Freedom

I'm thankful to live in a country where I am safe and where I am free to pursue the things that matter most.

Five Years Later (Part Two).....

(Note: This is the talk I gave at Dad's funeral. He had all six of his kids speak, standing side-by-side at the podium.)

My Father was always a quiet person, never wanting a lot of attention and never wanting people to know when he was struggling. As visitors would stop by the last few weeks, he would always, in his humble way, try to deflect attention from himself by insisting to his guests that he was not special, and only attracted this attention because of his disease.

Dad, to the people here, to your children-- to me, you were special. My father is my hero because his primary concern was for the welfare of others, never for himself, and he truly loved his children.

1) Dad’s primary concern was always for the welfare of others, and never for himself.

When I locked my keys in the trunk at BYU, he would drop everything and come rescue me. When I crashed into garage doors, trees, curbs, and even rolled a car, Dad was always the first one there to rescue me. – More concerned about me than the property damage. (Lucky for me.)

He was always the first to volunteer for things in church. My first DI service experiences, cannery experiences, and church cleaning experiences were all with him.

Dad owned a four-plex in West Valley for a long time. He would spend hours and hours preparing those apartments to be rented. Sometimes, to our amazement, people wouldn’t pay rent. When a pattern emerged, some of us would want justice served, and people evicted. My dad was the ever merciful one, forgiving debts and giving people opportunities to make things right. The money was never his primary concern, but making sure that people were okay was. Sometimes people would take advantage of him, but that never changed his love for people and the compassion of his heart.     

A few years ago, several of my friends caught Lance Armstrong fever, and decided to stage their own tour-de-France event. Their course was from West Valley to my house here in North Salt Lake, which in theory sounds good. They began their trek early one morning, and things were going well until they hit the industrial part of North Salt Lake, with it’s oil refineries. As they huffed and puffed through that part of town, the smell started to make them a little sick to the stomach and dizzy. Then they hit the hill. When they finally got to my house, they were all exhausted and sick. It was my dad, who I’m sure didn’t know most of them, who fed them, and helped nurse them back to health for their 20 mile trek home.

2)  He loved his children, and he was always there for us.

One of the things that gave Dad his greatest satisfaction was building our house here at Eaglewood. In preparation for the move, I switched schools. For me, the adjustment was rough—more than I thought I could bear. It was especially hard for me at lunch time because I came from a circle of close friends, but when I switched schools, I felt I was all by myself. At a time where I was lonelier than I had ever been, he could have told me to tough it out. He could have told me he was too busy building a house to worry about this. He could have ignored my problem No. Instead, with empathy –with love and compassion for me, he would carve time out of his busy construction schedule to take me to lunch. As the clock approached noon, I would wait for Dad’s attractive old red truck to pull into the parking lot. Together, for almost an hour everyday, we would eat our sack lunches packed by mom and simply talk to each other. I think that will always be my most cherished memory of my father.

After Dad was diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago, he would pray that he could be there for some of the big occasions in our lives. He wanted to be here to see Crystals first child, Bryn born, then to see Gavin born, then to see Troy and Kajsa have their first son, Another one of those occasions he hoped and prayed to be there for was to be at the airport to see me return from my mission. I will forever be grateful to the Lord for his tender mercy in allowing Dad to be there to see me come home, and the chance I had to spend some quality time with my Father before his passing.

His last time at church was several weeks ago. I’m sure he was tired, and in pain, but without complaining he came to hear me speak and report on my mission. He only had the strength to stay through my talk, but that gesture meant everything to me.

Dad always told us that if we remembered one thing about him, it was to know that he loved his children. Dad, we know you loved us, and we will always love you too.

Five years later.....

          

           

           Glen Birch Farnsworth was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 17, 1943 to Eldred Birch Farnsworth and Cleone Marsh. He died in North Salt Lake, Utah on June 10, 2007, five years after being diagnosed with cancer.

            Glen was raised in Magna, Utah, and graduated from Cyprus High School in 1961, where he was active in athletics and student government. He maintained many of those close friendships throughout his life.

 During his young adult years, Glen enjoyed playing softball, and participated in four all-church softball tournaments. Glen graduated from the University of Utah in 1966, and began a 31+ year career with Utah Social Services.

