...in rich measure...

Today would have been my Mom's 100th Birthday!

October 26th 1923 to August 9th 2006

It's hard to express how much my mother influenced me and what a wonderful example she was to me. I'm so grateful for all of her sacrifices for our family and especially that she was always my cheerleader!

I've included at the end of this post the eulogy I gave at her funeral and also some memories that Kathy shared more recently about her and are many of my same memories. Kathy is a very good writer!

My Mom, like some other people in our family, did not like having her picture taken.

But here are a few memories:

My Mom with her siblings.

The siblings in 2005!

1948 Redondo Beach California

That's me!

This must have been about 1968:

August 1972 at the Oakland Temple

1974 Four generation picture: That's Heidi!

1981 with her sister, Doris, at their parents 60th wedding anniversary.

1997 at their 50th wedding anniversary dinner

With all the grandchildren there that night.

2004 at Amanda and Darryl's wedding dinner.

2006

Both of the following documents are available on FamilySearch under

"Memories" for my Mom:

Inez Linnea Spjut Ricks

Eulogy given on August 14, 2006

Thank you for being here. When the mortuary came for my mother, my sister, Becky, said “That’s a queen in there and you had better treat her like one!” Today we gather to honor one of the great and noble ones, and now a true member of our Heavenly Father’s royal courts on high.

Elder Russell M. Nelson has said:

“Mourning is one of the deepest expressions of pure love. It is a natural response in complete accord with divine commandment: ‘Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die.’ (D&C 42:45) Moreover, we can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now. The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life.”

Today I share with you a life filled with love from beginning to end as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend.

Inez Linnea Spjut Ricks was born on October 26, 1923 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Swen Algot Spjut and Linnea Augusta Jacobson. She passed away last Wednesday, August 9, 2006 at the age of 82.

Inez is survived by her husband, Norman Howell Ricks, her brothers, Harlan and Phil Spjut, her sisters, Doris Shurtliff and Nancy Slawson, her children Jim Ricks, Janis Harrison, Becky Wismer, Jody Plowman, and Kathy Bates, 26 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. One grandson, Evan Ricks, preceded her in death.

EARLY YEARS:

Inez grew up in a warm and loving family. She was the 2^nd oldest and oldest daughter. She loved her brothers and sisters. She had a happy childhood. They had no TV so they played lots of games like Sorry, Old Maid, Go Fish and Monopoly and she listened to the radio a lot. She enjoyed roller skating, jump rope, hop scotch, and playing Kick the Can with the neighbors in the summer and Run Sheep Run, Hide and Seek and No Bears Out Tonight. They rode bikes, made stilts and pushed an old tire around, they went to the swamp and caught pollywogs and salamanders. She went to Liberty Park in Salt Lake City a lot and wrote: “I was busy all the time.”

Inez and her siblings spent a lot of time with relatives. She talked often of getting together with all of her cousins and all the fun they had at the different aunt’s and uncle’s houses. She loved everything about her Swedish heritage especially the food and customs of holiday celebrations.

All of her schooling through High School was in Salt Lake City, first at Hawthorne School (1^st grade), Whittier School (2^nd grade), Madison (grades 3-9) and finally Granite High (10-12). She wrote that she liked reading and her mother said she “always had her head in a book.” She loved history in school especially Early American history and also studying about Ancient Greece and Rome. She did not like arithmetic.

She lived on 17^th South Harrison Ave and at age 6 the family moved to 2139 Roberta Street in Salt Lake City.

FAMILY MEMORIES:

Inez loved and admired her two brothers.

And she was especially close to her sisters. Doris wrote:

INEZ WAS MY SISTER AND BEST FRIEND. THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP.

SHE WAS ALMOST THREE YEARS OLDER, SO SHE WAS MY ROLE MODEL. SO BLAME HER IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT I DO AND SAY.

DURING OUR TEEN YEARS WE OFTEN DRESSED ALIKE OR SIMILAR AND PEOPLE OFTEN ASKED IF WE WERE TWINS. I LOVED THAT, BECAUSE INEZ WAS THE PRETTY SISTER.

