Errol Bagley 80th Birthday Memories

Upon a time, I was sitting in the little computer study thing, and Grandpa comes in and he says, "Charlie, come give me a haircut." And so we went into the kitchen, he gave me a razor, and he sat down and he said, "Cut it all off." And then I just buzzed his head, and I don't think I did it very good because then I saw Grandma giving him more of a haircut.

On Father's Day, we did a paper about Grandpa, and one of the questions that was, what does your grandpa do for fun? And I put he drives. I had really no idea what it was, I just guessed, and my dad said it was right.

Happy birthday, Dad!

One of my memories of you is that this those yellow notepads that you would always carry around, and you have a very unique handwriting that's distinct. And the thing that's unique about you is you're always collecting stories and trying out material. And as has been discussed many times, you didn't talk too much to us when we were young. Um, so it was interesting when the 10th Ward had their talent show and you decided to do a stand-up comedy routine, which I just thought was the coolest thing. And we were just shocked that you would get up and put yourself out there in that way. And we thought it was so hilarious. And as you know, sometimes jokes hit and sometimes they don't. And later in life, I remember visiting your ward when I was an adult and married, and you got up and you were bearing your testimony right after this Black woman who had recently been Baptized got up and you said, "Looks like the field is black, all ready to harvest." Anyways, it didn't, it didn't land quite like your other jokes, which they don't always work out, but that was a funny memory.

Memories when I think about Dad is summertime. I'd have like a best friend over and he would come in from a hot day at work and he would just drop his stuff and, "It's too hot!

It's too hot out here!

We gotta go to San Diego!" And then like the next day by 6 AM we were packed up in the car driving to the beach cottages. And he'd always come boogie boarding with us and yell out "Yeehaw!" when he caught a big wave, and I always had so much fun watching him have fun in the ocean. And although we share a deep, deep terror of dangling feet in open water, we both get a lot of joy out of having fun in the ocean. Another memory that I always think about when I think about Dad is when he'd get a new car, he'd always have me, "Ashley, come get in the car." Then he would drive me around the neighborhood showing off the sound system in the car by blasting either the Cranberries or ABBA Gold. And I still love those albums very much. I also didn't know for sure if he was going to be showing me the sound system or if he was going to be making me find a rattle in the car, because if there was any— ever a mysterious rattle that he could not find himself in the car, he would get me to come out and drive around over bumps and fast and slow until we could locate what door pocket had something stuck in it that was gonna just drive him nuts.

Say happy birthday, Ariel!

Happy birthday, Ariel!

Um, so I haven't been in the family long enough to have a bunch of memories. The only thing I could think of is when I come over, um, for Sunday dinner, and usually you In a very scary voice, you say, "Hermes!" Hold on, okay, I'll do one. You usually say, "Hermes! Jason! Come over here!" Or you'll just say, "Hermes!" which is even scarier. And I feel like I'm in trouble, like, what did I do? And then I'll follow you wherever you need to go, and then you just say, "Hermes!" I need to take a photo with you. So it's always very scary at first, and then it turns out to be just you wanting to do something very fun and not scary. So that's my memory of you. And my favorite memory of Atticus and you so far is very recently we went to— we came to your house. And it was packed for Sunday dinner, and Atticus just for some reason yells, "Grandpa!

Grandpa!

Grandpa!" He just looks around, and I thought that was so cute and funny because he just wanted you, and that's our favorite memories of you. We want to wish you a happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Grandpa! We love you, and you're hilarious. Musical self. You're just iconic. Happy, happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Grandpa. One of my most memorable memories was we did a road trip with you, me, and Robbie, and I remember two specific highlights from this trip. One was the mattress in the back of the truck that me and Robbie got to lay in and ride in the entire trip, which was— we thought was the coolest thing ever that Grandpa would let us go everywhere with no seat belts on. And number 2 was when you rescued Robbie as he was floating/drowning down the river, I believe somewhere in Idaho or Wyoming. It was a— I remember it being a pretty traumatic experience that you played off as just a normal, a normal, a normal day in the life in the country. And appreciate all the good memories. Love you, Grandpa.

So when I got back from my mission, I didn't have a car and really anything. And apparently Grandpa had been eyeing his neighbor's car and the neighbor was an older lady who was going to die soon, and Grandpa knew that. She took care of the car, and then when she passed, he made an offer. He got the car. He put a nice little green stripe around the car to make it a little bit more sporty, which was, which was fun. And then he gave it to me after my mission, which was really awesome because I did not have anything. And I used it for 4 years, and then my siblings used it for another 3 or 4 years and then eventually died, but it was a huge blessing and was so, so thoughtful. I love you, Grandpa, and hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

My first memory with you is we celebrated our birthday together. Birthday buddies, and this was the first time I met you, and you introduced yourself as Brandon's favorite uncle. Happy day, Grandpa!

