Capstone Project

2. CapstoneProject
ChristinaCarrick

3. I remember my grandma’s journals sitting on the end table between
two recliner chairs in her living room. Pat Sajak was spinning that
wheel and I was staring at each spiral notebook and wondering what
was inside. Did she write about me? What grown up thoughts and
impressions were inside? What was my grandma’s world like when I
wasn’t around?
My grandma Lila Dean Stoddard Bates was an avid journaler. She
inspired me to find a love of journal writing, though she was much
more consistent! When she passed away I asked my dad what would
be done with the journals. It took a few years before they were finally
ready to have them transcribed into electronic form and I begged to
participate in the project!
Recently my family brought California a large box from California
filled to the brim with my grandma’s spiral notebook journals. She
wrote every day, even if it was something short. I’ve been working on
these every Sunday afternoon for weeks and have made it through
1978, 1988, and one entry from 1984.

5. A Letter to my Grandchildren
Circa 1978
When someone truly loves you they’ll
want to do things that make you happy.
Things they might not enjoy, but when
they know it makes you happy- they’ll
do it.
For instance my dear husband did not
know how to dance and he didn’t care
about it. But when we started dating he
knew how much I enjoyed it, so he went
to Murray’s and learned.
And what a surprise to me! This made
me so happy to think he thought
enough about me that he did this for

6. Grandchildren

8. June 16 1984- Gary, Connie, Michelle
came over this afternoon. Gary and
Norm pulled the tree stumps out…
Norm was happy to get them out.
Now we can start working on fixing
the yard up. Michelle and Connie
helped me in the house. It was nice
having them here to help because my
back is still giving me trouble. We
fixed dinner for everyone. The girls
vacuumed and cleaned the porch and
driveway by the plants.

9. June 7, 1978 Fashion show of Le Voy
Fashions today at Relief Society. I was
asked to be one of the models. They
had a dress the fit Shawna so she
modeled with me. She was a doll.
Everyone was surprised that she was
my granddaughter. So many in this
ward think Kent is an only child. They
were surprised when I told them I had
nine grandchildren and I had three
other children. It was a fun day. It was
nice having Carola and Shawna and
David and Jenny with me. We had a
nice lunch.

10. August 10, 1978 – We
arrived at Ron’s about
3:30. It’s so nice to see
them again Dallas looks
just like Ron when he
was a baby.
Dallas and Family Today

11. August 1 1988- Today is
Jenny’s birthday (11 years).
Gary and family couldn’t’
come over- the girls all have
dancing til 8:00 PM. Kent,
Janey and Christina came over
for dinner and birthday cake. I
took Jenny shopping this
afternoon for some shoes. She
found a pair she wanted in the
third store. Christina was a
little shy at first but she finally
got acquainted.

12. Her Children

14. July 30 1988- Saturday. Carola went to work at 6:20 AM.
She works from 7:00-2:00. Drain was having a fair today
and a parade at 11:00 so we took the children (except
David). He didn’t want to go, to see the parade. We
went to the fair after. Left for home about 1:00 in the
afternoon. Norm took the kids to the swimming hole
and Carola and I went to water her house.
Carola’s house seems to be home base for all the kids
here. They call Carola Mom. 4-5 teenagers are coming
and going day and night. Phone never stops. It’s good
to see the kids so happy and having so many friends.

15. September 24 1978-
We all went to SS.
Ron and children
left at 5:00 PM to go
home. I sure miss
them. Ron did a
beautiful job caring
for the children.
Ron and Family Today

16. Her mother’s funeral:
March 1, 1978- The funeral was very
nice. Beverly gave a nice talk. Gary
dedicated the grave. It was a thrill to
hear what he said. It was his first time
to dedicate a grave. He did so well. I
was so proud of him.

17. July 1- Started to take plants out
of our tropical, so we could
enlarge our two bedrooms. Kent
doesn’t want us to do it. He likes
the tropical and he doesn’t think
we need larger rooms. But Norm
and I want larger rooms.
In front of the addition my dad was opposed to. 

19. June 9 1978- High Priest
dinner social tonight.
Today our prophet
President Kimball made
an announcement to the
world that he had a
revelation that every
worthy man that
belonged to the church
could hold the
priesthood. This was
quite a surprise. I didn’t
think this would come in
my day, but it’s