Family Tree

Family Tree

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Life Goals


Raise a righteous family
  • Become the person I would like to marry
  • Find a righteous man to take me to the temple, with the same desire to start a family
  • Make sure my home is somewhere the Spirit can dwell.
  • Teach my children correct principles
  • Make sure my family knows that I love them no matter what
Strengthen my testimony, so that I will be able to withstand all that Satan will try to throw at me.
  • Read and ponder the scriptures daily
  • Say morning and evening prayers, as well as keep a prayer in my heart
  • Share my testimony
  • Ask for strength from my Heavenly Father so that I will be able to withstand temptation
  • Serve a mission
Build meaningful relationships with the people that I truly value in my life
  • Stop being afraid to express my love for those around me
  • Be the kind of friend that I would like to have
  • Associate with people that will share or uphold my same standards
Provide a healthy lifestyle for myself and my future family
  • Develop a habit of exercise
  • Find easy and healthy recipes that will be kid friendly
  • Make exercise a priority in my day-to-day activities
  • Find places that will be good for hiking and camp
Be a lifelong learner
  • Finish my education here at BYU-Idaho
  • Always keep a growing library
  • Work on not being afraid to ask questions
  • Keep my Paramedics Certification valid
  • Find excuses to share what information that I gain in my studies
Be someone that the Lord can call on to do His work
  • Live worthy of the Spirit so that I can feel its promptings
  • Look for little ways to serve those that are around me
  • Don’t ignore a good thought
  • Be willing to act on those things that the Spirit prompts me to do and don’t turn down opportunities to serve when they’re presented to me.
Maintain and grow a good savings account
  • Keep an active savings account
  • Put a constant amount into savings from every paycheck that I get
  • Learn about different kinds of investments
  • Don’t spend money on things that I can’t afford
  • Be willing to donate to a worthy cause

Friday, March 9, 2012

Ancestral Histories


Robert Ludwig Tomsik (24 May 1909- 12 September 1979)
Robert Ludwig Tomsik was the first of eight children born to Ludwig Albert and Hannah Deady. He was born at home in Salt Lake City, Utah on 24 May 1909.  Their family moved around a lot when he was young because his father worked on the railroad. They lived in Cassia County, ID when his next two siblings, Edward and Wayne, were born in 1911 and 1913; then they were in Washington, UT when two more children, Mary and Irene, were born in 1917 and 1919.  Their next child, Marcella, was born in Milford, UT in 1921. Then in Minersville, UT Albert was born in 1924. Then they moved onto a farm in Milford two years later where Ludwig raised chickens, turkeys, cows and geese and the last child, Pauline, was born in 1926. 
By the time that they were back in Milford, Robert was in High School and would always drive the rest of the siblings to school and then would drive them home after he got off work at a cleaning plant. During High School he played on the Basketball team and played the French horn in the school band. He would also take his siblings out for drives sometimes just for fun, one time Robert took his younger siblings out for a long drive when his mother was expecting their youngest, and when they got back from the drive the baby was born. As the oldest, Robert took on a lot of responsibility with the family.  Once his sister Irene was learning to sew a quilt and got the needle stuck straight through her finger, their mother called Robert and he had to rush home and pull the needle out with a pair of pliers!
Robert spent most of his life in that little railroad town of Milford, he graduated High School in 1929 the same year as Verna Bird whom he had been dating for a long time and they were married on 18 May 1931.  Verna purposely broke a rule in school which made her stay back a year, so that they would graduate together. When they got engaged Verna worked at the phone company as a phone operator; Robert had gone to visit her and was jokingly saying to her coworker, “so did you hear we we’re getting married?”, Verna played along with it, but he was actually serious, but all he had for a ring at the time was a cigarette band, which he gave her as an engagement ring, at least for the moment. Verna’s father was a bishop in the town and he married them in his home “for no other young man would do.”
 In 1938, Ludwig Albert died in a car accident, so Robert was 29. Robert made sure to take care of the family after that. He provided Christmas for his siblings, and was very caring and provided a lot for them.
 When WWII broke out he didn’t have to serve because his job at the garage was considered a vital service; he was a mechanic, and provided gas for people, so he didn’t have to serve in the military. 
He worked for a Bill Nichols, who was the original owner of the garage that Robert later bought after living in Las Vegas for a short time repairing slot machines. He called the garage, Bob Tomsik Service garage, and he ran that for 40 years. There was a sign out front that read, “Welcome- We’ll do our best to earn your confidence”.  He was one of the nicest people ever, would never hurt anyone on purpose. He Served and worked 24/7; If people needed their car fixed he would stay up all night to fix them.  He would stay up all night running their coal furnace, when he first started off. Robert developed that garage into a very successful Pontiac dealership as well and he was also an International Harvester truck and farm equipment salesman.
 In 1957, they drove back east to pick up an international harvester.  They stopped on their way back in Chicago, the museum of science and industry, and then they went to the airport and got a joy ride in a single engine plane around Chicago.  Robert had always wanted to be a pilot, but his wife wouldn’t let him because his younger brother died in a plane crash. Sometimes they would take the train from Milford to Salt Lake to pick up new vehicles and they would drive the car back. Robert would play the harmonica while they were traveling, and Verna and all the kids would sing along.
They had five children together; Vera, Bonnie, Shirley, Robert Edward, and Gary.  They loved their children and always provided for them. They owned two houses in Milford; they lived in one and rented out the other. Robert would take his sons out hunting for pheasants and deer every year, and did some fishing as well, but not as often.
He was a member of the Lion’s Club later in life as well as Senior Citizens, both he and Verna were very involved, she serving as the program director for the Senior Citizens.  It was while participating in activities with these groups that they died on September 12, 1979.  They were driving in a van on their way to Salt Lake City when they hit a hay swather and were killed, but they died together and they left behind a strong family.

