Comments on: The Bishop’s Wife

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:30:00 +0000

The only true and living exchange was Franklin (FR)!

By: Mina

Mina — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:02:22 +0000

Denny just wanted to smell that mimeo ink.

Also, “IN7-8926″ would likely have been spoken as “Ingersoll7-8926.” My Grandparents had the Ingersoll prefix, we had a Crestwood (CR) number back in the day.

Also, I definitely need Sister Crandall as my PA.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:02:59 +0000

Michelle, you may be thinking of spirit masters (A.B. Dick), the usually purple-line, quickly fading duplicating process that was quick and easy and usually what teachers used because it didn’t require the cutting of a stencil, just drawing or writing on a special waxy carbon paper — the solvent used for that truly did smell chemically awful!

Or maybe I was so used to the smell of mimeograph ink and the waxy stencils for them that I like the smell — we had a mimeograph machine at home that was in almost weekly use all the time I was growing up. The only thing stinky about true mimeograph supplies was the blue correction fluid used if you made a mistake while cutting a stencil.

(Sorry — my mother had a snobbish pride in using the technically much superior printing process of a mimeo and hated it when people called those tacky purple spirit masters stencils — I guess I’ve inherited her snobbery!)

By: michelle

michelle — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:40:22 +0000

Something silly that sticks with me is picturing the mimeograph machine, and remembering what it was like to watch teachers use it when I was in elementary school. And the awful smell of the ink.

By: jks

jks — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 06:52:44 +0000

Except for getting up early to make breakfast for him (or myself or the kids), it sounds just fine. Although, I would have let him go to the hospital and gone to the friend’s alone.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 03:38:48 +0000

Egads! So even in 1959 the clouds of error were swarming around us, clouding up the useful distinction between the uninterested and the disinterested.

Other than that, the echoes of my childhood were interesting. Phone numbers beginning with letters, mimeograph machines, complete with cut stencils, men in early middle age who all seemed to have the shared experience of “the war.”

But, my dad was a bishop six years after that–and I don’t remember my mother acting as his secretary! Telephone messages–certainly.

And a morning paper? If the Mt. Olympus is the one just east of the Salt Lake Valley, does that mean that the good bishop is reading the Tribune??

By: kevinf

kevinf — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:15:15 +0000

I had to chuckle a bit about this story, thinking about my tenure as bishop a few years ago. My wife did not run off programs, mail marriage licenses, or write my letters. She was, however, very supportive of the calls at all hours, and especially about all the things I could not talk about. She also found that when she approached groups of women in the ward, they often stopped talking and just smiled.

Now the shoe’s on the other foot. My wife is the RS president, in addition to teaching junior high math, so I dutifully answer the phone, help her make runs to the bishop’s storehouse, set up tables and chairs for RS functions, and banish myself to the nethermost regions of the house while she is having RS presidency meetings in our dining room.

I do think the toughest part of the whole bishop’s wife experience, though, is that we’ve always shared everything, and suddenly I couldn’t do that any more. It took some adjusting for both of us. Now, she can’t share everything with me, but it isn’t so hard now.

By: queuno

queuno — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:55:18 +0000

My best friend is currently serving as a bishop and I know that his wife feels like his 3rd Counselor, 2011 updates to bishops’ responsibilities or not.

The single best modern innovation to freeing up bishops’ families is the invention of the cell phone. Our bishop’s wife has made it pretty clear that she does not manage his schedule. If you want to speak with him and he’s not available, she’ll direct you to his executive secretary. She will not take messages unless they are of a personal nature. And honestly, that’s the way it should be.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:22:59 +0000

You mean the failure to delegate (marriage license mailings) and sacrificing family to office (the broken date) and laying bishop’s work on his wife (running off the programs, writing the letters) and … and … Yeah!

I wonder how much of this was realistic, and how much was dramatics to heighten the effect of the heroine’s coping?

By: John Scherer

John Scherer — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:03:40 +0000

It’s funny how things change. I could see a similar story used nowadays to illustrate what not to do as a bishop.