Temple moments: Happy birthday
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The temple has been very much a part of Margaret Church Callister's life. She and her husband, Lathel, of the Delta 4th Ward, Delta Utah Stake, were sealed in the temple, and, since his death in 1992, she has continued to attend the temple. Each week she rides to the Manti Utah Temple with her brother, Ned Church, a patriarch who lives in the same ward.
So, she reasoned, what better way to celebrate her birthday than by going to the temple with her children and grandchildren? Every year since 1980, Sister Callister has celebrated her birthday with her "extra-sized" family in the temple. With such a large posterity as she has, it becomes difficult for her children — nine sons and seven daughters — to all be together.
Four times in the last 26 years all of them have been together, including this year when she celebrated her 92nd birthday with all her children and some of her grandchildren — 45 descendants in all — in the Manti temple.
They have reason to celebrate the birthday of their matriarch. All 16 children married in the temple and all 16 were present. All have attended college and 13 have degrees, including two with doctorates and five with master's degrees.
It didn't happen automatically. The rearing of these children, she said, "took some doing." She and her husband raised their family on a farm where each was taught to work. "And we didn't just work. We also played, and that helped."
They attended Church each week, held family home evening, and accepted the callings that came their way. Now the children are close to each other and love and support each other, she said.
The experience at the temple on her birthday, March 30, surrounded with children and grandchildren "was a joy," she said. "I feel really blessed and helped along the way." — Cheryl B. Roper