 
Eunice Parry Harris (31 October 1926- 10 February 1998)
Eunice Parry was born on 31 October 1926 to Bernard Harmon and Ellareave Christine Petersen and raised in Manti, UT, which is where her family had been for quite some time.  She was their second child out of six; two brothers and three sisters.
She was a great student; she won lots of scholarly awards in school. She loved to read. She was a statue of liberty in a school play.
She would go fishing with her Grandma in a stream that was nearby. That’s where she learned her love of fishing.
Their family wasn’t very well off so her mother would make her bloomers out of potato or flour sacks. One time she was going down a slide and was humiliated because the other kids saw that the brand name was on her underwear and made fun of her after that.
Eunice was babysitting one night and told the family she would walk home, and they told her to be careful because there was a strange man with a peg leg in town.  As she was walking home she heard someone behind her and she said that she had never been able to run so fast or jump so high until that moment or since then.
She met Gordon C Harris in Junior High, and he was best friends with Eunice’s Uncle. Her Uncle introduced them, and they became high school sweethearts. When he was in the Navy, he sent her an engagement ring in the mail and that’s how he proposed. When Gordon came into port after the war, she took a bus all by herself from Manti to Los Angeles, covered in hives because she was so nervous, so that they could be married.  They soon found out that the Manti temple was going to be open again, after being closed for the war so as wedding gifts they were given gas rations so that they could drive to the Manti temple to get sealed. 
Gordon had been accepted to the University of Utah, he wanted to be a doctor, but when they got there the home owners said that they couldn’t stay because housing was scarce after the war. So they moved into an apartment above Thurston’s Five and Dime in Manti, and served fountain drinks. 
They only lived there a few months before they moved back to California
When she was ready to give birth to her first son, David, the nurses had left her in the room by herself and as she was waiting she felt the contractions getting closer together. She stood up to try and get to the door and the baby started to come faster, she squatted and was yelling out for help. The nurse told her later that she had heard a voice, when no one was around telling her to go check on Mrs. Harris and when she checked was when she was in trouble. Eunice had two Great-aunts that were both spinsters, Harriet and Emma.  One died just a few minutes before David was born; she is positive that it was her voice that had spoken to that nurse.
They lived for many years in North Hollywood, CA where Gordon worked for Lockheed and Northrop Grumman. They had four other children; John (who died as an infant), Cathryn, Doug, and Paul. They only moved once all of their children were out of the house, though many were still in the area. 
Together Eunice and Gordon did quite a bit of traveling. They visited Japan, and they also did a tour in Jerusalem and a tour of Church History sites.  They were also very faithful workers in the Los Angeles Temple and actually served service missions there.  That is probably one of the hallmarks of her life, the temple.
They were living in Valencia, CA when Eunice passed away on 10 February 1998. She went into a coma after having a heart attack, but didn’t ever recover.  As her spirit went home, so did her body as she was buried in the Manti Cemetery, just below the temple; and I’m sure she is continuing her work on the other side of the veil.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Personal History


