I Believe – My Values

I want to include my mother in my history because she and I were very close and she influenced me throughout my whole life. My parents divorced when I was very young. I don’t remember my dad ever living in our home, but of course, he did. Even though they divorced, I always felt safe and loved.

My mother worked most of my life at the Broadway department store in Westchester, California. When she would get home from work in the afternoon, she would help my brother Kenneth and I with our homework. We would sit at the kitchen table and talk and get our work done. Later, we would sit at the dining room table and play board games. My favorite was a game called Aggravation. It was similar to the game Sorry where you had to move your marbles around the board till you got to your home space. I loved that game! We also had some card games we would play.

When I got a little bit older, I would take the bus to Westchester and meet her at the Woolworths lunch counter and we would have lunch together. My favorite dinners at home were chili mac and meatloaf. The very first time I went out to a sit down restaurant was when I was 15 years old. My mother and I went to a Sizzler and I thought it was wonderful!

Family was important to my mom. She was very close to her siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. I saw this from an early age and knew that this was how I wanted to raise my family. A fun memory I had was when I was about 17 years old. My mom and I took the train to Denver, Colorado where her sister Virginia and her husband lived. While there, we drove to Sarban, Nebraska to visit her brother Jimmy and his wife Jessie. They lived on a farm and I got to go horseback riding! I so enjoyed that trip!

When I was a teenager, my brother Jerry helped my mom apply for a job with the Los Angeles County Social Services Department.  She got the job and was able to sit down while doing her job!  Her last years at the Broadway really hurt her feet. 🙁  Her position required her to help people fill out the intake forms.  Then she would call them when it was their appointment time.  She did enjoy this job and stayed there till she retired at age 65.

After I graduated high school, she sold our house and we moved to an apartment on Sepulveda Blvd.  As I look back now, I realize it was old, but at the time, I didn’t mind.  It was one bedroom, so my mom and I shared the room with twin beds. I didn’t mind this at all, and in fact, quite enjoyed it.  When my brother Ken came home on leave from the Navy, we had a chair that opened up to a twin bed for him.  We moved a couple of times after this, and most times my mom and I shared a room.  We did this till I moved out with friends to go to college.

Later, after Kelly and I were married and bought our first house in Chatsworth, my mom moved in with us. She was retired then and paid us a little bit of rent.  It helped her and it helped us.  And, I loved having her with us! She lived with us till Morgan was born and we moved to Newbury Park.  At this time she moved to Culver City but then moved to Thousand Oaks so she could be closer to us. She was able to get into a Senior Housing apartment that was brand new and she so loved it!  She loved her Ward and made new friends at her apartment.  

On Thursday’s the apartment would get donuts dropped off from shops that had extra.  My mom would bring some over to our house for the kids (and me!).  The kids loved this and we called it “Donut Thursdays”.  

We enjoyed our time together and talked almost every day on the phone, if we didn’t get together.  It was a very sad day for me when she died.  I explain this in an upcoming chapter.

Mary and I, newly married, also boarded a plane for Europe, via Copenhagen, to visit Augey for a few days.  Of course, Mary was expected to follow the French culture rules, so the first order of business was to go to Bordeaux to purchase a dress of “appropriate” length.  A lot of people in the village of Rauzan were curious about “l’Américaine.”  The Sunday Mass at the local church was well attended, as my mom told everyone she knew that we were going to be there!  We were treated to a formal lunch with my brothers and sister, my tante Suzy and tonton Roger (Tante or Tantine and Tonton, as aunts and uncles were called in my family at the time).  We all sat in our Sunday best for the two-hour lunch in the formal, marbled dining room of my family home.  We felt very welcome and everybody was very impressed by Mary’s fluency in French.  My dad served a 1928 Chateau Yquem, a world-renowned Sauternes, with dessert.  That sweet, 40-year-old wine was absolutely delicious, a real treat!  The bouquet and palate of this unique wine will always be with me.

We honeymooned in Rome for a few days, having a wonderful time visiting the Vatican, walking from plaza to plaza, admiring the fountains, as well as the sidewalk cafes and the young people rushing around on their Vespas.  We traveled back to Copenhagen to return to Davis.

