I have been thinking so much of Karen and wanted to write down some of my memories of her, in the hope that others might be able to catch a glimpse of the Karen Finlinson I knew.
I first met Karen when our family moved to Mesa in the summer of 1972. We moved onto Huber Street in the old 30th Ward and I thought I was in heaven--there were 9 girls my age! We were just starting 5th grade at Nathan Hale Elementary. Karen and Melenie Blackhurst, the cute girls in the cul-de-sac, seemed to be inseparable. Where one went, the other followed. The other girls were Lori Mortimer, Colleen Eagar, Colette Cox, Beverly Brown, Kimi Turley, Merilee Stott, and Me.
I remember Karen as being skinny, with gangly arms and legs, freckles and long straight brown hair. She usually had barrettes in her hair to keep it off her face. She had a constant goofy grin and was really fun to be around. I don’t remember when it started, but she called me Hami Patch instead of Pami Hatch. (This was started by Dennis Blackhurst, I think!) Even when we were 40, if she called and said “Is this Hami Patch?” I knew it was Karen. I called her “Fiddlesticks.”
There were bike rides, swim parties, Merry Miss activities, Daddy-Daughter dates, crocheting rugs, and sleepovers (sometimes on trampolines in the backyard). Karen always liked to be in on the center of the conversation and know what was going on with everyone--who liked whom and who said what about someone else. We were in the same sixth grade class (Mr. Smolkovich’s) and Karen made friends easily with everyone. She had close friends that were LDS as well as those of other religions.
When Karen was first diagnosed with diabetes, we (her friends) didn’t quite know how to handle it. We knew she was in the hospital and that she was learning how to do her injections by practicing on an orange. I think we made cards for her in Primary. I remember that Karen came to a sleepover for my birthday not long after, and she wasn’t able to give herself a shot. My dad ended up doing it for her. I couldn’t believe that Karen would have to something so scary for the rest of her life. We never treated Karen any differently or thought of her as being “sick.” She was just Karen—silly, bubbly Karen. I started calling her “My Little Pin Cushion” because of all her needle marks. She laughed each time I teased her and later signed my high school yearbook: “Love, Your Little Pin Cushion.”
I loved to visit Karen’s home, with all its comings and goings. I was the youngest and my house by contrast was pretty quiet! I remember feeling that Karen’s home was a place devoted to learning and family and togetherness and that everyone truly loved each other. And besides, she had lots of cute brothers!
Karen was very artistic and also particular about the way things were done!!! I had Home Economics with her in seventh grade, and in the fall, we had to make a poster for our cooking group that would be displayed the entire year in the Home Ec room. Apparently, my coloring skills were not up to par and Karen gave me a lecture on doing things right or not doing them at all. Poston Jr. High was brand new when we were in seventh grade. This was the year we all went boy crazy and went to our first dances. Karen was not afraid to get out there and dance (I was!).
We sang together in the girls’ chorus at Poston Jr. High and I remember one particular performance in Ninth Grade. Karen, Lyric Boyle, Barbie McDonald and I sang a quartet at a school assembly. The song was called “My Moustache” and it was barbershop harmony, meant to be sung by boys. “My moustache is growing, its genial warmth bestowing, and someday it will gladden every eye. For time will reveal it, I almost can feel it, its charm will be exquisite by and by….” We wore paper mustaches and straw bowler hats. We pulled it off and got lots of laughs.
In junior high and also in high school, Karen showed her innate sense of style. She could put an outfit together like no one else. I remember seeing Karen beside her sister Diane and thinking, those two could be in a magazine ad! And Mesa was not exactly a shopping Mecca back then!
Karen was one of the first of our crowd to start dating. I remember talking with her about her first date—I think it was to the Sadie Hawkins Dance (1978?). She planned out the dinner for several couples and had it at her home. Karen felt at ease around boys (probably because of all those brothers!) and always knew how to start a conversation, flirt, and sidle up next to them.
I loved Karen’s laugh. It was so dry, almost like a stand up comic telling a joke. She would poke you in the arm with her elbow when she shared that laugh. Kinda like, “Do ya get it??” She liked to hang on your arm or put her hand on your shoulder when she talked to you. I’m sure that everybody felt like her buddy, not just me.
I did not get to see Karen much my first year in Provo after high school. She came up to visit now and then, but we did spend one memorable summer up there together in 1982. She came over to my apartment often—her brother Gary was in my complex. We met a bunch of cute guys and started to hang around with them. One weekend, they asked us to go on an overnight waterskiing trip with them—scandalous! We went down to Yuba Lake and camped out on their boat, while the guys slept on the beach. They ended up playing a practical joke on us that involved a faked waterskiing fall and a packet of ketchup blood. I of course, fell for it and dove in to save the critically injured skier. When I looked back to the boat and saw Karen laughing uproariously, I knew I’d been had. What a fun memory!
Karen was there for my bridal shower, and brought of course, the most stylish gift--a decorative item for my kitchen. Not the most practical, but certainly the most stylish. It has been through 12 moves with me and I still treasure it to this day.
Since I moved back to Mesa in 2000, it was so great to just run into Karen, to meet her boys, to hear her opinions on anything and everything, to laugh about old times. There were times I worried I’d never see her again, then she’d surprise me and bounce back. I learned from my relationship with Karen not to put off getting together with old friends. Childhood friends make you feel young, just being around them. I hope Karen felt that way when we were together. But I think a part of her was always young and unafraid to be who she was, just herself. I loved her for that! I feel blessed to have known her. She’ll always be a part of me.
