Harold's Herald

Volume 6

Written and Typeset by Harold & Holly Toomey

December 1992

 

 

 

 

Family Update

1992 began with the birth of Jonathan Clifford on the fifteenth of February. Our eight pound three ounce son arrived at 4:50 am, only 35 minutes after his mom and dad checked-in to Wright-Patterson Medical Center in Ohio. According to Grandpa (Ralph) Morrow, Grandma (Zella) Morrow still holds the family record of 30 minutes with the birth of Holly 29 years ago. Jonathan has the dubious honor of being the first and last Toomey family "military brat." The castor oil Holly took after her Valentine's Day dinner must have worked. Harold, however, had a heck-of-a-time finding Holly a dozen post-Valentine's Day roses and was laughed out of several florist shops.

Jonathan has been a dream child from the beginning. He knows what he wants and forcefully goes after it. He has a characteristic pant as he works hard at growing up. Jonathan is walking his way around furniture and climbing stairs. He loves baths and is often found peering over the side of the tub begging to get in. Jonathan also thinks the world of David.

David is amused with Jonathan, but has put in an order for a sister "just like me." The question arises, "Can we handle another energetic child just like David?" David has endless energy, and for the most part aims that energy in the right direction. He likes creating high-tech contraptions with Lego blocks and Tinkertoys. He enjoys drawing with his Magna-Doodle, cutting and pasting pictures, and creating new "games." David loves writing words and letters on his chalkboard and is learning to read. We must mention David's new loves of tumbling and particularly swimming. David takes swimming lessons at the Orem Fitness Center three days a week. He has become quite the little guppy!

 

 

 Holly has also been swimming three days a week. She has retired from her typesetting business, even though customers from all over the U.S. still have her update their resumes. Holly enjoys being a mother to David and Jonathan more than anything.

After three terrific years working as an Air Force officer in a research lab we felt the need for change. The Air Force is downsizing and encouraging officers to separate. Upon giving it a lot of thought and prayer, we decided to leave the Air Force in June and move back West closer to our families. For his work in the lab and for saving the Air Force over a half million dollars in research costs, Harold was awarded the Air Force Medal of Commendation before separating. Harold is now in the Inactive Reserves, which means he can be re-called to active duty any time over the next four years.

Summer Vacation

Grandpa (Joseph) Toomey, Nathan and Mathew Harris (Harold's nephews) visited us in Ohio at the end of May after riding AmTrak from Idaho. A week after they arrived, Don (Harold's brother) flew down from New Jersey to join us. We saw more Ohio sights in those two weeks than we had in the entire three years we lived there.

The Ohio Caverns, the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, The Flight Simulators at Harold's Air Force lab, the Children's Museum in Columbus, the Cincinnati Reds game were a few of the attractions we saw. Harold delighted in treating Mathew and Nathan to all the ice cream they could eat…and then some…and then some more.

Soon after the Ohio vacation was over, we began our move West. We first drove to Arizona and spent three beautiful days in Phoenix while Harold interviewed there. We set up our home base in Utah, staying first with Ginger (Holly's sister) and Derrick Wade, then with Robert (Harold's brother) and Jana. Harold spent a week interviewing in Denver, and then concentrated on Utah. In August, Harold accepted a job in Provo as a software engineer with Novell, a large computer networking company. His first Novell product, the In-Place Upgrade Utility v1.00, was released earlier this month. Harold really enjoys his new job.

We "battled" with a new crop of BYU students to find a decent three-bedroom apartment in North Orem. As a side-note, we highly recommend that you avoid apartment hunting in Orem just before BYU begins its fall semester.

 

Current Events

The Lord wasted no time in allowing us to repay Him for our summer blessings. Holly was called to be a Bear Den Leader with the Cub Scouts, and Harold is serving as an Assistant Executive Secretary to our stake presidency. We both are really enjoying our new community.

After living so far away from our families, we have relished our recent family get-togethers. In October we had a massive birthday party for a couple of Toomey and Morrow kids. For Thanksgiving we visited Rebecca (Harold's sister) in Burley, Idaho. David went ice skating for the first time, and Harold and Holly braved the snow mobile. Holly says, "The snow mobile ride was exhilarating!" The highlight was a Toomey family reunion, at the beginning of December, when Ron (Harold's brother) and Mimi were sealed in the temple. It was the first time in several years that Harold's entire family (three generations) had been together. Mom Toomey surprised all of us by coming home for a few days from her mission for the special occasion. Holly's parents will be visiting at Christmas for a Morrow family reunion. We enjoy being so close to family.

Our new address and phone number are:

654 North 400 West

Orem, Utah 84057

(801) 225-5372

 

Future Plans

 In January Harold will travel to Boston to demonstrate his new product in the Novell booth at NetWorld. Holly hopes to start taking piano lessons. Harold plans to begin work on his Ph.D. at BYU, and David will begin school, too. We are hoping to purchase a home by the end of next year.

 

Merry Christmas

We hope the Lord has blessed your family as much as He has blessed us this year. May each of you spend many wonderful family moments together this season.

  Harold, Holly, David & Jonathan

To view the original scanned "Harold's Herald" Christmas Newsletter, click on the scanned pages below:

Page 1

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