and is now the ruler.
2. Monday evening was spent at the Clevelands home. They invited us over for supper and to view the Guatemala pictures from our trip on their big screen TV. It was a very enjoyable evening. I am going to write up my experiences this winter of this trip.
3. I released Elder Crosby Rock from the Las Vegas Nevada West Mission on Tuesday. He came home after a year in the field to have his ACL repaired. After about 6 months, he returned to complete his mission. His father, Bishop Rock, told me that when I set him apart the second times and gave him a blessing, I promised him that he would know why he returned to the field after his surgery. Elder Crosby was assigned to open Truckee, California which had not had missionaries there for eight years. It was Elder Crosby’s favorite assignment and he was very successful. The bishop cried when he said goodbye to Elder Crosby and said Elder Crosby returned to the mission field so he could be assigned to Truckee and bless the members and non-member of that area
4. Wednesday I attended the funeral of our receptionist husband who died at the age of 55 of a heart attack. He was too young to die. Glenda, his wife, is a very spiritual woman that I could trust when she typed up my life history including many spiritual experiences. I called her and also gave her a hug at the funeral. She told me she knew I would be at the funeral to support her.
5. I also attended the missionary “transfer meeting” this past week. Things have sure changed since I served a mission. We were never told when there would be transfers-they could come anytime. Normally, we receive a letter on a Monday or Tuesday informing us of the transfers that would take place Friday. We were informed of our new assignment and had to arrange for and pay our own transportation to the new area. We traveled alone to our new location and called up our new companion at the bus or train station to come and get us.
6. Every six weeks, (transfer week) the Denver South Mission calls on Tuesday the missionaries that will be transferred but doesn’t tell them where they are going. The metropolitan missionaries gather early in the morning in Denver on Thursday and those who are coming to the western slope pack their bikes and belonging in the mission trailer and drive in cars to G.J. arriving at noon where all the transferred missionaries are waiting at the stake center. The assistant to the president, a missionary, then reads the list of who has been assigned to a new companion and the elders load up their belongings to go to their new assignments on the western slope or to return to Denver for a new assignment. Car keys are exchanged as vehicles also are transferred to new locations. Surprising it works out very smoothly and with no discussion, just obedience. I was in awe when I watched this all done with missionaries being in charge-the president was in Denver. Only in the church could this happen with 19 and 20 year old missionaries in charge and everyone willingly accepting new assignments.
7. I finished up all bishop’s interviews this week-all ten of them. One new bishop told me he felt intimidated by me, but after our personal priesthood interviews, he really looks forward to them and wouldn’t want to miss one. I try to be supportive of the bishops and advise them to listen to the spirit—I don’t want to micromanage them or for them to be afraid to try something different when the spirit inspires them. I have very loving and supportive bishops.
8. I attended the Christmas programs at G.J. 4th and 8th wards-both excellent. One ward had three people take the parts of Joseph, Mary and a Wiseman and talk in the first person about their feelings and experiences. Each wrote their own-it was excellent-I am going to get copies for my records.
9. I finished reading the Book of Mormon for Christmas with the mission. It was a very good experience. I decided to concentrate on the last words, the final blessing, the final advice the prophets left in the Book of Mormon. I loved Nephi, Lehi, Jacob, Alma, Mormon and Moroni”s last words. I believe their last advice and counsel is the most important- where they get down to basics and tell us what is of the most worth.
I love having my family around me. I am blessed beyond measure and certainly more than I deserve. God is good to me. I love that my kids love each other and those who have married into the family fit right in.

Merry Christmas,

K. K. Summers

PRES. CHRISTISON CHRISTMAS LETTER

Christmas, 2009

Dear President and Sister Christison,

Thank you for your service in behalf of our mission, our stake and for our missionaries. I knew from the first time I met you when you stopped on your way to Denver at our stake center for Sacrament Meeting that you were very special people. After meeting you in the hall, I returned to my stake presidency meeting and told those present that I had just met you and that you were wonderful, loving people and that the mission would be in good hands.