I’LL MISS MY MORNING E-MAILS FROM HER. HOW WILL I KNOW THE WEATHER IN TUALATIN NOW?

I’LL MISS HER MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY. I LOVED HER VERY MUCH. SHE WAS A GREAT SISTER, WONDERFUL DAUGHTER AND A TREMENDOUS MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER.

Nancy wrote:

My thoughts go back to when she was my big sister and idol. She took me in to have my ringlets cut. I was 12 years old and was the only one still in ringlets and I hated them. When I came home with my short hair cut, my Mother cried and was upset with Inez for having my hair cut but she soon liked my short hair because it made me so happy and she didn't have do the ringlets any more.
During the wars years, all of Inez's beaus were overseas. She took me to movies, I would go with her when she tended kids and we would play lots of battleship. She also bought all my clothes when I was in Junior High. Mom and Dad said this was her way of paying for her board and room.

She always helped me write my talks for Church and was my Beehive teacher.

She was also my love life advisor which was important to me in my high school days.

I have always wished I could live up to the great example she gave me of being a Mother and Grandmother.

TEENAGE and COLLEGE YEARS

Inez was taught household skills and was expected to complete her chores. She wrote: “By the time I was 14, I was cleaning a neighbor’s house once a week for $1.00. I did this for 2 years. I also did a lot of babysitting for 10 cents an hour.”

Inez was a popular teenager both with the girls and the boys. She was very pretty and attracted a lot of young men who came by the house.

Inez wrote “I especially enjoyed High School. It seemed to be challenging and very interesting socially as well as scholastically.”

She was nominated as Miss Granite High of 1940. She was one of 8 finalists of 21 girls nominated.

She was in a statewide Speech and Debate Tournament held at Weber College in 1941 representing Granite High School.

Inez also wrote: “I wanted to go to college more than anything.” She was able to attend

three semesters at the University of Utah before she had to leave to seek employment.

She worked at Ure, Pett and Morris as a teletypist and book keeper and then at a Surgical Supply Center as a bookkeeper.

Even though she didn’t graduate from college, my Mom valued education and loved to learn. She encouraged her children and grandchildren to learn new things, study hard and progress in their knowledge.

CHURCH and SERVICE

Inez was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on May 28, 1932 by her grandfather, August Jacobson. She has been an active member all of her life and a faithful visiting teacher.

She has given much service in the church including teaching Sunday School and Primary. She served all the years that I was a teenager in the MIA as a Beehive teacher and a counselor. She taught lessons, organized activities and got along well with all the teenagers under her supervision. She taught Relief Society and was a counselor in Relief Society presidencies for 7 years under 3 presidents. She served in the stake Relief Society for 5 years. She shunned the spotlight and was happiest when she was fulfilling her assignments. She was an excellent teacher and put much effort into every lesson she prepared.

Inez was compassionate and caring to those around her. I observed her taking meals to people on many occasions and we had the missionaries to dinner often. But her caring also extended to friends and neighbors not of our faith. She made daily visits, phone calls and performed other services for our neighbor, Marie Greenlee, through her long and unsuccessful battle with cancer. One phone call I received before traveling to Oregon was from a neighbor on their street in San Jose, Sheila Dalbec, who expressed her love to me for a special neighbor and friend.

Inez had a gift for cheering people up who were in difficult circumstances through her humor, and she willingly shared her wisdom with those in need. She had learned a lot through her own experiences and health challenges and was very understanding of other people and their situations. She became close friends with people she served with in the Church and until last week they were in regular communication. These included June Hancock, Edith Meier, and Ruth Calvert.

MARRIAGE

Inez met her future husband, Norm Ricks, while they both worked at the same company. At their 50^th Wedding Anniversary celebration we enjoyed hearing them retell the joy of their courtship and marriage.

They had their first date to the Company Christmas Party. They were engaged on February 8, 1947 and married on April 5, 1947. What a beautiful marriage that has been—close to 60 years! In 1952 my mother contracted polio which affected her the rest of her life—most profoundly in her inability to get much use from her right hand and arm and in her later years it seemed to be also affecting the muscles in her legs. It has been my privilege to observe true love as my father and mother carried this burden together.

