A little note about me and my mother

 Additional notes from 2023:

In 2006 my mother Lola Nell Ollerton died due to medical malpractice. As my Ollerton family tried to come to grips with her death, our first instinct was to extend grace to the surgeon, but we soon learned that his gross negligence and incompetence were the cause of her passing. Eventually we filed a lawsuit, as several others did also, against the doctor. We worked hard to protect the public from this nuisance. Eventually we settled the lawsuit and were awarded a sizable sum. It was hard receiving the money, because it was my mother I wanted, not the money. I wondered, what would Mother want me to do with the money? My mother was a wonderful cook, so I thought, I’ll buy the best cookware and knives for my children, and that way continue the “Great Cook” tradition. The other thought I had was that I had always wanted to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. At the time, a mission was a long way away, but I had been serving at the Mesa Temple Visitors’ Center for several years sharing my nativities during the “Christmas Lights” celebration. I know that Mother would want me to serve however I could, so I continued or began buying nativities in earnest with the intention of sharing them at the Visitors’ Center and hopefully helping others come unto Christ. I’m so grateful for the many directors of the VC that I have been able to work with and for the many individuals that have given their time and talents to make the display reverent and beautiful. I continue to share with you my testimony of the Living Christ as our Savior and Redeemer and our only way back to our Heavenly Father.