Dinner for Four

S    So, our writing class assignment this month was....what four people from history would you invite to dinner? It was a very intriguing question! There are so many people I'd like to get to know. If I was really to choose people who are departed from this life I would pick my mom, my Aunt Inez, and my Grandma and Papa Spjut. But... here's my second best list:

1.       Amelia Earhart July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937 (age 39)

2.       Sacagawea 1788 to 1812 (age 24)

3.     Annette Funicello October 22, 1942 to April 8, 2013 (age 70)

4.     Eliza Marie Partridge Lyman April 20, 1820 to March 2, 1886 (age 66)

Amelia Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records and wrote best-selling books about her flying. During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.

In fifth grade each student in my class chose a famous American to write about and create a clay bust portrait. I chose Amelia Earhart and still remember the impact it had on me. She was so courageous and daring… such contrast to me who was ever painfully shy and worried about everything. I would love to have Amelia over for dinner first and foremost to find out WHAT HAPPENED!!! Also, she would be just such an interesting person to get to know.

Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman, who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition, acting as an interpreter and guide, in their exploration of the Western United States. She traveled thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean between 1804 and 1806. Her skills as a translator were invaluable, as was her intimate knowledge of some difficult terrain. Perhaps most significant was her calming presence on both the explorers and the Native Americans they encountered, who might have otherwise been hostile to the strangers. Remarkably, Sacagawea did it all while caring for the son she bore just two months before departing. She was 16 years old when the expedition began.

I would love to hear about the Lewis and Clark expedition from Sacagawea’s point of view and ask about her life. I’ve read about the expedition and hope to read more about her life soon.

Annette Funicello was an American actress and singer. Annette began her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve. She rose to prominence as one of the most popular "Mouseketeers" on the original Mickey Mouse Club. She was one of the few Mouseketeers hand-picked by Walt Disney himself. Of course, I was named after her and I’ve always been proud of it! Through the years she seemed to always remain modest, kind-hearted and dignified. As a child of the television age, I would love to have her in my home for dinner. It would be fun to hear about what it was like to be on the Mickey Mouse Club and to personally know Walt Disney.

Eliza Marie Partridge Lyman was my great-great-grandmother on my father’s side.  Her parents were well-to-do business people who joined the LDS faith and gave up their entire holdings to follow the prophet, Joseph Smith Jr. The family moved to Missouri where they witnessed the tarring and feathering of their father at the hands of a mob. At age 23, Eliza and her sister, Emily, became plural wives of Joseph Smith. Following the martyrdom of the prophet in 1844, she lived with the Coolidge family and then became a wife of Amasa Lyman, who later left the LDS Church. Her precious journal is most interesting but in some ways sparse. I would love to have her expound on her challenges and joys.

On July 14, 1846 she wrote: “My first child was born here in a wagon. I have named him Don Carlos. I am very uncomfortably situated for a sick woman. The scorching sun shining upon the wagon through the day and the cool air at night is almost too much of a change to be healthy.” I want to know more!!

What an interesting group of ladies to have over. I think we could all learn so much about history, about being a woman, about facing challenges in life and celebrating the little things. It would be fascinating to hear a woman’s perspective on life as a pioneer crossing the plains or exploring a continent or being a part of a “man’s world” in media or aviation. I would love to know more about our Church’s and our country’s early history. Can you imagine Sacagawea and Eliza trying to comprehend flying in an airplane? Or can you imagine Annette trying to explain Disneyland and television to the others?  What a fun evening this would be!! You are all invited!