Family: Isn't it about time?

This is the life history I wrote of my mom's sister in June of 2009:
Scattering Sunshine
My earliest memories of my Aunt Carol are of our family gatherings where she and the elderly woman she took care of, Gertrude, were our special guests. They began joining us for holidays before I was even two years old. Whether it was Christmas, birthday parties or a St. Patrick’s day dinner with green and white food, my aunt was there playing and socializing with her seven California nieces and nephews. Carol and Gertrude were a part of our immediate family; celebrating with us at every major holiday and event. Now she lives in Clearfield, UT still making friends and finding joys in the simple pleasures of life. Her life has been full of challenges but she has still managed to scatter sunshine in every place she has been.
Family and Childhood
It was a Sunday at 5pm in Salt Lake City when Carol Ann was born to parents Eldon Taylor McEntire and Zella Skidmore McEntire on January 27, 1946. Born to practical but loving and supportive parents she was the fourth of five children.
Of her siblings, Jim was the oldest. He is remembered by his family as always having been very kind to his younger siblings. On her 5th birthday, Carol remembers that Jim gave her a little make up kit to use when she played dress-up. Mary was the next eldest. She had and has a lot of energy. Mary kept herself busy with academics, friends and the Student Body Association in high school. Robert was the closest in age to Carol, being just three years older than she was; although she always called him her “little” brother. They played the most together which is perhaps the reason they always fought with each other too. Six years younger than my Aunt Carol is my mom, Marilyn. Carol remembers being excited to enter the sixth grade because it meant that Marilyn would now be old enough to attend the same school as her. Marilyn and Carol remain close siblings even now.
Home life could be described as sensible with random moments of simple fun. The family didn’t take many extravagant vacations but Carol does remember being in the 5th grade and going to Disneyland together with their cousins. The biggest ride then was the Jungle ride which was very exciting for her. When her older sister Mary had her first baby the whole family made the trip from Salt Lake City to Cambridge, MA by train to visit her and her husband Roy. While they were there, Mother Zella attended a convention for the school she taught at. Mary and Roy showed the rest of the family around the Boston area. Carol recalls that they went to an outdoor market one day where Roy bought two big lobsters. That was a fun time for her: the night she had her first taste of lobster ever.
Living in a matriarchal home with Mother as the disciplinarian and the care giver and a hard working but fun-loving father made for a contrast. Carol’s childhood memories of her father consist of piggy back rides and his homemade breakfasts when she was young. When she got older and scrambled to finish homework in the morning he would give her a ride to school so she wouldn’t use up additional time by walking. He was compassionate and loved to have fun. If they wanted something really bad, they would go ask Dad because he was a bit of a pushover. As a surprise present for Christmas when she was a teenager, Eldon bought Carol a full-sized poster of the teen singing sensation Fabian. This was a fun surprise for her since most of the time they were given practical gifts or things they needed, like clothing. This one was purely for fun.
Mom, however, ran things on a stricter schedule and was often found helping with homework and household duties. One of the rules given was that the children had to clean their plates at dinner if they were to get dessert, which was often a Jell-o of some kind. Carol was very obedient and usually finished her meals while her younger sister, Marilyn, often scraped her leftovers into the potted plant that sat on the table! Apparently, the kids didn’t always find what was cooked very appetizing. However, her favorite foods that her mother made were breaded round steak and her homemade bread.
A fond memory she shared of my Grandma Zella was a time when Carol as a teenager was in charge of the main course for a Church youth progressive dinner. She helped Carol get everything set up and even put out her best china and crystal for the youth to use. She remembers feeling really special that her mom would do this to make it an exciting evening for her.
Zella also spent a lot of time reading to her children and did all the characters voices, I was told. This was something done often that had a great impact on Carol growing up. She recollects how she struggled in elementary school, especially with reading. In the summer of her fourth grade year, her mother spent hours and hours helping Carol get through a rather difficult book. After that she was hooked and reading became a passion of hers. A favorite was The Wizard of Oz series. After she overcame this obstacle, school became a lot easier for her.
In the fifth grade she had two very close friends named Helen and Ellen. Their favorite activities were board games like monopoly and clue. If the weather was nice they would ride their bikes up the City Creek Canyon and eat lunch there together. When they weren’t talking or cooking together, they came up with creative activities for themselves. One time they set up a whole play to put on together. They only hitch was that they got busy with other things and the play became forgotten just before an “opening night” could be scheduled; so it went unperformed! In addition to these two close friends, Carol played next door with her Cousin Marianne a lot. One of their favorite games was Star Reporter where you got to travel all over the world collecting information for a news report.
Teen Years and High School
Around junior high age, Carol got interested in both the violin and ballet. She loved to dance and learned the technique well. She enjoyed dancing until her ankles gave out when she was sixteen and decided it would be better to quit. After that, she joined the Pep Club where she cheered for the football games at East High.