Mary quickly got a job at the university library and I had a part-time research assistant job.  We easily settled in married life.  My major professor, Dr. Ryugo, soon became a friend and mentor.  Some French graduate students enjoyed coming over for dinner.  My tennis friend from Rauzan, Philipe, came for a visit one weekend.  We had a poorly-trained little dog, a chihuahua mix named ChouChou, who liked to run away.

Mary became pregnant in the spring.  We didn’t have much, but we had each other.  Before long, I obtained my permanent resident card, or green card, so there was little doubt we would stay in the U.S.  In the fall, we received the sad news of Mary’s dad passing.  It was without warning, and suddenly the pillar of her family was gone.  He was a man of few words but infinite wisdom, and he was surely missed, especially by Mary and her sister Sally.

I started my research project, observing and recording the response of a synthetic growth retardant, Alar, on the maturity of peaches and nectarines.  Lots of measurements needed to be taken on the developing fruit.  While I was on the ladder in the fruit trees,  Mary was recording the data, often in the blazing sunshine, and pregnant!  The research produced some good results.  After analyzing the data, it was time to write the thesis.  With Mary’s encouragements and editing , the thesis was ready to be turned in and approved, ending my studies.  Returning from a visit to LA, I saw a vineyard supervisor position advertised in a local Center Valley newspaper.  I applied, got an interview, and was offered a job at E & J Gallo in Livingston, near Modesto in the Central Valley of California.

On January 3, 1970, Caroline was born.  Maxine, Mary’s mother, arrived right away to help out.  I remember after a day or two, Mary and her mom left me with the baby to run some errands.  Of course, she started to cry and I totally panicked, not knowing what to do.  “Why did it take you so long to get back?”  I did not consider, I guess, that babies do cry sometimes.

We arranged with Father Coffee to have Caroline baptized right away before relocating to Livingston.  Her grandmother scolded Father for pouring too much water on her head; it was winter after all!  A few days later, the three of us moved to the Gallo ranch.  The job consisted of supervising a crew of about thirty men, encouraging quality and speed.  When the superintendent or ranch manager were visiting the crew, he would ask first,  “How many vines an hour are they doing?”  It was hard work, but it was all I could find, and we had a small, three-bedroom house rent free.  It was dusty and very hot from May to October, out in the middle of nowhere.

When Caroline was just a few months old, Mary traveled to LA and brought her dear grandmother, her dad’s mom, back for a visit, which made our isolation a little more bearable.  My mom came to visit in the fall for about two weeks.  She took Caroline for rides in her stroller around the vineyard.  Mary and my mom got along very well, speaking only French; Mary’s language skills improved immensely.  I realized only much later how much my mom cared for us, and I know now she wished we would go back to live in France.  But neither my father or my oldest brother, securely in charge of the family business, even suggested we come back.  They believed they had given me a college education and now I was on my own.  Mary became pregnant in the fall and Valerie was born April 14, 1971. We were stressed and life was hard.

My senior year in college turned out to be very enjoyable.  I developed strong friendships with a couple of classmates in my field.  I really liked my course work and I knew then it was my calling to work in orchards or vineyards.  For the first time, I was getting good grades and
contemplating graduate school.

Mary always dreamed of flying.  Her dad, Captain Robert Stewart, a retired pilot for American Airlines, encouraged her to be a flight attendant.  She moved to Dallas to train.  He flew there to attend her graduation and proudly pin the wings on her uniform.

Mary was assigned to JFK airport, so I flew to New York City to visit her at Christmas time.  We had a wonderful time, exploring the city, even going to upstate NY to spend a couple of days in a ski resort.  We knew then we would get married.

Back in Davis, I wrote to my parents telling them of our intentions.  My mom ordered a ring for Mary and my father arranged a work trip to New York to bring it to her.  Mary asked her mom to join her and the two of them met my dad for dinner at his hotel.  Later that evening, all
excited, Mary called to tell me how beautiful the ring was and how pleasant the evening had been.  I was engaged—and I was not even there!

From time to time, Mary would have a flight to SFO and we always had a wonderful time planning our future together.  After graduation, I was immediately admitted into a master’s program, and I secured a research lab position in the Pomology department for the summer.  Mary was planning the wedding with her mom in Los Angeles.  I had no idea what the preparations were about, but I was so excited!  The date was set:  September 7, at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Pacific Palisades.

