The position of Controller at the Colton CA Deseret Industries (near San Bernardino) was available, and I applied for it. I was awarded the position, including a generous moving package that included purchasing the home I was leaving, professional packing, and closing costs for the new home I purchased. I needed to be on the job before we could close out the Kaysville home, so I went to Colton, leaving Kathy with the kids in Utah. I also got the task of finding us a home in the area. I found a brand-new house in Colton that was right across the street from a park. I bought it and selected all the finishes without Kathy ever seeing it. Fortunately, she liked everything.
The sale of the Kaysville house finally closed and I went back to Utah to bring the family to Colton. It was early December and blizzard driving conditions all the way from Kaysville to St. George. We were not able to close on the Colton house yet, so we had to move into a hotel until the new house closed. It was nearing Christmas so we packed Christmas items and immediate needs in the car. We left everything else with the movers. Living in a hotel with a young family with four children was tough. Two days before Christmas the builder had mercy and let us move into the house before closing, an exception to their policy. We moved on Christmas Eve. A Christmas tree was mysteriously left on the front porch (probably from coworkers at Deseret Industries). We decorated it and had a nice Christmas in our new home. Tim Hjorton was the manager there. Not everyone liked his management style. He was good. He was fair. I have always been disappointed in myself for not better standing up for him when he was being criticized. That's a mistake I never repeated. The job was far less demanding than my payroll position had been, and I kept looking for more to do. I taught myself some programming skills and developed some applications that were used for the management and marketing of our facility.
One morning the kids were moving very slowly when getting ready for school. Kathy warned them that she would be without mercy if they missed the bus, since the car was at work with me. A few minutes later, Melissa came home to report they had missed the bus. But 5-year-old Aaron did not show up. Kathy checked all around and no Aaron. She couldn’t go driving for the search. She called the school to see if he had somehow gotten there but no Aaron. Aaron had decided that he would be "responsible" and walk to school himself. The school was miles away, crossing on a freeway overpass and passing through a very bad part of town including several drug houses. The school principal, upon learning that Aaron was missing, started at the school, and worked towards us. By this time I was home with the car and we worked from home going towards the school. The principal found Aaron first, after Aaron had crossed over the freeway walkway and had gone over a mile on the right path, nearing the scary part of town. The principal asked Aaron to get in the car so he could be taken home. We had a safety system back then so that no one would get into a car or go with someone unless they knew the family password. “What’s the password?”, Aaron asked. Aaron wouldn’t budge on the password. (No cell phones then to reach us.) Aaron ended up walking back towards us with the principal following closely behind in his car because Aaron would not get in without a password. They finally caught up with us.
Kathy had an opportunity to join a church league women's basketball team. Two of the team members, including Kathy, were pregnant. There were more than 30 children from the mothers on the team. This team had an unusual chemistry. They beat everyone. They beat missionary teams. Men’s teams. And they worked their way up the ranks of the church women’s league. They made it to be one of the final four teams in Southern California. But all the teams they were up against at the top were college-age players. Their team ended in fourth place. In the final game, Kathy turned around to take a pass, but someone had stood on her foot and she broke her ankle. She then went to her first prenatal doctor’s visit with a broken ankle, five months pregnant. The doctor asked her why she waited until the fifth month to have her first doctor’s visit. Her answer was, “You would have told me to stop playing basketball.” He agreed. So, she hobbled through the rest of the pregnancy. David was born in Redlands, California in 1985. Redlands is just east of San Bernardino. He was healthy and a great addition to the family.
We were at a T-ball game watching Aaron play. Adam was a very energetic 3-year-old boy who was starting to push his skill level. He was playing alongside me in the bleachers and then moved higher up, unnoticed. He then started climbing on the bar at the top of the bleachers when he lost his grip and fell headfirst to the cement below. When I got to him, Adam was unconscious. Someone called 911 and paramedics came but Adam was still unresponsive. I gave Adam a priesthood blessing while still at the ballpark. They took him to the hospital by ambulance. He was still unconscious. They wheeled him into the emergency room where he suddenly sat up, wondering where he was and why. He wanted to get down, which they finally allowed him to do once they finished their examination. There were no serious injuries and Adam acted as if nothing had happened. They sent us home instructing that he was to stay inactive for a few days. (They didn’t know him.)
