Happy Birthday, George!

It surely does seem that birthdays come around much quicker now days!  Nevertheless, they are always special days to let others know how much you love and appreciate them.  So, on November 2, 2014, we celebrated my husband, George's birthday.  I thought I would post a few pictures that show in some small measure what a special person he is to me and our family:

 Although he was born on the opposite side of the country than I was, I think we were destined to meet each other.  So glad we did!

George with his mother, Ruby Adams Copeland


George remembers going to his Grandparents Adams home in Douglas, Georgia, often.  Here he is sitting on his Grandma Minnie Dora Lott Adams' lap.  His brother, Dwayne, is on the right of his Grandpa John Adams in the picture, with his sister, Elda draping her arm over her little brother's shoulder.  George's mother, Ruby, is directly in the middle on the back row with his father, James (Jim) to the right of her in the picture.  The rest are aunts and uncles and cousins.  This picture was taken in 1946.

George and Elda visited the old home site many years later when they were adults.  No one was supposed to go inside as it was becoming very dangerous, so they only got to stand on the step.  But they recalled many happy memories here.

George remembered working in the tobacco fields and getting the tobacco ready for drying in the shed when he was about 12 or 13 years old.  He, also, remembered the big vat of cane syrup that his Grandpa Adams made.  Over on the left was a place that a mule would be attached to a wheel that turned and crushed the cane so that they could get the syrup ready.  To this day, George loves cane syrup.  Most of our kids could never stand to eat cane syrup.  In fact, they would put the bottle in front of our dog Lady's nose to wake her up with it.  It has a very strong smell!  George, also, remembers getting the eggs from the chicken coop.  So many fun memories are at grandparents' homes. 

On his father's side were his grandparents:  George Fleming Copeland and Linnie Lee Parker Copeland.  My husband, George, is named after this grandfather.  However, he never knew either of his Copeland grandparents because they both died a year before he was born.

 George's dad in front of the home he grew up in with his 13 brothers and sisters.  No indoor plumbing, but a whole lot of love and harmony in the home.  Grandpa Jim (George's dad) could clean the bones of a chicken better than anyone I had ever seen.  I asked him about that one time and he said, "When you don't have a lot to eat and there are a lot of mouths, you eat everything on your plate!"  I know there is a lesson here for the next generations!

George re-visited the old Copeland family house, too.  It is really crumbling, but a new covered picnic area was built a number of years ago so that the Copeland Family can reunite every single first weekend in April--this is a tradition that George F. and Linnie Lee started when they were still alive.  Although it is a huge family, they have always remained very close.

This is the home George's dad built when George was in about the fifth grade  and where he lived until he left for college and his mission.  The palm tree and little island has been added by the owners now, but this is where George called "home."
 
George's dad was a plumbing contractor who worked very hard.  He was very successful with only a seventh grade education.  He basically learned to read by studying his scriptures every single night before going to sleep.  George is hoping to "buy" this old mailbox from the present owners of the house.   George's dad built this mailbox out of plumbing pipes he had available.
When George's father passed away, the one thing he asked for was his scriptures.  These very well-worn scriptures reminded him of his father more than anything he owned.

George came from a very loving home where he was taught to be very tidy, work hard, and love the gospel.  He has one brother and one sister.   Here he is with Dwayne (his brother) on the left, his mother, father, and then him on the right.  I can't believe how much he and Dwayne look alike in this picture.
George's parents, Jim and Ruby Copeland, in their later years.
 
The Gold and Green Ball was really big in the South.  I love this picture of George when he was just a little guy, but he and this little girl were the mascots of the dance one year.  This little girl actually still lives in Jacksonville to this day in the same stake.

George in his classroom - Second one back, next to the wall on the right side.
 George has always been so proud that he was a patrol boy on Roosevelt Hwy. (right in front of the old mall).  I highly doubt it was a six-lane highway then!  (He is the third one back on the right side of the "V.")

He has always loved sports.  He and Dwayne both played on the same basketball team at the church. (Dwayne is with the basketball on the front; George to the right of him.)

