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| Jason and Clarissa McMarrow newly sealed |
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It's wonderful that in our busy schedule we still have time to enjoy the family gatherings for great milestones. Our granddaughter, Clarissa Rose Howlett, who is the oldest child of our son Eric Howlett and his wife Christina Armstrong Howlett, was married to her beloved fiance', Jason McMarrow on 16 February 2013.
Jason is in the Army National Guard, trained as a medic and his unit is due to be deployed to Afghanistan this spring. They will be gone for a year. As Jason learned of new training schedules and the deployment date, they had to finally decide on this date of 16 February so they could be married and enjoy some time together before he is deployed in April. Clarissa will stay with her family until Jason returns. She is the first grandchild of Grant and Pat to get married.
What a glorious day it was, even though it was cold and snow flurries were beginning to blow around outside. They were married and sealed in the Columbus Ohio LDS Temple with many family members on both sides of their families there. Jason is the 3rd child in a family of 12 children born to Chuck and Amy McMarrow.
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| L-R: Peter, Joseph, Chris (mom), Clarissa, Jason, Eric (dad), Karlton and Eliza in front |
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The McMarrows live in our ward boundary of Pickerington Second ward and they are a very fine family. We are happy to have Clarissa to be a part of that special family, as we are sure she is too!
That early evening there was a very nice reception in their honor held at our ward cultural hall and was attended by a large crowd of family and friends. It was beautifully planned and artfully executed with delightful decorations, lovely silk flower arrangements, a gorgeous dress designed by Clarissa and created by her family friend, Sylvia Beatty. It was a lovely evening and topped off by a fun decorating of Jason's car by all their young friends and siblings. The car was filled with balloons then wrapped in plastic wrap, On the windshield someone had pasted over a hundred sticky notes. It was fun to watch them take all that stuff off the car so they could drive it and see it taking off with them in it and cans being dragged behind, that they had not noticed before they left. The young people love to do that fun thing to the newly weds.
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| All the Howlett clan who were able to make it to the reception |
As noted in the following picture with all the attending Howlett family, Pat had recently received arthroscopic surgery on her torn rotator cuff on her right shoulder, so she had to wear an "immobilizing device" sling to keep her arm in the right place as the shoulder healed. She would have to wear that for nearly six weeks straight, then out in public for another two weeks to keep people from bumping her arm. But she wanted to be a part of all the festivities, so she was there with all celebrating our first grandchild being married.
Most of the Howlett family attending were those who lived here in Ohio, but our son Mark, his lovely wife Sherlyn and four of their five children came from Washington State to be apart of the festivities. Their oldest son, Brandon is still serving a mission in the Brazil Vitoria Mission. Brandon and Clarissa were best cousins growing up, having been born five days apart and spending lots of time together. So Mark and Sherlyn had to come because Clarissa was almost like another daughter to them. It was fun to have them here too.
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As 23 February 2013 came we found out that Grant's oldest brother-in-law, John Howard Broderick, passed away. He had been very old, feeble and losing ground for over a year. We were not able to attend the funeral in Phoenix Arizona because of Pat's recent surgery and many other pressing responsibilities for both Grant and Pat. But our oldest daughter, Susan Beckstrand, was able to travel down to the funeral with her Uncle Glen, Aunt Carol, Uncle Jim and Aunt Lois (Grant's brother Glen and sister Lois).
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| Howard and Joyce Broderick in August 2012 |
Howard and Joyce (Grant's sister) are parents of 9 children, have many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and they have lived in Phoenix, Arizona for 40+ years. Howard was a WWII veteran, having served in the Battle of the Bulge and with the occupation troops in Europe. He was a soil scientist by trade and loved to work with the soil in his own yard, growing and sharing much of the produce their family had. He was very active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and even enjoyed serving missions with Joyce in Nigeria and other places. They loved our God, their family and serving in the church and community. Grant remembers Howard as a stalwart example of a good husband and father, and his brotherly kindness made him seem like another brother. He was even Grant's best man at our wedding. He will be sorely missed, but we know where he is and that he is very happy and busy serving in the spirit world.
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| George, Elaine, Grant and Pat at Puckett's home - August 2012 |
Another brother-in-law of Grant's, George Calvin Puckett (Elaine's husband) passed away on 17 March 2013. He too, was a WW II veteran having served as a radio operator on several B-29 in Southeast Asia missions. He had also been failing in health for two or more years. George and Elaine are parents of three children, and have several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. George was a great educator, having taught high school for many years, becoming a high school principal, a superintendent in Church Schools Tonga, and later serving several missions with Elaine in Church Education System volunteer work. He was also served as a bishop in the LDS church and was a great example of a caring brother, husband, father, grandfather and servant in the Church and community. With George's great music ability, his tremendous talent for leadership and his jolly sense of humor, he too will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
We visited both families in their homes during the first month after our CCSM (Colorado Colorado Springs Mission). Our home in Ohio is so far away from where the rest of the family are living that we can't get to all of the family events - even the funerals. For that reason we made a special effort to visit with the whole family while they were still alive. It was so good we took time to visit with George and Elaine and Howard and Joyce in August 2012.
Again, Susan and also our son Jacob represented us at the funeral, this time in Utah. We really wanted to be there, but with Pat still recovering from surgery and many other pressing responsibilities for Grant and Pat, we could not be there. The next evening, on Sunday, we were able to "Skype" with all Grant's brothers and sisters who came to dinner at Susan's home. Skype is a type of computer telephone and video communication so we can see and hear each other as we talk. It was a special hour of catching up and being a part of the gathering even if we could not be out there. We are so grateful to be closely bound to such tremendous families.
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| Our brother, John Michael Butler, is part of our eternal family |
One other thing that has happened in Pat's family is that her step-sister Sharon went to the San Diego temple on 9 March 2013 to have Sharon's brother, John Michael (Mike) Butler, sealed to Sharon's, Pat's and Kathy's parents, Ira Elwin and Barbara Hess Merrill for all time and eternity. Kathy and her husband David Whitford joined Sharon and some of her friends to complete the sealing. Sharon had already been sealed to Mom and Dad, and Pat and Kathy were born in the covenant. It was a very special day, even though Pat and Grant could not be there. However, Pat helped prepare the records so the work could be done in the temple that day. Therefore, even though she was not there, Pat helped in the process. It was a very special day. Mike had already done his other temple ordinances, but he could not get the sealing done because he got very sick and died of cancer before it could be completed. But now all of us are an eternal family. We are very grateful to have Mike as our eternal brother.
