Christmas of Long Ago...

It was 1989.

Mom was Primary President and in charge of putting together a play for the Primary kids to perform at some sort of week-night get together at the chapel. The play was called something like "Mrs Claus Saves Christmas" - as I recall, Santa was under the weather and Mrs Claus had to pull it all together for him at the last minute. Now, Rex as Santa actually fell asleep on stage during the performance. He didn't have any lines except at the very beginning and didn't have any reason to leave the chair on the stage where he sat. So, Rex McBride slept through the entire performance. Good times!

Our Daddy & Grump-Pa Rex

Sunday, September 26th

marks the one year anniversary

of Rex's passing.

Please keep his loved ones in your thoughts.

Chemo Rex

	Mom always said to eat my vegetables... I didn't listen.

Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:59:04 -0800

Happy Birthday Rex!

Happy Dad's Day

We love you so much, Dad.

Best Vacation Ever

I think it was about 1999. I had my own apartment and Dad brought a brown van and trailer load of furniture that he had saved from our Knoles Court House days. We filled my new place with old furniture, but had a doozie of a time getting the hide-a-bed sofa in the stairwell and into the second floor apartment.

We watched the movie Tombstone with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. Dad wasn't one to watch the same movie over and over: if he was going to spend his time with a second viewing of a great movie, he'd rather wait a good five or ten years in between showings. But we watched Tombstone a few times that week he stayed at my new apartment. We hit Hollywood Video and rented an old movie My Darling Clementine about the gunfight at the OK Corral. It was full of errors in history, even Doc Holliday who was a dentist in real life, performed abdominal surgery in this flick. We watched it and laughed hysterically.

And we started planning...

We planned a McBride vacation to top all the Disneyland trips of our youth. We would take the brown van from St George and drive down to Tombstone, Arizona and see the OK Corral, the Bird Cage Theater, and any other sites a good Wyatt Earp fan cared to see.

We gallivanted through Southern Arizona, down to Tombstone, over to Nogales, Mexico and then headed back north towards Las Vegas. On the way home, we stopped at the Hoover Dam, but didn't have time to do the tour.

That trip taught me so much:

*It taught me that even when on vacation, you can always find someone who knows someone who knows where the nearest LDS chapel is to attend church. We went to Young Womens at some Ward in Benson, Arizona and they found it strange that we made the effort to go to church when we didn't know a soul in the area and were on vacation just passing through. It was that important to Dad to attend church as a family, broken as we were.

*It taught me that you don't really need air conditioning if you have pillow cases, an ice chest, and a little bleach-water. We also stopped at K-Mart and got some cool battery operated personal misting fans that Dad thought were must have purchases for $1 or so.

*It taught me that car trouble can be a learning experience - we all learned how to unpack a van full of junk, change a blown tire on the side of the road, repack all the junk, and limp in to the next town. I was most surprised that Dad didn't lose his temper or yell or curse at any time during that little fiasco.

*It taught me to give. We were at a gas station outside of Lake Havasu City. We had just seen the London Bridge and we stopped at a gas station. A middle aged woman, maybe 40 or 50 years old (she seemed older) was outside asking for money. Dad, always the boy scout, handed her a few cans of food that he had packed along and an extra can opener. The woman looked up almost in tears and thanked him. He handed her a few dollars too. She asked him how she could repay him. Dad gave his usual answer: "Some day, two young men in white shirts and name tags will cross your path. They have a message. Listen to that message."

*It taught me to think of others. We took a little day trip down to Mexico. None of us had been - Dad went sometime right after high school with some friends but wanted to take us. We parked at a McDonald's restaurant just inside the border. (Thank goodness Dad thought to bring several gallons of drinking water with us.) The whole time in Nogales, Dad kept urging us to let him buy us each one thing to remember the trip. We visited several shops and had young "Vato" salesmen yelling at us "We are cheaper than Walmart!" Aubrey got some genuine gold jewelry that turned her finger green within a few hours. (Heidi, what did you get? I don't remember.) I never saw anything that I just couldn't live without. Dad was also looking, but he was looking at things that he would hate. I didn't see him needing a flower pot, or a terra cotta rooster. I finally realized that he was looking to get something for Grandma. She still has the rooster he brought hundreds of miles back to Saint George, then hundreds of more miles to Sonora.

We made it back home, a little sunburned, and a lot closer as a family unit. It was much less expensive than a trip to Disneyland. We went to grocery stores and bought loaves of bread and canned goods to eat. We didn't hit every drive through. We stayed in a motel a few nights, but mostly drove through the night in "the little brown van that could."

I really enjoyed that trip. I still enjoy the memories we made with Dad. That was my best vacation ever.

Four Motorcycle Generations

Dad was always proud of the motorcycle pictures and usually had them displayed in our house. I thought I should share.

Rex Howell McBride

1979 - Spencer Avenue

Modesto, California

Gerald Lee McBride

Unknown Year / Location - Auntie Mariann, can you help with that??

Russel Ray McBride

1915 - Near the corn fields, Ohio

More LDS Misson Pics

Rex & His "5" Girls

Grandma told me that Dad always liked this picture. I was quite pregnant with the twins and we knew they were girls. We didn't know their names at the time. Grandma was the one to take this picture. We were on our way to hit a buffet dinner (of course) at Golden Corral and I think it was in honor of Dad's birthday.

Mission Photos: Elder Probst

Dad always talked about Jerry Probst. "Elder Probst and I were serving together and ..." "Jerry Probst said to me..." I never new they called him Chip Probst. Interesting. We even went as a family in the early 90's to the Probst home in Utah and hung out with their little family for a day or so. Going through some of Dad's things, I came across some wedding announcements, one from my Uncle Bert, one from Charlie Gay, and one for Jerry Probst and Juliette Evans. Dad told stories of riding his motorcycle from CA to UT for their wedding.

I wish I knew whatever happened to Jerry Probst. I have sent a message to Brecken Probst on Facebook hoping that she might be Jerry's daughter. We'll see.

Proud Grandpa!

I've been thinking about Dad a lot lately. I sure do miss him. The girls still talk about "Pop Pop" anytime they see things that remind them of him. I have his walking cane that he accidentally left here one trip, and a hairbrush he used to brush out his beard to gross us out before we'd go into a restaurant. I also wear his old leather belt - Heidi has another belt of his too. Just little things that we find comforting to have around.


This is one of my favorite pictures of him with the girls. I wish it was better quality (took it with my old cell phone), but it's a clear picture of Rex, my dad, in his tan shirt and overalls pushing a double stroller through a parking lot. He'd always say when people would ask anything about the girls, "I don't know nuthin'. I'm just the Grandpa." Classic Rex!

I'm so glad that he got to meet his little granddaughters. I know he's up there now, telling all the other grand-kids stories and things about Earth.

I love you, Dad. The girls sure do miss their Grump-Pa, too!

Picture Slideshow

Rex's Time Grows Short...

Hospice said it won't be long now: probably only a few days left. Rex's body is shutting down. It's time to just keep him comfortable and help ease him into the next life by caring for him and helping him stay calm and relaxed.

All three daughters came to visit one last time and enjoyed joking and smiling with him. We had a few special moments and some tearful prayers of thanksgiving and comfort.

Rachel has been in Sonora helping Grandma care for him. We will notify everyone when he passes and when we've set times for memorials in Modesto and Sonora, etc.

Thank you for all your help,
The McBride Family

Slideshow of "Grump-Pa"