Reunions, Fiddles from Heaven, and the Mormon Philotic Web

I attended a mission reunion at my in-laws last night. My father in law is Darrell F. Smith of the LDS Smiths (He brought out a chair made by his grandfather Joseph F. Smith to help accommodate the crowd.) Darrell was a missionary in the early 50's in Scotland where they called him elder Smuth (with the Brogue.) Many of the people at the reunion had wonderful accents. A touch of Australia here, a hint of Sean Connery there. The group was an interesting amalgam. I was there with my wife because of her father. We were also there because members of our ward were speaking and performing.

My father in law had a companion in Scotland whose family lives in my ward and has for close to 50 years or more, Morris and Doris Graves and their children and now grandchildren. Morris became seriously ill when he and his family were quite young and he passed away at the age of 34 on 25 November 1961 only moments after learning of the birth of his fifth child. My in-laws lived outside of Utah since the late 50's until about 2 years ago. Darrell visited Morris briefly during his convalescence on a trip to Salt Lake. My wife and I enjoy immensely the family of Nancy Singleton, one of Morris' children.

Nancy was invited to the reunion/fireside to tell of an interesting incident recently where she was speaking at a Stake Conference and felt inspired to tell a story about her father's presence influencing her less than devout aunt and uncle one Sunday a couple of years after his death. She realized while she was telling the account that one of her cousins was in the audience at the conference. Last night she also talked in general about her father and the difficulties that their young family faced after his death. For many in attendance it was a chance to learn something about a dear friend whom they had not associated with since their time in Scotland many years ago. Also for Nancy and two of her daughters it was a chance to hear stories of her father from people who had known him before she was born, some stories that had never been shared before.

Nancy's entire family is greatly talented (they have formed a very good Blue Grass band) and her two oldest daughters treated us all to a performance of some Scottish fiddle music. I often joke that when children are first learning the violin any performance can be termed "Violins from Hell." This was "Fiddles from Heaven." I especially enjoyed watched the interaction between the two musicians as they communicated with glance and nuance while they were playing. It may be something only a musician would notice and appreciate. These two sisters are joined at the fiddle.