As for the violin, she joined the school Orchestra in the 8th grade and continued on throughout high school. They even went to a competition down in Los Angeles, California with their teacher Mrs. James. Even though they didn’t win, Carol says that the trip was still a lot of fun. She loved to sing and even joined the a cappella group her junior year. She had many other hobbies in addition to dance and music. She learned to sew and knit during these growing up years. One of her accomplishments in high school was knitting a whole sweater. She has made many things since then and it has become a life-long hobby.
It was during this growing up time that Carol felt she had gradually gained a testimony of the Gospel and of the Church. She recalls a time when she and a friend were very sad asked for a Priesthood blessing which brought them both a lot of comfort.
In high school Carol went out often with a boy named Craig. He asked his friend Patrick Penman to double with them so they would have a driver to take them around. It was at a dance that one of the boys decided to switch partners for a song. When that song was over Craig and Pat’s date kept on dancing! That gave Carol and Patrick a chance to get to know each other one on one. It was at this point they began dating each other and Craig was out of the picture. After a while they went to a dance together and Carol was so tired that she fell asleep on Pat’s shoulder and he had to take her home. She was too embarrassed to explain what happened and they split up over the miscommunication! It was not until her freshman year at BYU that she saw him again.

Marriage and Parenting
Carol had gone off to school knowing it was important to gain an education but not really knowing what she wanted to do, she began general studies. A roommate encouraged her to send Patrick Penman a Christmas card that year (1964) to which he responded. After that he began driving from Salt Lake to Provo on the weekends to see her. He told her he wanted to marry her right away, but even still they dated for 6 more months. They had a very short engagement because of the draft which was going on at the time.
They were married July 7, 1965 in the Salt Lake Temple when Carol was nineteen years old. They moved into an apartment on the Avenues to start with and she became a housewife. Patrick was a very good business and salesman and went to work with his grandfather, eventually buying the business from him. It was called Penman’s Playground Equipment of Salt Lake. He brought in new ideas and new things to sell which made him very successful. Carol started as his billing and advertizing secretary until they hired on help 5 years down the road.
It was at their ‘one year’ mark that they bought a house for $9,000; a great deal. They remodeled the bathroom and the porch of the little home. This helped them feel truly settled since their first daughter Ann was born that year on August 3rd.
Ann was very obedient and cute according to her mother. Carol says that she and Ann really grew up together since she was so young herself. As she would do the house hold ironing, Ann would ‘plug’ her little toy iron into a tear in the carpet and help her mom with the chores. Ann was a very bright child but struggled a little because she got sick often and missed a lot of school. She did very well in high school and studied art in College. She married John Morgan and now works with the security section of the art department at the University of Utah.
Debra was their surprise baby born on September 12, 1970. Carol describes her as a very curious and busy baby, always scooting around backward and never taking her naps. She was a very creative child. One day when Debra was ten, Carol and her girls were making a cake and they had left over icing. She asked what they should do with it expecting them to use it for graham crackers or something. Debra answered that they should use it for Carol and began frosting her mom! She chased her into the bathroom with the spatula! Now grown up, she is also very successful and works as a licensed chiropractor in southern California.
Adulthood
It was about ten years into their marriage that things started getting stressful with money and the relationship and at thirteen years Pat and Carol divorced. This was a very hard time for Carol emotionally as well as temporally. She found it very difficult to raise her two daughters while working to support them too. Her daughters had to grow up quickly to help look after one another. After a year with this arrangement Carol gave custody over to Pat. She learned that it really takes two to parent.
After the divorce she lived in Sugar House for three more years where her kids were and spent every other weekend with them. At this time my parents had been living in Palo Alto, CA for some time and Carol decided to move out there to find a job and still be around family. After a year and working at two different jobs she missed her kids too much and moved back to Utah. She was able to find work as a legal secretary there and stayed for three more years.
Carol then made a more permanent move back to the Bay Area in 1987. She was looking for work and her bishop and Relief Society President told her of an older single woman in the ward who was dying of bone cancer and needed someone to take care of her. So Gertrude Ericksen had Carol move in with her. In exchange for a place to live, Carol took care of the cooking and the house up keep. She found additional work at this time as a legal secretary in a patent office.
Carol and Gertrude became very close friends. Gertrude was always very kind, good natured and positive even though she was in pain with her illness. She was given only a few years to live by the doctors but managed to surprise everyone and stuck through it all until 2004! During these years together Gertrude supported Carol in her goals to go back to College. She even helped her buy a computer so she wouldn’t have to stay late on campus studying.
Carol began in 1988 at Foothill Community College where she did teacher training and joined the orchestra again. Upon graduation with her Associates she transferred to Cal State Hayward University. She went to school part time while she worked. She graduated with her degree in Liberal Studies in 1999. She felt very good about accomplishing her goal and completing her degree after so many years. She even went on to do substitute teaching for several years which she enjoyed very much because of her great love for children.