Inez never considered herself handicapped and participated fully in life. She effortlessly compensated for her disability and most people never knew she had any physical problems.

My mother wrote under a journal page entitled Miracles in My Life: “Meeting Norm was a miracle. He turned out to be such a neat husband, father and sweetheart!”

One example of how they cared for each other is that for many years when my father was the owner of Ricks Drug Store, he could not be home during the dinner hour. My mother prepared and took to him a full, hot meal each evening—this was before the days of microwave ovens and fancy storage containers. She used a box, a towel and a pan lid to cover the plate and for years she prepared this and drove it to him at the store. This was after serving all of us dinner first.

Their first home was on Talisman Drive in Rose Park, Salt Lake City. In 1953 they moved to Campbell, California and a few years later in 1960 they moved a few blocks away which put them in San Jose, California where they lived until their move to Plum Court in Tualatin, Oregon in 2001.

RAISING A FAMILY

Inez gave birth to her two oldest children, Jim and Janis, in 1948 and 1950. When she contracted polio, she was pregnant with her third child, Becky. The doctor’s told her afterwards that she would never be able to have more children. But a special gift was given to this royal lady when almost six years later in 1958 she found herself pregnant and pregnant again two years later—my two sisters, Jody and Kathy, have been a special blessing to our family.

It says in my mother’s obituary that she was a “homemaker.” What a huge understatement of my mother’s occupation! For all hours of the day and night until the day she passed away she nurtured her family in any and all of their needs. She was truly the creator of an environment and sanctuary of wherever she was at the moment that blessed many lives, an occupation from which there was no retirement or public acclaim.

Inez was an excellent mother to her five children. We each have our own individual memories, but they all include lots of humor, encouragement and praise. Even today one of my first thoughts when I heard of my Mom’s passing was: Who will be my biggest fan now? I counted on her unconditional love.

Ours was a warm and caring home where we loved to bring our friends. She always had great suggestions for fun and creative activities when we would tell her we were “bored.” She let us make messes and spread our projects all over the house. Who can forget Kathy’s paper dolls, our tent houses out of blankets and card tables, our shoe stores, or the clubhouse Jim built in the backyard? Mom made holidays fun with her decorating and activities, and she encouraged us in our various interests and hobbies. In our home I felt nurtured, loved and at peace.

Inez was loved by her in laws as well. My husband wrote: Your Mom broke the mold of a stereotypical mother-in-law. She was never demanding or judgmental. She was always supportive, loving, serving and helpful. She was also fun.”

Perhaps the biggest tribute any of us could give her is the lives of her children and grandchildren. They are all upstanding members of the community, faithful church members, loving devoted parents and talented in many areas. We learned all of this by example in our home. All of her children married in the temple and her son served a mission. Of her 9 married grandchildren, all were sealed in the temple. All of her grandsons who have reached the age of 19 have served missions and several of her granddaughters making 14 who have served missions—all foreign! This was a source of delight for my mother who had not traveled much. So far 10 of her grandchildren have graduated from college.

GRANDMA!

Perhaps her crowning achievement was in her grandmothering. She was amazing!

She wrote: “Having grandchildren is such a special miracle. I felt such great love for each one—I felt my heart would burst.”

Somehow (and I’m still trying to figure it out so I can do it!) she developed a special bond with each and every one of her grandchildren. She always knew the right things to say to them, send to them in packages or do for them when they visited. Each one loved being in her home and knew they were greatly loved by her. In fact each one felt that he or she was her favorite grandchild! Here is what some of them have written:

“I would say that I was her favorite grandchild and I have a feeling she probably made all of her grandkids feel that way. She always made me feel special and would do special things just for me. I always liked to stay overnight at her house because in the morning I got to lay on her couch and she'd bring me hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. More recently she has always remembered my birthday and my girls' birthdays and other special occasions. She sent Courtney a card, stickers and money when she was getting her crowns. I'm not giving very good examples but she always made me feel important.” (Heidi)

