Blanche Ruby Worthen was born in 1901 in the Marmalade District (located just north of Temple Square) of Salt Lake City, Utah. The house she was born in and grew up in is no longer there, having been demolished for the building of the Conference Center. She was the loving mother of my Dad and Aunt Janet.
My earliest recollections of Grandma Blanche (that's what we always called her) involve he house she lived in on Harvard Ave. in Salt Lake City. At this time she was married to Grandpa Russ (Russell Brewer Bean.) She and Grandfather Cash had divorced when my Dad was in his early teens. It's interesting that no one in the family ever talked about what happened there and apparently they both made every effort to avoid each other thereafter. My wedding reception in 1981 at Grandma Ethel's house was a good example: Grandma Blanche had to leave out the back door when Grandfather Cash and Virginia came in the front. When our family would visit Salt Lake City every summer this is where we stayed because of all the room - two story house with a finished basement, which is where Richard and I always slept. I remember sleeping on a bed next to a cabinet with all the bridge trophies the Grandma Blanche and Grandpa Russ won. The backyard was a well manicured lawn and garden. When we were there in the summer Grandma would always have me go out in the garden a pick ripe red tomatoes, large ones and the cherry kind. I have another strange memory of her house: I was playing with the dial telephone one day and for some reason dialed the "O" for operator. I quickly hung up but for the next several days felt the police were going to come and arrest me.
Grandma Blanche seldom called me Charles or Charlie. It was always Charlie Dear, even when I was in my twenties and thirties.
When I was in the 4th or 5th grade Grandma Blanche took me on my first airplane ride. She and Grandpa Russ had driven to Las Vegas from Salt Lake City and while there flew to Los Angeles. She took Richard and I back with her. We flew out of the original LAX on Aviation Blvd. Grandpa Russ was the owner of Mountain States Fire Sprinkler Company and he had a contract to put fire sprinklers in many of the new hotels, including the Flamingo and Stardust. It was rumored that he and Bugsy Siegel (the gangster who built the Flamingo Hotel and brought the mob to Las Vegas) were well acquainted. I don't recall how many days we stayed in Las Vegas. I do remember being told to get out of the casino area of the Flamingo while Grandma Blanche played bingo. I also remember being allowed to put a dime in a slot machine at a drug store . I won. The drive back to Salt Lake City was interesting, no I-15 and Grandpa Russ was a speed demon. Had I known then what I know now about Grandpas Russ I would have been really scared. You see, Grandpa Russ was a really good man, but he was also and alcoholic. By this time Grandma Blanche and Grandpa Russ had moved to a house on Harrison Ave. in Salt Lake City. My birthday happened while I was there and Grandma made me a chocolate cake decorated with lollipops and candy canes. Breakfast at Grandma's was always special with cantaloupe, honey dew melons and orange juice, things we didn't get at home. Grandma also gave me my first experience to prime rib and Yorkshire pudding.
It was also during this summer that Grandma Blanche took all her grandchildren to see the movie, "Music Man," starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones. This is still my favorite movie of all time. My Dad later bought the soundtrack and we played the record over and over again, to the point where I had almost all of the songs memorized. At family parties my Mom made me do the number "Trouble with a capital T and the rhymes with P and that stands for pool."
During my high school years, after Grandpa Russ had passed away, Grandma Blanche would drive her Chevrolet Impala down to the Grand Canyon and work as a desk clerk at the Grand Canyon Hotel. She did that for several summers and was always very proud of the fact she was able to make that drive and remain independent.
It was also during this time that she moved from her house on Harrison to the Carriage Lane condominiums on 45th South. It was a very nice place. I remember she always paid the gardener extra to plant petunias outside her residence.
In 1971 I received my mission call to Japan. I did not know of this at the time but later found out that she insisted on paying half the cost of my mission. When asked why she did this she answered that she wanted the blessings that came from supporting a missionary in the field. She faithfully wrote me a letter every month. At the end of my mission I bought an elegant Japanese doll wearing a silk kimono in a large glass case and had it shipped back to her. She said it was too much and I said it was not enough. She proudly displayed it in her living room.
During my college years I would frequently drive up to Salt Lake City on the weekends and go out to lunch or dinner with her. After the first few times I made sure that I did the driving when we went out. She would drive 45 mph in the fast lane of the freeway, bless her heart.
Speaking of cars, several years after I had graduated from college and moved back to Inglewood, I decided to buy a new car. I had my heart set on a black and silver Datsun 200SX that I has seen at the car show. There were no in Los Angeles, but there was on in Orem, Utah. I made arrangements to drive up and buy it. When Grandma Blanche found out about it she let me know she wanted to buy my Impala and she insisted on a price that was well above what the dealership would have given me. She drove that car the rest of her life.
At the end of her life, when her health began to dwindle, she went to live with my Aunt Janet and Uncle Judd. It was with some sadness and yet with some rejoicing that we go word on December 9, 1986 that Grandma Blanche had passed away peacefully in her sleep. I was honored to be asked to speak at her funeral. My most distinct memory of that funeral was a Christmas tree. Someone, and to this day we do not know who, instead of sending flowers to her funeral, sent a fully decorated Christmas tree. And so, every Christmas season when Charlie Dear puts up his Christmas tree, he thinks of all the good times with Grandma Blanche.
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