Where Do We Go for Help?

Jim's car accident was quite a blow, but we were thankful that he wasn't hurt and that it happened so close to graduation...we were only about two months away. We would soon have a livable salary (we hoped and prayed for a good job offer), and we would get caught up with all our bills. But then came another hard blow. The senior electrical engineering students were informed that they would be required to take a "field trip" to the bay area of California where a number of large electric companies such as IBM, Westinghouse, Hewlett Packard, General Electric, etc. were located. Today we call this area "Silicon Valley".

This trip was not optional. You either went or would not graduate. We were caught totally unawares. It wasn't any syllabus we had read, and the cost was $260. That paid for the bus and hotel, but eating would be additional. Then there was the fact that Jim would miss a week's work without pay. That would mean getting even farther behind on our bills. We figured we would need to have at least $500 to pay for the trip and to meet make up for lost work. It might just has well have been $5000 with no resources to come up with the money. My dad didn't have a lot of savings, and besides, my dad had never been too encouraging about any of us going on to college. His attitude had always been, "If you want an education you are going to have to pay for it." If he did loan us the money, he would make sure we felt guilty and obligated to him the rest of our lives. We didn't want that. As for Jesse and Jean, we knew that they had no savings and were struggling just to get by. They were always helping us in ways that they could...feeding us when our food money ran out, making clothes for the girls, and letting us charge gas to their account. But we knew that asking for financial help, regardless of how supportive they had been, would just be impossible for them. But where else could we go? It is so hard to ask for help when you have been trained all your life to be independent and self sufficient. Maybe we just needed to be humbled a bit and made to realize that all of God's children at one time or another need to ask for help. And if we don't ask, we are denying someone of the blessings that come from helping someone out. We would not be asking for a handout, only a loan until we got on our feet.

We fasted and prayed about what we should do. The answer came... my UNCLE KEN. He was my mom's younger brother who had always championed education even though he was never able to complete his own higher education. In spite of that he had been very successful in his business career. They lived in Ogden, as had we, right after we were married. He and Aunt Ina had been so good to us, encouraging us to go on to school when we got out of the military.
They had had us over to dinner often, and it was Aunt Ina who taught me how to make the famous orange rolls. I just knew they would understand and be supportive.

It was very hard for me to get up the courage to ask, but when I did, it was without hesitation that he wrote out a check. I can't tell you the gratitude (and the relief) that I felt and still feel.
Uncle Ken has since passed away, but Aunt Ina is still with us.

Jim went on that required trip, I stayed home with the girls, and all the bills got paid that month. When he returned home it was time to begin the interviews with recruiters who were now beginning to look for new competent employees for their companies. How would Jim measure up to the standards and requirements for available jobs. He knew that grades were not his strong point...adequate, but definitely not in the top ten percent. Would his other strengths and experience compensate for top grades? He could only wait and see.