Good job! And probably my— one of my first memories of Grandpa is him singing at my baptism. I remember that being very beautiful and moving. And then he called up Elaine and my other grandfather to sing, and neither of them was very excited about that. We love you, Grandpa, and we hope it's a great birthday.

I have had the opportunity several times to drive from Mesa to Utah or Utah to Mesa with Dad, and one of those memories was when I had 3 little boys under the age of 6, and Dad was kind enough to drive with me up to Utah so that I didn't have to do that trip by myself. So this turned out to be a unique experience because Mom wasn't with us, um, to tell Dad that he couldn't stop 12 times on the way to Utah. So we took many, um, detours and little side field trips on that journey. One was getting out because Dad saw some kind of hill, mountain on the side of the road that the boys could climb, the little boys could climb. And it wasn't a grassy hill, it wasn't like a clean, nice grassy hill. It was, it was like a pile of dirt, but it was an adventure and a challenge. And then I think the next stop was there was a creek, and it was, it was a, it was a beautiful, like, low, you know, 6-inch creek. And we pulled over and the boys got to essentially go swimming on the way. Um, I hadn't planned for this, so I didn't have suits, I didn't have towels. So that one concluded with me unloading the back of the car to get to all their suitcases so I could get them a change of clothes. Um, and the 11-hour trip took 16 hours on that particular drive. Another memory, driving home from Utah at some point, just Dad and I. Um, we— I remember that I never turned on the radio. So, um, you know, 11, 12 hours, however long that one took, uh, no radio because Dad does love captive audience. So we talked for 11 or 12 hours, and during that time, I remember one thing Dad said. There was a little lull in conversation, and then he piped in and said, okay, let's talk about things that tick us off. And then we proceeded to have probably a lengthy conversation about things that tick us off. And the, the one that I remember was Um, you should never eat in your car. Eating in your car is just wrong. It's like kissing your sister. So if you don't know that, Dad does not like to eat in a car. He only wants to eat in restaurants. You go in, you enjoy your fast food, you have conversation, and then you're back in the car. So Love you, Dad.

Happy 80th.

Dad, one of my favorite memories of you was in high school when I started to realize that you're fun and not just serious, take out the garbage. So like when we'd go to the lake and you would do your chicken before you jumped in the lake. That was fun.

Love you.

Memories of Rob Bagley. An early memory I have is probably I was about age 8 and it was my first ski trip. I was already a little terrified because my brothers told me that I had to do the downhill ski jump that you see on the Olympics, but Dad and I go up the first lift and I drop one of my homemade mittens So we get off the lift, I crash immediately, and Dad says he's going to get my mitten, that he'll meet me at the bottom of the hill. This was my first ski run. I did make it to the bottom of the hill. I didn't go on any more ski runs the rest of the day. Another memory I have, this was one of our annual trips to and from Utah, Idaho, Wyoming.

We're on our way back.

I think we're somewhere in the middle of the Indian Reservation in northern Arizona, and the van starts having problems. Turns out we open the hood— Dad opens the hood— and it is on fire. I don't remember any curse words being said, but I remember lots of words that didn't understand as he ordered me to get any kind of liquids possible to douse out the fire. Going along with Dad's ability to speak in tongues, one time he took the youth to the lake and we brought back the boat, and I think it was just Tiffany Bellows and me and Dad and we were parking the boat back on Grandpa's driveway and he was trying to get the prop on the little prop stand and it didn't stick on the prop stand and it dropped on his big toe. Some more language that was unintelligible as he hopped around and into the house. One more gift of tongues memory. We were in Idaho Falls jet skiing with Rob Bagley. I'm pretty sure Dad and I were on the same jet ski. We just went around down by the temple right before the diversion dam, and we're heading back and the jet ski stalls out on us. And Rob was summoned over I don't think we had any rope. John went and found a fishing boat and who had borrowed an old dried-out rope that we tied onto the boat, the jet ski, and it snapped. And we kept on trying to tie this rope that got smaller and smaller. You put John and Rob Bagley together in tense situations then the words that they say are much more understandable and I recognize those words. Another memory that I had about Dad— actually, he wasn't even in this memory. It was a conversation that I had with the Sandstroms down the street. I don't remember if it was Jennifer or Brian Sandstrom who told me that they saw Dad smoking. That he was driving down the road and he had a cigarette in his mouth. Anyone who knew Dad knew that likely what was in his mouth was a Bic pen. And if anyone's been around Dad when he's tried to use a Bic pen that is out of ink, that can be dangerous because it often will go flying through the cab of the truck.

