My Portfolio

Our Family History Mission to New York City (Manhattan) in the New York, New York North Mission was a life-changing experience.  We met so many wonderful people and had the opportunity to serve in the New York, NY, Family History Center and the Manhattan Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ...

Herman Henry (Hank) Thiessens By Golden V. Adams, Emeritus AGR Note: In the last HTFA Heritage Matters, many of the challenges Hank faced in his early years were revealed.  He triumphed over them in the remaining years of his life and, as one of his nephews, Daniel Sheldon, expressed upon receiving...

17 August 2010 Working in the family history center today, I received an answer to my prayer of this morning that the Lord would guide me as I worked on the family of Berend Folkers and Geertje Kramer.  I had almost completed the copying of records that had been taken from...

Marion Robert Morrison aka John Wayne (1907-1979) John Wayne was a larger-than-life movie hero, but his ancestors were the same type and could have fit right into his film roles, according to a Utah genealogical research company. Research International was in the midst of work on a book about Wayne's ancestors...

By Lloyd R. Adams This is a true story that might inspire you by helping others and at the same time fulfill your own dream to enjoy financial freedom for the rest of your life. In 1986, shortly after securing a 100% financed small business loan with the local community bank...

Diane and I met the latter part of June 1972, although we had noticed each other while attending a Brigham Young University summer ward, when I visited her in the capacity of her Home Teacher.  We began dating on July 4, 1972.  We were engaged to be married on August 24,...

Golden V. Adams Jr. was born May 31, 1944 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Golden Virgil and Ruth Lenore Thiessens Adams.  Since his father was in the U.S. Army-Air Force in France, Golden didn’t see him in person until he was eighteen months old.  Living with his grandparents and great-grandparents,...

Written by W.A. Adams (William Albert) When every pool in Eden was a mirror Which unto Eve her dainty charms proclaimed She went undraped without a single fear, or Thought that she had cause to be ashamed.   'Twas after she had eaten of the apple Her eyes were opened and...

Ryan's Place Park--But he will never play there. When tragedy strikes, how many of us look for the silver lining and the dreams that can come true when we find it?  After my two-year-old grand-nephew, Ryan, drowned in Lake Powell on a family vacation 9 Aug 2006, the family was devastated. ...

Prompt:  What nicknames have you had? Who knew you that way? How did the nickname come about? Which nicknames do you like or dislike? As I look back over my lifetime, my earliest nickname was "little sammy".  Some of my father's friends called him "Sam" and I don't know who or...

(image-Daily Herald, Provo, Utah 20 Feb 2013) This morning, 19 February 2013, after I finished a few  things around the house, I had a job to finish in Provo, Utah.  Over the past week, I have been working on repairing a wall in the Jolley Apartments, a rental owned by my...

Parentage: Folkert Teunis Folkers was born 12 Jan 1859 in Groningen, Netherlands. He was the oldest of six children—four boys and two girls—born to Teunis Folkers and Foekje Severien. The father, Teunis, was a ship’s captain and his ship was lost in the North Sea of the Atlantic Ocean on 23...

On 15 November 1987, Diane and I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting at the Harkers Island (NC) Ward.  We stayed at the home of Bishop Joel G. Hancock and were treated royally.  Afterwards, in the evening, I delivered a Special Fireside.  There I was surprised to see many...

                By William Albert Adams.  This poem was written to highlight experiences he lived while serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Southern States Mission 1900-1901.   I was born in a place called Utah, A...

While the past year is freshest in my mind, I'm documenting a 2012 legacy story that reflects a defining moment or milestone event. On Friday, May 25th, 2012 I picked up my yearbook and went to the front office of Payson Junior High School in Payson, Utah (where I taught middle...

For as far as I can collect my thoughts, I can remember that I went to kindergarten.  In the winter when the snow was deep, my father took me to school in a sled; one of the old-fashioned kind.  A little stove was put in the sled to keep my feet...

"Grandpa, do you really know Sinterklaas?"  This was the question posed to me by Zach, my five-year-old grandson during my visit with his family on December 6th. One of our family traditions around the Christmas season is that Sinterklaas' (Dutch name for Saint Nicholas) makes a visit to the homes of...

Prompt:  Share a story where the conclusion of your search totally surprised you after believing otherwise. “My maternal great grandparents Folkert Teunis Folkers and Hilje Mulder were both orphans and the records of the orphanage were destroyed, so we haven’t been able to trace the family tree earlier than their personal...

The dictionary defines "Beauty" as the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit. Inspired by an article in a professional magazine, I had the opportunity to work with a dynamic first grade teacher, Connie Parsons,...

When we were sitting at the edge of the Provo Temple fountain, I told Diane that I was not marrying her for who she was, but who she would become!  You see, the blessing is not in the being, but in the becoming. In a few days, we will have been...