I would like you to meet a remarkable lady, my wife of 41 years. Edna is a
Hebrew word meaning rejuvenation. Many a soul has been rejuvenated by her
loving and tender spirit. "Love" is a family name after her
grandmother Agnes Love Flake. There is a lake called Love Lake -- named after
her grandmother-- near the place of Edna’s birth, Snowflake, Arizona. The
name Love also exemplifies her nature as well. Her heart is filled with love
toward her family and friends. Ralph Ramsay, Edna’s great great grandfather,
was a famous wood carver in the Mormon culture during their early history in
Salt Lake City. 
As examples,
he assisted with the facade of the famous Mormon Tabernacle pipe organ, wood
carvings in the Celestial Room of the famous Salt Lake temple, and he carved
the original famous eagle for the eagle gate in Salt Lake City.
Having the great heritage which she does, it is not surprising to find in
her many wonderful talents, which have contributed greatly to our home. She is
gifted with her hands in the arts. These include wood carving and painting.
Fortunately, some of our children have picked up on these talents. Music has
always been very important in our home with all but one of our children
learning to play the piano. Our oldest son is an accomplished pianist. Our
home is often filled with beautiful music. We are pleased that these talents
have been magnified in some of our grandchildren.
Her first love is the Lord. Her love of Heavenly fathers children sustained
her on a mission to West Africa, where she and I served for a year and a half.
Learning to speak French in Côte d’Ivoire, at age 62, was a real challenge
for both of us. Adding to the problem was Edna’s hearing impairment. Though
she struggled with this, she never complained. The language of love is
independent of language, and she was able to move into the hearts of the
people. Listening with her heart during a gospel discussion, she would say
very little, but when she did speak you knew it was with love and inspiration.
Creativity is one of her shining attributes. Her arts and crafts have
carried her in many different directions. Her creativity carries very strongly
into her culinary skills. We have both had serious bouts with health problems
in the past. For both of us, moving to a plant-based diet has provided great
health benefits. Fortunately, her creativity moves very strongly into the
kitchen; and I believe her vegan cuisine has to be among the finest in the
state of Utah.
By education and training she is a nurse, but I have awarded her an
honorary Ph.D. in home making skills. For the benefit of her family, friends
and loved ones, her creativity skills have moved also in the area of
preserving foods, herbs and learning other healing arts. Many have tasted her
dried bananas and fruit leather, and know of their tantalizing flavors. She
dries bananas for food storage, but with the children and grandchildren
around, the bananas are lucky to survive a day! Wild berries and
choke-cherries also find their way onto the shelves with the other dried
fruits and vegetables. Have you ever heard of making fruit leather with
zucchini squash as base? She discovered that the zucchini squash takes on the
flavor of the fruit added and one cannot detect the presence of the squash. It
is very delicious and economical.
Since the wife and mother set the tone of the home, I feel so fortunate to
have her as companion, friend, wife and mother to our 7 wonderful children.
She is right brained, and I am left brained; we make a great complementary
pair. As I look through her eyes, and she through mine, we see together a much
fuller world. Upon my retirement from NIST, we moved back to my home state of
Utah, and designed and built (as a family project) a solar, energy-efficient
home with no furnace at 6,000 feet elevation. One of its solar heating
mechanisms is a solarium. With her green thumb and magic touch, we enjoy
gorgeous flowers and house plants year-round. In summary, she has helped make
our home a safe sanctuary – a place of peace, joy and love.
