Harris, Carole Benon (Nov 5, 1925 – May 8, 2000) by Thomas Wheatley

Grandma Wheatley by Thomas Wheatley

Grandma Benon Wheatley had a
wonderful knack for writing.  She wrote
poems and songs.  Grandma wrote a song
that began with her and Grandpa Lester and then added in a line about each
child and each grandchild.  At a family
reunion, we sang the song and each person came in at their part.

            In the
early 1990's, my sister Liz and I enjoyed a trip to Yellowstone with Benon,
Lester, their son Jeff, and Jeff's wife Jennifer.  We had a great time on the trip.  We had packed some of our belonging in a bag
tied down to the top of the vehicle.  A
ways into the trip, we noticed that clothing was on the road behind us.  It was ours! 
The bag came undone and our belongings came out.  If I remember right, a large semi truck came
up behind us and stopped so that we could pick up our clothing that was all
over the road.  At the cabin where we
stayed, my sister Liz slept with Grandma, and I slept with Grandpa.  Neither of us slept very well because both
Grandma and Grandpa snored.  It was still
a fun trip nevertheless.

            Grandma and
Grandpa owned a ranch that we called the BR Ranch.  The "BR" stood for Bear River and the letters
BR were written on the side of the mountain at the ranch with rocks painted
white.  We made many trips to the BR
Ranch to ride horses, hike up to the BR letters, to go pheasant hunting, to
have picnics, and to hike up to an old plane crash site.  Grandma had a vast knowledge of birds,
plants, and flowers.  I remember that she
taught me on the ranch what the Indian Paintbrush flower looks like.

            We would
play games together outside in a baseball diamond and park that belonged to a
school across the street from Grandma and Grandpa's home.  Grandma even played a game of softball with
us all.  Grandma got bonked in the nose
with the ball during a play of the game. 
She was okay and was a good sport about it.

            Benon was
voted mother of the year for the city of Tremonton.  I played a little piano piece at the award
ceremony that my sisters tell me lasted forever.  Grandma was the type of person that could
have been voted mother of the year every year.

            Grandma and
Grandpa served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to
Macon, Georgia.  At their farewell, the
grandchildren sang a song about grandma and grandpa going away to preach the
gospel.

            In Grandma
and Grandpa's house, there was a "secret" compartment called the magic
door.  We were always excited to go to
Grandma and Grandpa's because we could check the magic door to see if there was
candy in it.

            We enjoyed
playing games with Grandma such as the Skip Bo card game, and "Who stole the
cookies from the cookie jar?"  We would
also help out with crossword puzzles.