Richard Moulton's memories

To my cousins, aunts and uncles

I was surprised and pleased to receive the contact list from Linda.  I certainly do appreciate the effort she has made to get it together and send it to us.    It has been such a long time since I have seen most of you. I have often wondered where all my cousins ended up.  My wife and I have lived in quite a few places since we left Utah in 1974 namely, Pittsburgh PA, Galveston TX, Kansas City MO, Springfield Ill and finely here in North Carolina.  In NC we lived 18 years in a town named Hickory then we went on a mission to Russia .(boy did we have some experiences there) and when we returned we moved 50 miles to live closer to our daughter in Charlotte NC  We have two children and 5 grandchildren.

North Carolina is a great place to live .  It is a beautiful state with lots of opportunities for outdoor activities which I love.  I will say that the trout fishing here has never lived up to what I was used to in Utah.  Course there is also ocean fishing here.  Not that fishing is the most important thing in the world.

It was a privilege to be a grandson of Hyrum and Mary Moulton. I have many fond memories and I told Linda that I might even decide to share a couple. I'm happy to say that all my memories are pleasant ones.  My brothers and my sister and I were blessed to live fairly close to their home while we were growing up

One of the first memories I have of Grandma is related to her cookie jar and those wonderful raisin-filled cookies that seemed always to be there.  I remember one day going with my mother over to grandma's house and as we went in the door I headed for the cookies.  Mom said to me "Richard, don't eat all grandma's cookies" to which grandma said "Now Rachael, that's why I make them".  I don't ever remember being told by grandma that she loved me but I certainly felt loved whenever I was in her home.   I still think of those cookies and have even tried to bake them myself but they never taste as good as hers.

Grandpa was such a kindly pleasant man and I remember that his face reflected that. You have probably heard the story (I guess I'll tell it anyway)  about when I , as a young boy, was out on a windy day helping Grandpa rake up and burn the leaves and rubbish in his backyard.  I was tending the fire.   Grandpa, probably concerned that I might catch cold in the wind, told me to go into the house and get one of his hats and  "put it on".  So that's what I did I brought it out and promptly tossed it onto the fire.  When he came by with more rubbish all that was left of the hat was the brim. He said to me "Richard what is my had doing on the fire"?  I said with complete innocence "well grandpa you told me to put it on".  I don't remember him scolding me, his face just smiled a little more and over the years he's probably had as many chuckles out of that story as I have.

I have often told my brothers and sister how blessed I feel to have been born into this clan and I feel lucky to have been around when grandpa and grandma were still in good health and doing a good job of being grandparents.  I hope that I can leave the same kind of memories to my grandchildren as they left for me.

I am not going to go on any further.  I know that the best letter is a short one.  But I do have many more memories as I'm sure you do.  Don't be surprised if you hear more from me about those kind of experiences.

Richard Moulton 

February 6, 2011