This is the part I remember best because this is the time that Carol and Gertrude became immediate family members to all seven of us. They came for every special event and I will always remember both of them with their sweetness and kindness. Even though money was tight Carol brought us each special Christmas presents. One year, when I was 10 or 11 years old, I remember getting a beautiful white teddy bear from her. I had never had one of my own before so it was special for me. I named him Mr. Fluffy and began sleeping with him in my bed from then on. This was the kind of simple service she did to make others feel special.
After several years Gertrude’s health declined more and Carol had illness and sadness of her own and it became a necessity to hire out professional help to take care of Gertrude. Carol stayed on and still cooked and did laundry for her dear friend. After seven years, Gertrude and Carol were told that it was time for her to be placed in nursing home care. They both cried and cried when they heard this news but decided that it would be best. Gertrude was settled in a Palo Alto nursing home so that Carol would only have to drive 15-20 minutes to see her and eat dinner with her. This continued until 2001 when it came time for Carol to move back to Utah. Her parents had now passed away and she inherited a nice home in Clearfield. Gertrude decided that she did not want to part from her friend and moved to Utah with Carol. She was settled in a nearby nursing home so that they could still visit with each other. Gertrude eventually died on December 23, 2004. My dad dedicated her gravesite.
Throughout her life Carol has struggled with many trials including illness and heart ache but for as long as I can remember she has always kept going and been positive and charitable while doing it. She says that these trials have helped to shape her and that she learned that it takes time to overcome challenges and to heal.
Now Carol enjoys the simple things in life like swimming and health, being a part of the Adult Single’s activities committee and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Organization. Friendship, kindness and understanding others remain a huge part of her everyday life. When asked what is important to her she said that it was the Church and paying tithing as well as being happy and getting along well with her children. She takes life one day at a time.
Her younger sister said that Carol “would give you the shirt of her back. She would go into debt to help someone else. She has always done the best with what she has been given.” My Aunt Carol has always had someone in her life, usually many people, to help and to love. She ‘scatters sunshine’ everywhere. The evidence of this for me is in a little stuffed bear named Mr. Fluffy that still sits on my bed today.

Obituary: Sherman Simons Brinton, M.D.
Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Nov 5, 2003
1917 ~ 2003
Beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather, surgeon, neighbor, and community leader, Sherman Simons Brinton, age 86, passed away November 3, 2003 at LDS Hospital of injuries resulting from a fall.
Born in Murray, Utah on July 1, 1917, he was the third of five children of David Branson Brinton and Ethel Simons Brinton, with whom he began a lifelong love of learning. He was valedictorian at South High School, and received his bachelors' degree at the University of Utah. He served as yearbook editor at both institutions. He received his M.D. from the University of Maryland in Baltimore. He served as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Eastern States Mission. Sherm and Susan Bonna Ashby were married on Sept. 24, 1943 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple by Pres. David O. McKay. She preceded him in death on February 25, 1999.
During World War II he served our country as an officer and physician in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Paris, France. In his role as Coordinator of LDS Servicemen in Europe, he was privileged to assist Elder Ezra Taft Benson in directing the LDS relief effort in Europe after the war.
Honorably discharged as an Army Major, he and Bonna moved to Chicago where he completed his internship. He then completed his ophthalmology residency at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis and received advanced ophthalmological training in Indianapolis. Sherm and the family then moved to Salt Lake City where he was a prominent eye physician and surgeon for over 40 years, performing the first successful corneal transplant operation in Utah.
As a life-long faithful member of the LDS Church, he served as a bishop, high councilor and teacher and with his wife as a missionary at the Family History Library at Temple Square.
Sherm led his family in a love of travel and learning of diverse lands and cultures. Together they studied and visited many state, national, and international places of interest, especially those of Church and American history. He loved to study and share his great knowledge throughout his life.
He leaves a rich legacy of love, service, and learning, to his 113 descendants.
He is survived by his seven children: Susan B. (Bruce) Brown, Provo; Dr. James A. (Barbara) Brinton, Provo; Richard C. (Marilyn) Brinton, Fremont, CA; Dr. Gregory S. (Sally) Brinton, Salt Lake City; Dr. Eliot A. (Bethany) Brinton, North Salt Lake; Dr. Daniel A. (Wendy) Brinton, Danville, CA; Mark A. (Jennifer) Brinton, South Jordan; by 42 grandchildren, 37 great-grand children, and by his brother, Marshall Brinton, Murray; sister, Eleanor Christensen, Binghamton, NY. He is preceded in death by brother David, and sister Barbara Wise.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 8th at 1 p.m. at Monument Park North Stake Center, 1300 South and Wasatch Drive (2520 East) Salt Lake City.
Friends are also invited to visit Friday, November 7 from 6-8 p.m. at the Stake Center and again on Saturday November 8 at the Stake Center between 11 and 12:30 p.m.