July 2008- 100 YEARS OLD

July of 2008 started off with the Monson Family Reunion which was held at my brother Scott's house. There were lots of activities and fun. Scroll down the page and you'll find pictures. Also, in July a good friend of ours, Venneta, who Mike has home-taught for many years and who was my visiting teacher for a while, and I hers, passed away at the age of 99. She was only three days short of her 100th birthday. Over the years, all of our sons were Mike's home teaching companions and had the opportunity to go with him to visit her and Lois. I also went with him quite often. Venneta was quite the woman. She lived in a cabin on the lake that she and her friend Lois had built themselves many years before. After they retired they moved to the little cabin, which was heated with a woodstove. She split wood herself until a couple of years before she died. I remember many years ago that she had a log truck deliver a load of full-length logs to their home. She cut them up with her chain saw and then split the wood into small pieces that fit into her woodstove.

After Lois died Venneta gave some of their property on the lake to her nephew and his wife to build a home. This turned out to be a great blessing to Venneta. Because they were there, she was able to stay in her home. They looked in on her, brought her dinner, invited her over to their house, kept her company and watched out for her. He also kept her wheel barrow full of wood right outside of her door so she could keep the woodstove burning. Our ward men and young men cut up wood and delivered it to her, stacking it in her woodshed, for several years.