Life History of Renee (Harris) Zamora

11. Share a story about one of your siblings.

I was four years old when my brother Steven was born. I can remember being so excited to have my new baby brother come home. When we went to get him from the hospital I had a little cold. I was sitting in the back seat of the station wagon. I remember leaning over the seat to see Steven. Mom then told me to not get close and sit back because I had a cold. I was so upset at being told that, that I decided to not like the baby. I did everything I could be mean to him. I remember drinking his bottles and telling Mom he was finished. I would pinch him and just did nasty things to him. It wasn't until I was older that I loved my brother. I feel bad to this day that I was so mean to Steven. Thank goodness he was the apple of everyone else's eye in the family. I do have to admit he was a very cute baby.

12. Did you have a favorite pet while growing up? Tell us about your pet(s). If you didn't have one what did you wish for?

I remember our black and white, border collie, Skippy. I just loved her. I loved having her sleep with me, she was just the best dog. She followed us kids everywhere. We had many cats that had kittens. I can remember my brothers and sister watching the cat have kittens in our closet. My most prized animal was my horse Fitzy Hal, a retired Standard bred racehorse. We had named the horse Bishop, after my father, until we found out his racing name. We would ride the horse but it didn't like to have a saddle on it. One time my father tried to ride the horse with a saddle and it just sat right down. One day the horse wouldn't leave it's corral so I tried to walk him out to the field. As I went around the corral the horse was spooked and ran over me. My foot was bruised very badly. It took a long time to heal. After that I was afraid of the horse and we sold him. I'm still a little nervous around horses.

13. Did you haver a favorite family vacation? Tell us something about it.

Our biggest family vacation was going to Salt Lake City, Utah to be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for Time and All Eternity. It was a wonderful vacation. I was seven years old and had my birthday on the road that year. Now that I live in Utah, every time I see the Salt Lake Temple I remember our family trip out to it. One interesting thing that happened going home from the temple was our car accident on the highway in Wyoming. Our brakes went out and we hit a car and ended up in the median strip of the highway, two buses followed us down there. Thank goodness no one was hurt badly. We went to the hospital and my father looked in the phone book for members of our church to give us a blessing. A local Bishop and his councilor came to give us all blessings. They then helped us get a hotel room and kept checking in to make sure we were ok.

The next morning in the hotel us kid were watching out the window. We were high up and watching the little people on the ground. We spotted a fire station and the fire engines coming out to go to a fire. We wondered were the fire was. We watched excitedly as the fire engine came to our hotel. Our hotel was on fire. My father went running looking for the stairway. Finally we learned it was only rags in the closet on fire, quickly put out. Later when we got home my parents wrote a note to thank the Bishop for his help. The letter was returned marked no such person. That was very curious.

14. Do you follow any religious beliefs? Tell us about your church.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (LDS/Mormon). My parents joined when I was 4 years old. I was baptized into the church when I turned 8 years old, by my father. I have always been active in my church. I can remember having a testimony of the church when very young. When I was interviewed before my baptism I was so nervous. I was afraid I wouldn't know enough and denied being able to get baptized. I was so excited when I passed! Now I realize the interview wasn't a test, they just wanted me to understand the covenant I made at baptism.

We have a prophet that leads our church, Gordan B. Hinckley. I believe he is a prophet of god. We have 12 apostles just like in Christ church of old. My church is very active in genealogy. I live in Utah and have many great genealogy resources available to me. This is an exciting thing for a genealogist. The most important thing to me as a member is the temple. I married my husband in the temple for Time and All Eternity. Which means not just for this life but forever. That is very important to me that my husband and children are sealed to me forever.

15. Do you collect anything? Tell us about your collection or favorite item.

One of my favorite items is the porcelain Siamese cats I have that used to be Grandma Harris' (Sarah Miller Harris). I can remember my mother giving me H&S Green stamps to lick into a little book, until we had enough to buy the Siamese cats for Grandma. They remind me of my grandmother and my mother. It was the only thing I asked for of Grandma when she died. The other thing I seem to collect is genealogy related items and people. My computer room is full of genealogy notebooks. I want to collect more family photos and get all my photo albums digitalized so I can share them with others. The other collection I seem to have is McDonald Happy Meal toys. After my gastric-bypass surgery my stomach is only big enough to hold a Happy Meal so I've been saving all my toys.

