Battle of the Bulge
BATTLE OF THE BULGE
By Stephany Spencer-LeBaron
When it comes to food,
I long for resistance.
Stuffing to stuff holes
For Psychic subsistence
Endangers physical substance.
So I’m forced to keep grub
At a dastardly distance,
Plus emend my daily existence.
Food and I have a Con-coexistence:
Victuals cause me hunger
With perpetual persistence –
That ever-gnawing craving
For fattening ingredients.
In attempting to outdistance
Tempting incidents,
I exercisewith Herculean consistence,
Pacing work-outs with rest-time assistance.
Plus I follow a diet of mere subsistence –
Intermittent abstinence
Equivalent to bare-bones existence.
To “Just say NO!” to food’s insistence,
I’ve formed for myself a few helpful hints.
For instance:
1- Store only resistible supplements.
2- Avoid eating at restaurants for general sustenance.
3- Buy nourishment with healthful contents …
Stuff that sticks to my inTENTS,
NOT my fundaments!
I’ve found keeping ’round non-tempting nutrients
Makes a BULGE difference in my appearance …
And life’s experience.
The perennial struggle with FAT in my middle
Is an ongoing Battle of the Bulge.
Winning the battle is my unresolved riddle …
Ever ‘twill be if I fiddle with food
That tempts me to indulge.
But knowing things could be worse,
Thank God I deal with Diobeseies,
Not some worse curse!
Life’s a Shipwreck! My life’s a shipwreck! Or should I simply conclude That ship has sailed Like two ships passing in the night Coming unglued? Or I could say Life’s a train wreck? Or has that train Left the station too Like two trains Passing a wreck or two? I’ve lived a long time ……
Lovely Lively Lizards: The best things in life are free I detest supporting lazy lizards – Leeches, losers, and welfare abusers. Socialism is Welfare for users. But it’s not really free. So to the loafing lizard, Penniless-pauper, Down-and-out dizzard, Please get off your rump, Use your gizzard So from Welfare you May be scissored. Thus…
IN MY TIME*(A Stephany Spencer* *Doggerel Rhyme)*In my time,I won’t give in, I won’t give up.I’ll let today’s mirthFill up my cup.In the darkest hours Of our imperfect world,I’ll look to the dawnAs day’s unfurled.Then hold up my hope,Hold up my head,I won’t be troubledBy what is said.I’ll place one foot In front of the other, And keep on trekkingWith sister and brother.I won’t feed “Bad Wolf,”The “Good Wolf” instead,My health is my wealth.I make my own bed. When the lights go outAnd the curtains come down, In the bleakest hourThings could turn around. As the sun goes downAnd the veil is drawn,I'll soon be facing A brand new dawn.The soul never dies.It follows the light Like dawn follows The darkest night.Then a ray of sunshine From behind a cliffSuddenly bursts forth In wondrous riff.So hold onto my hat, Hold onto my hope.Somewhere, somehowAt the end of my rope,Just when I thoughtI couldn’t bear more strife,Circumstances could changeTo better my life.So grab my hat And get my cane.I’m heading out To beat the game!Things may seem bleak,Have no rhythm nor rhyme, But I’ll even the score*In my time*.
–
LOOKING FOR LOVE
IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES
Does low self-esteem
Cause womanizer’s chase?
Is scoring all Ladies’ Men
Have going for their race!
What the fuck then!
What lousy luck for women
When the womanizer’s journey
Is but playing the field.
Then I’ll never give in again –
Never yield
To self-serving “little heads”
Seeking to be fulfilled.
Just wish I’d never let
That “spider” get to my “fly.”
But “Harry” tarantulas
Know how to harry ladies. Why?!
His dick but tips its cap and winks:
Look! Won another match! he thinks.
Another notch on your belt! me thinks –
The opportunist stinks!
What! Fooled again? NO!
I’m no longer a fool in love;
No longer fooled around with
‘Cause I nevermore fool around
In womanizers’ rinks.
3-2007
Cougar lives to love another dayCougar Lives to Love Another Day
By Stephany Spencer-LeBaron
2008
Hey King Kay,
Your cougar lives
To love another day,
To further bond
With wondrous King Kay.
Cougaress never dreamed
It could be this way:
First he was her friend,
Then her boyfriend;
Now her husband –
Her Kind King Kay.
Cougaress lives for him each day.
People call her a cougar.
You’ve robbed the cradle, they say.
But Cougaress doesn’t care.
She won’t go there.
‘Tis her affair that takes her cake
‘Cause Cougar’s on the make.
The rest is cougar hair
Below the bridge,
Upon the stair.
Nothing pleases Cougar more
Than to have her lover score –
Take his mate, make his mate
Forever evermore
In every way but Sunday
Behind closed door.
His courting Ms. Cougar
From Sunday till Monday
Makes Cougar roar!
In climactic ecstasy
Cougar “cums” back for more.
Their love’s a carousel,
A revolving bedroom door,
Hinged on trust,
A dollop of lust,
Integrity at the fore.
It’s the way King Kay
Runs his love life.
He teaches by example
Fulfilling his wife;
Therein lies the secret
Why she’s free from strife.
Her Honey King Kay’s
The bee in Cougar’s bonnet,
Inspiration for this sonnet,
Why she’s hot doggonit –
And why Cougar lives
To love another day.
The Sands of My Hourglass
By Stephany Spencer-LeBaron
The Sands of My Hourglass
The sands of time
**Are running
Through my hourglass,
Telling me I don’t have much time left;
They’re taking away my time
As quickly as hands on a clock.
I can’t get the speed to stop,
Neither my heart going tick-tock
Like raindrops
On the window panes of my life;
Like the pain in my soul
Running down my cheeks;
Or teardrops on my looking glasses;
Or the glasses I look through.**
I wonder what’s wrong!
Where has the time gone?
Why won’t it stop
Running away with me,
And from me,
Hard as I try to catch up with it,
Get with it, not behind it.
Why can’t Time let me be!
It’s synonymous with
Life’s impermanence
Which also cannot be stopped
Any more than the sands
Running through the hourglass
Of my life
Decorating my door-stop.**
Prose Is the New Poetryby Stephany Spencer-LeBaron
Photo by Nu00f3ra Zahradnu00edk on Pexels.com“A poem is never finished.”
~~~~~~~~~~
PROSE IS THE NEW POETRY
Part One
**Dearest Friend:
Says Voltair,
“To hold a pen is to be at war”
And don’t we know it
If we are a modern poet.
For today’s fake poets
Have taken the lion’s share:
With pen in hand,
And lack of care,
They’ve pierced great poetry
That once was there.
Nevertheless, I love your Rap.
It’s better than much modern crap
Wannabe poets put on the map.
What they compose,
Called exquisite prose,
Is really weak verse.
With a Pinocchio nose,
That grows and grows,
Encased in the guise
Of a Poet’s clothes!
At best, they’re poets
Whose medium is prose.
What’s worse?
Poetry’s modern curse:
“Authorities” have changed
The meaning of verse!
In my estimation,
That’s poet-defamation
Egregiously fomenting
The poet’s hearse!
Some Profs of poesy
Envy Poets in history.
Wanting to be called “Poet,”
But aren’t, can’t, and know it,
They’ve hijacked the gift:
They’ve named prose
“The new poetry”!
They denigrate poets
Who scribe rhythm ’n’ rhyme,
Calling their work childish—
“Of the Dr. Seuss kind.”
They claim Hiawatha doesn’t fit
Modern meanings of Posey
So Longfellow wasn’t a poet;
But they don’t know yet,
How to classify him or “it”*!
Well, they can take such shit
And shove it!
Lesser intellects love it:
They’ve downgraded
And rewritten history,
Even in the case of poetry!
But as for me, an old-timey,
I’ll take rhythm ’n’ “rhymie”
As opposed to today’s “prosey”
By less-gifted gentry.
On a lighter note,
I’ve loved our jamming
And the poem you wrote.
Your Rap takes the cake
For award-winning slamming.
You’ve come out on top,
Hands down!
I’ll expound
In our next go-around.
Your friend on the rebound**.
Part Two:
Prose Is the New Poetry
“Our next go-around.
Dearest Friend:
I’d like to write in verse exclusively.
But Time’s of the essence.
So though I may pen you poetry
Lacking sense,
Writing rhythm and rhyme
Requires more time
Than penning prose in a sentence.
But here’s where
Prose is the new poetry
Comes in handy:
My regular writing,
By today’s definition of verse,
Is poetry.
At least, it can’t be worse!
Now who’s fooling who?
Certainly nobody’s fooling you.
They can’t fool a Poet true.
