Happy 100th! Birthday!

Today would be my Grandma Verhaaren's 100th birthday! My grandma was an amazing lady! Talk about great heritage, I have it. She was born in Australia, not long after her mother moved there from South Africa. Her father had been in South Africa working and he boarded at their home and fell in love and asked my great grandma to marry him and go back to Australia with him. So, my grandma was raised in Australia and they were one of the first converts to the church in Melbourne. When my grandma was I think 17, she and her brother Harry got on a ship and sailed to America to live with the saints in Salt Lake City. The rest of the family followed them as they got visa's to come. I can't imagine getting on a ship at that age without my parents to travel half way around the world to a new country! She was a true pioneer! She and my grandpa we getting quite serious when my grandma was called on a mission to Montreal Canada. She went and grandpa waited for her! My grandparents ended up raising their family in Palo Alto California. My grandma taught kindergarten at a private school and my grandpa was a German professor at San Jose State. (he was from Germany)

(this is my mom and aunt Norma)

I loved our family trips to see Grandma and Grandpa in California ! We always had so much fun. It was especially fun when our cousins joined us there. My moms family was spread out, so we didn't see them very often. But we had a great time together when we did. A few memories of my Grandma: her Australian accent, her love for nature, her hummingbird feeders and all the flowers in the backyard, her homemade lemonade, her house on Channing street, she was a kindergarten teacher for years so she always taught us how to make things out of paper, like hats and little puppets. There was a cool park by her house that we always went too. It had the best slide! We always made a trip to San Fransisco when we were there and ALWAYS a trip to the ocean. I know my love for the ocean comes from my grandparents! We made lots of trips to the Redwoods with her. And my grandpa did a lot of studying and work at Stanford. So we went there a lot too. Great memories! My grandparents made a lot of trips to Seattle to see us. We always went up to Mt. Rainier when she came! She LOVED it! It is so beautiful!

She never missed a birthday! She always sent a check from Wells Fargo bank. I remember the little wagon on the checks! I don't know why I remember that, except when our bank was bought by them, I felt safe that my grandparents had banked there... strange I know. My grandma was her stake girls camp director for like 20 years! That's where I get my love for camp! The men always joke when we all get together that there are too many camp directors in the house!

My grandma was an amazing lady! Strong and faithful in the gospel! I love that she traveled the world. She and my grandpa traveled to some amazing places. I hope to do that with my husband some day! They served a mission in Hungary before it was open to missionaries and when the government asked them to leave, they finished their mission in Mauritius, off of the coast of Africa. SO cool. She was a great example and I love her lots!!

This is my last picture with her...

This is my aunt Norma, Uncle Bruce, Aunt Lois, and my mom after her burial, we went to the redwoods and the ocean.

Here are some really old pictures of her! I love them!

Christina Johanna Truter Ochse, Julia Achse Dix-Peek Woodbine, Anita Dix-Peek Chittock, Nita Anne Chittock (grandma)

My grandma and her mom in South Africa when she was about 3.

1928

Grandma in Ontario Canada on her mission 1935

She would probably hate this for me, but I love it! See, she loved the ocean!

This is my grandparents in San Francisco in 1945