Happy 75th Birthday Craig/Dad/Grandpa/Uncle Craig!!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Craig, I am both humbled and grateful to have an opportunity to share some of my appreciations and feelings for you on your 75th birthday. I am so grateful to have been warmly welcomed into the McCune family. You have always been very kind and patient with me as a son-in-law, particularly as I have learned and am learning the ropes of being your daughters husband. Thank You. I am grateful for your wisdom and the gentleness with which you share your insights and perspective on life in all realms political, spiritual, intellectual, and familial. You set for me a great example of relating to others and building them up by focusing on their strengths and potential. I am appreciative of your desires and willingness to support our family in achieving educational and financial goals that have better prepared us to meet life's opportunities and challenges. Thank You. I am appreciative of the way in which you have built your career, pursued your passions, and negotiated difficult life challenges. You set for me an example of consistency and integrity that inspires me to think before I act and to take a longer perspective of my decisions. All of these things you do, you do so with a quiet dignity and a desire to serve others. I hope that on your birthday and in coming years you will continue to find great joy in following your dreams and passions. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had and that my children now have to be with you and to learn from your many strengths and loving example.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Thank you, Uncle Craig (which also means Aunt Lorna)

I couldn't let this chance go by to thank you for the good influence you have been to Haydn and me and our children. Thank you and Aunt Lorna for letting Ben be part of your life those summers in Montana, for taking him to Glacier National Park, for the extra work it was to roll another person into your life, the food and the arranging, the letting go of a little more of your quiet time, your own time. Thank you both for letting us visit you that summer and for the patience and love you always show us (most recently when we stayed with you in your desert abode close to St. George). You both have always been high in my esteem (too high for me to sit down and relax around you at first). I wanted to be like Aunt Lorna, so warm and full of love for beauty, good music and literature. I'll never forget the image of you and Aunt Lorna as you left the church where Ben and Emily had their Utah reception, and the thought crossed my mind that it was just you two, no one else was hanging onto your coat sleeve, no one tagging along--two amazing souls, hand in hand, walking away together. Now Haydn and I are there in that place--we walk away, hand in hand, together, but the little birds have all left the nest. I am grateful for every card and every visit and every kind word you have given us or any of our children. So many of them have enjoyed time at your hearth. You and your children have helped me see outside my little narrow-sided box and know that the gospel is big enough for many opinions, many ways of seeing things, and that I am one small human being who has needed more times than not to see outside that box to get things more right within me. I love the gospel with all my heart, and you and Aunt Lorna and your family are part of that gospel to me. I cannot even trace all the little memories I have of you all to their inception--I just know the overall feeling I have because of any interactions or perceptions is one of gratitude that I could be included in this family, and that I have the hope of knowing you all (including Grandma and Grandpa McCune and their parents) better some day on the other side of the veil. Thank you again for who you are--someone we all love. Love, Doris Castleton

Happy Birthday from the HBCs

Dear Uncle Craig,
I'm so glad there is an Uncle Craig in my life! You have long given me something to shoot for in so many ways including a balanced somewhat detached and objective look at life issues and more importantly your testimony of the gospel coupled with liberality may have gentled my tendency to become a raving right-wing maniac. (Isn't that what all of us conservatives are supposed to be?)
I'm just grateful for your generous influence in my life and the strength I feel knowing I belong to the McCunes as well as the Castletons. Thank you for blessing my life with Aunt Lorna, Shanny, Erin, and Scott.

Love,
Haydn and the gang of ours that love and hold you in high esteem.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Dearest Craig,

You may be my little brother but I have always thought of you with the highest regard and admiration. To be more specific, the interest and kindness you have always shown to me and my family and wanting to know all about them... and you do this for everyone. Your positive and upbeat attitude spreads and lifts those around you as you help solve problems. I have often wished that my Dr's. were more like you! Above all, I feel His spirit of goodness in you.

Well, I also have memories of taking you for a walk in the baby carriage on Harvard Ave. And then there were all of our happy memories of going to Bear Lake and up Emigration Canyon and well, just wonderful times spent together as a family. Now Craig, I am trying to think of something that you did wrong but...I Just Can't!!! Must be age has blocked it out!

Well, we wish with all our hearts that you have a wonderful Birthday and great year ahead. Thinking of you....

Much love Jean & Keith