So I’m rewriting
Today’s definition of poetry,
And I’ll define:
Poetry is prose
*In rhythm and rhyme.*
And I’m putting poets
Back on the pedestal
Where they should be—
Back to the future
In “the new modernity”!
Prose writers are talented;
They possess possibility.
But only true poets
Can pen rhyming poetry.
So good luck and suck it up,
If you’re a Wanabee
Hoping to be called “Poet”
Exclusively!
That said, I’ll see you
In the next go-around
Coming around quickly.
Till then, I ever remain
A “Poet of Modernity,”
Rhyming on a dime
Forever and eternally.
~Stephany
*The Song of Hiawatha – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his love for Minnehaha, a Dakota woman.
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Cast Your Worries to the windby Stephany Spencer-LeBaron My Uncle Joel LeBaron’s favorite maxim,“Cast your worries to the wind;Let the rain settle them,”Was keen wisdom. “To yourself be kind,”He’d often remind;“Leave negatives behind:The wind blows them awayDuring your daily grind;And rain settles all in time. “Dump the big boulder!Don’t let it smolder.Toss over your shoulderThings you can’t…
Tips from Tony: Emote the EmotionBy Stephany Spencer-LeBaron Emote the emotion,Over-and-over,You want to feel,Says Anthony Robbins,Motivational speakerAnd modern guru,Like Doctors Dyer and Phil. Says Anthony:To change your emotion, Change your motion;You’re at the wheel.Changing physiologyChanges emotions;It’s a done deal. Stand tall and proudWhen feeling afraid;Singing a happy tuneMay also aid. Sit erect, when feeling bad;Turn your…
“I was once the world’s greatest polygamist and I got cut out by Alex Joseph. He is smarter than I am. He’s got more wives than I have … He’s in the herb business … Ginseng …”Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr [2] I left off in “Pt 34-H” saying: For a number of years, my Schizo-compromised…
Continued from “Pt 34-G: The Mexico-LeBarons: Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?“ “I hold the patriarchal keys of Joseph Smith’s house. My mother’s still alive and she never favored me. My father gave me these keys and told me to go ahead with the patriarchal work in his stead. I have two witnesses.” [1] Continued…
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“My brother Joel helped me set up the church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Times in 1955. “He agreed to work under my direction until the coming of the mighty and strong spoken of in the 85th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. “About a few weeks after the incorporation was set up…
“And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the sceptre of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God,…
“One cannot change what one refuses to look at. Understanding their point of view, their position, and how they got that way is a beginning.”REBECCA KIMBEL My uncle Joel Franklin LeBaron wasn’t much different from his father Alma Dayer who, before him, claimed to be the one mighty and strong/OM&S/Patriarch over the whole earth—God’s mouthpiece…
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“A wise person once said that people see what they want to see. That seems to be especially true in religion! Many of them just can’t resist trying to shine brighter than the rest; even if the lights aren’t even on. Live and learn, and don’t repeat the BS, right?” Kris Wray This blog is…
Pt 34-A: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The Mexico LeBarons, and Hearing Voices The young and the old of my Grandpa Dayer LeBaron “There is only one way to bring a child upin the way he should goand that is to travel that way yourself.”Abraham Lincoln IF it’s true Grandpa Dayer’s grandfather B.F. Johnson said he held a…
Pt 33: The Mexico-LeBarons and Familial Incest * “The heart of the mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.”Honore De Balzac Incest on my maternal grandfather Alma Dayer LeBaron’s side definitely contributed to the mental illness prevalent in most of my maternal grandparents’ ten children who lived to…
This Memoir, written over thirty-five years ago, struck me as the work of an immature apologist and revisionist. Its bias toward my Uncle Ervil’s cold-hearted cult hangs like a cobweb over this tale co-authored by my Ex-Aunt, infamous Rena Chynoweth. The last I checked, this book was still in the public libraries. But sadly in…
Pt 32: Esther LeBaron Spencer, the Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness “The conscience of children is formed by the influences that surrounded them;their notions of good and evil are the result ofthe moral atmosphere they breathe.”Jean Paul Richter We left off last week with this assertion: People should take responsibility for their actions; not project blame…
Pt 31-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The-Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness ~Picking up where we left off on “Pt 31-C: My Mama Esther LeBaron Spencer, The- Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness”: X– Another factor leading to mental problems in the Dayer and Maud LeBaron family is: They held much in because they were supposed to be perfect Mormon…
Pt 31-C: Esther LeBaron Spencer, the Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness “He did the wrong thing for the right reason.” Stephany Spencer-LeBaron Repeating what was said in previous blogs, both my mother and Grandmother Maud LeBaron believed the cause of mental illness in their immediate family was mainly due to the townspeople who ostracized…
Pt 31-B: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The Mexico LeBarons, and Mental Illness “As you work on your memoir, write with fidelity to your own experience while knowing that memory is fallible. Write with respect for your subjects, even if they come across as louts. And tell your story true, artfully, and with courage.” Tracy seeley My Ruby…
Pt 31-A: Esther LeBaron Spencer, the Mexico LeBarons, and Mental Illness “No influence is so powerful as that of the mother.” Sarah Josepha Hale As I said in the previous blog, both my mother and maternal grandmother Maud LeBaron believed the cause of mental illness in their immediate family was mainly due to the townspeople who ostracized…
Pt 30: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, and Mental Illness “A mother’s love for her childis like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity; it dares all things, and crushes down remorselesslyall that stands in its path.”Agatha Christie Mother once confided in me: “I told yer Pa, before I married him, that he must promise…
~ Pt 21: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade “Civilization is social ordersupporting cultural creativity.”Will Durant Taking up from “Pt 20-A-J: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade,” it bears restating that one of my Mormon fundamentalist sisters who married so many Misters never ever caught on … never bothered to catch on how to check out, before she…
Pt 29: Esther LeBaron Spencer and Grandma Maud LeBaron “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the nation and its destiny.” South African Proverb I wonder: Did my attractive mama Esther LeBaron marry a father figure—my papa Floyd Spencer was 26 years older than she. Could part of my gifted, outstanding 22-year-old mother’s attraction to my not-well-educated…
“Home is wherever I’m with you.”“HOME” by Edward Sharpand the Magnetic Zeros “Home,” by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros “Home is whenever I’m with you.”Edward Sharpe* Beginning where we left off in “Pt 27: More Memories of My Mama Esther LeBaron-McDonald and My Papa Floyd Otto Spencer:” In early 1947, Pa was lying incapacitated in a…
Pt 27: More Memories of My Mom Esther LeBaron and Dad Floyd Spencer “One I love with all my heart,Mother, dear, it’s you;And I want to make you glad;Yes, indeed, I do!I will help you every day,Smiling as I go,And I’ll never make you sadBecause I love you so.”(Author unknown) We left off in “Part…
Pt 26: More Memories of My Mom Esther LeBaron Spencer My mother Esther LeBaron-McDonald Spencer at age 21 “You can never go home.” Sinclair Lewis Another variable in the equivocation, as to Mom’s virginity on her wedding night, is the following (Perhaps I’m throwing a hand grenade into the equation?): When I was about fourteen, Momma told…
Pt 25: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Pa, Me, ‘n’ Polygamy My parents and nine of their then 10 children in 1956 or 1957. I’m around 10 or 11 years old in this picture–just got back from cherry-picking in a friend’s orchard so my hair is all mussed up. “Never complain about what your parents couldn’t give…
Pt 24: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade Life’s HighwayTo everyone their openethA way, ways, and a way;And the high soul takes the high way,The low soul takes the low;While in between on the misty flatsThe rest drift to and fro.But to everyone their openethA high way and low.And everyone decidethThe way his soul…
My Memoir: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade — Part 23 “People see what they want to see till they want to see.” Dena McLean (My cousin) I left off in blog, “Pt 22: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade,” saying: Mama preached polygamy and told people they would go to hell if they did…
Pt 22: Ma Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade As you work on your memoir,tell your story true, artfully and with courage,writing with fidelity to your own experiencewhile knowing that memory is fallible.Tracy Seeley.My Ruby Slippers, Repeating what was said in “Pt 21: Ma Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade, “I’m not proud of what…
~ Pt 21: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade “Civilization is social ordersupporting cultural creativity.”Will Durant Taking up from “Pt 20-A-J: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade,” it bears restating that one of my Mormon fundamentalist sisters who married so many Misters never ever caught on … never bothered to catch on how to check out, before she…
