Last summer I built a small lean-to, using the east end of the shop as one of the walls. The idea was to provide a modicum of protection to the pipe and wood lying around this place. I mention that only because some visitors here expressed surprise at the existence of this edifice. I thought I had described its construction in gory detail--but apparently not. At any rate it snowed here a couple of weeks ago, and about 6 inches stuck.
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Barbara was impressed by how far the snow hung off the roof of the lean-to. These images are of the over hanging snow from the inside and outside.
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Barbara, who was convinced that it doesn't snow in Arizona, was excited enough to take circa 150 pictures, but out of deference to Ameilia (who has a problem with photos that don't include people) I won't incorporate them here. These foregoing few should suffice to give you the idea. One of the problems with snow accumulation is that it melts slowly and keeps the ground wet. That, coupled with the previous wet weather we have had, resulted in the shop/rabbit house flooding--again. Fortunately, the water reached only about 3 inches in the deepest part this time and within 10 days the building was again inhabitable. |
Barbara also took various random pictures, including this one of a bumper sticker someone stuck on the inside wall of the screen shop more than 25 years ago. It appears to have lasted surprisingly well. Those that were stuck outside on the deepfreeze where they were exposed to the sun... well not so much.
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One of my cousins, Denise Scorse, passed away March 18, 2019. My father was one of 15 children and if I added correctly, I have 75 first cousins on his side of the family. Denise was one of the few that I knew. She was the daughter of Aleen Hatch, who was good friends with my mother. In fact, they lived together (along with Aleens' oldest child) in Lake Elsinore, California while mother worked in the aircraft factory and Aleens' husband was in the service during World War 2.
The funeral program lists her as being born and dying in the same little town, but that is a bit deceiving. Her degree from BYU led her to a career as a speech therapist, and she followed that vocation for a number of years. She traveled the world, spent time in China teaching English, and spent several years as a popular radio DJ, among other adventures. Denise's life story as told by her brother Arlen
Denise chose her own mortality adventure story. Her adventure began and ended in Snowflake Arizona. Looking from the outside you may think that her life may have been boring or mundane, but she made it anything but simple and unexciting! Denise was born on January 20, 1950 in Snowflake, Arizona, to Winston Churchill and Aleen Hatch Scorse. She is the 3rd of 6 children. Jerald and Ron came before, with Debra, Arlen, and Gary following her. She grew up in Holbrook, Arizona, attended Hewlett and Pitman elementary schools and graduated from Holbrook High School. She loved music and was in the school marching band and in many school plays including "Oklahoma" and "Arsenic and Old Lace". She developed a love for drama and English which would lead her to her chosen career. She attended BYU and received a bachelor's degree to teach English. While at BYU, Denise joined a dance band and played drums for many dances and was in many plays. And not to be out done by her car-loving brothers, she also took an auto-mechanics class and overhauled the old 53 Chevy that is still in the family. Her first job after graduating from BYU was a teaching position in Tohatchi, New Mexico of all places. I remember Dad, Mom, Debra, Gary and I dropping her off at the little one room house/shack late in the afternoon. We gave her a box of food and left. This was one of my first recollections of her being a gutsy and adventurous person. She stuck out that first year of teaching but decided that maybe teaching wasn't what she wanted to do the rest of her life. One fun thing she did while living there was to take a ride in a little tiny airplane of someone she had met in that area. He flew her to Holbrook and back. Denise went back to BYU and got her master's degree in Speech Pathology and worked as a speech