George's whole family attended church as a family.  Since the grandparents on both sides had been converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), George was very blessed to be a third generation Mormon. 


 
 Sports were very important as George was growing up.  He definitely was one of the star basketball players at Lee High School.  In fact, he received a scholarship to play basketball at Ricks College (a Mormon University) in Rexburg, Idaho.
 
 George's senior picture

George's high school graduation picture 1963.  Because of his birthday, he actually headed out for college in the fall when he was still only 17 years of age.

 When George went to Rexburg, Idaho, in August of 1963, he was really looking forward to being in snow, believe it or not!  He had only seen snow a few times in his life when his family had gone to the mountains.  Notice the date on the side of the picture--July 1964.  I assure you, although George would like you to believe otherwise, it doesn't snow in July!  This was just the date the pictures were printed!  Hah!

 See how much fun George is having in the snow!  He'll tell you the fascination with snow only lasted about a week, and then he was so sick of it, he could hardly stand it.  He had to walk down the hill from his dorm (Rigby Hall, named after my great grandfather) to the Idamont Hotel which is where the guys in the dorm ate their meals.  He always tells the story of hitting a slippery spot, following flat on his tail end and then coming right back up in a standing position.  Yes, the stories get bigger and bigger!
 George's back was hurt during basketball practice soon after arriving at college which made it impossible to play basketball.  But by spring, he was feeling a little better and ended up playing baseball for Ricks College, which he loved.

George and I actually met in the fall of 1964 when he came back to Ricks as a sophomore, and I was just starting college as a freshman.  I was running for Freshman Class Secretary and he was helping with the elections because he was on the Leadership Committee (a picture of that committee is above).  He had actually hoped my opponent would win because his roommate was her campaign manager, but he was very gracious when I won, and that's how we met! 
  But, he had a mission he had planned his whole life for, so he left for the Western States Mission for the Mormon Church in January of 1965 for two years.

 The headquarters for his mission was Denver, Colorado, but his mission was huge--at that time, the largest area-wise mission in the Church.  It included parts of Southern Utah, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico.  He loved his mission!

And one of his specialties was making homemade ice cream even on his mission.  He made it just like his mother had taught him--with a hand turned churn.  His love for ice cream has never faded!
Upon returning from his mission in January of 1967, we met back up again at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and were engaged in January 1968.

 We were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on June 5, 1968.  My parents, Ray and Lola Rigby, are on the left in the picture, George's parents, Jim and Ruby Copeland, are on the right.

 A picture of George's entire family:  Brother Dwayne, Father Jim, Mother Ruby, Sister Elda, and George
 
After spending a year in Provo after we were married while George finished his last year of his Bachelor's degree of Accounting and I finished my Master's Degree in Business Education, we received an offer from Price Waterhouse to move to Los Angeles, California, to work in the CPA firm there at a whopping $750 per month!  We thought we were the richest people on earth--a great job in a very exciting city, and a new baby on the way six weeks after George and I would move there!  And indeed we were!

After living in Los Angeles for three years and having our first three children born there within those three years, we moved back to Salt Lake City where we lived for the next 21 years.
I loved this picture because it was shortly after our youngest was born.  Kevin hadn't even turned 12 yet, so we had seven children under 11 years of age.
Kevin and Kyle are standing at the back with a picture of their great, great grandfather Marvin Lyman Cook's picture.  Sitting with Cameron on her lap is the kids' great grandmother, Edith Cook.  Next comes the kids' grandmother, Lola Cook Rigby, holding Craig; next is me, Laura Rigby Copeland holding Kent.  Kneeling at the front are Alison and Amy.

 We loved having a large family and took lots of family vacations together--especially to Las Vegas for basketball tournaments at Easter time, and many trips back and forth across the country to see George's family in Florida.  We just piled everyone in the van and off we went!  We, also, loved doing Christmas vacations rather than getting lots of presents--which the kids chose to do!