Pt 20-A: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy-On-The-Down-Low Tom Weston said you can tell God created people in his own image because he hates all the same people, coincidentally, that you do. (The Christian far-right) I left off in “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On the Down-Low, Part 19-Z” remarking on a trip…
Pt 20-J: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade People see what they want to see, believe what they want to believe; It’s impossible to reason with an irrational person. Stephany Spencer I left off in “Pt 20-I: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade” saying in the cult I came from, a Mormon fundamentalist man usually…
Pt 20-I: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on Parade My family in 1964 — one sister absent) Abuse: “When fear rules, Obedience is the only survival choice.” Toni Morrison “God Help the Child” My parents, though trying prodigiously to do what was right, foolishly spawned a bunch of foot-washing fundamentalist children bound by fear and…
Listen on YouTube to my Aunt Irene (Kunz-LeBaron) Spencer’s half-sister, my aunt-in-law Rebecca Kunz Kimbel’s outstanding interview of Author Ed Kociela who wrote two excellent books I recommend: “Plygs,” and “Plygs 2.”* Till we learn from past mistakes, we’re bound to repeat them and pass them on to our progeny ad infinitum in the form…
My Memoir: Pt 20-G, Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy Parasites “Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: The last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. Viktor Frankel “Man’s Search for Meaning” Continuing where we left off in “Pt 20-F, Ma,…
Pt 20-F: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy on-the-down-low Notes from a Chat Site: “Narcissists make me melt down and cry like a child. It is a remarkable trick Narcissists pull. They are petty and acquisitive — and have no scruples. They value themselves by how much they can steal from someone else through cunning, manipulation, or simply believing they are…
“You have to have standards, no matter how low!” Anne Lamott Picking up from the previous blog, “Part 20-D: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy On-The-Down-Low:“ Previously I said William Preston Tucker/ AKA: Bill, the 26-year-old polygamist I was pawned off on, was commonly two-faced. It was too important for him to be liked. And in order to be…
Law 27 “People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a clause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform. Ask them to make sacrifices on…
Pt 20-C: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy On-The-Down-Low Advice on How to Handle Overt/ Covert Narcissists: Saying “I do not consent” won’t work with narcissists: They don’t care about boundaries. They will keep coming at you. Look up “grey rock,” quietly let authorities know of the toxic person, and, so you are taken seriously, allude…
Pt 20-B: Ma, Pa, Me, and Polygamy On-The-Down-Low My parents Esther LeBaron-McDonald and Floyd Otto Spencer “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.” Maya Angelou I left off with “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On The Down-Low — Part 20-A.” Let’s now backtrack a few blogs…
Tom Weston said you can tell God created people in his own image because he hates all the same people, coincidentally, that you do. (The Christian far-right) I left off in “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On the Down-Low, Part 19-Z” remarking on a trip I went on with Bill to…
My Memoir: Part 19-Z: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On The Down-Low Women Beware: Philanderers are Opportunists: Big Pretenders. They will tell anybody anything they want to hear. How can you tell if they’re lying? Their lips are moving. If a person will break a marriage contract, he or she will break any…
Part 19-Y: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — and Polygamy On The Down-Low A Reflection: Is God then so ignorant of things, so unacquainted with the human heart that He has to find out about a man by testing him? Of course not. It is in order that a person may find out about himself. There are…
Part 19-X — Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On-The-Down-Low Online Chat Notes Denote NPD: Narcissistic Personality Disorder Said one woman, “You know, it’s so funny: I used to think my Ex was the most kind, loving, good-hearted man I ever met. I used to think he was such a treasure and that I didn’t deserve him. When…
Part 19-W, Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On-The-Down-Low William Preston Tucker and Stephen Silver People don’t see what they don’t want to see till they want to see. Stephany Spencer Taking up where we left off in, “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On-The-Down-Low, Part 19-V”: Being an adolescent nineteen year…
Part 19-V, Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On-The-Down-Low “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should’ve behaved better.” Anne Lamott, “Bird by Bird” I left off in “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On-The-Down-Low, Part 19-U”…
Part 19-U — Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And Polygamy On-The-Down-Low Left to right: Me, hubby Billy, 1st wife “Overlord” Marilyn, 2nd wife Lolita–both wearing makeup; not I. ‘Twas against our religion. “A memoir is your perception of your experience of your involvement in a particular situation in your life. It is not your sister’s, it…
Part 19-T: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer And More Perils of Polygamy: My Honeymoon “The sharing of stories broadens our outlook on life. People identify with and draw strength from reading about the struggles of others. Readers can ‘try on’ the life of the character/s in the story, and see how they would have felt and reacted; without having…
Part 19-S, Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer And More Perils of Polygamy:My Honeymoon “And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love” ― William Blake I left off in “My Memoir: Part 19-R, Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer and More Perils of Polygamy: My Honeymoon,” saying: It hurt SO to…
My Memoirs: Part 19-R, Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy: My Honeymoon “We all come from the past, and children ought to know what it was that went into their making.” Russell Baker I’d never traveled much past my own backyard, especially once we moved, when I was fourteen, to Chihuahua, Mexico, to…
Part 19-Q — Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy Could This be Bill with his first two wives, “horny toads” in a menage a trois? Sex, drugs, ‘n’ “rock ‘n’ roll” — Rock on! “The truth told with love and consideration is the key. An honest account of what you experienced is…
My Memoir: Part 19-P — Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — More Perils of Polygamy “As I sifted through my memories, my life came to me in bits and pieces, often disconnected, just like my dreams. Even normal memory has gaps, but traumatic memory is even more discontinuous. This is my story, which put…
My Memoir, Part 19-O: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy “Leaders who win the respect of others are the ones who deliver more than they promise, not the ones who promise more than they can deliver.” Mark A. Clement Taking up where I left off in my blog “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de…
My Memoir, Part 19-N: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy From left to right: My Uncle Ervil M. LeBaron; My father, Floyd Otto Spencer; My mother, Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer; and My husband William Preston Tucker/ Bill The Virginity Try as he will, no man breaks wholly loose From his first…
My Memoir, Part 19-M: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy “To handle your self, use your head; to handle others, use your heart. George Bernard Shaw Taking up where we left off in“My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy — Part 19-L”: Bill’s second wife, Lolita, played mouthpiece for “the family” when,…
My Memoir Part 19-L: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — More Perils of Polygamy Two of Bill’s Mormon French-missionary friends, LDS “Saints” “Dick ‘n’ Peter” “By their friends, ye shall know them.” Biblical Adidge Taking up where we left off in “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy, Part 19-K”: I said in an earlier…
My Memoir, Part 19-K: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — and More Perils of Polygamy “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.” Warren G. Bennis Taking up where we left off in “My Memoir Backstory: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy, Part…
My Memoir, Part 19-J: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” H.G. Wells Taking up where we left off in my last blog, “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy — Part 19-I”: My husband William Preston Tucker/ Bill Had…
My Memoir, Part 19-I: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy “Man, created in God’s image and likeness, is not just flesh and blood. The sexual instinct is not all that he has: Man is also, and preeminently, intelligent and free. And thanks to these powers, he is and must remain superior to the rest…
My Memoir, Part 19-H: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy “History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.” Edward Gibbon I left off in “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy — Part 19-G” relating how I had come to realize people did not just…
Point blank: The point at which all thought leaves the frontal lobe and one comes face-to-face with writers block. Author unknown/Dan pointer? Point blank: 1- The point at which one’s empty cartridge pen pummels the range between a gun and its target called writers block. 2- The point at which one’s brain is shot through…
