Great Grandfather David Smith

Last month I had the chance to take part in a huge event.  Our ward had it's 90th Birthday party on April 20, 2009.  It just so happens that My Great Grandfather David Smith was the 1st bishop of the Idaho Falls, Idaho 2nd ward.  He went on to become the 1st Temple president of the Idaho Falls, Idaho LDS Temple.  The committee that was putting the event together asked if I would gather some information on Grandfather and put together a display about him.  I was a little overwhelmed at first because I only had about 2 weeks and wasn't sure where to begin.  He has a few children that are still living.  One of his daughters Rayola is pictured here.  She is 84 years old and is an amazing person.  I was able to visit with her and her daughter Cecily about what life was like when she was young.  I also got to visit with her younger sister Laprele.  It is amazing with the age difference in the children, how differently they remember things....or how different their lives were because of placement in the family.  My maternal grandmother Esther Stosich was David's oldest daughter.  She is not living but used to say that she remembered  she was always taking care of the children (there were 11 total :)  Laprele said that they lived like kings and queens (which was right across the street from where Steve and I currently reside).  Always having guests over (mostly apostles) and having extravagant parties, with lovely china and delicious foods.  She also vividly remembers all of the dishes afterwards!  She said that her mother Emily would have them put all the dishes in huge tubs down in the basement to soak.  There were so many of them that they had to do them in rounds!  Sounds exhausting to me.  Rayola said that Grandfather David was an amazing musician.  He sang incredibly and played the violin even better.  He was asked several times by  prestigious orchestras to join and continually turned them down.  He knew it was no life for his family.  I will have to post the article eventually for verification but if I remember correctly, While David was bishop, there were problems with the original 2nd ward building.  There was supposed to be some sort of grant given from the prophet for repairs.  This was all as WWII was in the beginnings.  The church pulled the funds because of it.  David traveled to SLC to speak face to face with the prophet to tell him that they needed those funds for the building.  The prophet still said NO!  He was quite distraught about it and ended up writing a letter to the prophet while still in SLC.  He went back and presented the letter to him and said that he would expect an answer to be waiting for him when he returned to Idaho Falls.  It was there when he returned and the prophet finally granted the funds because of his persistence.  I know that David was an amazing man because of what I have learned from his children.  I get excited to think about one day being able to fiddle around on the piano and singing with him, I know we would both enjoy ourselves.  My grandmother Esther and several of her brothers and sisters had a love and passion for music.  It flows through their veins.  I always wondered where it came so strongly from.  Now I know that Emily and David gave them that gift and passed it right along to several others of their posterity!  These are some of the jumbled thoughts that I had and needed to begin to record them and add to them.  I am not a good writer so I hope your lenient readers!  I love my family and am thankful for the opportunities that I was given as a child to spread my wings!  SO thank you to my Mother and Father and siblings for helping me along the way.

This photo is of My maternal Grandparents Esther Stosich and Vaughn Stosich, on their 50th wedding anniversary.  She was David Smith's oldest daughter.  She was a wonderful Grandmother and I wish that I was one of the older grandchildren so that I could have known her better.  She had a voice from heaven, and I love her dearly!