Memorial Day

Last year, we started a new tradition for our Memorial Day.  We decided to make it a family history day for us as well.  Last year, we celebrated Mark's grandparents and so this year it was my side of the family.  I decided to spotlight my Great-Grandpa and Grandma Clegg.

For dinner I told some history about these two great people.  I talked about how Grandpa Joseph's Dad left on a mission to Europe when he was only three years old and was gone for over three years.  And that he served in both World War I and World War II.  He was a farmer his whole life.  

My Grandma Alice was born in Indiana and had, what it seems to me, as a difficult upbringing.  Her parents were divorced shortly after she was born and she had no relationship with her father.  Her mother remarried but died when Alice was only five.  When Alice was in her early twenties she moved out to Idaho to teach school and there met my Grandpa Joseph.  They married and one year later she joined the church and they were later sealed in the temple.  They had six children together.  Grandpa Joseph passed away young and Grandma Alice never remarried, waiting 35 years to reunite with Grandpa Joseph.  

I am grateful for my ancestry.  It has always given me strength and a sense of direction to know where and who I come from.  Mark and I hope to instill that in our children as well.  

I thought it would be fun to not only tell stories about them but to also incorporate their heritage into our dinner choices.  My Grandpa Joseph was an Idahoan through and through - so we had huckleberry ice cream as huckleberries are the state fruit.  My Grandma Alice was born and raised in Indiana before coming to Idaho to teach school as a young adult and so we made sugar cream pie which is the Indiana State Pie.  So sugar cream pie with some huckleberry ice cream on the side - not a shabby way to end a great day!