Ponderin’ ‘n’ Wonderin’:A Conversion with SelfBy Stephany Spencer-LeBaronAt seventy-one, I’m hungBy protruding nailsOn my ladder’s last rung,Wonderin’ what elseI might’ve won.And should I try for moreBefore I’m done? Or should I commitTo recreation,Cease ambition and aspiration;Cease trying to make more of myself.Simplify life by puttingStruggle on the shelf? Sure, I ponder,As I wonder ‘n’ wander,But…
My Memoir, Part 19-G: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy “Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.”…
My Memoir, Part 19-F: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy “Leadership is not wielding authority – It’s empowering people.” Becky Brodin I left off in “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy — Part 19-E” on the following note: I Now know my mother’s brother, Ervil LeBaron, was a psychopath and sociopath…
My Memoir:Part 19-E:Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, And More Perils of Polygamy “An important question for leaders: ‘Am I building people, or building my dreamand using people to do it?’ “John Maxwell I left off in “My Memoir Backstory: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, And More Perils of Polygamy, Part 19-D” saying: The secretly arranged marriage my Uncle Ervil LeBaron had manipulated me into wasn’t at…
My Memoir, Part 19-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me,And More Perils of Polygamy “The successful leader is the one who makes the right moveat the right moment with the right motive.”John Maxwell Continuing where we left off inmy memoir backstory:“Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me,And More Perils of Polygamy, Part 19-C” Heck! Here I am, barely sixteen, alone in the dark, parked in a car…
My Memoir, Part 19-C: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer, Me, And More Perils of Polygamy “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln I left off in “My Memoir: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — And More Perils of Polygamy — Part 19-B” commenting: In Homer Babbitt’s kissThere was no connubial bliss,Though…
My Memoir, Part 19-B: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — Me, and More Perils of Polygamy “A wise leader inspires and motivates, rather than intimidating and manipulating.” Henry Ford Continuing where we left off in the previous blog wherein my life was being hijacked in the name of plural marriage: As I mentioned previously, Mother’s brother…
My Memoir, Part 19-A: Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer: Ma, Pa, Me and Perils of Polygamy “No influence is so powerfulas the that of the mother.” Sarah Josepha Hale Picking up from “My Memoir Backstory:Esther LeBaron McDonald de Spencer — Ma ‘n’ Pa — Part 18:” As I’ve bemoaned before, Mummsy couldn’t live polygamy herself — at…
I’d rather be alone and unhappythan unhappy in a church that squelches meand no longer speaks to me. Stephany Spencer NOTE: The following blog is a heartfelt exhortion posted on Facebook by a cyberspace Ex-Mormon acquaintance. It’s followed by my response. Bruce: I am not alone. I am, though, lonely. Other extended-family members have left…
Ultimately!I know God loves usAll the sameAnd we each partakeOf joy and pain,Free will and choice,Loss and gain. Plus a chance to Journey To the Waters main,Drink up and makeA memorable nameAnd an understandingOf all things attain. God gives us so much for freeAnd carries us whenWe’re sick and weakly. Though the journey isFar from ever…
Agenda 2021/2030 and End-times FateBy Stephany Spencer-LeBaron If the globalist agenda to dominate, vaccinate, and exterminate succeeds, by 2028 we’ll no longer be allowed to congregate. That will ensure we can’t hook-up,meet, nor copulate.So humans will cease to propagate.Test-tube babies will take the cake. By the time most people finally awake, it will be way…
HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2021 IS HERE!! By Stephany Spencer-LeBaron (sung to melody of Auld Lang Syne) 1- Two-thousand-nineteen is here! We are one year older: Everyone has grown And we are bolder As we enter this new year. So let us make a resolution To never be the problem — Only the solution To our problems … every one.…
Pt 43: Esther LeBaron Spencer and Lesbian Love “All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her.” George Washington Pt 43-A: My Mama Esther LeBaron Spencer and Lesbian Love In August of 1958, during a hot-as-hell Hurricane, Utah…
In Mexico, Down Past the Rio Grande by Stephany Spencer Song Version: 1— In Mexico, down past the Rio Grande,I buried my diaries in the desert sand;Now they lie lost in a foreign land —Lost in LeBaron when I fled the clan. Lost my poetry in the desert’s brew, too.It’s now covered by sandstorms that…
NOTE: The following is a re-post of a past blog. Since that previous posting, some things have changed: E.g, Rebecca Kimbel recently published her amazing Memoir: Born in Polygamy. I bought the manuscript last week on Amazon.com. I’m now in the process of reading this masterpiece that promises to be the Bible of all books…
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” William James In July 1967, three months after my/our husband, William Preston Tucker/AKA: Bill Tucker (I say “our” husband because I was one of Bill’s three wives), announced to the “church” he was leaving, he died from a burst appendix. Up until then, he had been one of…
Books & Media That Changed My Life for the Better oN MY JOURNEY from Fundism to freedom “Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” – Henry David Thoreau “If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books.”…
Pt 42-A:Megalomania and theMaking of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind Somehow we learn who we really areand then live with that decision.“Eleanor Roosevelt I’ve long been on a quest to understand the making of the Mexico-LeBaron mind—its need to be number one, the best, in control of everyone—and always able to secure a gaggle of staunch Mormon…
LIFE’S DASH My cousin, the famous Eddie LeBaron “There’ll be two dates on your tombstone And all your friends will read ‘em; But all that’s going to matter- Is that little dash between ‘em.” Kevin Welch LIFE’S DASH by Stephany Spencer-LeBaron 1- Between the dates of birth and death, There’s always a little dash — To…
MY EXPOSE ON POLYGAMY “Was It really a Divine Revelation from God to Joseph Smith that people had to live this so-called “principle” in order to attain the highest degree of glory in heaven?”* The above question was on the Discussion Board of a mainstream LDS Mormon blog site I happened to run into on…
The Mormon Giant *By Kris Wray While Dayer LeBaron [Sr]’s eldest son Ben may have been able to do 100 push-ups in a traffic jam to demonstrate he was mighty and strong, and bellow out roars that would leave people’s ears ringing as evidence he was the Lion of Judah, ol’ Ben had serious competition…
PART 1 My Memoir: My Daddy, Floyd Otto Spencer My Daddy, Floyd Otto Spencer, age 19 MY DADDY My Memoir Backstory “My Daddy” takes up where I left off writing “My Memoir Introduction: I Was Born a “Saint.” After I wrote this blog, I realized I’d put the cart before the horse — started my Memoir bass-ackwards: I got myself…
A Memoir: FLEEING POLYGAMY: Out of LeBaronism into the Lightby Stephany Spencer-LeBaron PART 1:Esther LeBaron-McDonald Spencer:My Mother: Image “Mother! For love of thee it was begun;In thy most honored name today ’tis done.And though all earthly cares must ceaseIn that fair land of everlasting peace,Love aye is one, and they who love…
Caveat … The story you are about to read is true and I never killed anyone unless it was a justifiable homicide. Fulano’s Blog Search Guest Blog: David Marston’s Life Story (A Brother of Anna LeBaron) Posted on November 7, 2010 Caveat…The story you are about to read is true and I never killed anyone…
I joined Songmakers organization in 1987. Music has always been an important part of my life. A multi-instrumentalist, the following link is a fun recording of the cut I made in 2004 accompanied by Vic Brandriff and Steve Durfee on a Songmakers’ CD: “Tune Town:” To learn more about the wonderful Songmakers organization, its history, and venues, click…
“The LeBaron Story” is truly a “Vanity Book” — not only because my uncle Verlan LeBaron paid a publishing company in 1981 (back when self-publishing was not the norm) to publish the book — but also because it’s a revisionistic, apologetic, and biased history of “the Mexico LeBarons;” i.e., my grandparents Maud and Dayer LeBaron and their offspring. What’s more,…
Sing your song, Dance your dance, Tell your tale. —Frank McCourt, Modern-day Dickens, Author of best-selling classics: Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, and Teacher Man They Changed the Name of Our Hometown* 1— They changed the name of our hometown the other day, But in the hearts of some Short Creek will always stay; The cliffs so high, the…
Investigative Journalist Scott Anderson, Author of The 4 O’clock Murders Scott Anderson’s “The 4 O’clock Murders,” published in 1993, is a must-read for those interested in a documentary of America’s most bizarre but now apparently defunct crime family. The Doc chronicles the history of this extremist cult initiated in the late 1960s by the sociopathic serial…
An update of my January 9, 2017 Review of “It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass: Confessions of an Ex-Mormon Ex-Polygamist Ex-Wife: I don’t usually do Book Reviews, for lack of time. But this book was so super, I listened to it straight through, on Audible; then listened to it again two times more — then…
The Book “Prophet’s Prey,” was authored by outstanding LDS Mormon Leader, Activist, Detective and Private Investigator Sam Brower. It is among the best books written on life within Mormon fundamentalist clans and enclaves. A film by the same title, “Prophet’s Prey,” opened in theaters on September 18th, 2017. It’s based on Brower’s chronicle of Warren Jeffs…