My parents arrived a week early, by way of San Francisco.  I took them to farms where new harvest techniques were developed.  We watched the mechanical harvest of canning tomatoes with a substantial amount of waste, and the shaking of peach trees where the fruit destined to be canned collected into a big cone.  Finally, my mom declared, “I saw enough!”  Of course, they were raised in a culture where everything is done by hand and there is certainly no waste.  We left on Thursday and drove to LA in two days, taking the scenic route along the Pacific coast.  We arrived at Mary’s parents’ house a day before the wedding.  Shortly after meeting Mary, my mom took me aside and asked, “Does she have longer dresses?”  It was the time when “mini skirts” were in fashion but not in Rauzan, France!

My parents and I met everybody in front of the church.  Mary’s two brothers and three of my college friends went to the altar and soon Mary appeared with her dad, who had contracted polio but still managed to walk her down the aisle.  It was a beautiful ceremony, officiated by a priest friend of the bride.  The reception took place at her parents’ home, under the clear, Southern California blue sky.  Mary’s dad, a very gifted craftsman, managed to expand the dining room to the back patio.  Everything was perfect!  Even my father remarked, “I should have invited the French Consul of Los Angeles.”

The next day we took my parents to the airport to fly home.

Another chapter …

This is a test chapter ….

It was winter, 1965.  Before I had to report to the army, I stayed at my brother’s house and had a job pruning plum trees.  It was cold, hard work, trying to keep up with the more experienced workers.  When the time finally came, I reported to the military camp in the town of Libourne, only 15 miles from my parents’ home.  As soon as I arrived, I was given a short haircut, a fatigue uniform, and a set of rules I had to follow.  France was at peace, so there was no chance I would be sent abroad.

After a few months, I received a month-long agricultural leave to help with the plum harvest back home.  I worked long hours, side by side with my two brothers; Michel, the oldest, was in charge.  I was given the responsibility of supervising a large harvest crew of young people.  I was feeling at home again.

Of course, I had to return to camp, though there was not much to do and I was bored most of the time.  Luckily for my sanity, I was receiving a letter almost daily from Mary in California, and I, likewise, was writing all the time.

Because of insubordination and leaving the base without permission one weekend, I was caught, punished, and placed in solitary confinement for three weeks.  It was definitely deserved.  I had to empty the trash cans into a dump truck, escorted by a guard carrying a rifle but no ammunition.  Were they afraid I was going to escape?

I finally finished my military service in July 1966.  I worked the plum harvest for a few weeks, then went back to California.  I immediately called Bob Thompson, the property owner in Yuba City for whom I had previously worked; he offered me a job right away.  I was glad to be free again, away from the constraints of the French way of life and especially the rigidity of my family customs regarding how to dress, when and what to eat, whom to associate with—all imposed on me with no negotiation on the rules.  So confining!

Mary was in her senior year at UC Davis, and it was good seeing her again.  I joined the campus soccer team.  With team members from South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, it was truly an international team.  Only the goalkeeper was American.  Mary watched our games against other universities, though soccer was, at that time, a sport mostly foreign to Americans.  (Who knew then that about ten years later all our family—six of us—would be playing soccer at the same time?)

I finally enjoyed being a student, and was getting good grades.  My interest in fruit trees and grapes, how they behave and grow, became my passion.  Mary graduated in spring 1967 and I went to my summer orchard job.

After the Vietnam War, I went to the College of Southern Utah, known today as Southern Utah University. I changed my major to Social Work and enjoyed my classes much more, and as a result, I got better grades. Cedar City is where I met my future wife Alveta. She was working as a nurse at the hospital. I met and dated Alveta for about six weeks and then proposed to her. She told me she was still in love with her old boyfriend, so instead of buying a ring with the money I had saved, I bought an engine for my 62 Chevy.