My favorite memory probably is every time Grandpa starts to sing for family dinner. Um, that's got to be a classic. Love you, Grandpa. I thought of some more stories, so I wanted to share them with you. I remember fondly helping you paint the Toyota Prius that my dad once owned. I taped up the windows and then You painted it mint green and it's quite wonderful. I also remember fondly helping build the casita in the backyard, waking up early in the morning, early for me, probably not early for you, but early for me, and having no clue what I was doing, but just following your instructions, climbing up onto some precariously placed beams and using a nail gun for the first time in my life. I absolutely loved it, Grandpa. Thank you for teaching me to work hard, and I hope you enjoy your 80th birthday. Love you, Grandpa.

Some memories of Dad for his 80th birthday. I'm sure this will be commented elsewhere, but when we were growing up, to the kids, Dad was scary. This was mostly a function of the fact that he was quiet and he was also mysterious. He would just show up in the house and he would just like pass through and disappear off into his office or his bedroom or something. Um, so when we were young, he was just mysterious. Those of you who know him now will not understand this concept at all, including his grandkids, but when we were young, we thought he was scary. Uh, one of my favorite play memories with Dad when we were little kids is he would crawl on the floor, and I think he would say he was an elephant. And me and Jason— it's probably just me and Jason, but it could have later been Jerem— would just like— we were small enough that multiple children would be climbing and crawling on him, and he would just be like slowly creeping forward on the carpet. I think we, we like tried to like stop him, and we just felt like, oh no, he is an immovable force. We cannot stop him. But Dad didn't get down on the floor and play with us as kids very much, but when he did, I remember we thought it was super fun. I don't know if I got this at a higher degree than other children. Maybe it's just confirmation bias, but I feel like I did. I bet you Heidi was up there. Um, but it was the mysterious invitation. You'd be in the kitchen or somewhere and Dad would just say, hey, 'Come here, I need you,' or 'Come follow me,' or something. And you would end up in his bedroom where his feet would then end up on top of a pillow, and he would ask you to rub his feet. So I remember giving Dad a lot of foot rubs. Uh, I remember even as a little kid thinking his feet were gross because they had calluses on. And when you're a little kid, you don't have calluses, so like calluses are foreign. Um, Dad's feet are even grosser now Um, but I remember when I was a kid, I thought he had like these razor-sharp bumps on his pinky toes. Anyway, I did a lot of foot rubs. Um, I don't know if the other kids got that. I bet you Heidi did, but I think somehow we got picked out as that was like one of our jobs is to give Dad foot rubs. Another area that I had to be an outlier because they're just— this, this request didn't come that often and it always seemed to come to me is somehow I got the job of setting Dad's clocks and watches. Like, Dad didn't buy new batteries for his disposable cheap junky watches. When they stopped working, he just bought a new watch, and he never apparently knew how to set them because he would always just hand it to me and say, Richard, fix the time, or whatever. So that was one of my jobs growing up. Now, ironically, with all of my experience setting clocks and watches Now I give, like, if I have like a weird clock, I'll give it to Charlie and tell him to set it. One of my strong memories of, I don't know, I was probably an early teen, uh, here's a guess on a year, 1988, maybe something that could have been '86. I remember when Dad got his first Franklin planner, and I remember him saying that it was like the most significant event or change of his year. Of how it made him organized and captured stuff and just helped him out. And I remember thinking as a kid, wow, these planners, these must be super powerful. So thus started a, a long tradition. Everything I do now is digital, but I just knew that that calendar and that planner was powerful, and that actually affected me too, and sort of how I manage my time. I spent a lot of time in Microsoft Outlook now managing my calendar. Most of my siblings, and I will probably say that it was more of my brothers than my sisters, I could be wrong here because I just feel like we worked with Dad more than my sisters did, um, will be familiar with the experience of long silent car rides with Dad. This is just another one of those mysteries because it certainly would not be the case. Dad in his advanced years and adulthood is a talker. He loves talking. But when he was younger and he had little kids in the car, us, there wasn't a lot of talking going on. He was very comfortable with silence. Now, as an adult, I find myself, the voices in my head, the talking, the inner dialogue in my own head is so loud. And so consuming sometimes that now as an adult, I understand why Dad drove quietly sometimes, because it wasn't quiet to him. There was a lot going on there. Um, and I have grown into that same man. I haven't quite been married 30 years, but I'm coming up on it. I think Becky and I celebrate our 29th, uh, this summer. So this conversation was a long time ago. The week I was getting married I remember driving with Dad in a car. Heck, we could have been working again, some paint job, but we were in a car together and Dad decided, you know, I'm getting married in a week and it's time to have the birds in the beestock. I'm 21 years old and I got exactly zero details from Dad. Like, my premarital chat with Dad included no details whatsoever. Um, all he said was that it— sex was pretty great, and, uh, he didn't know if it was the best thing in the world, but if it wasn't, he didn't know what the second best thing was. So that was about the extent of my birds and the bees talk with Dad. The story from the past week of my own household, but it relates back to Dad and when we were younger. Um, this Bic pen showed up in our house, and I told Becky that clearly she did not read the prenuptial agreement, that the Bic rollerball pens are not allowed in our house or in our marriage. Why, you ask? Because of trauma growing up. Because granted, this is not the perfect example because it's not the clear tube with the blue tip, but my siblings will know, and maybe mom too, and others that some of these were booby-trapped. A, that little pocket clip was always chewed up, but occasionally, on more than one occasion, you'd get one of these pens and you'd pull off the cap and you would get covered in the slobber that was captured inside of the cap. So I told Becky, these are not allowed in our house. Too much trauma from my childhood.

