Eureka Years

All Eight Children in Eureka, CA

Back row: Brian, Val, Mike, Mal, Todd

Front row: Amy, Patsy, Amanda Dan, Russell

The Carson Mansion in Eureka - the landmark

Malcolm was transferred to Eureka, CA in 1981. I was expecting our 7th baby during this time. Malcolm stayed for a year with the Kilpatrick Family while we waited for the sale of our home. We had difficulty selling and had a sale fall through and finally sold the home the second time an offer was made. We bought a home in Eureka on R St. which was a large home in the middle of town with wonderful neighbors and a great ward who welcomed us with open arms. We had our two additional daughters while living in Eureka, Amanda, and Amy. We loved the warm and friendly people in Eureka, especially in our neighborhood - people were good to us and the ward members were great too. We felt we belonged as soon as we arrived. Perhaps, this was because Malcolm and the Kilpatricks had prepared the way for us. We developed many great friendships in the few years we lived here and learned to love and pick blackberries and made lots of jam which we shared is all. This was the home where all eight children were together and we had plenty of room. We had children of all ages and our eldest children brought friends home so our home was a social center for goodies and bumper pool and parties. We were pleased to have them in our home. There were many neighbor children about the same ages as our children and lots of interesting and fun people to visit with. We also discovered the ocean and had lots of outings with our family and friends at the many beaches along the Northern coast of California. One of my favorites was moonstone beach were we would lay on our tummy for hours and look for agates. In many ways this was the most peaceful time for a few years. I regret we did not attend the temple often here as we were far away and were not diligent in keeping this up for a time. During these years, Todd went to BYU for college and most of the older children had jobs to help with their expenses.