At this time, I decided to move home and build a dairy with my brother Don, so I didn’t go back to school after that. In January, my cousin Evan Brown was getting married in Hurricane. I wanted to see him get married, so I decided to go to his wedding with Barbara and Virginia. After the wedding was over Barbara and Virginia insisted that we go to Cedar City. Since I was in Cedar City, I decided to see Alveta while I was there. The next day was Sunday, I knew what time her ward was, so I decided to attend church in her ward. This way, I would have an excuse to see her. But I was disappointed when I went and could not see her, at this time I decided to leave, and she came running into church late. After Sacrament meeting, I tracked her down. We decided that we wanted to spend more time together since we were enjoying being together, later that night we went to a fireside. Joseph Fielding Smith was the speaker and at that time was an apostle. After the fireside, she told me that she would be moving back to Oklahoma. I was very disappointed that she would be moving so far away and thought this was the end for us. I went home and dated a few girls, but all I could do was think about Alveta. One night I felt that I should call her up and ask her to Prom. She said she would come to Blanding and go to Prom with me on her way to Oklahoma. What she did not realize at that time was that Blanding is not on your way to anywhere, let alone Oklahoma. We went to the Prom together and had such a great time. Before she left, I proposed one more time, and this time she said yes!!

We set our wedding date to June, but she wanted me to go out first and meet her mom and dad. The first time I met Alveta’s parents, I drove down to Oklahoma. Driving into Yukon, it was raining very hard. I had never seen rain like this in Utah. It felt like the whole sky was falling. Grandpa Lee didn’t like me very well at first. Just a side note, I found out later that he was going to run me off if I showed up in a black hat and black suit and had other wives. However, when he saw that I looked normal, he warmed up to me. I liked grandma Lee, from the very start she was very nice to me and cooked so much good food. I enjoyed my visit with Alveta’s family and felt like I belonged. The engagement lasted longer than planned because I was called back into the reserves on July 6th, 1970, our wedding plans were put on hold at this time. I went to California for my two weeks of reserve and flew from there to Oklahoma. Richard Alveta’s brother picked me up from the airport. I spent a week there and got to know Alveta’s parents even better. I felt really good about the family I would be marrying into and already loved them a lot. We were able to set a new date to get married on August 13, and we wanted to be sealed in the Manti Temple. This date was also Grandpa and Grandma Lee’s anniversary and Grandpa Brown’s Birthday. Grandpa and Grandma Lee drove to Manti with us. They met us outside of the temple. We had our wedding luncheon in the cafeteria of the Manti temple. Grandpa and Grandma Lee were able to go in for the wedding luncheon. Next, we drove to Blanding and had our reception. I will always look back on this day and cherish it what a wonderful day it was.

Upon graduation from the San Juan high school, May 25, 1962, I immediately went to work for the United States Forest Service. On May 28, 1962, I went with Paul, my older brother, and Willard Guymon to the Baker Ranger Station. This station was in the Manti-La Sal National Forest, and there we applied for a job. We were all accepted, and there went to work just east of Monticello, Utah, on the Blue Mountain road.

I enjoyed the first few months of work immensely. I worked and camped with Paul during the week. Many times we were left to ourselves to do the work. Paul being older, was the supervisor. On the first day at work, we put up the snow fence around the Buck Board flat area. The next day we stayed close to town as Wednesday was Memorial Day and my first paid holiday. Thursday, Willard, Paul, and I went between the Blue Mountain and North Elk, where we began to put in water troughs for the range cattle.

All the time we were working on the mountain we kept our eyes open, hoping to come across a missing Utah Civil Patrol Plane that had gone down in a search, in January of 1962, for a missing plane flying from California to Colorado. Late in the summer, the California plane was found in the mountains of Colorado. Several attempts to find the missing U.C.P.

When fall came, I started preparing for my mission. At this time, I started my preparation for my mission by studying the scriptures. One day while reading in the Doctrine & Covenants section 100 verses five and six, it read, “Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thought that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men; For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea in the very moment, what ye shall say.” These two verses of scripture gave me great comfort, so I chose them to be my missionary scripture.

When the time came, I received my mission call to the Northern States mission on November 14th. December of 1962, I went into the mission home. Aunt Hattie Bell Black was in the mission home, along with Pete Black from Blanding. There were also from Arizona, a few others who were all descendants of William Morely Black. Hattie got us all together for meals so we could get to know each other. There was no cafeteria in the mission home at that time, so we would walk down the hill to Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City by the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. During this time, things were a little bit different for missionaries. Instead of taking out your endowments before you went to the Mission home, the Elders would go to the temple once you got to the mission home, and all the elders would go together. The year I was in the Mission Home, the Salt Lake temple was closed, so we went to the Logan temple to have our endowments taken out. I was in the Mission Home for two weeks. At the end of our training, we had a testimony meeting in the Tabernacle. All the missionaries sat in the choir seats. Their families were welcome and could come to this testimony meeting.