George has always been a huge BYU fan, and our family has traveled to many BYU games at Provo or other cities.  We had tickets in the end zone of the Cougar Stadium in 1982 when the stadium was renovated and the seats in the endzone were added.  We sat there as a family until we moved to Florida in 1992.  Our little kids grew up watching those games and now all the boys, especially, are huge BYU fans, too.  The love for BYU sports has now extended to the grandkids!

 In about 1977, George decided he wanted to go back to school to get his masters' degree.  Although we just had our fifth child and he had just been called to the bishopric of the singles ward, we decided it was the best thing to do.  So three or four afternoons a month, after work, he would go to school and then to the church for his church callings in the evenings.  It made life pretty busy for both of us, but I was so proud of him when he graduated August 1980 with his MPA Degree--Masters of Public Administration.  
During this program, he met a guy who really was excited about opening up a Dairy Queen.  After doing so much ground work, we ended up in a partnership with our neighbors and opened up the Dairy Queen five weeks after Craig was born in the Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah.  It was a great experience for the three years we owned it, but oh so busy!

George was always trying to improve himself as well as provide greater opportunities in the workplace for us, as a family.  Therefore, he decided now he wanted to go back to school and get his doctorate.  He had already passed his CPA in 1983.
So, in 1987, he graduated from Brigham Young University with his doctorate.  What a great day that was--again working full time, having a very busy church assignment, and being a father to seven children--he was now graduating after attending school for six years part time.

 All of us were there:  Me, Kevin, George, Kyle (back row)
Cameron and Amy (middle row)
Kent and Craig (front row)

We were very blessed to have both sets of parents there, too.

 Here are all seven kids with their Grandpa Jim and Grandma Ruby Copeland

And here are the seven kids with their Grandpa Ray and Grandma Lola Rigby.

A happy day for both of us!

George's sister, Elda, had also come out for Florida to see both her daughter, Denise, as well as her brother, George, graduate.

This picture really cracks me up.  After the graduation, we all went to Chuck-a-Rama for a celebration dinner, the restaurant of choice for all celebration dinners!  On the right after Amy is my sister, Natalie, who also came to the graduation.  She is exactly 20 years and one month to the day younger than I, so she has always been closer in age to my kids than to me!  They always thought she was just an older sister to them!

Through the years, we've added to our family.  I especially chose this family picture because the two little ones on their mothers' laps are our two missionaries out right now:  Bracken (John and Alison's son) serving in Australia Sydney Chinese Speaking, and Connor (Kevin and Angie's son) serving in Nicaragua Managua Spanish Speaking.  The little grandson sitting between me and his mother, is Taylor who has completed his mission, having served in Pennsylvania Philadelphia Spanish Speaking, and is now married to a beautiful young lady named Ellie who is part of the family, too.

 The family is definitely growing.  This was taken eight years ago, so hopefully we can have a new picture taken soon.  We now number 42 total family members with 43 on the way in March!

 George has always been such a wonderful grandfather and loves all the grandchildren dearly.

He loves to travel, so we've had many adventures together, along with other family members.  These adventures have not only been great learning experiences, but provided so many good times, too!

He likes to keep busy--in fact, he's never wanted someone to mow his lawn because he likes to get out in the fresh air!

So how did he spend this birthday?  Well, for starters, it was on a Sunday, so after the three-hours of meetings, we went to do some family research at a cousin's home a little over an hour away.  Plus, he received calls from every single child, many of the grandkids sang to him, and brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law called, too, plus he received wonderful cards and letters from his own siblings and children.   Everyone made him feel so special!

Then, when he went to work on Monday morning, his secretary had decorated his office!

This is his wonderful secretary Shirleen.  She has been a joy to work with and is such a hard worker!

By the time I got over to his office to take pictures, the cake was half-eaten, but I got the idea!  The other half was eaten after lunch!

George works with some of the finest people in the world.  He loves his Business Affairs Department and is just having a hard time giving up his job.  Perhaps someday he will retire.  

Anyway, that is a whole other part of his life to come.

For now, Happy Birthday, George!  Life hasn't always been easy, but you always make life interesting and we've certainly had much "Joy in the Journey!"