a little history

My dad, Joseph Smith Peery, had a business, Seagull Drug, in Sugarhouse when my sister Teri and I were really young. He decided that the retail life was not his thing, sold his interest in the business and the house he had built with my mom on Browning Ave, and went back to school. He got accepted to Harvard Business School, Northwestern University and some others, but went to Northwestern because they gave him a scholarship. When he was 50 years old he got his PhD and became an Econ/Business professor at the U of Utah. He didn't have a very big income until I was in High School, so we rented and moved a lot. My mom, who had been perfectly happy with his career owning a business, went along with him and his career change because she had no choice. It was a second marriage for both, and she had 4 children (two from her first marriage). My parents argued all the time. My older half brother and sister moved out as soon as they could. My brother Brent got married at 17, then had the marriage annulled and joined the Navy. He had to lie to get into the Navy because he had been hit by a car when he was in grade school, the hood ornament had crushed the side of his skull and he had a plate in his head. It was amazing that he survived at all. My sister Frankie married at age 19. She married Tom Brignand, a college student. He was studying to become a math teacher. She got pregnant right off the bat, but had an illegal abortion because she and Tom never wanted to have children. Tom was an only child and didn't want to share Frankie, and Frankie's experience taking care of my sister and me had been enough for her.
My mom, Fern Flagler Peery, made sure that Teri and I had everything we needed, even though she had little money. She went back to work when my dad went back to school. She made sure that we had dance lessons; first hula then ballet and tap, and ice skating lessons, too. She made most of our clothes so we always had cute little matching outfits. Christmas was her favorite time of year. She would decorate the whole house, inside and out, and her Christmas trees were always an amazing sight. We always had new pajamas on Christmas Eve (which she would warm for us in the oven and sometimes scorch them before they were ever warn). On Christmas morning, Teri and I would get identical presents: new dolls, bikes, clothes. My mom made sure that we had a magical time. I still have some of the ornaments from my childhood and I will always try to make a beautiful Christmas tree in her memory.