Less and Less the U.S. More and morewe’re less and lessthe U.S. we used to be.Inflation, stagnation,illegal immigrationand the global economyare partly what’s changedour democracy.Now Covid-1984is tracking me!Who’s pulling the stringsof our bureaucracy?I’m all for improvementand equality.That’s not what Inow generally see.My U.S. is a mess;no longer free.Bring back the Americawe used to be.Bring back freedomand…
NOTE: The following essay is a Review of The Sound of Gravel, a Memoir by Ruth Wariner, a first cousin of mine. (“Wariner” is Ruth’s mother’s maiden name. My Uncle Joel LeBaron was Ruth’s father.) By Stephany Spencer:I’ve read once, listened thrice to Ruth Wariner’s book/audiobook, The Sound of Gravel. It got higher ratings with each…
Civilization is social order supporting cultural creativity. Will Durant The picture below elicited the following poem: “A Lyrical-Letter to My Art Teacher.” NOTE: As a youngster, I always got an “A” on my Art work. But was worried I would end up with a “B” on the picture you see above, because I had to erase…
The Cards of Life Life dealt me cards — I played my hand With confidence — I had it planned … When, later, life revealed the score It shook me to my very core! I wondered then — still wonder now: Could I have changed my life somehow? And — if life dealt this hand…
My Review of Mary Trump’s “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” Don’t waste your time and money on this screed, this dirge—this deplorable piece of clickbait…unless Donald Trump’s your scapegoat and you would thrive on a nitpicking scourge written by his old niece simply to get revenge…
INTRODUCTION I was born some time ago,Way out in the sticks,In a valley of old Mexico,In 1946.(So begins my saga.) “I am conscious that my narrativesavers of incredibility:The fault is in the subject,not in the narrator.”~The City of the Saints,By Richard F. Burton,1861*(Quote borrowed from Irving Wallace’soutstanding biography,“The Twenty-Seventh Wife”)1961 The Cards of LifeLife dealt…
Post updated.View Post In 2017, I bought and read Maud’s Story, a 2013 self-published/Vanity Press book written by my Aunt Charlotte LeBaron — my Mother’s brother Verlan LeBaron’s first wife. It’s a short book consisting mainly of letters supposedly written by Maud Lucinda McDonald LeBaron* — letters run-together in often hard-to-decipher paragraphs more akin to vignettes. It appears, at the time…
(*NOTE: My Review doesn’t look as nice as it looks on Amazon.com, from whence I copied and pasted it after I wrote it there. But at least I was able to post it here, for better or for worse. ~Also, below this Book Review is an essay I used by permission of a blogger friend, Bruce Holt.…
Oh, To Be Just Me! I was born some time ago Way out in the sticks In a Mormon colony in Mexico In nineteen-forty-six My family moved to the U.S. When I was only one — Right after The Great Depression And World War II were done. We’re now eleven kids Though I’m only twelve;…
Bio Ballad of a Cult Survivor:My Bio in Verse, for Better or Worse(by Stephany Spencer-LeBaron) 1- I was born some time agoWay out in the sticksIn a Mormon cult in Mexico In nineteen forty-six By the time I was elevenWe were a family of twelveFor everything I ever gotI had to dig and delve. Refrain:…
My Hypnotic-Regression “Rebirthing” Session In 1986, I learned it was possible to be hypnotized and taken back to the moment I was born. Being a curious person undergoing personal growth, self-discovery, and healing, I hired an excellent psychotherapist who specialized in doing psychological “Rebirthings.” Through my hypnotic-regression session, this therapist guided me back to the…
Famous ‘n’ InfamousRelatives “We all come from the past,and children ought to know what it wasthat went into their making.”Russell Baker The following book by Diana Spencer’s brother, Charles Spencer, the ninth Earl of England, chronicles the story of his Royal family. It may be of interest to Spencer families and anyone related to…
I recommend listening to Doris Hanson‘s YouTube interviews. She had her own independent TV show for many years. Now she produces her shows on YouTube. I’ve learned much from listening to these excellent interviews she has done of especially mainstream Mormons, and also Mormon fundamentalists who have left or escaped the Sect they were raised…
On July 7, 2016, I was cruising cyberspace’s social media when I came across a most fascinating and brilliant person and writer, Luna Flesher Lindsey. Her comments on Facebook grabbed me. I could relate to them. I, too, was ostracized while living in Utah among the LDS/ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,…
(NOTE: Not Hurricane High School: But this photo is the best depiction I could find of how I recall Hurricane High back when I attended 6th-8th grades there, between 1957–1960.) A Memoir Story by Beulah Stephany Spencer-LeBaron It was the 1959–1960 school year in small-town Hurricane, Utah. And everybody in my eighth-grade English class hated…
Media on My Extended Family, Friends, and Fundamentalist Mormon Cults This is a movie done some years ago about my infamous Uncle Ervil LeBaron, my mother’s brother. He is now known as “Evil Ervil,” and “The Mormon Manson.” I knew, respected, and loved him before he went off the deep end with his sociopathy and…
Madigan and Gaffigan By Stephany Spencer-LeBaron What a brilliant comedian is Jim Gaffigan He makes me laugh then laugh again His moniker is “Mr. Universe”He’s earned this title in action and verseHe’s a regular dynamo running in reverse! Most stand-up comics lewdly gesture and curseTheir work is loaded with smut and worse Trying to Cover…
A Lesson Too Late In The Learning: Write It or Regret It Recently, at the California Writers Club, a fellow poet and guest speaker, Deborah Edler Brown, advised: “At the moment of inspiration, record it. Don’t wait! For it’s like babies lost you can never retrieve if you don’t record your inspiration when it comes.”…
Bio Ballad in Verse for Better or Worseby Stephany Spencer-LeBaronI was born some time agoAway out in the sticksIn Mexico’s Rocky Mountain RangeIn 1946 Was raised in a Mormon cultWhere self-righteous hicksThought it sinfulWith the world to mix Like egotistical foolsIn fanatic backwoods schoolsThey thought themselvesGod’s chosen handfulHis Saints andHeavenly-kingdom tools But they wereBackward bigotsExtremists…
By Stephany Spencer: Review of my cousin Anna LeBaron’s Memoir: The Polygamist’s Daughter *Note:This is a re-post Review I wrote three years ago when Anna Le Baron’s first Memoir came out. I’m happy to tell you she is now in the process of writing her second book. Follow her on social media sites such as…
On Feb 10, 2020, a Bill was on the table in the Utah senate to reduce the level of penalty for polygamists in Utah: SB102 would make bigamy among consenting adults an infraction on par with a traffic ticket! Around March 23, 2020, in an effort to try to stop the passing of SB102, I sent (and…
Part 42-E:Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.“Sir Winston Churchill On August 21, 2001, I decided to place a long-overdue call to Colonia LeBaron, Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico, to wish my orthodox-Mormon mother Esther…
Part 42-D:Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind Leaving a cult is a lot likedriving at night with your headlights on:You may only see a few feet in front of you,but you can make the whole journey that way.Stephany Spencer–LeBaron(Takeoff from E. L. Doctorow): “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night.…
Pt 42-C: Megalomania, and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind “Whatever we call the form–autobiography, memoir, personal history, family history–writing about one’s life is a powerful human need. Writers are the custodians of memory, and memories have a way of dying with their owner. If it’s a family history, it will have the further value…
Pt 42-B:Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind A Rugged Constitutionalist: A Fundamentalist Mormon with a hard anti-government bent. Tell bleeding hearts that the Southern Poverty Law Centerhas listed the fundamentalists as a White supremacist, homophobic, antigovernment, totalitarian cult.” PLYG: Ed Kociela In the previous blog, I discussed my Mexico-LeBaron extended-family’s narcissistic personality…
Pt 42-A: Megalomania and the Making of the Mexico-LeBaron Mind Somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.“ Eleanor Roosevelt I’ve long been on a quest to understand the making of the Mexico-LeBaron mind—its need to be number one, the best; in control of everyone—and always able to secure a…
Pt 41-A:Esther LeBaron Spencer and“More on” LeBaron Madness “What lies behind usand what lies before usare tiny matters compared towhat lies within us. “Ralph Waldo Emerson In “Parts 39–40-B:Esther LeBaron Spencer;Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy,”I discussed issues of perfectionism in my grandparents Maud and Dayer LeBaron’s family. But also of issue is their need…
Pt 41-M: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness “There are no heros. Only heroic decisions. You are never further than one decision away from making a difference. It doesn’t matter whether it is a big difference or if it is a small difference, because you don’t have to save the world by…
Pt 41-L: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” Winston Spencer Churchhill Continued from “Pt 41-L: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness”:The following exhibits come from gifted Uncle Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr’s Art Portfolio. I regret…
Pt 41-k: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness “Polygamy attracts the type of men who do not wish to be accountable to anyone; least of all their wives. Marriage was not a partnership.” Karen MILLER: “My Life as a Sister Wife” *Continued from “Pt 41-J: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on”…
