WE WILL MISS YOU GRAMPA WIFF!

Ray Leo Whitby

“Wiff”

Ray Leo “Wiff” Whitby passed away Saturday August 14, 2010, in Mesa, Arizona, surrounded by those he loved. He was born January 19, 1921 at home in Alpine, Utah. He was the tenth of twelve children born to Thomas Alvin and Alice Cordelia Moyle Whitby and was proud of his rich pioneer heritage. He grew up among many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews and considered them his best friends. He was raised on a farm where he learned the value of hard work and thrift. He roamed the low hills of Alpine hiking and hunting with his family and friends.

After being schooled in Alpine he joined the US Army Air Corps during World War II and was trained as a radio operator. His B-24 plane was shot down over northern Italy and he was taken as a prisoner of war. He escaped through enemy lines and returned to the United States to be numbered among the greatest generation. He was proud to have served his country.

He married Stella Margaret Bounous and raised four children; Anne Marlowe, Michael Ray, Jennifer (Jim) Bishop and Juanita (John) Nield. He made his living as a mink rancher in Idaho where he enjoyed working with his hands and could fix almost anything. He loved corn-on-the-cob, bread, maple nut ice cream and made a great pot of soup.

He retired in Mesa, Arizona where he was active in the East Valley POW Chapter.
He is preceded in death by his wife; his parents; his siblings: Stephen, Helen, Alice, Roy, Emma, Ivan, Glenn, Evelyn, May, George, and Beth; and a granddaughter.

He is survived by his sweetheart Dee “Hey, Spark!”, his four children, 17 grandchildren and 35 great grandchildren with three on the way.

Ray loved people and all who knew him were cheered by his quick wit, positive outlook, generosity and endless store of jokes, tales and infectious laughter. Thanks for the legacy - we love you!

Funeral services will be held Friday, August 20, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. in the Alpine 7th LDS Ward Chapel located at 890 North Main Street, Alpine, Utah. Family and friends may call Thursday evening from 6-8 p.m. at Warenski Funeral Home, 1776 North 900 East, American Fork, Utah and an additional viewing at the church on Friday morning from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. prior to services. Interment, Alpine City Cemetery where full military honors will be provided.

Here we all are. Hard to get us all together at one time. Andy, Mike, Matt in the back. Michelle, dad and me in the front.

MY BIRTHDAY!!

It's my birthday today, so I thought I'd share a little of what I have learned in my life.

God lives.
He knows us and he answers our prayers. Miracles happen, every single day.

Believe. Believe. Believe.

You may never get a second chance.
Someone's tomorrow may not there. Never miss the opportunity to tell them how much you love them, or how much they have changed your life.

Dream, and dream big!

A family doesn't have to be perfect.
Divorce, dysfunctional, steps, halfs...it doesn't matter. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Family is bound by love, not blood. What matters is how you impact the lives of those you love. You change the world one day at a time, one person at a time.

Jumping off an 80 ft. cliff into water in a bikini, is NOT a good idea. The jumping was fun, the bikini was very, very painful.

Seatbelts work! 10 car accidents and counting, including a roll over. So thankful I always wear my seatbelt.

Beauty comes from giving of yourself. It's not what people see of you, but what they know of you.

We learn to forgive others only when we learn to forgive ourselves.

Skydiving is truly an amazing experience! The world really does look so small, like a game, and the fields are a large patch quilt.

Never waste time on regret.
You cannot change the past, but you CAN change the future. Look forward with hope. Mistakes do not define you. They are temporary. Turn them into a stepping stone. Use them to strengthen, and change. You do not have to be where you've been. Make tomorrow a better day.

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS...........

Over dinner one night Logan said, "We learned about frogs and toadents in school today. It was real fun mom."

Silas and I were having lunch one day and he wasn't eating his veggies. I said to him, "Si, if you don't eat your veggies you won't get a cookie." He said, "Uh-huh mom. I git one." I said, "Nope, not unless you eat your veggies." With his eyes wide, and quite a mischievious grin he says, "Yu-huh mom, I wheel. I sneak em. Lolo heps me wif da chaiw. We git em and yew don nevo know. I wheel hide an eat em." Oh really...........LOL!

LOGANS ART WORK

Jason was busted!! Here is the proof that dad wasn't watching the kids close enough. Logan and Silas went all Van Gogh on the basement drywall with a pen. At least it was a joint effort, and a pretty sweet picture. The first part is Logan and Jason camping, with the tent to the left. The second picture is Silas driving a big truck, and the third is Logan using the omnitrix (Ben 10 Alien changing watch) to turn into JETRAY!

A FUNNY EMAIL.........

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it soooo easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 12 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick my butt! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning of the song and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy things like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your annoying neighbor, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on television! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! Imagine that, NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either, or On Demand! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!
And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

I'M DA MOMMY!

I was on the computer and Silas walked up to me carrying a baby and a bag. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm da mommy."
This doll and bag are toys I keep for when my nieces come for play dates. The doll started to make a crying noise, and Silas said, "Hush diddle beeby, don cwy", and began to cuddle the baby. Pretty darn precious!