Home for the Holidays: Bobbi Ann Campbell 12/24/09

Bobbi Ann Campbell, missing from Salt Lake City, UT since 1/7/1995

My mom, Bobbi Ann Campbell, went missing on December 27, 1994. We were living with my great grandparents at the time. My mom and I went to her friend’s house to give her a Christmas present. My mom asked her friend to baby sit me while she went to go pick up her paycheck and then go to the bank and cash the check. I fell asleep waiting for my mom to come get me. When I woke up my mom still wasn’t there. I called my great grandparents and they came and got me. My grandpa went to report her missing after a couple of days. They said to wait because she is an adult. My grandpa drove around aimlessly looking for my mom’s car. He went to her place of employment to find my mom had never made it to pick up her paycheck. My grandpa kept going back to the police station until they filed a missing persons report.

I was only with my mom for a few short years, but I can still remember the holidays I spent with her. She used to make some of our Christmas ornaments by hand. My mom was a very creative woman. I have home a home video of our last Christmas together that help keep the memories with me. She was so happy to watch everyone open their presents. She was filming me, my great grandma, and my great grandpa while we opened ours and she waited until we were done to open hers. That Christmas, I remember waking everyone up at about 3 or 4 A.M. The last present I opened that Christmas was from my “Santa”. It was a Super Nintendo. I was so excited to play it. I remember playing it that day with my mom.

This Christmas is not only my 15^th Christmas without my mom, it’s also the 15^th anniversary of when I last saw her. When I was little every Christmas I would leave a note for Santa next to his cookies and milk.

“Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas this year is my mom to come home. I miss her a lot. I don’t care about the presents. Just her. It would make my family happy too. Thank you.

Love,

Stephanie Farrell”

Every year I would come out hoping my mom would be there waiting for me next to the Christmas tree.

Every Thanksgiving dinner we have as a family, my great grandparents talk about how much my mom loved the canned cranberries. I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason they still put them out.

During the holidays I still find myself wondering what she would want for Christmas if she were here. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. During the holidays my mom is all I can think about.

My mom cared so much about making every one else happy. I miss her laugh.

I still write her notes all the time. For her birthday, Mothers Day, Christmas, Etc. I attach them to a helium balloon and send them off, wishing they would fly to my mom.

I’m sure I’m not alone here. Almost every Christmas song makes me cry. For example: “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, “Blue Christmas”, and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” just to name a couple.

I miss my mom so much. I wish she could be here for the holidays. Hopefully someday I will have some answers. Hopefully the answers will help me get through them a little easier.

-Stephanie Amandia Cook

Learn more about Bobbi Ann