Pt 41-J: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie–deliberate, contrived, and dishonest–but the myth–persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic….We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. John F. Kennedy Ross LeBaron: Interview to Dale Van Atta, 1977 Ross Wesley LeBaron in June,…
Pt 41-I: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness In this blog, I continue with Tumblr-borrowed newsfeeds (See Tumblr for more such; and photos that didn’t copy to these following newsfeeds): “The outcome of Thelma Elena Cox LeBaron’s Ad: SNUBBED BY DIVORCEE, HE STILL WANTS A WIFE “Reno, Nev., April 25.–(IP)–The Illinois artist…
Pt 41-H: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness The following VERY old newspaper clippings were sent to me by an acquaintance who borrowed them off Tumblr: “Thelma Cox divorced Ross LeBaron Sr in fall 1948, although heavily pregnant with David LeBaron. “When the picture was taken [see Tumblr for the picture–not shown…
Part 41-G: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness “People who think they are great, usually aren’t” Old adage *NOTE: The following very old newspaper feeds were posted on Tumblr. (See Tumblr for more Photos of these articles. Clicking on links in the pieces may take you to the complete articles—if they’re still…
Pt 41-F: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness *NOTE: An acquaintance sent the following interesting but old news clipping she found on Tumblr: “Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr’s oldest son, Ross LeBaron Jr, famously has his own cult in which he impregnates his biological daughters using his “pure seed”… cause God told him he…
Pt 41-E: Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr and “More on” LeBaron Madness People who don’t have the ability to discern truth will never be able to recognize me as the world’s greatest prophet” Ross Wesley LeBaron sR Recently on FaceBook Tom Green, modern-day fan of the late Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr, commented: “Ross was a defender…
Pt 41-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer and ‘More on’ LeBaron Madness” I learned again and again in my life, until you get your own act together, you’re not ready for Big Love.What you’re ready for is one of those codependent relationships where you desperately need a partner.” Bruce H. Lipton, The Honeymoon Effect: The Science of Creating…
Rancho La Mora, Sonora: LeBaron-American-MexicanMassacre NOTE:Due to the recent Mexico-LeBaron tragedy, I interrupt my regular-scheduled blog to post the following Memorial. MSN.COM: US Victims in Mexico massacre were tied to family with long history of violence In Memoriam: My condolences to my extended-family members and friends murdered in the recent Rancho LaMora, Sonora, Mexico massacre.…
Pt 41-C: Esther LeBaron Spencer and ‘More on’ LeBaron Madness “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”Blaise Pascal When it comes to my Mexico-LeBaron relatives claiming to be Number One, the One Mighty and Strong, etc., something else was operating besides their dreams, revelations, and hearing…
Pt 41-B: Esther LeBaron Spencer and “More on” LeBaron Madness” Your beliefs will be the light by which you see, but they will not be what you see; and they will not be a substitute for seeing. —Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners Claiming to be God’s chosen handful is a theme in some religions. But…
Pt 41-A: Esther LeBaron Spencer and “More on” LeBaron Madness “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson In “Parts 39–40-B: Esther LeBaron Spencer;Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy,” I discussed issues of perfectionism in my grandparents Maud and Dayer LeBaron’s family. But…
Pt 39: Ma, Pa, Me, And Polygamy on Parade “What the mother sings to the cradle goes all the way to the coffin.” Henry Ward Beecher Our habits of perfectionism are deeply harmful. Perfectionism distracts us and keeps us from moving forward, out of a fear of messing up or not being good enough. “ Parenting…
Pt 40-E: Esther LeBaron Spencer: Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy Abraham Lincoln ran on the Republican Platform of ending the “twin relics of barbarism: slavery and polygamy. Mormon Think I left off in the previous blog asking: How could I not think my parents were perfect? Children don’t question what their parents tell…
Pt 40-D: Esther LeBaron Spencer: Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy Writers do not live one life, they live two. There is the living and then there is the writing. Anaïs Nin Pardon me, but it perturbs me to this day that, underlying my parents’ polygamic, Fundamentalist lifestyle was their expectation that their kids…
Pt 40-C: Esther LeBaron Spencer: Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy UTAH POLYGAMY: PANDORA’S BOX Although the box is full of evils, we must remember there is Hope at the bottom. Utah needs to open this Box, deal with the evils, and start giving people Hope again.” Angela Kelly The above photo of my…
Pt 40-B: Esther LeBaron Spencer: Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy “The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.” Francis Bacon I left off in the last blog saying there’s no question the Mexico-LeBarons were scapegoats for sick people: Only sick people need scapegoats.…
Pt 40-A: Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy “When a task is once begun,Never leave it till it’s done;Be the labor great or small,Do it well or not at all.” A typical Perfectionistic adage I grew up with In blog, “Pt 39: Ma, Pa, Me, and Pitfalls of Polygamy,” I left off with: Mormons must…
Pt 39: Ma, Pa, Me, And Polygamy on Parade “What the mother sings to the cradle goes all the way to the coffin.” Henry Ward Beecher Our habits of perfectionism are deeply harmful: Perfectionism distracts us and keeps us from moving forward, out of a fear of messing up or not being good enough. “ Parenting…
Pt 35a–38c: More LeBaron-Spencer Family History “The less people speak of their greatness, the more we think of it.” ― Francis Bacon Pt 35-A: Alma Dayer LeBaron Lou Gehrig’s Diseaseand “Who Got the Button?” Maud Lucinda McDonald LeBaron, Joel Franklin LeBaron, and Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but…
Pt 38-B: Esther LeBaron & Floyd Spencer: Fights, Plights, and Physical Punishment Silence only benefits the oppressor. Those who love truth, and want to help victims,are open to discussion and want to hear how to help better.” Brenda’s Journey:Using Survivor’s Trauma–Help Don’t Harm I left off in “Pt 38-A” saying: That’s how our social life…
Pt 38-A: Esther LeBaron & Floyd Spencer: Fights, Plights, and Physical Punishment When you lead your sons and daughters in the good way, let your words be tender and caressing, in terms of discipline that wins the heart’s assent.” Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman Whatever the cause of insanity in my Mexico-LeBaron-Johnson line; or the problems…
Pt 37: Memoir of a Plyg: EDIFICATION at Utah’s Hurricane High School He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an…
Pt 36: My Mom, Dad, and Dayer LeBaron’s Death “Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.” Author Unknown In one or two places, my Grandmother Maud LeBaron is recorded as having said: “Joel “must be crazy if he’s claiming to have received any priesthood authority from his pa!…
Pt 35-B: Alma Dayer LeBaron, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and “Who Got the Button?” For Mormon fundamentalists, allowing everyone, including people of color and women, to have equal rights, is a sin against God. We were regimentally trained in blind obedience and self-sacrifice from our earliest memories. We were taught that the priesthood leaders spoke for…
Pt 35-A: Alma Dayer LeBaron Lou Gehrig’s Diseaseand “Who Got the Button?” Maud Lucinda McDonald LeBaron, Joel Franklin LeBaron, and Alma Dayer LeBaron “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.” Cardinal Mermillod Joel Franklin LeBaron — namesake of his Great-uncle Joel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin Johnson’s…
Pt 34-A: Esther LeBaron Spencer, The Mexico LeBarons, and Hearing Voices The young and the old of my Grandpa, Alma Dayer LeBaron “There is only one way to bring a child upin the way he should goand that is to travel that way yourself.”Abraham Lincoln IF it’s true Grandpa Dayer’s grandfather B.F. Johnson held a special…
While growing up, Mother talked about her amazing Great-grandfather B.F. Johnson — amazing not only because he was one of the American West’s and Mormondom’s early pioneer heroes (he helped forge the last frontier, Utah); but also because he figured big in how her father Dayer LeBaron claimed he acquired his “scepter of power.” Mother…
“The First Command was to ‘Multiply.’ The Prophet taught us that Dominion & Power in the great future would be comensurate with the no [number] of ‘Wives, Childin & Friends’ that we inheret here. And that our great mission to earth was to Organize a Neculi of Heaven to take with us. To the increase…
Pt 34-N: The LeBaron Madmen:
Button, Button: Who Got the Button?
The above Photo shows five of the seven “Mexico-LeBaron madmen”, Mother’s brothers, who claimed to be “The One Mighty and Strong” at one time or another in their life.
From left to right, my Uncle’s: Ervil, Joel, Verlan, Alma, and Floren LeBaron
“And now, if there are faults,
they are the mistakes of men.”
*The Book of Mormon* ~Joseph Smith
In 2016, One of my Uncle Floren LeBaron’s daughters-in-law swore her father-in-law, Floren LeBaron, never claimed to be a prophet! But she doesn’t know the whole story; only what she was told and surmised.
I recall when Uncle Floren started his own movement and gathering places. It was before his above daughter-in-law was born.
Apparently, by the time she joined Floren’s extended family, Uncle Floren — good for him — no longer claimed to be “The One Mighty and Strong,” nor to carry any “keys to the kingdom;” nor the priesthood mantle his father supposedly claimed to hold, and was to pass down to “one” of his sons at his death.