Gary and Cathryn Tomsik
My name is Colleen Tomsik, was born on 26 October 1990 to parents Gary Albert Tomsik and Cathryn Harris Tomsik.  I was born in St. Joseph’s hospital in Burbank, CA and weighed a whole 10 pounds 13 ounces! I am the youngest in my family, by 7 ½ years. My siblings are (in order from oldest to youngest) Robert Aaron, Kathryn (Katie), Jeremy Paul, Michael Gary, Anna, Sarah, and Edward (Eddie) Gordon. Since I was so much younger than my other siblings, I didn’t really know the oldest three very well until I got older; especially my brother Robert, who was 18 when I was born.  Now though, I’ve been able to form good bonds with each of them, even Robert!  I was raised in the house my parents had been living in since they moved to California when Michael was a baby, in good old’ North Hollywood, CA.  I walked by the time that I was 7 months old, I’m sure it was because of all the coaching I received from my older siblings.  My brothers always tell me the story of when I was a baby and needed to go to sleep, if I wouldn’t settle down, they would take me into their room and put on KROQ, the local alternative rock station, and I would settle right down and go to sleep.  My family is quite musical, so I’ve always had a love of music of most kinds and love to get lost in their melodies. 
            Another story that my family likes to hang over me happened when I was about four I believe.  I apparently decided that I needed to moisten up my skin, so I took an entire tub of Vaseline and rubbed it all over my face and head! My siblings and parents laughed and made sure to take pictures for posterity, all before trying to clean me up. 
Fish Lake, UT
            One story that I love to tell has to do with a regular family tradition that’s been around since my Mom was little.  Every year we all go up to Fish Lake, a little lake in south-central Utah, about 50 miles from and “major” town.  There’s a little town, Lowa, about 10 miles away, but it’s not real well known, this bigger town is called Richfield that at least has a Wal-Mart, but that’s the closest we come to civilization.  Well, one day we were out on our boat fishing and I was using my little pole waiting for a bite.  I got distracted while reaching for a soda and before could grab anything my little pole was pulled into the water by a fish. My mom tried to reach for it but it was gone.  A few sad minutes later, my mom felt a bite on her line. Excited, she started to bring her line in on her paddle, but after a couple minutes she noticed that she wasn’t bringing in her line anymore and as she kept going we discovered that she had caught my fishing pole! We kept bringing in the lines and on the end of my line was the culprit of the whole situation, a fish. Good story huh? There are a lot of good memories at that place, especially with some of my Mom’s family.  The only grandparents that I knew in this life were my Mother’s parents, Gordon C Harris and Eunice Parry Harris, both very beloved in my mind.  They would usually be up at the lake around the same time we were, along with many of my Uncles and their families, so we would usually spend a fair amount of time together. 
            As far as schooling goes, I started off in Pre-school, Poly Preschool. It was held at the local High school, also called Poly.  For elementary school I went to Saticoy Elementary, the same place as all my other siblings.  I have some sweet memories of that school.  My kindergarten teacher was Mrs. Hasenstab, my 1st grade teacher was Ms. Frank, 2nd grade was Mrs. Vanderlip, 3rd grade was Ms. Seltzer, 4th grade was Ms. Siari, and 5th grade was Ms. Rosales. I loved them all; by my favorites were Ms Seltzer and Ms. Rosales. Ms Seltzer especially stands out in my memory as making a difference in my education.  She wrote songs for a hobby, so she used that talent to make learning easier through little songs; songs like “There are Seven Continents”, “The Verbs”(to the tune of the Flintstones), and “The Time Rhyme”. I struggled a bit in 3rd grade with multiplication, and especially the “Time Rhyme” helped me learn my 5’s, and she just made sure to take the time to help me figure out the rest.  She also was incredibly creative, some days she would come to class dressed up as some character for the day. We never knew exactly who she would be; when we were reading “Alice in Wonderland” she came as Alice on day, then some days she would come as the Division Diva, and she would teach us about math.  She filled us with a sense of imagination that I am so grateful for! She also loved to travel, and one day she brought to class a little bear that we named Berry the Adventure Bear; she gave the bear to one person in the air port and as they got to their destination they were to put a post card or some token from their location in his backpack and pass it on to the next person.  Eventually he made it back to us, I don’t remember how it worked exactly, but it did and we got to travel vicariously through that little bear.. I kept in touch with her even after I had graduated her class, and she later went on to travel to all the 7 continents on her own, I have a post card from the Louvre, and a little bear that I made her is now on top of Mt Everest! Those are things that dreams are made of; I don’t think I’ll ever forget some of those things. 
