I joined the church in 1974 becoming a member of Everett First Ward. Thanks to a caring friend I got very active in the Stake Young Adult program. Kalani Oppie was the President. I had all my paperwork ready to go on a mission and the night before my interview with the Stake President, Kalani Oppie asked me to marry him. We were married in the Idaho Falls Temple in May of 1977.
We
raised our three children in the house where we still live. We have been members of at least seven wards
as the boundaries have moved around over the years. Kalani will be retiring this winter and we’ll
still be here. We have five
grandchildren that we adore and love to spoil.
I
enjoy sewing and quilting. I like to
scrapbook, play Scrabble, take pictures, go camping, and travel. I am also a collector of several things like
children’s “Little Golden Books” (about 1,200 now) and dolls, to name a
couple. I have an antique business in
Snohomish where I rent a space in an antique mall. I love nature and working in my yard. I especially love to write. My
calling in the ward right now is to serve as a ward librarian. I also prepare the ward bulletin for
Sacrament meeting each week.
My
theme song is “I Am Woman!” and I have two mottos. One is “save the relationship” which I
learned from Sister Hinckley and the other is “treat others the way you want to
be treated”. If I could have a super
power it would be to be able to twitch my nose and have the dinner I request
appear on the table. In a little less
selfish vein, I would like the power to take away loneliness especially from
the elderly.
My
favorite scripture is Moroni 7:47-48 “But charity
is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the
last day, it shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, pray unto the Father with all the
energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed
upon all who are true followers of his Son,
Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he
is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified
even as he is pure. Amen.”