Recently, I spoke with some friends and old-time Fundies. They told me they knew Floren at the time he had a camp of followers in Los Molinos, Mexico; another in South America; and perhaps a third camp in Colonia LeBaron, Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico.
They told me Harold Tippits and Ross Jr. (among others I won’t name here), were Floren’s followers, at one time.
Here’s further proof Floren once set up his own “Zion:” Church of the Firstborn (LeBaron order) – Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Firstborn_(LeBaron_order): “Floren LeBaron had helped to form a loosely organized faction recognizing no formal leader.[31]
Also, Uncle Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr. said:
“Now, I don’t go along with either Joel’s movement or Verlan’s movement or Ervil’s; and now there’s a Floren, another brothren, and he’s trying to start a movement.”
(See my blog : “Pt 34-J: The LeBaron Madmen: Button, Button: Who’s Got the Button?”)
Lastly, to cement my testimony that Uncle Floren did once claim to be the OM&S, or at least started a movement like that of his other brothers, see Ch. 34 of Irene Spencer’s Cult Insanity, published 2009:
She states:
“The members of the Church of the Firstborn were deeply saddened when Verlan announced at a conference that Floren would no longer be working with his brothers. He had forfeited his position as one of the twelve apostles.
“To this day, Floren believes that he is the only LeBaron brother who can fulfill his father’s prophecy, ‘that through him and his sons, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.’
“He lived in Nicaragua for a couple of years and then moved to southern Mexico near Cancun, where he has been for over twenty-five years.
“He has a few followers, who are awaiting the return of Christ, who believe in his teachings. Five of his wives have left him; nevertheless, he strongly believes he will fulfill the promises and that he will set God’s house in order.”
Pictured are five of the seven “One Mighty & Strong” LeBaron Boys (left to right):
Verlan, Floren, Ervil, Joel, and Alma
“Polygamy:
Where a Prophet/Profit is made
by fleecing his sheep!”~Rebecca Kimbel
Cont. from Pt 34-L:
I left off last week stating: At one time, my uncle’s Ben, Wesley, Joel, AND Ervil were ALL FOUR claiming, CONCURRENTLY, that they each held the special OM&S priesthood power …
And that THEY each were God to the people — and THAT the scepter of power/Johnson mantle was conferred upon them, alone, BY their father Dayer LeBaron … who, by that time, had passed on — apparently passed on more than his keys to the kingdom, power, and glory:
He passed on mental illness.
But, amazingly, all Mother’s seven brothers OM&S/”God to the people” managed to acquire a following. And so did their sister Esther, my Mother: as “sister to the Prophet and the greatest woman in the world.” Trouble is, some people don’t recognize insanity when it smacks them squarely in the face.
What amazes me more is how many people followed these LeBarons simply because they told them they were “the One Mighty and Strong,” God’s spokesperson on earth; and so on.
My youngest sister, fluent in Spanish, presently works as a Nurse and Interpreter in a mental institution. She says the daily claims of schizophrenics she works with make her feel right to home:
“They’re exactly like all the claims of priesthood power, the O.M.& S., etc., I grew up with!” she exclaims.”
She continues:
“I just read your blog [“Pt 34-A”] and want to let you know you did great in explaining the revelations and voices our mother and grandparents would always talk about.
“When I was a child I thought something was wrong with me because I never got visited by an angel or heard any voices from God.”
I witnessed the things my sister mentions, having lived from 1960 to 1967 in Colonia LeBaron, Mexico, the Rocky Mountain Range’ssecluded Chihuahuan-desert community where she was born and spent most of her early years.
While living in LeBaron, I also witnessed the Mexico-LeBarons couldn’t lift up nor prepare a gathering place for themselves, to speak of—couldn’t save themselves, let alone the indigenous peoples of Mexico … or anyone else!
Infact, some of the Mexico-LeBarons and their followers were living at the same or lower levels than many of the poorer peoples of Mexico, Central, and South America.
Many indigenous peoples created far better lifestyles than those of my grandfather Dayer LeBaron and his seven “One Mighty and Strong” sons — for all their boast, bravado, and bluff that THEY were God’s patriarchal family; heir to Joseph Smith’s keys to the kingdom …
So were to do a GREAT work among the Lamanites (Indians); and build a gathering place/Zion “to save the world from the coming destructions.”
Truth is, the visionary Mexico-LeBarons not only couldn’t save anyone: Through their activities that included false prophecies, poor leadership, lack of integrity, and a backward lifestyle, they CREATED monumental suffering.
Laws unto themselves, they broughtmany of the destructions they preached were to come.But what can you expect from “mental” visionaries? [1]
People who come up with preposterous “profit” claims, profit most — and are MOST in need of a Prophet/profit.
[1] Symptoms of Schizophrenia hosted on YouTube by Psychiatrist David Viscott, M.D. :
Dr. David Viscott Discussing Schizophrenia Continued June 14, 2019: “Pt 34-N: The LeBaron Madmen: Button, Button: Who Got the Button?”
My Brilliant Uncle Ben Gone Bonkers
Instrumental:
A memoir of madness, medication, and music
James Rhodes
In blog “Pt 34-J,” I discussed the novelty of my Grandpa Dayer LeBaron and his son Ben — and probably his son Ross Wesley Sr., too [1] — holding concurrently the Johnson mantle/Right of the Firstborn/OM&S scepter of power.
That’s not only impossible, but bat-shit crazy, I thought … till recently I talked with an old-time Fundi who informed me there are a few Mormon fundamentalist groups who believe ALL the “keys to the kingdom” can be held — if only in waiting — by a number of men; all at one time!
If that doesn’t beat all, it at least makes possible a few things, in a few Fundies’ eyes, that would be impossible, otherwise. That’s all I care to say on the subject!
In my humble opinion, it’s totally “mental” that Uncle Ben and Uncle Ross Wesley Sr. not only each claimed concurrently, right along with their father, to be the OM&S but each also claimed to have gotten their “scepter of power”/patriarchal position from their own father who was still living — and STILL claiming HE, himself, was the ONLY one who held Benjamin F. Johnson’s priesthood mantle/scepter of power/keys to the kingdom; and was, therefore, Joseph Smith’s SOLE patriarchal heir!
But that ain’t the first time there were at least three or more LeBaron “Profits”/Pontiffs claiming the same “sceptre of power” — at the same time — in my SAME Mexico-LeBaron family!
Possibly, cousin Owen LeBaron (1918-1975), at one time, was claimng — concurrently with Dayer, Ben, and Ross Wesley Sr. — that he was the only true OM&S/one-of-a-kind “profit” — while claiming ALL the other OM&S Pontiffs were false prophets who should be put to death! (LOL!)
Well, that’s really not a laughing matter among “mentals:” Uncle Ross Wesley Sr. said he wasn’t against false prophets — such as his brother Joel (Ross Wesley Sr.’s arch enemy) — being put to death! [1]
I mentioned in a previous blog:
At one time, my uncle’s Ben, Ross Wesley Sr., Joel, AND Ervil were ALL FOUR claiming, CONCURRENTLY, that they each held the special OM&S priesthood power …
that THEY each were God’s only mouthpiece to the people; and THAT this position was conferred upon them, EXCLUSIVELY, BY their own father Dayer LeBaron …
who, by that time, had passed on … apparently passed on more than his keys to the kingdom, power, and glory:
He passed on mental illness.
Glory hallelujah, let’s all be saved — Saved from illusions and delusions of grandeur and power!
Mental Institutions abound with miscreants claiming to be God, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the OM&S, Napolean; you name it.
I thank God daily I didn’t inherit this “blessing,” this “scepter of power” — “God-to-the-people” power-syndrome; a narcisistic, megalomaniac need to be “The Only One”/Top Dog — The best of all God’s cretons in His/Her creation.
God help us! It takes a lot of sanity, integrity, and self-esteem to resist claiming we’re something we’re not.
I love the challenge of being the person I am; being where I am, doing what I am; love being a unique silkworm in metamorphosis, spinning MY silk-thread in the grand tapestry of Life — not lost in trying to be someone I’m not.
(To be continued)
[1] https://holyorder.org/2017/08/26/ross-lebaron-interview-to-dale-van-atta-1977/
Continued June 7, 2019: “Pt 34-M: The LeBaron Madmen: Button, Button: Who’s Got the Button?
Musician, Writer, and Mormon Fundi,
Esther LeBaron-McDonald Spencer
“Whether your memoir ever gets published isn’t finally the point. There are many good reasons for writing that have nothing to do with getting published.
