 |
| The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ -by Harry Anderson |
You will now have the special opportunity of learning from one of Father Lehi's special female descendants. In studying this good sister's life story, after having read her good husband's life story in the previous blog post, I can see clearly that in many ways they are already, perhaps without their even realizing it, exemplifying what Jarom taught us above.
"Look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was."
I was deeply touched by the example of John Redhair's great example of living righteously as I retold much of his life story in my just previous blog post. I was particularly deeply touched by this experience I related then:
Harvey Gardner remembers John Redhair being overwhelmed in this new calling (as a bishop) —weeping, feeling extremely inadequate, and saying he felt he couldn’t do it. Brother Gardner was touched when he observed Gloria put her hand on his trembling knee to console him with soft words, “Yes, John, you can do it.” (clarification and emphasis added)
Well, here is the story of the other half of John Redhair: Gloria Redhair. From what I have read about them I think they are now living as righteously as is possible under the present circumstances of life, as if the Savior Jesus Christ's Second Coming had already occurred.
Gloria Lane Redhair
Gloria Lane was born November 18, 1952, in the Tuba City hospital to John and Shirley Begay Lane. They lived in Coppermine. (The Glen Canyon Dam shown here was built after Gloria was born. It is not very far from the town of Coppermine where she lived as a child, nor is it very far from Lechee, Arizona where they live now.)
Gloria was the only girl in the middle of three older brothers and three younger brothers for a while. Then they were joined by four younger sisters. It was natural for Gloria to be Mom’s helper in the house with the cleaning and cooking while the boys herded the sheep and tended the cattle. Gloria recalls, “Mom taught me how to cook traditional food. I remember sitting under a tree in the middle of the hot summer making dough for frybread or tortillas, stirring mutton stew, and roasting meat over a hot fire. Things have changed. I wouldn’t expect my kids to do that!"
Navajo Weaving
“I remember playing trading post with my aunt and uncle and brother. We would save all the empty cans we could find and stack them up like they were on a shelf. One of us would be the trader and one the customer. The customer would tell the trader, ‘I want this. I want that.’ The trader would take a can from the shelf and give it to the customer. We really thought we were speaking English even though it was just a bunch of gibberish. We would also carve cars from sandstone to play with. I didn’t ever have a doll.
“Going off to boarding school at Kaibeto was a very dramatic experience for me. It seems so far away. I remember hanging on to my parents crying when they dropped me off. They were not allowed to see me very often. I adjusted quickly and learned to like school and I was a good student. The teachers weren’t too strict and we weren’t punished. I didn’t know any English at first but we were told, ‘We don’t speak Navajo here’, and after learning a few words I really thought I could speak English and was so pleased.
“At school, I was asked what church I wanted to go to. My aunt Carol Manson, who was one of the first Placement students, told me to go to the Mormon Church. The missionaries picked me up for Primary. They wore checkered clothes. At the time I had no idea what was going on. I’m sure they were good teachers, but not much was comprehended. I do remember learning to cross-stitch.
“When I was eight years old, all the kids going to the primary were gathered up in a pickup truck and taken off to Tuba City to be baptized. And after the baptism Aunt Barbara Blaser said we’d better go on Placement.
“The next thing I remember is crying at the BYU reception center when I left my aunt and went with strange people. They tried to comfort me by stopping on the way to their home in Roy, Utah, to buy ice cream. Louis and Beth Spraycar were my foster parents. I had one foster brother and two sisters. I lived with them for ten years, a wonderful ten years of growing and learning. Louis was Yugoslavian and had changed his name from Spritchervitch to Spraycar of all things. When I think back on this name change I think many Navajo people I know have changed their names also to conform better to the English language.
“My foster family taught me the gospel and how to live the commandments of God. We had Family Home Evening and Family prayer. I attended Mutual and Primary; I gave 2 1/2 minute talks in Sunday School; I was given an allowance and then expected to pay my tithing; I was taught to keep the Sabbath Day holy–we used to eat out a lot on Sundays until my parents learned more about the gospel and decided, ‘We won’t go out to eat anymore on Sundays, we will go another day; I was told that I was supposed to take the gospel back home and convert my family.
“When I was about ten years old my foster parents took me to stay with another family while the rest of the family left for the day. They told me they would be back in the evening. I was confused at first and then I found out that they went to the temple to be sealed as a family for time and eternity. This really impressed me.“My testimony grew. I learned to bear my testimony in Sunday testimony meetings and also expressed it in our Lamanite Youth Conferences.
“My foster mother taught me to cook and sew. We made all of our own clothes. My sisters and I entered the 4-H Make It with Wool contest. I won that contest for my grade level for my school. I helped Mom can the fruits and vegetables from our garden and I fondly remember eating fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. I called Mom Spraycar for recipes up until the time she died about five years ago.
“I got along well at school. History was my favorite subject. I wasn’t very good in English and I was never athletic. I wanted to learn to play the piano. When I expressed this, my foster sister said, ‘You don’t want to play the piano! You have to practice!’ I let that influence me and now my foster sisters and brother all play and I don’t. My main interest then turned to art in which I earned some awards.