therapist for many years. Over her career, she taught English, drama, reading, and speech therapy in many schools in Northern Arizona, including the Navajo Reservation. She worked with many school districts in Utah, New Mexico, Hawaii and San Diego, California. Denise served an 18-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Auckland, New Zealand, to the Maori people. She was a great example and instrumental in inspiring her two younger brothers to serve missions. After all, if she could do it, then we could too! She loved to travel, and while returning from one of her overseas trips, she met Ken Merzah on the flight home. This turned into a quick summer romance and later marriage in December of 1984, after which they moved to Springville, Utah. After a very brief year, Ken went back to his home country of Seria, and they later divorced. It was several years later that she met Ken Huish, and they were married in July of 2005. After a few years of marriage, Ken's health began to deteriorate fast because of complications from diabetes. She did all she could to help make him comfortable but he passed away in 2012. Denise never had children of her own but she had many nieces and nephews whom she cared for and mentored. A niece Traci said that one of her fondest memories of Aunt Denise was her singing the speckled frog song (with hand gestures) to us kids when we were little. I loved it so much that I have sung it to my own children. There are many fond memories of Denise which have been shared by her family and friends. Cousin Dale Parrott shared that Denise loved horses. Part of that started after watching a movie at the Roxy theater called "Snowfire" which was about a horse. Denise was determined that she would have a white horse named "Snowfire", but at the time, the only horse we had access to was Grandpa Albert and Grandma Zina's old horse named Trigger. Denise loved Trigger. One day at Grandpa and Grandma's house, a lot of the family were there, and there were a LOT of the cousins, and we were all playing outside when we saw Trigger come wondering down the lane toward us. We saw a box in Grandpa's shop with a bunch of perfectly round and perfectly smooth sticks so we started throwing them at Trigger so he would go back to the barn. All of us except Denise... She was running between all of us trying to stop us from hurting Trigger. Suddenly the parents came running out of the house yelling at us to stop throwing the sticks! They later told us it was dynamite! We all thought it was awesome! Except for Denise ...she reminded us for years that we almost blew-up Trigger.
Denise was always sensitive and easily traumatized. A few years ago, we were sharing some childhood memories and she mentioned how upset she and the familyhad been when our cat Blackie came running out of the mom and dads bedroom with our beloved parakeet Rickie in his mouth. There was quite a commotion as we finally caught up to Blackie but it was too late for Ricki. She insisted that we have a funeral and burial for our Rickie, and from then on we did the same for each of our pets...fish, cats, that died. No one knew what had happened with Blackie and Rickie except for me.
One of Denise's first big adventures was with our cousins Lindella Frenzel and Darnell Hatch. Lindella shared that in the summer of 1969, the three of them joined together for adventures on the road. We drove to Palmyra, New York to see the Hill Cummorah pageant, then the New England states, and the Southern states, camping or staying with friends and family along the way. The first night of camping, we discovered that none of us knew how to put up the tent; especially in the dark. We rolled out sleeping bags and sort of pulled the tent over the top of us. When we woke up, ants were crawling over us and were into all of our belongings. We eventually worked out putting up of the tent. We loved traveling and meeting new people and seeing new sights. In New York City, we decided to park the car and take a tour bus to see the city. That was exciting and when we got back, we couldn't find the car. That was not so exciting. Unknown to us, the bus station had 5 levels. We were constantly getting lost. In those days we used paper maps with only general details. It was a grand adventure for three country mice and we did eventually find our way home.