“I remember staying the night and then getting up early and having cinnamon rolls on the couch while we watched cartoons. She would play games with us and was aware when someone was feeling left out and knew out to make them feel better.” (Josh)

“I think when I was young Grandma's House was my favorite place to go. I remember getting up early with her (we were the morning people) and she would bring me a cinnamon roll. I felt special getting up early with her. I also truly thought I was her favorite grandchild for many years! She just talked to me that way and always made me feel so special it was only recently I realized she probably treated ALL her grandchildren that way. It helped my self esteem develop to remember how special I was to her.” (Amanda)

When I was little I loved Grandma for her presents- the gifts she gave to me:
Christmas advent calendars, something from McWhorter's every time we went to visit, a check on my birthday for however old I was turning, Christmas puzzles, chips and salsa whenever she knew I'd be coming, a freezer full of push-ups, "grandma's cheese", big wheels around the track, dinner at Chuck-a-Rama whenever she visited the grandkids at BYU, etc.

When I was older I loved Grandma for her presence- the gift she was to me: An e-mail to brighten my day, big hugs, her teasing of grandpa, and how she made me feel certain that I really was her favorite grandchild!” (MaryAnn)

FINAL YEARS

In 1999 Inez’s first great-grandchild was born and she seemed amazed that she had lived this long to be meeting great grandchildren! They were a delight to her as she was able to be around some of them from time to time. Even at their young ages they sensed something special about this “Grandma” and one of them in order to keep everyone straight called my parents: The Greats! The last picture I took of my Mom was of her holding her newest great grandson.

Inez loved her family! In recent years she did a lot of her communicating with her family who are now spread all over the country through email. After a recent extended family reunion she sent out this email. I’d like to read it to you as it captures my mother’s love for her family, love for her heritage, her sense of humor and her faith in God.

“July 26, 2005

I WAS JUST SITTING THINKGING ABOUT THIS WEEKEND…ALL YOU VIKINGS…DO YOU THINK HEAVEN WILL BE LIKE THIS?...AND DON’T ACT SURPRISED I’M THERE TOO…ALL THIS TALKING…ALL THESE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES…I HOPE WE ALL GET SENT TO THE FIFTH FLOOR…LISA DID A GREAT JOB NICE HOTEL…ALL THAT FOOD…ALL THAT SINGING HAPPY BIRTHDAY…YA YA YA…THE SLIDE SHOW…FOOD…CEMETERY…NEVER THOUGHT THAT COULD BE FUN AND SAD AT THE SAME TIME…

MEETING RELATIVES…COUSINS…HAVING MY FAMILY THERE…MOST OF THEM…I’VE MADE A TRUE SWEDE OUT OF NORM EXCEPT FOR EATING HERRING…HE GETS THE LAST SEAT ON THE VIKING SHIP…I’LL BE BACK THERE HELPING HIM ROW…FOOD…COUSINS ALL OVER THE PLACE…EATING BREAKFAST…MORE FOOD….DO ANY OF YOU GET THE IDEA SWEDES LIKE FOOD…AND THE CONFERENCE CENTER…EVERYONE WHO WENT SEEMED SPIRITUALLY UPLIFTED…TO EXPLAIN…NANCY DORIS AND I GOT LIFTED UP BY TALKING AN BEING WITH EACH OTHER…MY SISTERS DO THAT TO ME…DORIS YOU ARE THE GREATEST…NANCY TOO…NO MORE ARGUING THAT ISSUE…THOSE ALBUMS ARE FANTASTIC NAN…THANKS AND A BIG HUG…JUST BEING WITH YOU ALL…WE ARE TO HAVE JOY AND EACH ONE OF YOU GAVE NORM AND I THAT…NOW ALL YOU VIKINGS GET SET TO ROW THE BOAT…MORE COUNTRIES TO INVADE…MORE FOOD TO EAT….MORE TALKING…MORE FOOD….