“I had a lot of Anglo friends and several foster cousins about my age that I enjoyed. My best friends, however, were Indian friends. We seemed to cling to one another. Our case worker got the Placement students together for socials. We had so much fun at our conferences, parties, and at our annual Lagoon outing.”
The gospel came into the lives of Gloria’s parents through the legendary Dr. J. Ballard Washburn, a Stake President from Page Arizona. Gloria related, “He would take his little black medicine bag and go out on the reservation to visit the families. On his visits, he would check out the family first with his stethoscope and then teach them the gospel. I don’t know how he did it. He didn’t even speak Navajo and my parents didn’t speak English. My mom said that when he talked she could feel the spirit through him.
“When I was at home during the summers I also listened to Dr. Washburn teach from the Book of Mormon. I knew the book was true as he testified of it. Even when I couldn’t read, I knew; I could feel it.
“My parents joined the church while I was on Placement. And when I was fourteen years old, Dr. Washburn drove our family to the Mesa temple and we were sealed together for time and eternity.
“I also remember Harry James (who is a Navajo) visiting our home when he was a missionary. He taught us about the Ten Commandments. I specifically remember him teaching us ‘You don’t steal,’ and ‘You don’t lie.’ The reason I remember this so well is because I had been taking dimes out of my mother’s purse when she wasn’t looking and buying ice cream when we went to the store. After Elder James’s lessons, I felt guilty about this behavior and I stopped. (clarification added)
“A lot of missionary work was done while I was away from home. During my schooling days both of my grandparents (Cecil B. Begay and Susie Neztsosie) were baptized. My grandfather Begay was baptized in the cold icy waters of Lake Powell but all he felt was the warm spirit that embraced them.
“If you were a Placement graduate from high school, it was expected you went to BYU. (Now my kids are having a rough time getting into college.) I went one year and then went back home, took a few classes, and worked some odd jobs until I got a permanent job at the Navajo Generating Plant in Page.
“When I was nineteen years old I met John Redhair at a rodeo in Flagstaff and we socialized at the powwow dance afterward. I liked John very much. I just knew that he was the one. I had a feeling the first time I saw him that I would marry him. I hadn’t dated very much. He also said he knew we were right for each other. We wrote letters back and forth from Coppermine to Flagstaff and were engaged in about a month. John decided to get a job to prepare for marriage rather than continue his schooling at Northern Arizona University. He playfully blames me for him not completing his education.
“I had a talk with my Bishop, Bryson Jones, and told him that I wanted to marry this guy who wasn’t a Church member. He strongly counseled me about the dangers in marrying a non-member. I said, ‘I want to marry him!’ Bishop Jones said, ‘If you know he is going to be a bishop, go ahead and marry him.’ I knew what a good stable man John was and had no doubts about marrying him.
“While we were dating I invited John to go to Salt Lake City with my family to attend General Conference. He had no idea what that was, but he said, ‘yes’. This was an amazing experience. I guess he was just ready for the gospel. He soaked up everything and said, "This is just wonderful! I can really feel the spirit here. These speakers are so good." He wanted to know more about the church and things just went upward from there.
After we married, John wanted to go to church, but I was going through a period where I didn’t want to go. It was so much easier to not go and live without the gospel. John was the one that did the encouraging. ‘Come on, let’s go to church.’ He is the one that got our family going. And now I am so thankful! I married the right person; I made a very good choice! We were married June 7, 1974 and on August 23, 1980 we went to the temple and had our three children sealed to us.
“I have felt comfortable as my husband has been serving in major callings. I reasoned then I wouldn’t be called to a major calling and long as he was so that I could better support him. I have served as a teacher and a counselor in all the auxiliaries, as librarian, and as nursery leader. Now, I am the Relief Society president in the Fourth Ward and I feel like I’m getting closer to my potential.
“My main interest in life has been raising my children in the gospel. I have felt it is really important for me to be at home caring for and teaching them. I stopped working at the Generating Plant when I was 8 months pregnant with my first child and didn’t go back to a full time job until it was necessary in order to help the children with college and missions.
I started working as a receptionist for Dr. Bracken; an optometrist. Our children are close in age and we had a lot of responsibility with several in college and on missions at the same time, but we have always felt the Lord’s hand in our lives and things have always worked out.
Gloria is a granddaughter of the Alma Tauchin, highlighted in the first Blossoming book. Other children and grandchildren of the Tauchins that have been written about in the two Blossoming books are: Patty Tauchin Etcitty, Priscilla Tauchin Begay,
Gloria realizes she comes from a great heritage, “My uncles and aunts have been a good example and have blazed the trail for us. Many are them and their families are in our ward. I have counted about twenty-six missionaries from the Tauchin family at present and there are many more to come. ”
“My parents continue to be an important part of my heart and my life. Dad had a really bad accident about six years ago. His hands and face were burned in a fire at work. We kept telling him he needed to retire when he was 70 years old. He didn’t. He is very stubborn. After the accident when he was 74 years old, he had to retire. He was in a lot of pain. He wasn’t the striking handsome man he was before. His friends and family put his name on the temple prayer list and through this painful experience we all have grown and become closer together.