All right, favorite memories of my father-in-law. The first that comes to mind is when he interviewed me for my mission and he said, "Hey, I know you. We don't even need to do this." We still did the interview, but we were in a very small room in the stake offices, and I remember feeling very uncomfortable the whole time. And other funny memories— one time Liesel left a bunch of stuff at the house. We had just been married, and he just put it all out on the street, on the sidewalk, and said, "If you want your stuff, come pick it up." And I remember thinking, "Wow, that's kind of messed up." But then I was like, but also maybe genius. And so I—

It's also about to rain.

I appreciate—

and it started raining. I wasn't going to say this, but it started raining. But what's great about my father-in-law Errol is for as much as he has that hard exterior, he's very kind and always serving. And I wish you a happy birthday.

Hi, Grandpa.

Happy birthday. Just wanted to share a funny little memory, um, from when me and Berlin were really little. You were driving us somewhere. I can't remember where we were going, but like on the way, or maybe this was the destination, I don't know, we stopped at this like big parking lot thing with all these semi trucks. And you must have like known a guy or something because we got in this big like Coca-Cola semi-truck. And I remember us like sitting on your lap and like driving around and like we gotta honk the horn and stuff. But looking back, like we might not have even driven around the parking lot. We might have just been like stationary, just sitting in the semi-truck. But I just remember like thinking it was so cool. My grandpa was so cool and he like drove trucks and stuff. Um, and that's just a funny random memory that has stuck with me for a long time. Um, and I know Berlin thinks about it a lot too, which is kind of funny. Um, but yeah, um, wish we could be with you on your birthday.

Love you.

Another more recent, um, memory reoccurring memories of Grandpa is when I would go over sometimes, he would just be like, "Sophie, I need a haircut." And he would reassure me that there was no way to mess up because I was just cutting it all off. So that's just something funny that is a memory with Grandpa. Another thing that I love is that Grandpa is a documenter and that he loves to take pictures and videos and loves to document things and remember them that way. I appreciate that. Um, something else that I love about Grandpa is his love of food, especially fast food, because anytime we'd go on road trips or up to the cabin, we'd always stop and get some Good, good old-fashioned fast food. And something that is my absolute favorite about Grandpa is his love of music and singing and always singing before family meals, um, and before we pray. And that's something super special. And then obviously just singing songs, or if someone was playing the piano, he'd come over and saying the words, and I just always loved that.

Happy birthday, Dad. While I may be the child that looks the least like you, you did pass on some unique character traits to me, and those are that I get really angry at inanimate objects when they're not working right, like pens that run out of ink or cords that get in your way. And I have also been known to say some cowboy cuss words here and there when I don't think anyone's listening. Keyword: when you don't think anyone's listening. Um, so anyways, I, I love that you in your older years just got better with time, with age, and funnier and more approachable. And, you know, they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but you're proving that statement wrong and getting funnier and wiser with age. We love you.

Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Grandpa.

One funny story that I like to tell is the time where you took us on a random limo ride. Sophie and I were discreetly hiding evidence that we had finished off the ice cream tub. And up pulls a limo on our driveway and we're like, what is going on? And then like, we're like, who is that?

And it's like, it's Grandpa!

And we run inside, we're like, kids, Grandpa wants to take us for a ride in the limo!

And nobody believed us.

And we're like, no, we have to go right now, like he's here!

And we just like drove around the block and it was so fun. So thanks for always bringing light and laughter and good times into our lives. Love you so much.

Happy birthday, Grandpa. My favorite memory I've had with you is building a tiny house in your backyard, and also when I was young, begging you to take me driving in the church parking lot in your orange Chevy Sonic.

Memory of Grandpa is driving up to Pine and stopping at Wendy's and getting a milkshake and driving up to Payson and getting air and stopping at the tractor store and looking at tractors for an hour or so and going up to Pine.

Happy birthday, Errol! I have so many cherished memories of you. Um, when I was new to the family way back when, 20-something, 29 years ago about, um, we used to talk about books, and you would always ask me my opinion on books and articles and stuff that you'd been reading or I'd been reading, and that always made me feel special and included. So many memories of you at the head of the table on Sunday dinners, especially once all the kids started coming when we lived out there. 20 years ago now is when we moved. Loved hearing all of your stories, how you would call the table to attention, and when Grandpa wanted to tell a story. Um, nobody else was talking. Uh, we loved hearing all your memories from when you were growing up on the ranch and farm life and fun stories from your siblings and you. Uh, I have a great memory of driving across the country with you when the kids were really little and I was pregnant with Sam, and you helped me get to my sister's wedding by driving me home from Virginia with a car full of kids and always stopping at the McDonald's to let them play. Even you were never in a rush. It was very different than my mom's style of driving. You were just like, let's just take it easy and keep the kids happy. Um, I miss, I miss being in Mesa when you used to drop by on Sunday evenings when Elaine was out of town. You would frequently just drop by and without letting us know you were coming over ahead of time. Sometimes it was even late in the evening when I thought I should be probably putting the kids to bed because it was Monday the next morning. But we always wanted to hear your stories and visit with you, especially when we knew your wife was out of town. Um, but the main story I want to tell is this. This was before I even joined the family, and it was— it It was New Year's Eve and Richard was a brand newly returned missionary and he'd only been home for a little bit. I hope I'm getting this story right. And he had two girls at the top of his list and I was one of them, but the other one was Diana Stewart. And on New Year's Eve I couldn't make it out to Mesa from Phoenix and Richard was hanging out with Diana Stewart And apparently he was thinking about kissing her that night, and it was getting pretty late, and they were down in the basement together, and he was pretty much gonna go in for the kiss, even though he says, he reassures me, that he was thinking in his head, this girl sure is cute, but nothing she says is interesting, and I don't care about anything that comes out of her mouth. Nevertheless, he was thinking about kissing her that night, and right at the point when he was gonna go for it, here comes Errol walking down those basement stairs. I think he like flicked on the lights and said, Bridger, it's time for her to go home. Right on time. That was you following the spirit. And all these grandkids up over my shoulder, they could have their very lives dependent on that moment. So we say thank you for following through on that one.

I have so many wonderful memories with you, but the funny one I want to share is that we were at the cabin and I had brought some friends and you recruited us all to sing in one of your Instagram videos. And I've noticed this about a lot of the Bagley men is that they're fearless and they do things that would— I wouldn't do normally. So I need to learn from you guys that you have no, no fear of embarrassment. Um, so you recruited these strangers, my friends, um, to sing in a video with you, and you know what, worked out great. They had fun, the video turned out great, we learned a new song. Um, so it's been fun over the years to tell my friends about my singing bus driving grandpa who loves Instagram. You've driven some of my friends when they were in elementary school, Mr. B, and then when I actually met them because they weren't at my elementary school, they're like, what, your grandpa was Mr. B?

What a legend!

So you are a legend and we love you so much and we hope that 8— year 80 is the best year here yet. Okay, love you.

A memory that I have with Grandpa is when he took us up to Pine and we went to this one indoor swimming pool, and I remember it was being—

it was pretty cool. Happy birthday, Grandpa!

Sometimes he doesn't have the time or energy to say goodbye. On a phone call, and when he's done, he just hangs up. He's done. You might not have been done, but he finished, so he's gone.