Glen was married to his high school sweetheart, Marcella Laurel Johnson, in the Salt Lake Temple on June 25, 1964. Glen and Marcella had six children, including twin sons that died at birth. Marcella died on May 28, 1980.

Glen married Mary Alice Baird (his special angel) on March 6, 1982, in the Salt Lake Temple. Glen and Alice had two children.

Glen’s greatest joy in life was raising his family, and watching his children succeed with their goals and interests in academics, athletics, dance, music, and church activities. He was very proud of their accomplishments and the honorable men and women they have become.

He was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints throughout his life, and served as the Bishop of the Taylorsville Utah West Stake 4^th Ward.  Glen found joy in giving to others, and had an understanding heart.

The family would like to give special thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Prystas, Kathy, Barbara, Sara, and all of the staff at Wasatch Oncology Associates for their kind and compassionate care.

Glen is survived by his wife, Alice, and children, Darin (Janet), Nicolette Johnson (Joe), Troy (Kajsa), Crystal Armstrong (Chris), Bryan, and Michelle. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren and niece, Janet Stevenson. He is preceded in death by his parents, wife, Marcella, twin sons, Todd and Tory, and sister, Barbara Snow.

Funeral services will he held Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 11:00 A.M. at the Eaglewood Ward Chapel (200 S. Eagle Ridge Drive, North Salt Lake). A viewing will be held at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary (3401 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City) on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M., and also at the Eaglewood Ward Chapel at 10:00 A.M. prior to the services. The internment will be at Valley View Memorial Park.

The Things That Matter Most

     Some things simply matter more than others. Those words have resonated with me ever since I first heard them uttered in relation to the atonement versus other gospel topics. I understand that life is short, and that I can’t do everything. I must choose who I am going to be, and just as importantly, who I am not going to be. I make that choice through how I spend my time

      Let me give some background on how I decided who I wanted to be, and how I wanted to spend my time—the things that matter most to me. From 2005 to 2007, I was a missionary in the Washington Tacoma Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There I had many experiences that I would never trade for anything, and many I would. The first councilor in our mission presidency was President Anderson, and he was big on goal setting and achievement. He used a 9 box method. Each box represented a different category in his life, and for each category he would come up with a few items to be working on. I tried this approach numerous times, but it was hard to figure out nine categories with attached goals, and to remember them so I could work on them. It seemed a little overwhelming.

     After a lot of drawing boxes, categorizing those boxes, refining those boxes, throwing the paper with the boxes away, and repeating the process, I decided I needed to simplify it a bit. I narrowed it down five things that I want my life to be defined by. For the alliterate type, I call them Farnsworth’s Five F’s. To me they represent the things that matter most—the things I want to spend my time and my efforts developing and pursuing. They are faith, family, friends, finance, and fitness.


Faith- If I had to boil my list down to the most important thing, this category would be it. My relationship with God is the single most important relationship I have. It is the most destiny-changing one. If I am faithful to God, keep the commandments, repent, and make covenants, I am promised everything God has can be mine.


Family- No success outside of the home can compensate for failure within the home. My family is my legacy. I need to teach them, to nurture them, and to love them so that we can all reach our potential and so that I can look back on my life and feel good about it. This category is forward looking, but also deals with my parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews.

Friends- When I look back on my life, I’m sure that I will define myself by the relationships I’ve had and maintained. My friends help life to be fun. They influence everything about me from how I spend my time, to what entertainment I watch, to what I think and feel and do.


Finance – In this category I lump saving, spending, and career. If you know me, you know this category is fascinating to me. I love to save and to see the power of compound interest working. I love to spend wisely. I spend a lot of my life working at my job, so I want it to be something I enjoy and that I feel is worthwhile.

Fitness- Last but not least is fitness. I believe that the quality of your life is directly impacted by your health. It is important to me to eat healthy foods, see doctors regularly, and to exercise. There is a lot of room for improvement here, but I recognize its importance.

     Faith, family, friends, finance, and fitness are all very important to me. If something takes me away from or distracts me from them, then I don’t want to think it, waste time on it, or pursue it. These are the things that will define my life—they truly are the things that matter most...