Whatever we call the form–autobiography, memoir, personal history, Family history–writing about one’s life is a powerful human need.
“Writers are the custodians of memory, and memories have a way of dying with their owner.
” If it’s a family history, it will have the further value of telling your children and grandchildren who they are and what heritage they come from. Trust the process, and the product.”
Writing About Your Life:
A Journey Into the Past
William Zinsser
In “Pt 34-J, I said it’s questionable whether Grandpa Dayer LeBaron passed his “Johnson Mantle” on to his middle, non-scholarly son Joel: Some witnesses said Joel wasn’t around during his father’s demise.
Aunt Irene Kunz LeBaron/Spencer said she heard Grandma Maud exclaim — when Maud first heard her son Joel was claiming to be “The One Mighty and Strong” — “Joel must be crazy, like his brother Ben, if he’s also claiming to be the One Mighty and Strong!”
The above two paragraphs are samples of the early-history underpinnings of “The Church of the Firstborn of the Fullness of Time’s.”
But my comments on the Mexico-LeBaron power debates are mostly rehashing stuff mentioned in earlier blogs: Namely, the present-day Mexico-LeBaron history and dogma has been enhanced, revised, and rewritten.
In other words, important parts of today’s LeBaron story and religious teachings are not what I saw and heard during 1956–1967 — the time period I was in the LeBaron cult.
During those early years, I wittnessed the LeBaron teachings and story change sometimes daily. Now, almost 65 years since Joel and his cohorts started his “church” in 1955, the present-day LeBaron story and beliefs have been white-washed and cleaned up a lot; so now they sound more sophisticated and palatable.
But it’s not my purpose to prove anything to “true believers” and the present-day LeBaron progeny and followers. Nor am I writing to try to verify “Who got the Johnson mantle/Who’s got the button?” I’m simply recording MY testimony:
The LeBaron stories changed over the years.
My mother played the biggest hand in changing the “LeBaron story.” She not only created some of it, herself: She put it in writing for posterity and future LeBaronism investigators to read.
Most think it’s veracity. Consequently, The LeBaron Story and Maud’s Story (both books containing much material written by Ma) are the only recorded early histories of the Mexico-LeBarons. So the only story the new generations know or have access to.
People tend to believe what they see in writing: Being in print adds a much greater punch to the modern-day LeBaron cults’ beliefs; there now being a number of LeBaron-cult splinter groups.
Not only is much of Mother’s revisionist history in the books The LeBaron Story and Maud’s Story: She also wrote much of the “CotFotFoT” Lit used to this day. (Her name is often not on her material.)
Mother credited many of her writings to such fictitious authors as her ex-son-in-law and beau (ex-husband?) Sigfried Widmar; and her brother, the self-proclaimed Prophet Joel LeBaron. She did it to gain points and power with them and others; and to “help the work of the Lord grow.”
To beef-up her revisionisms, Mother (Esther LeBaron Spencer) typed up letters she says she transcribed from hand-written letters her mother/Grandma Maud wrote — letters wherein her ma Maud supposedly testified as to whom her husband Dayer gave the Johnson mantle. Wow! That’s a new one on me!
Let it be known, for the record:
I’d insist on seeing Grandma’s original, hand-written letters! Not Mother’s typewritten version—even if she had her mother Maud sign them!
I knew Mother to change and revise things to fit her own stories and to impress others by making things sound better; and Grandma Maud backed her up. In their humble Machiavellian opinion, “The ends justified the means.”
Continued May 31, 2019: “Pt 34-L: The LeBaron Madmen: Button, Button: Who’s Got the Button?
My Grandpa Alma Dayer LeBaron’s five youngest sons, “The Mexico-LeBaron Boys:” Left to right: Floren, Alma, Verlan, Joel, and Ervil
“Now, I don’t go along with either Joel’s movement or Verlan’s movement or Ervil’s; and now there’s a Floren, another brothren, and he’s trying to start a movement.”
Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr.
(Alma Dayer LeBaron’s second-oldest son) [1]
I mentioned in an earlier blog, at one time, and for a number of years, my grandfather Dayer AND his oldest son/my Uncle Ben BOTH claimed concurrently to be “The one mighty and strong prophet”/ “God’s mouthpiece on earth” come to set the house of God in order and prepare the way for the second coming of Christ” !
But my Uncle Ross Wesley LeBaron Sr., Grandpa Dayer’s second oldest son, was also claiming, as of 1950, to be the greatest man in the world — concurrently with his father Dayer and older brother Ben!
In an essay my Uncle Floren LeBaron wrote Aug. 7, 1998, he stated “Wes” was making claims along this line by 1950 — claims that his father Dayer had given him, Wesley, the “Right of the Firstborn;” i.e., ordained him, in 1950, to the highest office, that of Patriarch and heir to Joseph Smith’s patriarchal keys! [1]
It’s said the nuts don’t fall far from the tree! All the contention, rivalry, changing stories, Royal titles, lies, and lore is enough to drive ME nuts! I’ll let you unravel any rationality to their claims … if you feel a need to score!
I have oral testimonies (recorded in 2002) of my Alzheimeric Mother, Esther LeBaron Spencer, at age 80.5, stating her father “DID” give the “Johnson Mantle” to Joel!
In that oral testimony, Ma also claimed her pa passed it on to Joel just hours before he, Dayer, “passed on.” She claims her pa’s atrophied hands were EVEN placed upon Joel’s head and held there by … was it Floren?
But that’s as credible as believing what “that angel” told Grandfather Dayer — or believing Aunt Lucinda’s illiterate nine-year-old so-called “witnesses” who, says Ma, “were hangin’ around at that time … kept tryin’ to peek in the door to see what was goin’ on”!
However, contrary to Ma’s above testimony, I have the recently-recorded oral testimony of one of those then nine-year-old “wittnesses” of Lucinda’s: He says his grandpa Dayer’s hands were NOT laid on Joel’s head while he was “giving Joel the Johnson mantle”!
But it’s very questionable whether Dayer really did ever pass his “Johnson Mantle” on to his son Joel. There are wittnesses from back then who say Joel wasn’t around during his father’s demise. And Grandma Maud cried, “Joel must be crazy like his brother Ben if he, too, is claiming to be the One Mighty and Strong!”
I’ll wrap up this modern-day LeBaron power debate by saying I’m rehashing stuff I’ve already mentioned in earlier blogs: Namely that this whole above story is different from anything I ever heard during my years in the LeBaron cult — years extending from 1956 to 1967.
Suffice it to say: It’s not my purpose to verify any of this “Who got the Johnson mantle/Who’s got the button?” My purpose is only to state MY “testimony” thattheir stories changed over the years!
(Cont. in next week’s blog.)
Thanks for visiting. Thanks for your feedback.
See you again in the next blog/block …
my own little corner of the world-wide web.
Have a good day!
Stephany Spencer-LeBaron
[1] https://holyorder.org/2017/08/26/ross-lebaron-interview-to-dale-van-atta-1977/
Continued May 24, 2019: “Pt 34-K: The LeBaron Madmen: Button, Button: Who’s Got the Button?
Pt 30-33: The Mexico-LeBarons: Bipolar Issues Vs. Incest*Please note: For some reason, this post is messing up–I’m unable to correct spellings or words; and WordPress Tech Support hasn’t been able to solve the problems, either, so far. Pt 30: My Mama Esther LeBaron Spencer, Me, and Mental Illness My parents in 1964 with 13 of…
Farewell to Floren McDonald LeBaron: The Last of The LeBarons FLOREN MCDONALD LEBARON The Last FarewellIN MEMORIAM “THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”(Floren’s favorite saying)~~~On February 17, 2019, Two months before his 92nd birthday, Floren McDonald LeBaron Left this earthly helm To join his family In a heavenly realm. Fourth youngest of thirteen children, Floren…
*NOTE: I’ve edited and rewritten parts of the 26-blog “Part 19” series. I have presently broken this rewritten and reposted series into two different parts consisting of 13 blogs each. (“Part 19: A–M” was recently posted.) This blog, “Part 19: N–Z,” is the second half of the 26-blog series “Part 19: A–Z.” (Also, I’ve individually posted each blog in this…
NOTE: I’ve renamed and reposted today’s blog, “Part 19: A-Z — Mom, Pop, Me, and the Perils of Polygamy,” because I’ve rewritten segments of it. Today’s post consists of “Pt 19: A-M” — to be followed next week by “Pt. 19: N-Z.” These 26 memoir blogs in my “Part 19” series exist as individual posts also. ~The following posts are largely…