Talk given by Elise, at the funeral on February 14th, 2009 Given that my father Wayne Haglund could not be here today he asked me to share a few fun experiences from when he and Pat were young. The first one tells a little bit about a Pat that I didn’t know, when she was younger, in her early 20’s. I’ll just read it from my father’s point of view. "The year was 1958 my mother was managing an estate sale in Beverly Hills. Everything in the house and on the property was to be sold. In the garage was a lime green 1957 Chevrolet convertible with a white top. It looked like a brand new car. When Pat saw it she decided that she had to have it. She went to the bank for a loan, however, it did not cover 100 percent of the price of the car. Pat had the responsibility of coming up with the down payment. I knew nothing about all of this at the time. One day I was home in my room and I heard Pat crying. I went in and asked her what the problem was. She explained that she didn’t have the money but she wanted the car. I returned to my room and opened a drawer where I kept money from my job. I took out the amount she needed and walked back into her room and gave it to her and asked, “Is that all you need?”. She couldn’t believe it. As a result she bought the car and became a very happy motorist. She paid me back every dollar when I got out of the Marine Corps."
This other story is when they were actually a little bit younger. My dad was about 9 or 10 and Pat was a little bit older. He starts out, "I think everybody knew that Pat was a good cook. She came from a heritage of good cooks. My German grandmother and mother each made delicious meals. Pat and I were home alone one day when Pat was about 13. We received a call from my mother who said she was going to be home late and she wanted Pat to defrost a frozen chicken and cook it for dinner. Pat was not very happy about this because at the time she did not enjoy cooking. Nevertheless she went into the kitchen, opened the freezer and pulled out a frozen chicken. To show her displeasure and irritation she took the frozen chicken and threw it into the sink. The sink was all ceramic and shattered completely as the chicken landed. Immediately I started laughing. At first Pat was in shock but then she started laughing too. However, when my father arrived home that night and saw the broken sink, he didn’t think it was very funny at all."
Those are just a few of my father’s memories. I’ve just made a short list of my memories from Pat, from when I was younger and through college. It’s in list format so I’ll just read the things that I remember of my Aunt Pat.
A spiritual giant
Warmth
Security and love
The confidence that comes from righteousness
A lesson learned in family history with every conversation
Instant likability
Family reunions
Sunday afternoon dinners in college
Letters and packages when I was in the MTC
One of the first people to greet me in Los Angeles when I came back into the U.S. with her missionary badge on as well
A warm embrace
Her laugh every time she got a kick out of introducing me as her niece Elise
A smile that lights up a room
The strength of womanhood
A home filled with the spirit
A hospital room filled to capacity with loved ones
Tears in the eyes of my father as they spoke softly in the hospital
At home in her bedroom, sleeping, with a look that told me she had one foot in this world and one foot in the next
A familiar laugh that comforted my mother as she sat in the L.A.
temple last Friday and remembered the way that Pat would laugh contentedly A reunion in her heavenly home.
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