As a missionary, I left the Northern State Mission home at 6011 N. Sheridan Road right on the banks of Lake Michigan in Chicago. From here, we took the train north up the lakeshore to Milwaukee. Sister Sheila Anderson and Sister Gail were also going to Milwaukee; they were our competitors, laboring in South Milwaukee. I was to have many fond memories of experiences and people I would shortly encounter.

I still had not gotten over my butterflies, and the large city had me baffled and on edge. I had never seen anything move so fast in my life. Elder House, the mission secretary, was to get us on the train at the Union Station in Chicago. He thought the train left an hour later than it did, so he took us downtown Chicago to see the lights. We missed our train, so we had to wait for the next one. We pulled into the Milwaukee Road Depot at about 6:30. There was Elder Curt L. Keith with Elder Harris to meet me. Elder Keith was a young Elder of six months of experience from Boise, Idaho. They took me straight to the apartment and dropped off my luggage, and then we went to pick up some people, Sister Cabot, a member, and Sister and her boy to baptize them. I was thrilled to the bone to attend a baptism service my first night in Milwaukee. After all, that is why I had accepted my call. The services were beautiful that night; Elder Keith and Harris did the baptizing. After they had dressed and it came time for the confirmation, Elder Keith asked me to come up and stand in the circle. I felt shocked by this request, and this thought came to me like a bolt of lightning. The first thought that came through my mind was, “I can’t do that, only Bishops do that.” Then came the realization, I had the authority. Three weeks before, I had been ordained an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood and had sealed on me all powers and authority pertaining to that priesthood. My testimony of the gospel was strengthened greatly that night as I stood in to help confirm those wonderful people. The veil was drawn from my eyes and I was able to envision the many wonderful experiences that were in store for me.

The next morning, Sat., Dec. 15, 1962, Elder Keith and I went to wedding services that Elder Keith was to perform. The wedding was the son of a recent convert Elder Keith had baptized. On Sunday we had the opportunity of taking some recent converts to the church and mingle with the members. I knew right off the church was the same everywhere one could go. There are many wonderful souls in Milwaukee that I grew to love deeply.

At sacrament meeting that evening, Sister Wessell came up and asked us if we would go to a hospital where her husband was recuperating from a heart attack. Brother and Sister Wessell had been in the church only a short while. They had been members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses; they are assets to the church. That night as we administered to Brother Wessill, being the first time I had ever seen anointings and blessings given, I was again strengthened in my testimony, and thankful that I had the authority to act for God. Brother Wessel recuperated very rapidly.

While I was in Milwaukee, they were having some of the coldest temperatures on record. I had many good experiences while I was there, but one of my experiences was not good. My companion and I were involved in a car accident that involved four cars. We both got whiplashes from the accident. We were admitted to a hospital for this and put in traction. During this time, there was an unusual cold spell. It was so cold in the hospital the nurses would come in and put blankets on the window to help keep the rooms a little bit warmer.

My good experiences in Milwaukee was, I was able to teach two wonderful families the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then my companion and I were able to baptize them. The family’s names were Zappe, and they came from Germany. The family consisted of the mom, dad, two boys, and a girl who were old enough to be baptized. However, they also had twins, but they were too young at that time to be baptized. The other family’s name was Seitman, my companion and I was able to baptize the dad, the oldest boy, and the two oldest girls. The mom had just had a baby, so she got baptized two weeks later. The biggest challenge for me being in Milwaukee was the temperatures. I had never been to a place that was so cold. During the daytime, the temperatures would warm up to 20 below zero and then get down to 30 below at night. Lake Michigan completely froze over that year.

