LDS NEWS: I Reached Out To Fred and Beth Clawson.

Dear Friends:
I was quite melancholy for a number of years, having neglected to keep track of the addresses of my wonderful friends Fred and Beth Clawson of Royal Oak, Michigan. Well lo and behold, I was reorganizing my papers on Saturday, when there it was! Looking right at me from a box that read "Memorabilia", The first thing that greeted me as I opened the box was an envelope sent to me by none other than the great Fred and Beth Clawson!!
I was besides myself. I had been praying for weeks, with that feeling of lament that one feels when you know you have been neglectful of the duty to keep loved ones close-by, a phone call, a letter in the traditional mail box, an Email.
So? i am happy to report here that Fred and Beth are well, and they are home in Royal Oak, Michigan living the life they have devoted to the service of others and I can say this because when I phoned them up, I looked up their phone by calling Directory Assistance and reading Fred and Beth's home address from the return-address corner of the envelope of the letter sent to me by Fred and Beth in 2004 (Try it...it works), and sure enough, there they were.

When the telephone rang, it rang three times, then that inimitable voice that rings happiness to the friend...sang out, "Good morning, what can I do to improve your life today?"
Fred Clawson himself!!!
Hallelujah!
Fred and I talked for about 30 minutes, and I told him I was sending him and Beth a long Email along with photos of me, the family, and what has transpired in the years Fred and I had not spoken.
I told him of the trip made to visit with Farrs of Arizona, and how wonderful that experience was largely because Milton and Marilyn are so magnanimous in the way they treat you when you are a guest in their home. You never have an idle moment because there is so much to see in Arizona, so many friends the Farrs have, and family too, you can see why Milton and Marilyn are so loved. We were treated to a special visit with at the Ellsworths' home while we stayed at the Farrs in Fort Thomas, Arizona. The Ellsworths did a Mission in the Spanish Ward-1 at Olmstead during 2002-2004, so I recall, and they are a darling couple, they even did a 2 year mission in New Zealand, and had just returned from there when Milton and Marilyn took us to visit with the Ellsworths at their home in Arizona. We enojyed meeting up with the Ellsworths, and were thrilled to see them at Olmstead Ward-2 this past January, 2008. I enjoyed very much, my visit with the Farrs in Arizona. It was a breathtaking adventure and I shared this with Fred in our phone conversation. I described our friendship with Carville and Bonnie Shaffer, a lovely couple from Bountiful , Utah, and what a great duo they are. They are loving people who radiate a caring that comes from deep on the inside. I hold them dear in my heart. I'd love nothing better than to have a lunch some where, where Fred, Beth, Milton, Marilyn, Carville, Bonnie and the Ellsworths could be present. Perhaps we can swing it in Utah somewhere. It would be fun to have lunch in Salt Lake City and then go see the This Is The Place Heritage Park where our Pioneers left a marker that illuminates the place where those unforgettable wagon trains and hand carts landed on July 24, 1847 to open the West to the World, and to bring our faith to the American Frontier, and into posterity for all of us to partake of the blessings that come from being an LDS.

Fred and I promised to stay in touch, and he sounds terrific. I sent my love to his lovely wife Beth, and we will visit again by the venues we have, via telephone and Email, Letters, and in the near future, I will drive out there or fly out to visit with the Clawsons.