Empty Nest and Retirement

Cheree had started classes up at Rick’s College, but after Rosanne was diagnosed with cancer she found it difficult to keep up. So she dropped out of school and started working at Block’s Department Store in Rexburg. Cheree lived in Salt Lake for a while as Rosanne was doing treatments at Primary Children’s Hospital, and after Rosanne passed away she moved back home and started going to school again. Around spring of 1988 all of Cheree's high school friends started coming home from their missions. One Sunday, as she was walking to the Stake Center to attend a mission report, a truck pulled over and stopped to ask if she needed a ride. Zane Palmer was in the passenger seat with Trent Harris driving. She laughed and said the church was only 50 yards away, but they insisted and she climbed in. Cheree had known Zane all through school, but they had never dated, and he had just returned from his mission to Charleston, West Virginia. They went to the mission report together, and as they were chatting Cheree mentioned she might like to serve a mission. Zane replied, “Well, what if I don’t let you?” Cheree knew Zane was fun and feisty, and that she could tease him and he would tease her back, and after a while they started dating. They dated for nine months, and when Zane asked Arlin if he could marry Cheree he had come over on a Sunday when we usually popped popcorn and watched PBS Nature. Zane was hoping to find a minute to talk to Arlin alone and it just wasn’t happening. Then Arlin got up and went down to the storage room to get some more popcorn. So Zane jumped up and followed Arlin down the hall and walked into the storage room and shut the door behind him. Arlin turned around and was a little startled to find he wasn’t alone in the room, but quickly recovered, and apparently the chat went well. They got engaged in February and were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on June 2, 1989.  

Many times Arlin and I would say about our kids that we were really blessed with good spirits. They were easy to raise and we didn’t really have any big problems. I knew my boys didn’t party and I didn’t have to worry about all the trouble that some parents have to worry about. The best part about raising kids is when you can see them living right and doing right, the boys going on missions and all of them getting married in the temple and doing the things we always hoped they would do.

Bryan, Craig, Arlin, Karolyn, Lisa, Cheree, Max

After all the kids moved out we explored some new hobbies. I enjoyed toll painting with Barbara Lusk. Arlin would cut out all the wood for us and we’d have fun painting it. Barbara was the artist though. She’d always help me if there was ever anything too challenging. If it needed a face she’d always do that for me because she was better at it than I was. I knew Arlin loved golfing and if I didn’t go with him I’d be a golfer’s widow, so I hated it the first few times and he was always telling me what I was doing wrong, but I was determined to learn how to do it and once I did I really enjoyed it. 

Karolyn Golfing

Karolyn and Sheila Golfing

Arlin & Karolyn Golfing

Arlin and I enjoyed golfing together, and I golfed with the Rexburg Women’s League for a year or two and that was fun. I enjoyed that. I guess the biggest thing I’ve enjoyed doing over the years is crocheting. 

Karolyn crocheting

My Dad passed away in 1998. He had been in the hospital and then they moved him to the Homestead for rehab and that’s when he passed away. Under the circumstances it was a blessing. But it’s always hard to lose anybody no matter who they are.

Karolyn and Rulon

Arlin retired from Ricks College and we decided to serve a mission. We already knew we were going to serve in St. George because we had gone to the Temple Visitor’s Center down there and the director called us into his office and said they’d like us to come back down serve a mission there. So we were excited. We came home and did everything we needed to do and submitted our papers, and the day the call came in the mail I was so excited. I ran out the back door to tell Arlin and there was a patch of clear ice on that bottom step and I fell and hit the ice and cracked my tailbone. I couldn’t sit for I don’t know how long, and even for the first few weeks of our mission I was carrying around this donut pillow everywhere. 

Karolyn and Arlin on their mission in St. George

We lived in a small trailer for the first little while and then bought a town home. But we enjoyed our mission. It was a good experience. We would give tours of the Jacob Hamblin home, which was Arlin’s favorite because he loved all the Indian stories of Jacob Hamblin. Then there was the Brigham Young home, which I loved because it was fun to tell the stories there. Then we’d go up to Pine Valley to the church up there that you could see in the attic how it was built like an upside-down ship. We would give tours at the Temple Visitor’s Center and tell stories about the Tabernacle. It was all wonderful. We continued to travel back and forth between our home in Sugar City and our Town Home in St. George for the next 15 years. We made a lot of dear friends down there and had a lot of fun. 

Arlin & Karolyn at the Brigham Young Home

We went on our first cruise to Alaska. I loved being on the big ship and looking out the window and I couldn’t even tell we were moving and then I’d see a tree somewhere off in the distance and say, “Oh ya, we are moving.” Then once in a while you’d feel a little jar from the waves, but I felt really safe and enjoyed it where as I hated to fly. It was beautiful when we landed in the upper part of Alaska and then took the cruise all the way down to Anchorage and then we flew home from there. But it was fun and beautiful I enjoyed it. The weather was clear the day we went to see Mt. McKinley so it wasn’t covered by clouds or anything and it was beautiful.

Arlin and Karolyn on their Alaskan cruise

Mother passed away in 2010. Bryan and Jodi had been taking care of her while Arlin and I had gone back down to St. George. They called us and told us she wasn’t doing well and wasn’t expected to live much longer so we came back, and my sister Sheila had come into town as well. I had trouble getting the car started that morning and by the time we got there she had already passed.

Rulon and Rose Ward

It was hard when we got older and couldn’t travel as much to be involved in all the family gatherings. Arlin would just sit and cry because he felt so bad that he couldn’t go and be involved anymore. But that’s life and you just try to make the best of it. I’ve reminded myself several times over the years that my patriarchal blessing says, “Be of good cheer.” So I’ve always tried to be of good cheer.

Lisa and Todd’s 31-year marriage ended in divorce in 2014. She stayed in Sugar City and bought a cute little home for her and the girls, and remained single for about nine years. Then Dalen’s father-in-law, Jack Wininger, suddenly lost his wife to a stroke, and after mourning her loss he asked permission to date Lisa. They were fast friends and made a good pair, so they decided to get married in June of 2023.

I’ve really been blessed with good health. I’ve only had a few surgeries, one for a hernia, one when I tore my shoulder and had to have a shoulder operation, and I had a hysterectomy. But other than that I’ve been really blessed. I look around at all my friends that have knee replacements and hip replacements and I realize I really am blessed to be this old (85) and still be able to do things and take care of myself, which I hoped and prayed that I could do. I just try to keep myself busy with puzzles, solitaire, crochet, reading, and doing word searches. I enjoy going to the temple once a week. I get together with a group of ladies and play games on Friday nights. My favorite card games are Ripple and Trash. That’s been my life ever since Arlin passed away. 
It’s been a good life. It really has. I’ve been really blessed. I have a good family. My kids take good care of me. I love my grandkids and great grandkids. They’re just so cute and sweet. I have so much to be thankful for. I hope people will remember me as someone who has tried to be loving and caring and wanting to serve and take care of them.