Monthly Archives: January 2024
When things started to change for the worse at the hospital where my nephew, Allen Beach and his wife, Gaby worked, they decided to get ahead of the situation. So, they made the move to Eugene, Oregon in search of a better life for themselves. Now, a little over a year later, they are nicely settled, and loving their jobs. Gaby works at the Veteran’s Administration, working in a VA Hospital, while Allen works as a Care Management Associate for Aetna. Allen works with doctors to coordinate care plans that align with Aetna health insurance, which was acquired by CVS a few years ago. Allen works out of his home, which as we all know is a fairly new phenomenon these days, stepped up with the Covic pandemic. Nevertheless, while working from home seemed strange to many of us, it is looked upon as rather a primo kind of job these days, and Allen is totally loving it…and I’m sure their dog, Oly loves it too. 
Allen and Gaby like to take walks through a beautiful park they found along the Willamette River, and they try to get out and take Oly for walks as often as they can. Right now, they are renting, but as soon as the housing market settles down, they are planning to buy another house. They loved their house here in Casper, Wyoming, and I’m sure it was hard to go back to renting. Now that they are both settled in jobs, and they know that they like the area, they are ready for take the next step and buy a house again.
My sister, Caryl (Allen’s mom) and her husband, Mike Reed took a trip to visit Allen and Gaby in early November, and they all had a great time. Caryl and Mike took their motorhome, and they took a week to travel along the Oregon Coast. Allen and Gaby had such a great time. They are looking forward to more trips along 
the coast now that they’ve seen some of the towns with Caryl and Mike. Their trip down the coast included Crater Lake, which was a place our parents, Allen’s grandparents, Allen and Collene Spencer loved to go. I love the picture of Allen and Gaby there. I wish I had known they were there, because I would have had them take a picture like the one his grandparents took. Maybe next time they go there. I’m happy they love their new city, and glad for Caryl and Mike that it isn’t too awfully far away. I’m sure there will be lots of future visits. Today is Allen’s birthday. Happy birthday Allen!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
As with my dad, Allen Spencer, the longer my mom, Collene Spencer is in Heaven, the more I miss her. I was actually thinking about her a couple of days ago, not that I don’t think of her every day, but this was on a more specific subject. Mom was such a deeply Christian woman, and she worked very hard to educate herself in God’s ways and in His Word. Now, as I take my own walk in the Lord, I find myself reflecting on all the people my mom influenced to turn their lives over to the Lord. My parents were great spiritual leaders, and while they didn’t travel the world evangelizing, they spoke to those they could, and their good clean lives did the rest. After my mom’s funeral, I was surprised at the people who told me about how my parents’ lives had influenced them. To say the least, I was amazed. My parents, in their own quiet, unassuming way drew many people to the Lord.
While my mom’s Christian walk is so important, it is not the only endearing quality my mom possessed. She loved making her daughters smile and would go to great lengths to accomplish her goals. She woke us up each 
day with a song…often a silly song. If we didn’t smile, she would sometimes make funny faces or act in a funny way. Mom’s laugh was infectious, and you really couldn’t help but laugh. As I think back of the days of my childhood, I realize more and more, just how blessed I am, and how blessed I was then. Mom taught her daughters the things we would need to be successful in whatever we undertook, but first and foremost, she taught us how to care for a family and a home. We all knew how to cook, and we are all good cooks. Mom came from a long line of really great cooks, and she passed all the knowledge down to us. Like her mom, Hattie Byer, she could make a great meal out of just about anything. Mom was born toward the end of the Great Depression, and the people of that era knew that it was essential to be frugal. She had 8 siblings, and Grandma and Grandpa (George Byer) never turned away a hungry soul. The food just had to stretch, and it did. And it still tasted great, even if there was a little more water, a couple more potatoes, and a little less meat in the stew. Mom learned from the best, and her daughters and our families benefitted.
Mom was such a sweet and loving person, and always tried to do right by all who crossed her path. Mom always tried to walk in love toward her fellow man. She was known to stop and pray for someone who had a need. She was a generous woman who always gave as much as she could. Her giving nature, a reflection on her parents and her loving relationship with our dad, showed in everything she did, and was something she tried to also instill in her daughters. We simply couldn’t have asked for a better mom, or dad. Today would have been Mom’s 88th birthday. Happy birthday in Heaven, Mom. We love and miss you very much, and we look forward to seeing you again when we all go to Heaven.