            One thing that was also really fun about that school was the musical program. We had music class every week and we did programs for assemblies and parents at a couple times a year. In second grade we did this play about the Three Little Piggy’s, I remember the little masks that we had to wear, and those ridiculous plastic noses; but I’m sure I had fun with it.  With the musical program, I was also really involved with the choir. We did a play when I was in 5th grade, if I remember right, it was parts of the musical “Annie” and I had the chance to play the leading role! I’m sure the red hair and freckles didn’t hurt anything when assigning the parts, but I was also a pretty good singer back then; my music teacher didn’t hide her praise(I’m trying to say that as humbly as possible).   I’m so glad that I had such a rich environment to grow up in, some of the friends I made there are still some of my best friends now.
            Once I got to Middle School things started to change a little bit for me. I went to James Madison Middle School from 6th to 8th grade.  I got involved with band for the first year or so, playing the trumpet and trombone for at least a semester each. I loved playing in concerts and stuff, but in my 7th grade year I got signed up for the Cadet Corps program at the school, which is a military program and that became my new focus.  I was able to gain rank relatively quickly, I listened to those things that I was told and didn’t get into trouble, so it wasn’t too hard.  I also started to get really involved in some of the teams that we had.  At first I was involved with the color guard, the detail that would carry the flags during the national anthem or pledge of allegiance. I would have given all my effort to that except that at the time my father was working at a job that he wasn’t happy with and there had been talk of moving so that he could get a new one.
            Eventually my father ended up getting a job as the Head Engineer at the Los Angeles Temple, so I knew I would by staying.  I got involved in the Rifle Team, doing drill moves with along with rifle movements in synchronized team.  I absolutely loved it and worked hard to do well at it.  By my 8th grade year I had become the soloist for the team and had a little spot light moment in each of our performances.  I couldn’t have been prouder as I had also achieved about the highest rank I could get in our organization as well.
Awards Night
            That same patriotism that I gained in that program carried over into High School and as soon as I could I signed up to join the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.  I jumped in head first into this program, making the easy transition from Army vernacular to Air Force.  The Major of our unit decided to nick name me the Enforcer, because I was so quiet in class and he joked that I was is secret weapon for putting people in line.  I was able to make friends quickly in the group as we did so many events together.  I joined the Honor Guard, which was a specialized team that mainly did opening ceremonies for banquets at different military events; we mainly focused on P.O.W. M.I.A. Ceremonies.  I loved being able to wear a uniform and have something to stand for.  I shared my skill with a rifle and was elected to start an Armed Drill Team for the unit.  The team itself had some good years and some bad ones, but by my senior year, we had a pretty steady group and I was also the commander to the Honor Guard, which had been my dream for a long time.  I was also the 3rd in command in the unit, more by choice than anything else.
            During High school I had some life changing events take place.  For the longest time I thought that I was going to go to Texas A&M for school, major in Mechanical Engineering and join the Air Force as a pilot, but during my senior year everything changed.  I was taking AP (Advanced Placement) Calculus and AP Physics at the same time, and the stress from those classes just about killed me.  I didn’t understand the material and I would just go home in frustration every day.  I knew something had to change and I knew that being an Engineer wasn’t for me.  I started to remember different things that had been said to me over the years, I seemed to have a knack for things of the medical sort, so I decided to switch my focus to that.  I took a First Responder course and just loved it, and decided to go into nursing at either BYU of BYU-Idaho. 
            In the end I didn’t get into BYU so I came up to Idaho and started working toward what I thought was where I was meant to be.  I realized though that I was a little off in my focus, and with a little guidance I got on the road that I would stay on until I graduate, to become a paramedic; still in the medical field, but just not in the hospital all the time.  So that’s where I am now; going to school to be a paramedic and working on going on a mission in the mean time.  Life throws your for some crazy turns sometimes.