Verna Kay Mathews

Verna Kay Mathews Empey was born January 19, 1934 in Logan Utah.

 

She lived a peaceful small town life in Providence Utah. There was ice skating, dolls and dresses. 

She said that she could read chapter books in Kindergarten and that her favorite room at school was the library. She took piano and dance lessons and had plenty of family around her. Her uncles each spent time at their house while they lived in Logan to go to school.  Most of her life she lived next door to her grandparents. 

 She was a good girl and said she never got into trouble.

Her mother had a bad heart as a result of Rheumatic Fever as a child,  and was not supposed to have any more children but she always wanted a brother and was very happy when Larry was born when she was 8.

  When she was in the 7th grade her mother had a stroke. She recovered pretty well, but Kay had to help around the house under her mother’s directions. It was probably during this time that she became a good cook and give directions. Her mother passed away when mom was 16. 

She was active in many clubs in High School and especially liked working on the school paper, which she was the editor of as a Senior. 

She had many friends and had two best friends that kept in touch for many years after. She and her friends would take the train to the movies in Logan on Sundays after church. They would also go to Bear Lake in the Summer. 

She went to Utah State and majored in Journalism.  

She told me that she finally found Al a couple of years later. Something about  looking in the wrong places for him. They married on August 5, 1954.

She and Al drove across the country to live in Virginia until Al went to Korea. She moved back to Logan with Lynn and stayed until he came home. They then moved several times, living in Washington, where Jay was born, Kansas, where Danny was still born and a few more places until Al finished his time in the Army.

After the Army Al got a job for the USDA they moved to Twin Falls, where she had Lisa, Allison and Ty in  a very short time. She was busy. 

Al was transferred to Houston Texas just after Ty was born. He went first to find a place to live and she took all 5 kids, ages 8 to newborn, to Texas by herself on the train. She was worried about changing trains in Denver and loosing one of us, but it all worked out in the end.

After Texas, we moved back to Twin Falls. She was a stay at home mom for many years. We would come home for lunch from Lincoln school and she would read to us from the Children's Friend. She loved to read and would often be reading when we got home from school. Al traveled during the week and she was the boss. 

She was an excellent seamstress and made most of our clothes. She made each of us our wedding dresses. 

I don’t remember her teaching me how to sew, but she let me use her sewing machine and fabric to create while I was learning at school.

Eventually she worked at a store in Twin. She sold wallpaper there and figured out how many rolls customers would need. I was always amazed that she had such amazing math skills. She would call and tell us she was on her way home and we knew we had to have the kitchen cleaned before she got home. Many a day the dish water would be going down the drain as she pulled in the driveway.

We moved to Yuba City in 1977. She worked at various jobs here. I think her favorite may have been her last job when she worked at the Barrows Gift Shop. She loved to help people find those cute little items and wrap them up. 

Her and my dad traveled to many places together through the years. When they got in the car, they wouldn’t always be speaking to each other, but after about 300 miles or so, they would start to talk. They knew how to do a road trip.

She served in various organizations in the church from Choir director  to Primary. She formed many friendships with women throughout the years. She loved her visiting teachers and understood that women need other women.  

She loved all of her grandchildren. When Barb died leaving Ty with a 3 month old, Ty and Hannah moved in with her and dad.  She took care of Hannah like she was one of her own. Hannah always will hold a special space in her heart, but make no mistake, she loved all of her grandchildren. There were always plenty of Twinkies, ice cream, soda and pizzas available. She loved to hear about their progress and was proud of all of them. She loved that all of her granddaughters were strong, smart women and that her grandsons were kind men and good fathers.

In the last few years she has spent many hours taking care of dad. She would pass the time crocheting baby hats for the hospital, while watching every Giants game. She knew every player and was an avid fan. When she was a girl, Grandpa Anderson would come visit, he would listen to baseball on the radio and teach her what they were talking about, fostering a love of baseball.  We all know that she was a Giants fan to the end. She also loved Krup and Kype.

We all know she loved to watch tv. She loved Mash and Reba, NCIS and the Game Show Network. If she was awake she was watching tv

My dad left us about a month ago. Turns out, he left everything to her. His congestive heart failure, a year's worth of lasik, band-aids, his inability to walk, not wanting to sit with her feet up, and even his nurses at the Fountains.

I have thought many times this month about why they left this earth at the same time. Was it that dad didn’t know what to do without her telling him what he liked or what to do? Or were there promises made in the pre earth life that they needed to be together always. We may never know, but they are together again. 

Kay passed away on Sept 7th, 2023 in Yuba City California.