Since that time, it has been my great privilege to serve with you in the kingdom. I have felt your support, your love, your inspiration and your concern for the missionaries. You have always been kind to let me come to your zone conferences and participate. I love meeting the missionaries and love watching them mature and develop confidence and spiritual strength. I look forward to those conferences. I find it a great blessing to be stake president when I am retired and have all the time I need to serve and be available to fulfill my calling.

I will always remember your instructions. Because you teach the missionaries basic gospel doctrine, your teachings apply to my role as stake president. Sister Christison, I don’t remember a mission president’s wife that was better than you for teaching the important principles of the gospel. Each conference I am spiritually fed which makes me a better stake president

Thanks for bringing your missionaries to Ragged Mountain and letting me participate. Your missionaries are so kind and helpful to me on the hikes-they wouldn’t let me fall if I tried. But most important I remember the spirit I felt in my private meditation time in the aspen trees, taking the sacrament, being instructed and burning my sins. My involvement with Ragged Mountain is one of the most satisfying experiences of my life and gives me great joy. Like Lehi who tasted the fruit on the tree and wanted to share it with his family, I want to share the spirit that exists at Ragged Mountain with the missionaries so they can be spiritually converted and strengthen. Thanks for these memories at Ragged Mountain which will never be forgotten.

Thanks for the elders, sisters and couples you have assigned to our stake. I have made many friends for life with these missionaries. It is a real highlight of my Sabbath to meet with the zone leaders and Pres. Atkinson each Sunday morning, review the progress of the work and then kneel and lead the group in prayer for the investigators and missionaries.

Thanks for the book. I’m looking forward to reading it. I hope you enjoy my wife’s famous homemade raspberry jam at Christmas. Make sure Mason gets some. I am also enclosing my picture in front of the Monticello Temple wearing a genuine “Elmer Fudd” hat which was my fathers and is 40 to 50 years old, manufactured by Eddie Bauer in Seattle when that firm made clothes for lumberjacks and outdoorsmen. The picture is proof why the mission staff made black stocking caps for the missionaries rather than let them wear “Elmer Fudd” hats.

Merry Christmas

REPORT 12-14-09

REPORT 12-14-09

This week had one common theme—cold, cold, more cold and snow. On Tuesday, we were blessed with nine inches of snow. That is a really big snow storm for us. It really hurt my back to shovel the snow off the walks and the drive way but I had no choice-if I don’t remove the snow it will freeze, turn to ice and then be a problem all winter. I did get enough snow removed so we could get out of the house and out of the garage and down to E 7/8 Road which was finally graded a day to two later by the county road department. The other problem was the cold that lasted all week. We had day after day where the temperature was 10 degrees below zero at night and would only get up to 10 or so during the day. The advantage was the snow couldn’t turn to ice because the snow didn’t melt. Today it will get above 32 degrees and the sun is shining so things will start to melt and the roads will clear.

Here is my weekly report of activities:

1. The cold stopped my walking-I just will not walk unless it gets in the 20s. Last week I only walked one day and that was only for a mile because of the cold. Today I walked 2.5 miles and it sure felt good. I get stiff when I don’t walk. I have to earn good days by walking. It really helps my Parkinsons.
2. Kenny’s birthday was this week. He is a good son. I remember when Clarissa was in labor with him that I prayed he wouldn’t be born on Pearl Harbor Day-my pray was answered and he was born about 10 minutes after midnight. We are excited to have the Summers family come for a visit this weekend. I hope the deer, particularly the three bucks are around when they come. One two point buck only has antlers on the left side, the four point buck is large but the five point buck really rules-everyone obeys him-he is magnificent.
3. This week the missionaries had a western slope Christmas conference. The mission president gave them:
1. A hand knitted black stocking cap to keep their head and ears warm-these were knitted by the mission staff including the mission president and his wife.
2. A Christmas card from the First Presidency.
3. A consecrated small bottle of olive oil from olive oil the Christisons had purchased in Israel.