THANKS MOM AND DAD LINNEA AND SWEN FOR MAKING THIS FUN WEEKEND FOR THIS SWEDE…WHO CAN’T EVEN TALK SWEDISH BUT EATS LIKE ONE…I LOVE YOU IS GREAT IN ANY LANGUAGE…THANKS TO EACH OF YOU FOR MAKING THIS A SPECIAL TIME FOR THE ANCIENT ONE…MOM/INEZ

I saw something in one of my Mom’s journals last night that caught my eye as it also expresses the sweet, gentle, kind soul that she was:

“I like to buy cards and mail them for birthdays, illness or just for fun.” “I like to putter in the garden.” “I like feeding birds.”

Those journals are also filled with her love for the Savior Jesus Christ. The beautiful things she wrote will be a treasure for many generations.

How we will miss our wife, sister, mother, grandmother and great grandmother! As I think of my mother’s life, I am reminded of a stanza from a favorite poem:

“Life is thus a moment only—

Only a dissolving of ourselves

In other selves

As a hearty gift.”

What a beautiful gift was my Mother’s life—given with so much love and joy!

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

A Few Memories of My Mom by Kathryn Bates 8/2/20

My Mom was a truly special person! She made everyone feel as if you were her "favorite." Everyone thought she was their best friend! She just had this gift of making everyone feel special! Inez grew up in a loving, humble home in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was during the Great Depression and life was simple. Once in a great while they would splurge and get a quart of Snelgrove's ice cream. Her Mom would divide it into 7 small dishes for the family. What a treat! They always got half chocolate and half caramel pecan. There was no TV to watch, so they listened to the radio and played lots of games. They didn't have a telephone either, so if you wanted to play with your friend, you would stand out on the sidewalk and call their name as loud as you could! Around dinner time, Mom's would call their children home the same way. She spent most of her growing up years at 2139 Roberta Street. Her cousins lived around the corner and that was fun for them. There were 5 children in the family and one bathroom! Both of her parents had immigrated from Sweden to the United States so Swedish was often spoken in the home as well as enjoying all of the wonderful Swedish foods and traditions. Inez was the second oldest, and oldest daughter. One memory my Mom shared with me was of her baptism. She took the street car to the Tabernacle on Temple Square along with her aunt and cousin. She remembers that they had a speaker, but she says she was talking to the girl sitting next to her instead of listening! After the baptism she remembers that her Grandpa gave her a dime, an orange, and a great big Hershey's chocolate bar! She wrote, "I thought sure I was in heaven. My own big bar! I remember waiting for the streetcar and letting everybody see my bar! I was so proud of it. Oh dear, pride is not a virtue! I've forgotten somethings about my baptism, but not that candy bar!" Inez also remembers going to General Conference on a bus with her sister, Doris. They would ride downtown, walk right into the tabernacle and sit down. No lines. Inez graduated from High School and started attending the University of Utah. She was working in 1946 when she met Norm Ricks. Inez would come into the pharmacy that Norm was working at and deliver some papers, as they worked for the same company. Norm asked the guy next to him who she was, then decided to ask her to the company Christmas party. When Norm called Inez the first time, he said, "This is Norm Ricks calling", then started to explain who he was. Inez interrupted and said, "Oh, I know who you are!" That comment gave Norm courage and they not only went to the Company party, but they started dating regularly. They played tennis, went ice skating, and went dancing. Inez & Norm made a striking couple. My aunt said that when she would see them walking down the streets of Salt Lake City, people's heads would turn, they made such a good looking couple. My Mom kept a wedding memories book and in it she wrote that Norm had kissed her on the first date. When asked about this, Norm said, "Well who could resist! She was such a beauty!" They were engaged on Feb 8, 1947 and married in April. Norm wrote, "During my two years aboard ship I used to dream & pray that I would be able to find an outstanding mate to share my life with and raise a family. Well, my prayers were answered! Sometimes I think I was pretty savvy to be able to find not only a beauty, but an outstanding person to marry as well. Divine guidance and luck were my good fortune. She would give her very life for any one of her children and has worked diligently at being the best mother ever." Later Norm said, "You know, I tried to be good to mom and as I did, it had wonderful pay offs. As she then in turn was so good to me." That's pretty good marriage advice from someone married almost 60 years. Unfortunately while on their