Spence & Gayle's Family Blog: May 2014

Quite a few things happened in the last couple of months, including that we decided to sell our house and move in with my mom (which is still in process). We start off with some shots of Gayle and the Primary girls she does activities with.

Tracine came by and did some wonderful story-telling for the girls to encourage them to read literature. Costumes were obviously involved too.

Cherie Murdock had the girls up at the Spendlove farm to see the baby animals. Gayle is petting this cute goat.

A pajama kidnap party was held. Here is the crew in jamies.

We don't get enough shots of our grandson Bret in the blog. Here he's hangin' with his dad.

Mike and Bret prior to Bret heading out to the prom. Sure looks sharp.

L. Spencer Parkinson, 87, passed away Tuesday, March 11, 2014. He was the youngest of six children of Leonard George and Emma Parkinson. He grew up in Franklin, Idaho, and enjoyed basketball and trumpet in high school. After attending the University of Idaho in the V12 Navy officer program, he served in the Navy for two years during WWII. He then received his M.D. degree from the University of Oregon. Spencer married Joyce Keller from Preston, Idaho, in 1949 in the Logan LDS temple. Spencer interned in Salt Lake City at St. Mark's Hospital. He entered the Navy again and shipped off with Joyce to San Diego and then Guam.
Spencer left the Navy and moved to Ashton, Idaho, for general practice. After practicing there and then Salt Lake City, he re-entered the Navy for a three year residency in obstetrics and gynecology. The family moved to Carlsbad, Calif., for an assignment at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and then spent a year living at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Eventually Spencer left active duty and relocated to accept a position at the Budge Clinic in Logan, Utah, where he and Joyce have lived since 1965. Dr. Spencer Parkinson was well respected and loved by his co-workers and his patients for his knowledge, skills, caring bed-side manner and sense of humor. He loved his work and it showed. His amusing ties and brightly colored socks often brought a smile to the faces of all he met.
Spencer served as captain in the Medical Corps of the Naval Reserve and held several positions in medical societies. In addition he served in many callings in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was a central part of his family's life. Shortly after retiring he and Joyce were able to serve missions for the church in Manaus, Brazil (Amazon area), and then in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Later they served as temple workers in the Logan Temple.
Spencer was loved by all who knew him and he was always a great example to his children and grandchildren, extended family, neighbors and friends. He frequently made others laugh by using the same nicknames for everyone: Sally for the girls and Fred for the boys. Often the weather was "colder than a horse's nose." He also could play an energetic version of "Anchors Away" on the piano to liven things up.
Spencer is preceded in death by his infant son James. He is survived by his wife, Joyce, and six children, Spencer K. Parkinson (Gayle), Stephen Parkinson (Susan), Susan Crockett (Carl), Robert Parkinson (Tracine), Nancy Muncy (Brandon), Patricia Glenn (Kelly).
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 15, in the Lundstrom Park 3rd Ward Chapel, 1260 N. 1600 East, Logan. A visitation will be held at the Lundstrom Park Ward from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Interment will be in the Logan City Cemetery.
Memories and condolences may be shared at www.allenmortuaries.net.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the charity of your choice are encouraged.
The family wishes to thank all those who have expressed their love and support at this time.

Published in Logan Herald Journal from Mar. 13 to Mar. 15, 2014

Print | View Guest Book

- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hjnews/obituary.aspx?n=leonard-spencer-chatterton-parkinson&pid=170137415&#sthash.CsyU1vmC.dpuf

My wonderful father drew his final breath with mom at his bedside in the Legacy House. Here is the obituary we ran in the Herald Journal:

And this is the printed program from the funeral held the Saturday following his passing:

Here is a table display from the viewing:

Some of the many flowers and a picture of mom and dad:

Family men bearing the casket.

Military honors were given dad.

Mom received the flag.

Jared, placing a flower on the casket.

Adrian placing his flower on the casket.

A bouquet at the grave site.

Mike had been in the family long enough to have known dad too.

Some of the grandkids.

Group shot, without Robert, who was not immediately at hand.

For some more light-hearted moments, we bring you a series of exercise videos of our smallest family members who joined me in a workout session.

Avril is a good counter and exerciser.

McKel counts fine until the numbers bigger than 10. But she's getting there. And she's an avid exerciser too.

Just invented a new abdominal exercise!

And knows how to build those arm muscles.

One morning when the girls stayed over we had cooked cereal (porridge) and dressed up as Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Two of the bears, Goldilocks, and some of our porridge (wasn't too hot or too cold).

And mama bear enjoyed her porridge too.

McKel loves playing with the large animals.

And Avril likes to clown around.

Easter egg hunting - we got these shots from Alicia.

Two happy Easter sisters!

McKel and Avril both love to swing.

Finally, here are some shots to remember some of my recent business trips:

I was in San Diego at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront for a tradeshow. This was a very nice sailboat docked just down from the hotel.

And I went to Amsterdam for some business meetings. Here's an electric car charging while parked downtown Amsterdam. Also made it to Delft, not far away, to visit with a business partner.

Bikes and waterways everywhere in Amsterdam. Here's a shot of me at dusk on a bridge in town.

What a hectic first few months of the year! Sorry for the delay. I'll do a series of postings, starting with this one, to catch up. Except it's already almost 10:30 p.m. and I'll probably only get this one done tonight. My company was split up, with GE buying two of its three product lines. I stayed with Thermo Fisher Scientific, but have changed roles. This has entailed somewhat more travel. I've been to Dallas, North Carolina, San Diego, and Amsterdam thus far this year. Meanwhile, my father passed away, and we have decided to move in with my mother to help each other out. The latter has entailed working on projects related to mom's house as well as getting ours ready to sell. Anyway, here are some shots from the rest of January (and it's now early May).