16. Is there someplace you lived that you especially liked or disliked and why?

It seems like everyplace I lived I liked it for some reason and didn't like it for other reasons. I loved the yard and field in my home in Harrisena when growing up. I didn't care for the house at times. But later in life I wanted to go back there and live.

When I lived in Massachusetts I loved the newest of the house. But, I didn't like the water problems we had there. Every time the power went out we would have a flooded basement. The sump pump had to work all the time.

Since living in Utah I have had three homes here. The first home was right near some power lines and you could hear the lines humming. That scared me and I didn't want to stay in the home because of it. It was a split level home and it was hard living in it with small children. Our second home was an old adobe brick home. It stayed cool in the summer, that was nice but it was horrible to heat in the winter. I liked the home otherwise and would of stayed there if things had worked out.

The home we live in now has so many reason I should dislike it. Its a basement home, no house on top. It just sticks out of the ground about three feet. But it has lovely big windows so I don't feel like I'm underground. When it snows a lot we have to unbury the house. When it rains a lot we have to bail out the stair wells so it doesn't flood the house. But, I really love this house. I hope to stay here forever. I love how cozy it is only 840 square feet. It's very cost effective. I have a computer room that I just love. With my health problems it's nice to not have to walk far to do anything. I also like the location I'm at, nice neighborhood and neighbors and close to all the stores. I guess I have finally learned to be happy where I am.

17. Tell us about your mother, do you have a special memory of her?

I have so many memories of my mother she was very interesting. I can recall her giving directions and stories to us that took a very long time to explain. We laugh about her doing this. But the one memory I wanted to share is how I drove her nuts. I used to invite several friends to church each Sunday. The only problem I wouldn't tell my mother we needed to pick them up until it was right before church started. She would always get so mad at me and yell, and try to teach me to tell her things before hand. But, still every Sunday she would pick my friends up and drive us all to church. I never remember her saying no to picking them up, even though I always told her at the last minute. Mom might of complained about things sometime, but she always did what was right. I loved her for it and my friends did too.

After my mother died I went through her papers and found the old letters I had written to her. She kept all these little notes, cards, and things we gave her over the years. It really touched my heart to see her keep these things all those years. Now I have them to remind me of her.

18. Do you have strong political feelings? If so, do you have any idea where you got them? Or if you have no political persuasions, how come?

I know I got my political view from my mother and father. They were both very conservative Republican when I was growing up. I don't really understand why my father has changed and become such a Democratic, but I still love him. I'm not a straight party person. I have voted for many Democratic and Independents. I'm not involved in politic but I do try to pay attention to the issues.

19. How has music influenced your life, do you sing, play an instrument or have a favorite song?

I played the flute in school but that wasn't for very long. I always wanted to play the piano, but never had the opportunity to learn. I've taught myself a little. I was part of the Studio Stage Band in High School. I sang "You light up my life", I really hated that song by the time I performed it. When I was little I wanted to be a singer. I sang with my girlfriends all the Osmond songs. We liked other performers like Barry Manalow, Beach boys, I can't recall the others. We would record ourselves for hours singing into a tape machine. We used to practice dancing to the songs too. We were not good and I'm so glad that others didn't see us!

I have been influenced the most in my life with hymns. I love to sing church hymns to myself. I have songs that really help pick up my spirit when I am down. My favorite is "I know that my Redeemer Lives". I also like "As Sisters in Zion" and "I Believe in Christ". There are many more I just love. I like to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

I seem to like most other types of music. I listen to several different radio stations. My kids have helped to expand my music interests. My daughter Marie writes her own music and sings them. I really like her song "Your Gone". My father played the harmonica while we were growing up. I just love to listen to it, I wish I had a tape recording of him playing and singing. When I was really ill, and had a near death experience I recall one thing happening. I wasn't sure if I was going to live or die, all of a sudden I heard a harmonica playing. I didn't know if this was another near death at first or not. I thought maybe I imagined my father coming to play for me. The music kept getting louder. Then I looked and saw a man standing at the foot of my bed playing the harmonica. It was just some wonderful older man trying to bring cheer to sick people in the hospital. I thanked him for coming and felt like I have received a little bit of comfort. It reminded me of my Dad.

20. Do you have a school experience that really stands out in your mind, either good or bad?

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