A few months later we got Adam his first bike, with training wheels. The training wheels really bothered him because he didn't think he needed them. He insisted that he try it without them. I argued that he needed to wait until he got used to riding with training wheels. He wouldn’t give, so I decided to take the wheels off to make my point. He then got on the bike and simply rode off with no help. I guess I learned the lesson that day.
There was “the week”. Adam started it by running after us when we were heading out for the evening. He stuck his fingers on the hinge side of the door just as it closed. His fingers were completely flat when we got the door open. We headed to the emergency room where he was examined. No permanent damage and we were sent home. Then Kathy’s mother was visiting us. On her way home, her car’s brakes failed when coming off the freeway. Her car ran a red light and then into a concrete wall. She broke both legs. A few days later, I was riding a bicycle home from work. On the way home I picked up speed going downhill when my front tire dropped into a drainage grate. The bike stopped but I didn’t. I ended up sliding through traffic on my face. Oh, it hurt. The police called Kathy and said, “Ron is hurt but will be OK,” and they brought me home. I went to the emergency room, the same one we had just taken Adam to, where they treated my wounds and sent me home. A few days later our five year old son, Ben, was playing at the park across the street from our house. Some older kids convinced him to climb into a trash can that they then rolled down the hill. Our kids didn't think this was a good idea so they went to Kathy in our house across the street. Ben tried to climb out while it was rolling downhill and his elbow was shattered. Back to the same emergency room where they called Kathy and me by name when we entered. In the hurry to get him to the hospital we left the kids in our nine-year-old daughter’s care. We asked our home teacher from church to help us with the kids. He quickly went over to the house, but the kids wouldn’t let him in without the password. So, he “watched” them by sitting on the front porch.
Ben's injury turned out to be quite serious. There was a chipped bone that stopped his pulse every time they tried to set the break. They finally transferred him to Loma Linda University Hospital, with much more advanced facilities. He had to stay in traction at the hospital for a week while the swelling went down. Halloween was during his stay. The healthcare workers there held a Halloween celebration in which they went from bed to bed in costume giving candy to the patients who were in their beds. While there they wanted our son to drink lots of milk, but he refused their milk. We then realized that he was used to the half-regular & half-powdered milk from home. (Living on a budget.) We had to keep smuggling the home brewed stuff for him. When he went into surgery, we were given forms for our signature. Included was an authorization to amputate his arm if they could not resolve his problems. Having a decision like this placed in your lap is a heavy experience. We signed the form. In our prayers we put the outcome in the Lord’s care. His surgery went perfectly, and he has never had any further effects from the injury. Our insurance only covered 80% of medical costs, leaving us with about $30,000 to pay (in 1986). We didn’t know how we would ever pay for it. After a few weeks the hospital called us. They told us that the injury was a unique one and they had used it for training purposes. They informed us that they would write off the balance due as a training cost. Blessings from God. No matter how difficult the challenge in front of you is, trials are always temporary. And that the Lord will provide miracles when needed. Every so often we get to see things from the Lord's perspective and realize how short mortality really is. All this was critical understanding for future experiences.
It was necessary for the Church to discontinue one Southern California Deseret Industries location as they redefined the role of DI in Southern California. The one in Fountain Valley was selected to close. The controller of the Fountain Valley Deseret Industries was going to lose her job. She had been commuting from her San Bernardino home to Fountain Valley. I had already started a job hunt, wanting a job with more skill depth. Most potential jobs were ads in the Los Angeles Times. An employer in Lancaster CA saw my resume and interviewed me. He was impressed and hired me as the controller of his company. This created an opening for my position at the Colton Deseret Industries that was filled by the Fountain Valley controller. My new employer paid for a pack and move and paid for most of the closing expenses. Kathy was then 8-months pregnant with Jacob. For the first time ever she wanted to have the same doctor deliver two babies in a row. (There is a theme to these pregnancies and moves.)