Hello everyone,
The main thing that has been on my mind this week is the passing of my Grandma, JeNeal Wride. She had been in the hospital for a little while and passed away on Saturday morning. It's weird as a Missionary because nothing from home really feels real—it all feel like a dream. But I miss her a lot and my thoughts and prayers are with the family. I decided to include the obituary here as well
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JeNeal Curtis Wride passed away in her sleep July 22, 2023. She was the oldest of two daughters born to Reid Franklin and Trelma Elvira Hain Curtis. JeNeal is survived by her husband, Wayne, and her children Nancy Wride (Jeremy Cloward), Mark Wride (Chalane Casdorph), and Corey Wride (Tiffanie Hibbert), and eighteen grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Sharon Kay Curtis Stoker, and her brother-in-law Ronald John Stoker.
JeNeal was a strong and tenacious woman who didn’t let anything keep her from living the full and rich life she desired. At the age of thirteen she lost the use of her legs due to polio. Navigating life with the aid of full-leg braces and crutches, JeNeal graduated college, gave birth to and raised three children, taught high school, and junior high for twenty years. She also served over twenty years in the Primary organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She never thought of herself as handicapped, and she did not like the idea that others saw her as such.
JeNeal married Wayne Prior Wride August 14, 1964, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. The couple grew up in Payson and graduated high school a year apart. Their relationship developed while they were both employed at the Payson Huish Theater. After JeNeal graduated from BYU with a degree in secondary education she became a member of the first faculty of Skyline High School in 1962. After Wayne completed college he and JeNeal settled in East Millcreek where they built a life and reared a family founded upon the gospel, love, commitment, and hard work.
Sewing and doing crafts of all kinds were chief among JeNeal’s talents and loves in life. If it was creative, she could do it. When her children were younger, she designed and sewed jumpsuits for them. She sewed much of her own clothing. In order to always have gifts on-hand for newborns, she made crochet-edged receiving blankets in her spare time. For each day of the annual “Wride family vacation” week in Park City she prepared for and hosted a crafting hour for the grandchildren.
Other loves of JeNeal’s included: shopping--especially finding a good bargain, dark chocolate, playing “5000” with her children and grandchildren, traveling, shopping, collecting and trying out new recipes, family photos, decorating her home for every holiday/season, more shopping, solving Sudoku puzzles, sushi, the annual family vacation week in Park City, and shopping for great bargains! She did not love wet floors, snowy sidewalks, cats, missing a good bargain, or August heat.
Although she was not a boy scout, JeNeal adhered to the motto “Be Prepared”. At any given moment, she could locate in her purse just about anything one might need in an emergency: Band-Aid, scissors, paring knife, paper clip, cough drops, aspirin, plastic baggie, dice, and a host of other handy “stuff”.
Mostly, JeNeal loved anything that revolved around her family; anything that drew them closer to her and Wayne, and closer together. One way the couple did this was by seizing every opportunity to travel together. When the kids were younger, the family enjoyed road trips, going camping, and visiting Disneyland. In later years Wayne and JeNeal often hosted the kids and grandkids at their Marriott timeshare vacation villas in Southern California, visiting Disneyland on several occasions. They took the family to tour New Zealand (and Australia), Chile (and Argentina) after picking up their sons upon completion of their missionary service. They were fortunate to have traveled several times to Hawaii and twice to Europe. In 2008 they treated their children and grandchildren to a Mexican Riviera cruise.
During the last couple of decades, as post-polio syndrome set in and she could no longer boost herself up in order to stand with crutches, JeNeal did not slow her pace in supporting her children and grandchildren. Equipped with a three-wheel mobility scooter, JeNeal faithfully attended their many academic, sporting, church, and musical events, always rewarding their accomplishments with a bag of candy and cash.
Above the love she had for her family was the love JeNeal had for the Lord. At the time of her passing she and Wayne were serving as Church Service Missionaries in the Welfare Square Employment Office, a calling they had held for over thirteen years. She leaves a legacy of love and service. Until we see her again in the Lord’s presence, we will miss her deeply and look forward to the time when we will embrace each other and run with her through fields of heavenly flowers.
An evening viewing will be held from 6pm-8pm, Wednesday July 26th at The Olympus Stake Center, 2675 East 4430 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84124
A viewing prior to the funeral service will be from 10am-10:45am, Thursday July 27th at The Olympus Stake Center, 2675 East 4430 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84124
The funeral service will be held at 11am Thursday July 27th at The Olympus Stake Center, 2675 East 4430 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84124
The Interment will follow the funeral service at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, 3401 South Highland Dr, Millcreek, UT 84106
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I got the news Saturday morning which was already going to be a hard day. On that day we had a special finding day, which is something we also did in November. We obviously find every day, but this would be a day of no studies, no lessons, no meetings, but exclusively finding from 9am-9pm. When I got the news I felt a little extra discouraged, but I found strength in the example of resilience in my Grandma and we went on to have a pretty good day.
The highlight was a visit we had with a new friend Amy. We were walking around, trying to find people and tracting, and then we realized that we were in an area we had been in before. A month ago Amy requested to meet with Missionaries online and filled out her information. We had been by and called a number of times but didn't have any success. This time when we were in the area we saw cars in the driveway which was a good sign. She was home and told us to come back at 1pm that day. We went back later and ended up being there for an hour and a half! She's there taking care of her aunt, Patsy, who has dimentia. She started by talking about how she doesn't know much about the church, but she hears a lot of negative things about it like that we are not Christians and that we are a cult. But she said she didn't see any of that in our church and felt like she was being drawn to us. She asked us about the Trinity and the Bible and accepted our answers. She said she's always felt that there ought to be more to God's word than just the Bible so that was really cool. We taught her the whole Restoration and she was very excited about it and about the Book of Mormon. We read the Introduction with her and invited her to read 3 Nephi 11. She said she would and we set up a return appointment for next Saturday. Patsy sat in too but didn't say much and I think she fell asleep for part of it. At the very end Patsy let out a big burp and Amy was like "What do you say?" and Patsy was like "Praise the Lord!" It was so funny. It was one of my favorite lessons and I just feel like Amy is very ready for the gospel.
The rest of Saturday was a lot of hard work, but it was good. Even though we didn't have much more success, we were still happy to find Amy and we felt joy for having put in hard work.
On Friday we also had a good lesson with Ryan, who I talked about last week. We did a tour of the chapel and the Institute building with the YSA Missionaries. I believe he has been prepared to receive the gospel as well and hope he continues to progress.
Right now we are at a baseball game for the San Diego Padres. After our finding day, President Merritt coordinated for the whole mission to go after P-day. It is a fun experience to have all of the missionaries in our Mission here.
Anyway, I love all of you guys. Thanks for all of your care and support. I will be home before we know it.
- Elder Wride
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