honeymoon, they got into a car accident near Barstow, California, rolling the car several times. They were both taken to the hospital but Mom sustained the most injuries. There was a phone strike on at the time, so Norm couldn't get through to notify their parents until the next day. He said that was the hardest phone call he ever had to make. But she recovered and they began their life together. Norm & Inez lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, Redondo Beach, California, Campbell, California, the majority of their lives in San Jose, California, followed by their later years in Tualatin, Oregon. They had 5 children. One of their greatest trials came when Mom contracted Polio while expecting their 3rd child. That story will be told on another page, but Mom was left without the use of her right arm. People who knew her well didn't even know. She just never complained about it. She wrote once, "I don't talk about it much. So many people have worse things." Later in her life she also broke her nose after falling on the sidewalk, had gall bladder surgery, and her appendix burst. Referring to her broken nose she would say, "I've been in a boxing match with Mohammed Ali!" She always handled things with humor! She loved her scriptures and serving in the church. She worked with the Young Women, Primary, and Relief Society teaching and being involved in presidencies, both ward and stake. She was always doing Visiting Teaching visits, or taking meals in to others. Mom didn't learn to drive until she had 3 children, so Dad took the kids to birthday parties, swim lessons, or dance lessons. Mom kept our home very clean. She always had delicious meals for us and packed lunches for my Dad every day. She once wrote to me, "Being a Mom is the hardest job in the world. What a fun, learning, frustrating time. But I loved being a Mom!" Her true love though, was being a Grandma! Any time grandchildren visited at 1949 Cronwell Dr. in San Jose, they could be found first thing in the morning snuggled in blankets on their green couch watching cartoons and eating cinnamon rolls. And they all received a chocolate advent calendar each year. The grandkids even wanted one when they were older and serving missions and in college. It just wasn't Christmas without Grandma's advent calendar just for them! And then there was Grandma's prayer list. No one's sure if this list really existed, but he grandkids liked to joke about it. You see, if you were on the list, then Grandma was praying real hard for you to find your eternal companion. She used to say that she was Cupid shooting arrows at her unmarried grandkids. Mom loved flowers but she just couldn't be around them due to allergies! But she grew gorgeous roses, camellias, Gardenias, and Sweet Peas. They also had a cherry tree, walnut tree, and orange tree and they would share their bounty. Mom just loved her siblings! They had a lot of fun together as children of course, but their friendship was strong in their later years as well. Her younger sister moved to Canada and she made some fun visits there. Just one story is of a time they were all flying up to visit her sister. Mom wrote, "We got on this small propeller plane. Dad took my little bag. Now this was an important bag! It had my medication, my make up, and my money in it! Dad put it in an overhead compartment. When we arrived safely to the Traverse City, Michigan airport, (and I must say I prayed for that little plane!), Dad got the bag down. I said, "That's not my bag. Someone took my bag!" So Dad grabbed it and run to find someone with a similar bag. All of us were looking at everyone's luggage so we could make an exchange. Dad notified security and we made quite a scene in that small airport. Finally Dad said, "Let's open this bag to see if there's some identification inside" so he did and I exclaimed, "That's my bag!" I was so embarrassed and everyone had a good laugh. The last time I saw my Mom was in St George at a nephew's wedding. It was 114 degrees and Mom was wearing a sweater. We were all staying in the same hotel so I would occasionally stroll over to their room for a visit. I would knock lightly, in case they would be napping, but then the door would open and there would be any number of their children and grandchildren all gathered in their room, just wanting to be near them! They would stay up as late as any of them, talking and laughing. Mom was just so happy on that trip! She wrote, "I always feel such joy to see the family loving and supporting each other. I always feel a glimpse of heaven when I'm with them. We love them all! My blessings overflow." Here's some words that remind me of my Mom: Puzzles, e-mails in all caps, greeting cards, Slippers, Big Wheels, Appleby's, Birds. A few months before she passed she wrote, "I like sunrises, Blue sky, being with our sealing group at the Temple on Wednesday mornings, talking to my kids on the phone, walks to the park, and Sunday dinners with family."