The Christisons gave Clarissa and I a beautiful book titled “How Americans view Mormonism-Seven Steps to Improve Our Image.” It is written by Gary Lawrence, a member of the church with a PHD from Stanford. I’m excited to read it. I have had a very special relationship with both mission presidents since I have been stake president. Pres. Wright was an attorney from Idaho Falls and his son and family live in our ward so we had a lot in common. When I became stake president, I started a practice of praying for our mission president and his wife in our stake meetings. He credited our prayers in saving he and his wife’s life when they were hit by a drunk driver from behind going 70 miles per hour on the interstate in G. J. He is now serving another mission as an attorney for the church is Australia so we keep in touch through his son. I met Pres. Christison in the stake center as he came to church the first day of his mission as he was travelling to Denver to take over and we have been close ever since. I get invited to all the zone conferences and the mission conferences at Ragged Mt. and I am always invited to speak. I have become close to Mason Christison, their son, who is waiting for his mission call. He comes to almost all the conferences. The Christisons are great teachers and they bless my life. I expect him to be made an Area Seventy.

4. I was very proud this week to read the report of Bro. Brent Jones, our high counselor over missionary work who was raised in Blanding. He reported that one of our Ward Mission Leaders observed that a newer missionary with some special problems was struggling when he taught a lesson. Rather than ask that the missionary be transferred out of the ward and be a problem for some other congregation, the ward mission leader developed a training program for the missionary to teach him how to give a lesson, practicing first on his own family. I requested that this missionary not be transferred this week so he could continue his training in this ward and with this ward mission leader and Pres. Christison agreed. I’m so proud of this ward mission leader.
5. We had tithing settlement Sunday. The bishop, as is his practice, gave Clarissa and me each a Bishop’s blessing to help us individually and with our church callings. He is very concerned with his members.
6. I home taught the Whites and the Waughs last night and gave them each a jar of Clarissa’s homemade Boysenberry jam. I have home taught these families so long I can’t remember when I started. I love to home teach.
7. Saturday I traveled by myself to Monticello to attend the temple. Originally I planned on going Friday, visiting at the courthouse on business, driving down Montezuma Creek and then staying the night with 12^th Ward at the Hyland Hotel-BUT, Jean and Dean were not home because Dean had fainted and had been to the doctor in St. George (he is okay), my car alternator went out and dumped me Thursday night so Clarissa and I had to share a car this weekend (It is now fixed) and it wasn’t wise to go down Montezuma Creek when Monticello had two feet of snow. I left Saturday morning before sunrise and got back in time for the famous Larry De Goyler Christmas party Saturday night-it was also his 70^th birthday. I love driving thru Dry Valley and seeing the red and white rocks. I love the temple and the Horsehead on the mountain looking over the community. We had lots of G.J. temple workers there and I saw Cooper Jones, Doyle and Marilyn Rowley and others. Elder Brimhall, our Area Seventy said all stake presidents are to become veil workers so I picked up an application for that assignment. It was a very satisfying day and in spite of a new snow storm, the roads were great.
8. This week we had a very successful mission meeting for all four Fruita Wards and I did four bishop PPIs. My bishops are such loving men. Yesterday I attended Fruita 2^nd and G.J. 2^nd Wards besides temple interviews and a special meeting with a lady who withdrew from the church about 30 years ago which feels the need to come home. She reminds me of our cattle and sheep, when they couldn’t be found and were left in Dry Valley in the spring. They would start up the highway on their own striving to get to the Colorado mountains, sometimes 100 miles away. They knew where they were supposed to be and were acting on that knowledge and would start on their own. I also have started reading about 150 patriarchical blessing given by Bro. White. It is my responsibilities to review his blessing before they are submitted to Salt Lake.
9. We had a first this week-after 37 years living at 585 20 Road, our water pipes froze when it was 14 below zero. I called Ute Water and they examined the situation and informed me that my pipes were frozen in the furnace room because there was too much frigid air circulating near the floor from the big vent we installed a long time ago to provide only cold outside air to the furnace and hot water heater. The workers covered up the outside vent and told me the pipes would thaw in an hour and just like they said, the water started flowing in one hour. There were no breaks in any water line. I now let a faucet drip at night if it gets that cold.

K. K. Summers