Happy Birthday to my Sister, Charlene!

Charlene is holding me when I was just a baby.

     Here Charlene and I are with Pop (Our mom's dad in his backyard.)

Memories of my Sister, Charlene 

Charlene has always played an integral part in my life.  When I was born, Mom always said that Charlene was like a second little mother to me.  My first memories of Charlene are when we would spend time up to Pop and Grammy’s—Mom’s parents.  Charlene and I would play together for hours in their backyard.  It was the most beautiful backyard I had ever seen.  It was divided up into 3 different “rooms” or sections. Behind the backyard was an orchard of peach, pear, apricot, apple, pie cherry, and Bing cherry trees.  Black and red raspberry bushes were planted underneath the trees.  The orchard seemed like a veritable jungle to me.  The idea was for Charlene and I to traverse from one end of the raspberry patch to the other without getting scratched as we blazed trails in our jungle. We even got paid a nickel a cup for picking the raspberries.  When Grammy got a new chest freezer, Charlene and I were given the gigantic box that it had come in.  It became our playhouse.  We played in it for days.

Behind the orchard and raspberry patch was the place where Grammy planted a rather large garden.  Once a week the garden was watered from the large irrigation ditch that ran behind it.  I was so jealous because Charlene was old enough to go up the irrigation ditch that ran behind all of the houses.  It looked like another jungle and it would have been such an exciting adventure to find where it went, but I was forbidden to do it because I was too little.

Charlene and I had tea parties and played cowboys and Indians.  We slept on Grammy’s front porch on warm summer nights.  We would open up all the windows and let a summer night breeze keep us cool.  Pop was friends with Jack Richards who owned KOAL, the only radio station in Price.  As a result, he gave us records that he no longer wanted.  Thus, we became the proud owners of the first demo record for Steve Lawrence.  It gave all of his bio info right on the label.  That old 78 record would probably be worth thousands of dollars if we had it now. Naturally, we also played DJ as we listened to all of the wonderful records like “Plink, Plank, Plunk” and the famous “Typewriter Song.”  We also listened to storybook records laughing at “The Bear that Wasn’t,” pretending to be one of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” and always crying when someone harpooned “Willy the Whale” who was the only whale who had ever sung opera at the Met.

When I was about 5, Charlene and I were at Grammy’s one day.  We were playing together and then Charlene seemed to disappear for quite awhile.  Then, when I finally did find her, I asked, “Where have you been for so long?”

Charlene got an evil look on her face and answered, “ I am not Charlene.  I am an evil witch and I am holding Charlene captive.  You will never see Charlene again unless you do everything I say.”

I became very afraid and begged, “Please, please don’t hurt Charlene.”

“Then you must wear this umbrella on your arm for the rest of the day.  If you take it off, you will turn into glass,” she warned me.

For the next few hours I was very careful to make sure that the umbrella stayed on my arm, no matter how awkward it was to go on with my regular activities that I wanted to do. 

Then Grammy called from the back bedroom, “Charlene, could you come in and help me change the bedding on the beds?”

“Sure, Grammy, I will be right there,” she answered.

“Aha, you are not an evil witch.  An evil witch would not put bedding on beds.”

“Oh, I am just pretending to be Charlene, so she won’t suspect anything.”

She was gone for quite some time and then all of a sudden, Charlene came running in to where I was.  She was panting and all out of breath, “Oh, Bonnie, I just escaped from an evil witch who was holding me captive, but I am safe now and you may take that umbrella off of your arm.  I have broken her curse.” 

I was so relieved and happy to see my sister again.  I had really believed everything she had told me that day.  Charlene had always wanted to be a great actress and she definitely succeeded that day with me.

Charlene has influenced my life in so many ways.   She was the first one to teach me how to play the piano.  She also taught me how to count and how to read before I went to school.  She and I would play school for hours in the corner basement room at our own house.  Charlene taught me to love classical music and also how to be dramatic.  Once we put on a program for our parents and grandparents by acting out all 5 movements of the Grand Canyon Suite by Grofé.  We were pioneers witnessing a beautiful “Sunrise,” dying of thirst on the hot “Painted Desert,” and gratefully quenching our thirst after we survived a severe “Cloudburst.”  We became extremely fatigued as we trudged along “On the Trail”, but we somehow survived another day as we then made our camp for the night before “Sunset.”

Because Charlene was involved in many activities in school, I felt that was what I should do. The more activities I was involved in the better.  I even made a list to keep track of how many different things I could do. Because she was in debate, I debated in both high school and college.  She sang in the a cappella choir in high school and the Madrigals at BYU, so of course, I did the same. I was lucky enough to be able to sing in a cappella choir in both high school and at BYU.  I performed dramatic readings, gave orations, and was in plays because I had seen Charlene win trophies at countless speech meets.  Because Charlene had chosen to go to BYU, it was the only place I even considered attending. Charlene was my idol and I wanted to be just like her.  Charlene continues to be my spiritual mentor, counselor, and best friend.  To know her is to love her.