“Mom also has had a couple of accidents lately. It seems my grandparents are quite accident prone. Grandmother’s horse stepped in a gopher hole and threw her and she broke her ribs and collar bone. She was still riding a horse at age 72. My father who is now 80 years old told me it took him 20 minutes to get on his horse. We tell him to give it up.
“Material things have never been important to John and me. We have never felt the need to have a bigger and better house, new furniture, or things in general. John would say to the children when they asked him about Father’s Day or birthday presents, ‘You don’t need to buy me anything, and I don’t need any special care or anyone fussing over me. The best thing you can do to make me happy is live the gospel.’
“I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for my wonderful husband who is such a great example to me and for my remarkable children. I am so thankful for my aunts and uncles and grandparents who blazed the trail for me. I am so blessed to have participated in the Placement program and to be a recipient of the Atoning Sacrifice of my Savior. I am so thankful for the gospel, Joseph Smith, President Hinckley, all the prophets, the Book of Mormon and other scripture. I don’t know where I would be without the Church. I am just overcome with my feelings of gratitude for the bounteous blessings and tender mercies given me by my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ and for the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit in my life.”
 |
| John and Gloria Redhair |
 |
| Children of John and Gloria Redhair |
Back Row: Randy Gage, Trevor, Olen, Jarom*, Lonnie, Joseph Gregg, Julian Morris. Front Row: Colleen Gage, John, Gloria, Shandiin, Bryan, Jilleen Gregg holding baby Angelina Gregg, Valeen Morris holding Kasino Morris. Colleen, age 32: graduated from BYU; married Randy Gage and now lives in Lehi, Utah; she and her husband are both engineers and temple workers; plays the violin. They have one daughter, 11 months, Kaylee.
(*How is that for a great Book of Mormon name! Their son, Jarom, just so happens to have the same name as does the author of the scripture that was used as TODAY'S THEME.)
Olen (OJ), age 30: single; a math whiz; accomplished a perfect grade on his SAT test. Then taking a higher test, received another perfect score which made him one out of 250,000 students; attended Harvard with a math major for one year, then served a mission in Peru, then attended Harvard another year before deciding to attend Arizona State University which was closer to home. Olen is working on his fourth degree at ASU.
Lonnie: age 28: single; served a mission in the Biblebelt in North Carolina. (He really knows the Bible); attending ASU in preparation for law school.
Jilleen, age 25: a certified nursing assistant; she is planning to get a nursing degree; married to Joe Gregg; has three children; plays piano.
Valleen, age 22: a math whiz who decided to go into nursing; bookkeeper for Sports Authority; attending Mesa Community College; married to Julian Morris; has one son.
Trevor (TJ), age 19: graduated from Page High School at 17; attending Mesa Community College.
Jarom, age 17: ranked #2 at Page High School; talented violinist and pianist; preparing for a mission.
Jarom, age 17: ranked #2 at Page High School; talented violinist and pianist; preparing for a mission.
All the boys are Eagle Scouts
____________
This life story you just read was used with permission of Dale and Margene Shumway, Authors of the book, Blossoming II. which is available on Amazon.com entitled The Blossoming II: Dramatic stories in the Lives of Native Americans. Also both Blossoming books are available by contacting the Shumways by email: dm06shumway@yahoo.com, by mail 486 W 40 N. Orem, UT 84057, or by telephone 801 235 0986. The retail cost is for book I $12.95 and for book II $14.95 plus postage. As for the Blossoming II books. They are available on Amazon.com titled The Blossoming II: Dramatic stories in the Lives of Native Americans. Also both Blossoming books are available by contacting us by email: dm06shumway@yahoo.com, by mail 486 W 40 N. Orem, UT 84057, or by telephone 801 235 0986. The retail cost is for book I $12.95 and for book II $14.95 plus postage.
____________
Mormon Messages
____________
DISCLAIMER
This website is not owned by or affiliated with the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the Mormon or LDS Church). The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the position of the Church.
____________
TO ACCESS NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX: To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This Blog Post, (Or To Search The Index For Any Other Blog Post You Desire To Access), After You Have Read All of This Paragraph, Please Scroll Back Up And Click on the Following: (Present Day) Lamanites, Such as Gloria Lane Redhair Have Been Blessed By Devoted Latter-Day Saint Families Who Have Been Blessed For Their Loving Service -38h -Part 2. When The Picture of Our Savior, Jesus Christ Sitting Next To a Little Boy Comes Onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down In The Index To Your Target Item Or Use the Alphabetical Scrolling Device (When It Has Been Installed).
____________
"Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon?" Legal /Statement. Thank you for visiting. The author retains intellectual property and creative licensing rights. Permission to use or reprint must be given in writing. © Est.2008 Neil Birch Legal /Statement.
____________
I deeply appreciate your readership and hope you found very beneficial, that which was presented to you in this blog post.
If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.
I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested. Please be advised that I also have an additional blog. It is in Spanish: Its content is translated from the English in this blog.
Neil Birch
