View: Utah Death Certificate

Father: Don Carlos Driggs
Mother: May Jerusha Robison Driggs
Spouse: Harold Glen Clark
Married: 26 June 1929
Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona

THE SUNSHINE GIRL

By: Harold Glen Clark
Taken from: Tell Me Another One Grandpa

Virginia was born and grew up in Driggs Idaho. Her father Don C. Driggs, founder of the town, and stake president owned the only hotel. Virginia said one of the guests said she was "a sunshine girl" and so she was determined very early that was what she wanted to grow up and be.

She was nearly 20 years old when I met her and being somewhat older and of a rather sober mind, I thought her smiles would balance my life. However I was wary of people who were always smiling as this jingle emphasized:

"If you can smile when things go wrong and say it doesn't matter,
If people never see you frown and trouble makes you fatter,
Then have your head examined bud, there are no ifs of buts,
A guy that's grinning all the time, must be completely nuts."

But I found in our life together, that Virginia's optimism was not just a veneer. It was her religion, an unsinkable cheerful outlook. When we had so little money, I came home one evening sad because I had mashed up our only car. Her reaction was, "Good we've needed a new car for a long time."

There's something downright refreshing about a positive enthusiasm in this world. I found that J.P. Morgan was quite right when he observed that he had lost more money in not having faith in people than he had by having faith in people.

Virginia's favorite song was, "In a world where sorrow ever will be known, where are found the needy and the sad and lone, how much joy and comfort you can all bestow, if you scatter sunshine everywhere you go."

Then one day out of the blue, a dark cloud came rolling, testing her song. The doctors said she had cancer and would last only a few months. "Cheer up," she said as I sat numb and said, "I'm not dead yet."

And so, after the doctor's pronouncement she lived seven years, giving birth to a baby, strengthening and preparing her family for the day when she might not be with them.

Finally, the progress of the disease put her in bed with every bone wasting away. People coming to visit, saw her trying to make individual histories for her children, and went away wondering just how big their problems were.

Then, one evening as we all stood round her bed, she slipped quietly away. Little 7 year old Joe, standing at the foot of the bed, was a symbol of her 7 years of distress. We watched the undertaker wrap her body in a sheet and carry her out of the room, and our mortal lives forever. In that moment, from her silent lips the song, "In a world where sorrow ever will be known," seemed to rise in a triumphful symphony of a thousand violins, climaxing in the chorus, "Scatter sunshine all along and over your way, cheer and bless and brighten every passing day."

I wonder, will I or my children or their children, sense the power- and have the power, and glory of the kingdom of optimism and faith, as did the sunshine girl—especially when and if a dark cloud comes sailing out of the blue in our lives!

I have thought often, across the years, that gladness, good cheer and faith; such as Virginia's, could only come from God.

--Source: Harold Glen Clark Family Website | transcribed by Annie Duckett Hundley | 24 Sep 2010.
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