Maddie Woodmansee (Happy that she spelled that for me, but it is spelled just like it sounds!) Britton was raised just “catty-corner,” that’s south east from our Canyon View Ward building! Maddie was raised in that home her entire life, and literally never lived anyplace else until she and Sam were married. Maddie has two sisters and is the middle child. She has a sister that is 18 months older and one that is 13 months younger. (Now that was a busy mom! It was almost like having triplets!) Thankfully, Maddie is known as being a peacemaker. (How wonderful! Every family needs one for certain!)
Maddie and Sam met while they were going to Eastmont Middle School where they were each student body officers. They began dating when they were juniors at Jordan High School where they were both in the hand bell choir. This is where Sam admits with his marvelous smile that they attended each and every school dance together!
Maddie’s happiest memories while growing up always involved her Christmas Eves at home. Each one was very special in its’ own way. Bob, their neighbor, would join with her family where he would play music with the family and always play games. Yes, UNO was always part of the evening and Bob was an important part of their Christmas Eve tradition.
Maddie has become quite a crafter. She really enjoys making wedding shadow boxes, wreaths and macrame items. Also in her free time, Maddie likes to play her different instruments including her bass guitar, acoustical guitar and her ukulele. She really is quite talented!
Maddie and Sam were married in July of 2019. They teach primary together and just love sharing that calling together.
Maddie has received her associates degree from UVU and is working on her bachelor’s degree in marketing. Currently she is taking a break while Sam is going to school full time. Maddie is working at England Logistics in their finance department. Before working at England’s she was a waitress at Leatherby’s Ice Cream. Oh what a great job that was!
Maddie shared that one of her greatest accomplishments so far was when she was the president of her high school business club. It was very time consuming and involved a lot of work, but she really grew from the experience. When asked what her greatest joy is, without hesitation she replied, “Sam.” Then when asked what her greatest challenge has been, she replied, “Being a newlywed!” When asked what the best advice she could give someone, Maddie said, “Always be yourself, don’t alter who you are for someone else.” The best advice she has received is to save your money.
When asked about a turning point in her life, Maddie quickly looked at Sam and revealed that it was her senior year in high school when she totally turned to the gospel. Maddie asked Sam to explain his story. Sam told me that he started experiencing lot of pain in his knee the summer before their senior year in high school. He started going to physical therapy to see if that would relieve the pain. Finally after months and months of unrelenting pain, an x-ray was taken that revealed a mass in his upper right femur that was the size of a baseball. Originally they were told that the tumor was malignant. Just before the surgery on October 31, 2016, they were told that the tumor was benign. What a blessing! Then a huge surprise. The tumor was back and a second surgery was done only three months later on February 15, 2017 and the tumor was still benign. Wow. What a true blessing! Sam hasn’t had any more problems. Thankfully, priesthood blessings truly aided in Sam’s healing and comfort at this very difficult time. During that hard year is when Sam realized the importance of the church in his life. Thanks to some very understanding teachers, he was able to graduate with his class of 2017 as well as with his Maddie. In addition to Sam’s surgeries and recovery time, Maddie’s sweet neighbor, Bob passed away and just three months later, her grandmother died. This was a most difficult year for Maddie and she credits the gospel and our Savior’s love for getting her through that very hard year.
You already know some things about Sam, now let’s learn some more about him. Sam was born in Murray, Utah. He has one younger sister. He was raised in Sandy, Utah. Some of his best memories growing up involved their family road trips including trips to Seattle and Wisconsin. One year they went to Maryland and saw oodles of historic monuments, state and national parks. Sam just LOVES state and national parks! Maddie and Sam honeymooned in San Francisco which they loved!
After Sam’s surgeries and high school graduation, he started attending UVU studying software engineering. After two years at UVU, Sam and Maddie were married. In addition to going to school, Sam works at Expercom where he fixes Apple computers. Sam plans to graduate in April of 2021.
Sam is a co-owner of a video game business with his parents called The Game Machine. It is a trailer full of video games and tables that will pull up to the front of your house, your business, the park or wherever and provide the video games for your party! Sam just lit up when he was talking about their business! What a fun business! In his free time, Sam likes to play video games (It’s his business!) and work on his programming skills.
One of Sam’s greatest accomplishments was being named a Sterling Scholar in business and management. He admitted that one of his greatest challenges is managing his time correctly, but he is getting that figured out. His greatest joy is being married to Maddie. The best advice he could give to anyone would be to make time for things you enjoy. If he had just five minutes to teach anyone anything he would teach them about the plan of happiness! (That’s pretty sweet!)
The Silvercrest Ward is blessed to have this very talented, intelligent and enthusiastic young couple living here. This young couple is just getting started and have so very much to offer to this wonderful world!