I transferred out of Milwaukee on May 5th and went to Chicago Heights. My first companion in that area was Kelly Summers from Monticello. I was there only a month when I was transferred to Kankakee, Illinois. This town had a Corn Flake company, the form of heat in Kankakee was coal, the buildings were all black from the suite and the smoke. They would also dump their sewage in the rivers. I was only there a short time. Next, I was transferred to Chillicothe, Illinois, the population of that town was about 2500 people. There was no church in Chillicothe, but members lived there in the town. We used trains as our transportation when it was time to be transferred. When we got to Chillicothe, I met a member who worked on the trains. He introduced me to a very nice man who took me to my apartment. Once I got settled, my companion and I had a referral to a member family that returned to the Lutheran church. Because there was no LDS church in the town, the family always wanted their children to go to MIA, but when the Lutheran Minister found out about this news, he was mad. I felt very blessed in being a part of reactivating this family. One highlight while I was in Chillicothe was a mission conference in Nauvoo and Carthage. The reorganized church-owned that area at the time, but just being there where the church had started strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith, that he truly had restored the true church on this earth. While in Carthage seeing for myself where Joseph sealed his testimony with his blood as he died for this restored gospel deepened my testimony of missionary work. Even after Joseph was martyred, God had a work to do, and the gospel of Jesus Christ still moved forward. After this great experience, we received a referral to a family who lived way out on a farm, their names were Pedrecks, and they lived in a little town named Metamora, Illinios. They ended up joining the church, and after my mission was over, this family was able to go through the temple and were sealed together. I was able to go through with them. What joy you feel when you get to see the fruits of your labor. I will always cherish this time in my life. Later on, when their daughter got married, I was invited to the wedding, so I went out to Metamora one more time.

Next, I was transferred to Wausau, Wisconsin, where I spent my last winter and into the spring. I was then transferred to Southern Illinois, Benton. Last part of my mission I reopened up Clinton, Iowa, it was by Davenport, Iowa, and Moline, Illinois. it had been shut down due to the misconduct of previous missionaries. My mission consisted of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Milwaukee was my favorite place in my mission. I got home off my mission and was released in December 1964.

After my mission, I went to Utah State. I majored in Biology, which was a very tough major for me, and as a result, made such bad grades I lost my deferment. Not long after this, I was called to go to Fort Bliss, Texas, where I had eight weeks of training. At this point, I thought I would go to Vietnam, at the last minute, they changed my orders to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. From there, I went to Irwin. When I got to Irwin, I had no idea where I was supposed to be. Finally, someone came and got me and brought me to the Battalion headquarters where I would be working. Eventually, they changed my job to be an S2 clerk. I had the best job in the battalion. My job was to process everyone and send their information to the FBI. The FBI would then do background checks, and with the information I gave them, they would see if they were reliable to have security clearance. In the office, we also had a CBR and Senior dog handlers, it was all very interesting. I bunked with the typists from the other units. I was one of the top two clerk typists in the whole battalion. It turned out to be a great experience. My tour in Vietnam was 13 months, I kept expecting to be transferred to Vietnam, but I never was. I had high scores in the military and could have become an officer, but I decided not to. While I was in Irwin, I was able to go to church. The missionaries contacted me, and they came and picked me up along with one other gentleman who had joined the church in Korea. He had got a hold of the Book of Mormon, gained a testimony of its truthfulness, and joined the church. Not too long being there, I became the Second Counselor in the Greensburg branch. The branch was in a town next to Irwin, Pennsylvania. At that time we were meeting in a Rec hall. One Sunday, I was waiting to start the meeting, there was an African American lady that came in for church who had joined the church in England, Maryland Yule was her name. She loved Americans, so when she saw missionaries from America, she listened to their message and converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Later on in her life, she was drafted to be a member of the Tabernacle Choir. She ended up marrying a member of the church whose wife had died. I was able to do a lot of work with the missionaries while I was there in the military and spent a lot of time in members’ homes, so I could get away from the base. While I was there, we had a branch picnic on the 4th of July. Mike Young was on a mission there at the time and was from Monticello. I was a team captain for baseball, and Mike was a team captain, so it was Blanding against Monticello. One of the highlights of this period in my life was when President Kimball announced that African Americans could have the priesthood. That was one of the most inspired revelations. I have always felt that the Civil Rights movement prepared the hearts and minds for this revelation to take place. This Gospel is still moving forward through revelation and will continue into the Millenium, I have a testimony of that.