Mom spent her earliest years of life in the Great Depression on a little farm in the mountains of Idaho. This little farm produced so poorly her father called it 'Poverty Flat' as he felt they were starving. Yet, although the food supply was often scant and there sometimes wasn't enough to eat, Mom's mother was always so positive and intentionally blind to their destitute condition in front of the children that the kids felt secure and well off. Passing this on to her children, my brothers and sisters thought we were the richest people in the valley even though we were struggling as well on a small farm of our own. Mom learned early the powerful influence a positive attitude can have on good health.

Mom became a registered nurse during the Second World War in the Army Nurse Corps. Then, after the war, she married Dad and settled down to a life at home with the kids - at least she thought. When I was about 12 years old, Mom had to go to work to support the family as Dad grew ever more sick with Parkinsons Disease. She started out nursing, but as the hospital was so small, everyone had to double up on the jobs. Aside from nursing, she did much of the lab work, then she was off to anesthetist school which added another job of putting every person to sleep the doctor operated on. A few years later, when physician's assistant licenses came along, she was off to that school and became the one doctor in the valley's right hand helper. After that time, just like a doctor, she could be called at any time of night to make a mad dash to the hospital after someone had come in with an emergency. Through these combined life experiences she has learned a great deal about healing and health.

About 12 years ago Mom started doing something else - going on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Something really unique happened to her early in her first mission. When she arrived she found that as many as 1/3 of the missionaries in this third world country were sick at the same time.

Since then Mom has been a missionary health specialist. In fact, she basically invented the title on her first mission. Now she supervises several missions helping other missionary health specialists. On the 1st of August, 1999, I interviewed her just before she left for another 18 month stint to another third world area.

This interview, as far as health goes, is somewhat out of sync with present thought in the United States today. All I can say is the proof's in the pudding. She gets remarkable results wherever she goes. Please don't send E-mail for Mom because she's unavailable. It's my hope you can find something of value for your own health by learning about what she does with the missionaries to help them stay healthy.

Interview Subjects:

• Al: Me, the web page author
• Marian: My mom, Marian Durtschi Butler
• Troy: Mom's new husband of 7 years. They got married 7 years after Dad died of Parkinsons Disease.