FATHER'S DAY

Dear Family,

On Father's Day we remember and honor our Fathers and I thought of mine. It is not a question of remembering Fathers because mine is in front of my eyes always and it seems I think of him daily.

I tried to scan this old photo of my Father, your grandfather and it did not turn out so well but you can see him pretty well. He had graduated from Harvard Medical School and finished his surgical training at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. There he is with his first car, an old Model T sedan with his Doctor's bag ready to make a house call. He was a surgeon but als made house calls to those who cold not make it to his office in New York of to his office in our home. We used to ride with him on his house calls and waited in the car. However the car I remember was a 1939 Dodge seven passenger and after that year they did not make so many cars.

Most of you never met my father.. some of the older boys met him and remember him. He was a great man and had an interesting and productive life. As a college student at the U of U, he was a track star as a sprinter and played varsity football for a couple of seasons. He was on the first U of U football team that ever won a conference championship. I saw this on an old football in the union building; it had on it "Roy Wirthlin, End". He went to med school at the U and then transferred to Harvard med school and graduated in class of 1928. Some of my teachers at the Massachusetts General Hospital were his classmates. He trained in surgery under a German surgical tradition at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City where he remained on the staff until we moved to Utah. He was a great surgeon. He married Mom when they were both a little older and had four children.

He was above all, a stalwart in the church and had a vibrant testimony of our beliefs. He was the first Patriarch of the New York Stake and served in that calling in Utah as well. He did a lot of volunteer work for the Church and was simply a good man through and through. His integrity, ethics and honesty in his profession set a great example to me. I think of him every day.

We had a great father's day celebration in our home. Doug, Emily, Mike, Cheryl, Cathy and their kids were there. It was so much fun. Everyone brought food and I smoked several slabs of ribs slowly and did a beef roast. I thought it was a more appropriate menu for Father's Day as opposed to a Vegan approach. It was great to be together; I got hugs from the grandkids and all away called.

The various age groups hung out in all parts of the house. Here are four of our great grand daughters from four families, Madeline, Rachel, Madeline and Natalie. We had family night during which Rachel played a medley of Primary songs about Fathers. We had a member of each family get up and and say something nice about their Dad. The Dad got to choose who would speak to keep it safe. I said a few words about fathers, we knelt and had our family prayer and it was a sweet moment. We simply are having joy in our posterity.

Thanks for all the calls and well wishes,

Love, Dad