She was a great friend, a good listening ear, and loved fun and a good adventurer. I loved her! In the summer of 1983 Denise embarked on another adventure. She along with good friends Marla and Vyrla, whom she met and was roommates with while attending BYU, traveled to England and Scotland and spent many days if not weeks traveling and seeing the many sights. She had a full five-inch 3-ring binder full of photos, postcards and pictures of the many places they visited. One of the most daring things she ever did was take a boat trip down the Grand Canyon through the infamous Cataract Canyon. Scared the jeebers out of her! She also went to and lived in China of all places to teach English and study the Chinese language. I have no idea where she got all this ambition to do all these things. After her marriage to the first Ken and after all of the traveling, she moved back to Holbrook and it looked like she might settle down for a while. She took a part time job at the AM radio station in Holbrook called KDJI. This turned into one of her greatest passions. It was shortly after this time that the radio station was expanding into having an FM side called Z92 with a country music format. She moved from being a news/weather person to being on a radio program called "The Chicks of Route 66". She worked with Kelly [McClaws] and Cindy Serna and they became very good friends and apparently very popular, from the many comments I have read. She worked many long and late hours but it never really seemed to bother her. I think it was because she loved what she was doing and who she worked with so much!! Just when we thought her great adventures were over, she decided to take a speech therapy position in Hawaii. This was just 3 or 4 years ago! She worked there for only a year but had many exciting experiences. One of which was taking a helicopter ride over the island when sister Deb went to visit. She also did some snorkeling when her good friend Cindy Serna came to visit. Denise absolutely loved her Scorse family but also loved her extended Hatch side just as much. We are truly blessed to have such a noble heritage. She loved her cousins as brothers and sisters and even some of our aunts and uncles as such since a few of them were not much older than her. She had a special relationship with Grandma Zina Hatch. It was because of these relationships that she decided to make a Hatch family book which included life stores of the 15 aunts and uncles and many, many pictures of them growing up. She worked on this for years trying to gather the stories and pictures and at times got frustrated and burned out but she persevered and with some help from her brothers using computers, was able to insert the pictures into the text and publish each story as a PDF file for all to read and share. We had so many cousins but she seemed to know them all. Family reunions were incredible and a little intimating. Each family was expected to perform some sort of skit but thankfully we had Denise who would come though for the rest of the Scorse family that didn't have much liking for that kind of thing. She would do readings and even a pantomime now and then. Some of you may remember the pantomime of the "chewing gum." Denise loved being in the temple and went every Friday morning when she was in town, and has done lots of work for our ancestors. Denise's greatest attribute was her willingness to serve and help others in times of need. It didn't matter if it was giving of her time or providing financial assistance. Many times her life and ambitions would be put on hold because someone needed her. One of the first times I witnessed this was when she took a job during the summer between her college years to help Art and Betty Whiting who were not able to do many things for themselves. I learned at this time it takes a special kind of person to give of themselves in this way. She helped many others including Grandma Zina Hatch, our mother Aleen Hatch Scorse, Ken Huish, and others. *Some of the greatest tributes a person can have is how they are viewed through the eyes of others. I would like to share some of those from her FaceBook page when people learned of her illness and passing. SELECTIVE TRIBUTES *The greatest tribute though is how God views us. This scripture sums up how I believe he views Denise. Matthew 25: 31- 40 4 31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. This was Denise! FACEBOOK COMMENTS/TRIBUTES https://www.facebook.com/denise.scorsehuish |
Denise was a freshman at BYU during my fifth year there. She and I, along with Lindella Hatch and Dave Elliott hung out together. In retrospect, Dave and I may have come close to killing those girls when we took them on a hike around "Y" Mountain in three feet of soft snow. It was a tad chilly... The downside was that the funeral and Mylinda's graduation were on the same day, located 960 miles apart. I really regret missing the graduation and associated festivities. |
Lindella Frensel (nee Hatch) flew down from Washington State for the funeral and things got a bit convoluted from there. As it worked out, AJ and I met her at the airport and took her to his house.
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Karren met us there and we visited for a couple of hours. Then I returned to Oracle, while Karren and Lindella spent the night at AJ's house.The next day I drove to Globe, met Karren and Lindella there, and continued with them to Snowflake where we had lunch with all four of Lindellas' sisters (and their husbands). |
A word about relationships: My mothers' sister (Nella Allen) married my fathers' brother (Frank Hatch). All the children in that family have the same four grandparents as I have. We are cousins on both our maternal and paternal lines. I have always heard that referred to as "double first cousins." Perhaps someday I will have the opportunity to pose that question to a professional genealogist.
After the funeral, our lunch party went on to Joan Turleys' where we met Mark and Susan, and Sam Allen. We ate again and visited for a few hours, passed Lindella into the care and keeping of her sisters, and then Karren and I departed for home. What a day! |
I have undertaken another project. I am "slowly" removing the rock that sits in the fork in our driveway that leads to Jerrys' house. I called it a rock, but I suspect it is the tip of a buried pillar, similar to the many others around our house. I think the most efficient method of breaking it up is to tap it a couple of times with an eight pound hammer, then knock off the loosened material using a chisel and a three pound hammer. So far I have lowered it by four or five inches. With any luck I should be finished by Christmas.
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