Friends

It's good to have friends. In 1972 I was stationed in Korea. I was fortunate enough to be stationed in Seoul, at a U.S. Army base, Headquarters of 8th Army in Yongsan. I began to attend the LDS servicemen's branch there and met lots of wonderful people. One of which became our bishop some 20 years later in San Antonio. His name was Larry Neuberger and he was one of the few that was over there with his wife and family. But that is not what this post is about. This is a post about some other friends I met. One young lady who was so friendly and outgoing you couldn't help but be friends with her was an Army nurse. A Lieutenant at the time, I believe. Her name was Linda LaRock. Another was a young Army specialist, who happened to be a Chaplains' assistant. His name was Dean Bishop. The three of us became pretty good friends and would quite often go eat together after church and just do things together. I was married, but my wife, and baby were back in the U.S. but Linda and Dean were both young and single. Well, it wasn't long and I think Linda and Dean, I believe it was mostly Dean, at least at the beginning, started becoming more than just friends. At some point they fell in love and not too awfully long after returning to the U.S. sealed that love with an eternal marriage. I still had a few years commitment to the Army, but it wasn't long before Linda's and Dean's commitments on active duty were completed and they returned to civilian life. Linda to her nursing both in a hospital and in the Army Reserves. Dean finished his degree and then went on to Pharmacy school at U of U. While he was at school I was stationed at Ft. Douglas, Utah, which was practically, now is, part of the U of U campus. Because of this we only lived a couple miles apart and again saw each other often. Jeanne and Linda also became good friends and in the process they discovered that it was Jeanne's cousin who tracted out Linda, taught her the Gospel and baptized her. We did lots together including having Salt Water aquariums, playing games, fishing in the Uintahs and so on. Well as things go . . . children came along, careers took us further apart, life got busy and we saw less and less of each other. However, at least a couple of our children remember visits to their house in Sandy and thier big doberman (big loving doberman). We stayed in touch and invited each other to Weddings when that time in our lives came, and when we could make it we'd attend. The last time we saw Linda and Dean was at their son's wedding some 4 + years ago. We couldn't make it to thier daughter's. Two days ago, Friday, Jeanne got a call and Linda and Dean said they would be up our way Saturday morning (yesterday) and wondered if they could stop in and visit. Of course we were excited to see them. Jeanne fixed a wonderful breakfast and we spent a couple or three hours finding out what had been happening in each other's lives. They have been ordinance workers in the Jordan River Temple every Saturday for the past 3 1/2 years and are now going to be working at the new Draper Temple. It was a wonderful visit and we are so glad they came to see us.