What Family History Means to Me -- Written by Charles

So, today I was randomly looking through some old Trek pictures online, I clicked a wrong button, and I somehow came across a random document belonging to Charles. This is what I found… and would never have found it, had I not slipped my finger in just the wrong/right way. This post goes along with the post below called "Death Does NOT Part Us." All I have to say is, wow. 

I just could not resist putting Charles with his ancestors… look how happy he is. :-) 

What Family History Means to Me

By Charles van Ormer

To me, it means everything. Family history has been a part of my church experience, even from the very beginning. This is my story.

I was converted to the Gospel of Christ on a cold winter’s day in Anchorage, Alaska. It had been a dark and treacherous winter, and a dark and treacherous time in my life. It was December, and only a week before Christmas. I was seventeen and struggling to find purpose and direction in life.

It was the night of the Snowball dance at West High School. I chose not to go, but spent the night driving around town in the snow. Just before midnight on December 17, 1993, I parked my car and contemplated my existence up to that point in my life. And, for the first time in my life, I uttered my first sincere prayer. I needed to know what my life was for. What came next was unexpected and life changing.

As a sat in my car, in the dark and cold, my answers came: I am here to be happy. The simplicity of that message might not appear profound here and now, but the feelings associated with that declaration left no doubt in my mind that it was not only true, but very possible, even for a backward boy like me. I was filled with light and joy unlike I had ever experienced before. It was all at once life changing.

In the swift series of events that followed I was also visited with another experience. I was come upon with the presence of my departed Grandfather on my Father’s side. I knew in an instance that life did continue beyond the grave and what was more, my own people were waiting for me there and were interested in my success here on Earth. I had never met my Grandfather in life. He had passed away before I was born. However, I knew him in an instant, and he has been with me ever since. I knew then, even moments into my conversion, that I had a connection with departed spirits and that somehow I would be connected with them through the Gospel.

Time passed and I was baptized. Although, I have never mentioned this experience to anyone, that spring my family took a vacation to Arizona. There I had the opportunity to be baptized for my Grandfather in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. This was a very satisfying experience.

Years later, in 2005, while attending Law School in Spokane, Washington, my thoughts again began to turn to family history work while working on an Indian Law case for the Clinic. Part of my assignment was to research the family history for a client to establish American Indian ancestry. At this same time I began doing my own family history work.

The drive to do the work for my ancestors was a constant force in my life. I thought of my connections with my Grandfather, and my mind began to turn to all of the members of my family who were waiting for their work to be done on the other side of the veil. Since that time I have traced back my family history as far as I am capable. 

I have found my life blessed in very tangible ways as I dedicate myself to family history work. I have discovered I have a past. I have a history of faith, hard work and service in my family. This history is a part of me and gives me great strength.

Among my notable discoveries is William van Ormer, who led a regiment out of Pennsylvania during the Civil War. Capitan van Ormer fought in Manassas and Gettysburg and survived both battles. His son, Abraham, was a Lutheran Minister in the small town of VanOrmer, PA. He was a learned man and produced many written works regarding the life and ministry of the Savior.

On my paternal-grandmother’s side I am related to Frank Hines, the very first Veterans Administrator for the Federal Government. I am descended from farmers, who survived the Dust Bowl during the depression by moving from Kansas to Oregon. I have been able to trace my common ancestry with Spencer W. Kimball. President Kimball descended from one of two brothers whose father came from England to America. I am descended to the other brother.

My family history is very meaningful to me. It has been the means of bringing me into the Gospel and I have in turn been a means of bringing them salvation by performing sacred ordinances for them vicariously in the temple. This work has been a great strength for my family and me as we work out our own salvation together as a family.

- Charles

Do you know how happy this made me?! 

What a treasure… thanks for helping me find it, Charles!