I first met Karen when our family moved to Mesa in the summer of 1972. We moved onto Huber Street in the old 30th Ward and I thought I was in heaven--there were 9 girls my age! We were just starting 5th grade at Nathan Hale Elementary. Karen and Melenie Blackhurst, the cute girls in the cul-de-sac, seemed to be inseparable. Where one went, the other followed. The other girls were Lori Mortimer, Colleen Eagar, Colette Cox, Beverly Brown, Kimi Turley, Merilee Stott, and Me.
I remember Karen as being skinny, with gangly arms and legs, freckles and long straight brown hair. She usually had barrettes in her hair to keep it off her face. She had a constant goofy grin and was really fun to be around. I don’t remember when it started, but she called me Hami Patch instead of Pami Hatch. (This was started by Dennis Blackhurst, I think!) Even when we were 40, if she called and said “Is this Hami Patch?” I knew it was Karen. I called her “Fiddlesticks.”
There were bike rides, swim parties, Merry Miss activities, Daddy-Daughter dates, crocheting rugs, and sleepovers (sometimes on trampolines in the backyard). Karen always liked to be in on the center of the conversation and know what was going on with everyone--who liked whom and who said what about someone else. We were in the same sixth grade class (Mr. Smolkovich’s) and Karen made friends easily with everyone. She had close friends that were LDS as well as those of other religions.
When Karen was first diagnosed with diabetes, we (her friends) didn’t quite know how to handle it. We knew she was in the hospital and that she was learning how to do her injections by practicing on an orange. I think we made cards for her in Primary. I remember that Karen came to a sleepover for my birthday not long after, and she wasn’t able to give herself a shot. My dad ended up doing it for her. I couldn’t believe that Karen would have to something so scary for the rest of her life. We never treated Karen any differently or thought of her as being “sick.” She was just Karen—silly, bubbly Karen. I started calling her “My Little Pin Cushion” because of all her needle marks. She laughed each time I teased her and later signed my high school yearbook: “Love, Your Little Pin Cushion.”
I loved to visit Karen’s home, with all its comings and goings. I was the youngest and my house by contrast was pretty quiet! I remember feeling that Karen’s home was a place devoted to learning and family and togetherness and that everyone truly loved each other. And besides, she had lots of cute brothers!
Karen was very artistic and also particular about the way things were done!!! I had Home Economics with her in seventh grade, and in the fall, we had to make a poster for our cooking group that would be displayed the entire year in the Home Ec room. Apparently, my coloring skills were not up to par and Karen gave me a lecture on doing things right or not doing them at all. Poston Jr. High was brand new when we were in seventh grade. This was the year we all went boy crazy and went to our first dances. Karen was not afraid to get out there and dance (I was!).
We sang together in the girls’ chorus at Poston Jr. High and I remember one particular performance in Ninth Grade. Karen, Lyric Boyle, Barbie McDonald and I sang a quartet at a school assembly. The song was called “My Moustache” and it was barbershop harmony, meant to be sung by boys. “My moustache is growing, its genial warmth bestowing, and someday it will gladden every eye. For time will reveal it, I almost can feel it, its charm will be exquisite by and by….” We wore paper mustaches and straw bowler hats. We pulled it off and got lots of laughs.
In junior high and also in high school, Karen showed her innate sense of style. She could put an outfit together like no one else. I remember seeing Karen beside her sister Diane and thinking, those two could be in a magazine ad! And Mesa was not exactly a shopping Mecca back then!
Karen was one of the first of our crowd to start dating. I remember talking with her about her first date—I think it was to the Sadie Hawkins Dance (1978?). She planned out the dinner for several couples and had it at her home. Karen felt at ease around boys (probably because of all those brothers!) and always knew how to start a conversation, flirt, and sidle up next to them.
I loved Karen’s laugh. It was so dry, almost like a stand up comic telling a joke. She would poke you in the arm with her elbow when she shared that laugh. Kinda like, “Do ya get it??” She liked to hang on your arm or put her hand on your shoulder when she talked to you. I’m sure that everybody felt like her buddy, not just me.
I did not get to see Karen much my first year in Provo after high school. She came up to visit now and then, but we did spend one memorable summer up there together in 1982. She came over to my apartment often—her brother Gary was in my complex. We met a bunch of cute guys and started to hang around with them. One weekend, they asked us to go on an overnight waterskiing trip with them—scandalous! We went down to Yuba Lake and camped out on their boat, while the guys slept on the beach. They ended up playing a practical joke on us that involved a faked waterskiing fall and a packet of ketchup blood. I of course, fell for it and dove in to save the critically injured skier. When I looked back to the boat and saw Karen laughing uproariously, I knew I’d been had. What a fun memory!
Karen was there for my bridal shower, and brought of course, the most stylish gift--a decorative item for my kitchen. Not the most practical, but certainly the most stylish. It has been through 12 moves with me and I still treasure it to this day.
Since I moved back to Mesa in 2000, it was so great to just run into Karen, to meet her boys, to hear her opinions on anything and everything, to laugh about old times. There were times I worried I’d never see her again, then she’d surprise me and bounce back. I learned from my relationship with Karen not to put off getting together with old friends. Childhood friends make you feel young, just being around them. I hope Karen felt that way when we were together. But I think a part of her was always young and unafraid to be who she was, just herself. I loved her for that! I feel blessed to have known her. She’ll always be a part of me.
No comments:
Post a Comment