In 1941, my mother Irene Hawke Burnett Benson lived in Plymouth, England with her husband Charles Reginal Henry Burnett and my 6-month-old brother Robert Charles Burnett. When World War II broke out, Reginald went into the military service with the British Navy and served on the ship HMS Raleigh. Soon after, he sustained a back injury and was put into a body cast and was sent to a hospital in Oswestry, Wales and was to stay for an extended period of time. Because the bombings were so serious, all mothers and children of 5-14 of age were evacuated out of Plymouth to other areas. Mom went to stay at a friend’s house in Roche, Cornwall, the Henrietta and Harry Pedlar’s home until someone would take them in as evacuees. They ended up staying there for 6 months, during which they all became very close to each other, calling Henrietta “Gram” because they were like grandparents to them.
Mom and Robert were then sent to Wales close by Reg’s hospital so they could visit him. He had back surgery to fuse his back and laid in a body cast for eleven months. He was finally able to leave the hospital and go home. Within two weeks of coming home he contracted spinal meningitis and immediately passed away, leaving my mom and my 10-month-old brother Robert devastated.
My mom was a bus conductress for two years in Plymouth until she met my dad Ariel Nephi Benson, a serviceman in the U.S. Navy at a bus conductress dance. They dated and were married three months later. They came to America in 1945 and settled in Culver City, California where mom was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I was born along with two other siblings, Laurence and Heatherly. In 1953 the family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where my younger brother Kerry was born.
Many years later, in about 1995, mom decided that she wanted to do the temple ordinances for this special Harry Pedlar family. Not being able to find the vital information to be able to do that temple work, she decided to go right to Roche, England where they lived to find the genealogy information she needed. She arrived in England and got off the train in the town of Roche. She immediately walked to the home that she had known, and no one was there. Sadly, she wondered if the descendants of the family had left the home long ago and would not be found.
Determined to find them, she decided that she would just start walking down the street and ask people in town if they knew where to find the Harry and Henrietta Pedlar family. She turned around and decided to ask the first person she saw. She saw a young man walking toward her, and walked up to him and said, “Excuse me, but I am looking for the Harry Pedlar family. Would you know how I could find them?” Startled, he immediately said, “He’s, my grandfather!” Mom was stunned and delighted! The first person she asked was the family! He took her right to the home that she had just been to and had lived in so many years ago in 1941! He invited her in and asked her to have a seat on the couch while he went to get her a cup of hot chocolate (she no longer drank English tea). While he was in the kitchen, she decided to browse through some books that were in a pile next to the couch. As soon as she picked up the top book, a paper fell out of the book and onto the floor. She picked up the paper, and written on the paper was the genealogy that she had come for! She couldn’t believe her eyes! There it was! Grateful to her Heavenly Father for the miracle she had just been given, she flew home with her treasure and did the temple ordinances for Harry and Henrietta Pedlar.
Seven years later in the fall of 2002, I was taking care of her in my home because she had experienced a stroke the year before in 2001 while she was in Europe. One morning I went into her bedroom to bring her bowl of oatmeal and attempted to put it on a tray in front of her. She quickly pulled her blanket up over the front of her pajamas, gave me kind of a funny look, and said, “Who was that man?” I said, “What man?” She replied, “The man over there”, and pointed to the corner of her room where there was a chair. Puzzled, I said, “I don’t see anyone. What did he look like?” I asked.
“He was kind of roly-poly,” she replied. “What was he wearing?” I asked. He was wearing a dark suit. I asked, “Did he say anything to you?” “No,” she replied. I said with a smile, “You just sat there and looked at each other?” “Yes,” she responded.
Right then I felt it must be someone that she knew from her past that was here to visit her. I immediately got out her picture album that I had begun to create. I started looking through the pages and came to a page with a picture of a roly-poly man in a dark suit and asked her if it was him. She excitedly replied, “Yes! That’s him! That is Harry Pedlar. Robert and I lived with him during the war. I had his temple ordinances done about five years ago!”
The thought came to me to me that the temple ordinances were probably not complete, and he was there to let mom know that there was more to be done. I went to the computer and looked up his name. His sealing to his parents was missing and wasn’t done! Yes, there was more to do, and it was important to him to have it done, so he came in person to let her know.
What a special experience we were privileged to have! We scheduled an appointment in the Salt Lake temple that October to do the sealing ordinance. We didn’t have anyone to be the proxy for the ordinance, but we just felt that there would be someone there to do it with us.
On the morning of that October day, I received a phone call from my brother Robert- the baby in mom’s story – who lived in Texas. He said, “Hi!” Surprised at the call because he never called me, I said, “You sound so close!” He said, “I am! I am here in Salt Lake. The stars just all lined up and I decided to come for a visit with mom!” I couldn’t believe it. Here was Robert on the day that we planned on doing the sealing ordinance for Harry Pedlar and Robert could be the proxy for Harry! He didn’t know about the planned sealing ordinance and just felt impressed to be there on that day to visit mom.
Mom, Robert, and I joyfully went to the temple that afternoon together, performed the sealing, and enjoyed dinner together. Robert was the proxy for the kind grandfather-like man who took care of him so many years ago. We marveled at how miraculously – with Heaven’s help – everything came together to do the sealing. Harry was happy.
Eleven years later in 2012, my son Luke called me and wanted to know the details about the Harry Pedlar story because he was speaking in church about Family History and wanted to tell the story. I revisited the Pedlar family pedigree online in FamilySearch and mistakenly typed in Harry’s father’s name Henry instead of Harry. I found out that Henry had not been sealed to his wife! Luke helped us complete that ordinance, and I have seen to it since then that all his children and siblings have had their ordinances done too.
They are all one happy Pedlar family now.
– Joy Gough, consultant, Granite FamilySearch Center