Ted Stoddard

My parents named me Ted Dee Stoddard when I was born on January 12, 1935. I have always facetiously but seriously maintained that "Ted Dee" was chosen so I could legitimately be called "Teddy."
My parents are Stephen Oran Stoddard and Violet May Chidester Stoddard. I was born in the back bedroom of the family home in Delta, Millard County, Utah-"Jackrabbit Country" to me as I grew up. My father passed away at forty years of age when I was two years old and we were living in Sunnyside, Washington, and my mother passed away at thirty-nine years of age when I was four years old and we were living in Delta. Thus, I've functioned uniquely as an orphan almost my entire life, but I've never felt disadvantaged, abused, or unable to achieve as a result of my status as an orphan.
I have four siblings much older than I. They all helped me through life in unique ways, and they all preceded me in death-Luella, Helen, George, and Oran, from the youngest to the oldest. Not long after my mother passed away, Luella moved and married Frank Lekan, and they settled eventually in Independence, Ohio. Helen married Robert Davenport and moved with him to Meridian, Mississippi. When I was nine years old, George married Selma Lee, and I moved in with them not long afterward. George was a migratory beekeeper, working mostly between Delta and Blythe, California, and I lived with him and Selma most of the time from the third grade through high school. In fact, I never spent an entire year at the same school from the time I was in the third grade until my junior year in high school because of George's migratory beekeeping activities. Oran finished his duties in the U.S. Army, returned home, and not long after World War II ended, he married Marilyn Jones and took over the family home in Delta. Though an orphan, I had considerable sibling support-though often from a distance.
I'm particularly grateful to several families in Delta who "took me in" during the years between my mother's death and George's marriage. I particularly thank Norman and Verna Gardner, nonfamily neighbors in Delta with whom I lived as I was starting elementary school. And I also thank Aunt Della Lisonbee for taking me in. Today, I would probably be placed in foster care or in an orphanage, but several families in Delta helped me and my siblings avoid that crisis.
Two highlights of my life have always been my faith in my Savior Jesus Christ and my belief that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church upon the earth. On my own volition, I completed a very productive mission for the Church in 1955–57 in the Western States Mission and subsequently have had many unique callings in the Church.
Two other highlights of my life are the births of two daughters-Kristy Dee and Nancy-and their roles in my life. I love them both dearly and thank them for helping preserve our relationships throughout the traumas we have lived through together.
But the foremost highlight of my life is my marriage on December 30, 1980, in the Mesa Temple to Mary Louise Oveson. She is unequivocally my true love, my ultimate reason for living as long as I have, and the greatest gift that God has given me. Above all, she is my friend and the companion with whom I expect to live throughout the eternities.