MOTHERS LETTER FROM HEAVEN

LaVon Harris yearned to be the best secretary that Nephi ever had. We believe she was and destined to teach her kids the importance of learning to type, even boys! She insisted that their would be a time in our lives when boys would have to learn how to type. That was for girls, I protested, but lived by Mom and as a teenage boy, I made the type team and made it to Region. The best thing was finding myself surrounded by pretty gals of Juab High. LaVon was focused on typing and continued to write letters to servicemen and LDS Missionaries. Alma Jones of Nortonville liked pretty gals, and to most he was the movie type stud that looked like Randolph Scott. But he like farming and watched the new Nephi High School built on Main Street and started a career in cement and masonry work. When Alma went off to war during the era of World War Two, the two exchanged letters, and they both must have been hit hard with the love for each other and got hitched as soon as he returned. Before they both got older, Storks started flying by the Jones home about once a year. Alma had heart problems in his last years, and never recovered from a hip surgery, that was at a time when they didn't have the knowledge or material to fix it right. One leg was shorter that the other, and he walked with a cane, but in pain. I am now at the age where I use his cane after multiple surgeries with similar pain of my Dad. Alma  passed through the Veil between Earth and Heaven in June, 1984. Shortly after is when LaVon wanted to make sure that their kids would always be the family that stayed together. She typed her thoughts to each of the Jones Kids of Weston, Hal, Kent, Gary and Jaynette. Although I have saved family papers and things for years, much like others in my family, I had forgot about the letter I had received back in 1984. Sitting at my desk last night, I became frustrated with all the things piled up which I need to organize for future generation to exam and ponder about. That is when  I knocked a letter off and picked it up and read it. Tears filled my eyes, and only then is when I knew that God does move in mysterious ways. I openly responded saying "Mom, all your kids have stuck together and we get together for a lunch and call Gary in Alaska". I knew she and Dad was aware he have all stuck together, but our average age is now around 75, so we all recognize we will soon join our family that has gone before us. Happy Birthday Mom.

GOD HAS ACCEPTED A WOMAN WITH BEAUTY AND AN HONEST TO GOODNESS HEART

The Juab Wasps and the North Sanpete Hawks have been arch rivals in sports, but for some unexplained reason, they shine together under a blue moon! Such was the case in 1954, when Gene Mikkelson wedged his way up next to Marian Garrett at the Ute Stampede. Back then, Gene may not have known that Marian's father was a big shot with the Stampede, and Marian's little brother, was a giant of a man who became Cotton Rosser's right hand man and as a Wrangler with John Wayne and Ben Johnson. But Gene wasn't going to let anything stop him from courting Marian, and Gene went on to have to fight  bloody hard during the Korean War. But Marian had the grit of her mother and wanted to work, and she did just that. But we will let the program readers soak it all in. And whoever wrote that program had a 20-20 vision of Marian. After my own career and moving back to the once small and friendly town, I better got to know Marian and Gene, and found their true love for each other, but what struck me, was they were true friends. And the crowd at the Vine Bluff cemetery showed the magnetic attraction of the Mikkelson's and the Garretts. Now the show must go on with a sad face, but just gaze at that wide smile, as Marian gets to spend time with her infant daughter.

GLEN L. BOYER HAS BEEN PROMOTED

He wasn't from Nephi, but pretty dang close. Glen Boyer was born and raised in Hoytsville, Utah. But since two of his sisters married young men from Nephi, we accept him as one of our own. Even at his funeral, we would admit any of his worldly faults, but nobody could come with any! Glen was much like his father, who at the age of 80, could get his horse to stand still and shoot a big buck(nobody in the Boyer or Jones family ain't never ever seen a "small buck")! One of the Boyer gals hitched up with a Nephi McPherson and another tied the knot with a Jones. Those two familiar names go back to Mormon Pioneer times, and it just so happens that one of each sailed to England to serve LDS Missions in the 1800's. We will leave the rest of the story to the program folks. And by the way, what a send off by the American Legion. It sent chills down my arthritic old spine.

IT IS GOOO HAVE A NINTH INfANTRY MEDIC WHEN IN DIRE STRAITS

 IT APPEARED TO BE THE PERFECT DAY TO GO FISHING IN AMERICAN FORK 

CANYON,  ALTHOUGH HIGH SCHOOL WAS OUT FOR THE SUMMER, THEIR WERE NO  

NOISY KIDS SPEEDING UP AND DOWN THAT ROAD. MY BROTHER AND I PICKED 

THE IDEAL DAY TO SPEND TIME IN ONE OF GODS BEAUTIFUL CANYONS. WE DECIDED  

TO  DROWN OUR WORMS AT A PERFECT FISHING HOLE. I LATER THOUGHT IT MAY 

NOT  HAVE BEEN THE PERFECT PLACE, AS HAL HAD BEEN BEHIND TWO  

SEPARATE MOTOR  CYCLE KIDS THAT WERE KILLED GOING TOO FAST. WE 

KNEW THE PLACE WELL OR SO WE THOUGHT. HAL VENTURED TO THE LEFT AND I TO 

THE RIGHT.. I KNEW THE GRAVEL AND SHARP ROCKS WERE A HAZARD TO WALK ON, 

BUT I FELT LKE I WAS A TEEN AGER, BUT NOT FOR LONG!. REPEATED FALLS AND 

ACCIDENTS WERE  LESSONS' I SHOULD HAVE REMEMBERED, BUT NEEDLESS TO SAY,  

I DIDN'T THINK CLEARLY AND PRIOR SUBDURAL HEMATOMAS WERE THERE AS A

A TEACHER. ON  THE FRONT LINES WITH THE NINTH INFANTRY, HAL WAS KNOWN AS 

DOC JONES AND HIS MEDICAL EXPERTISE KICKED IN AND KNEW HE HAD TO STOP MY 

BLEEDNG AND HE DID BEFORE HE DROVE TO THE AMERICAN FORK E,R, WHERE DR.

ANDY OLDROYD SEWED MY HEAD BACK TOGETHER, AND MY BROTHER AND

 THEY CHATTED ABOUT NOT JUST SAVING OUR SOLDIERS, BUT HAD TO KILL

THE ENEMIES COMING AFTER HIM.  THANKS HAL

TODAY IS THE DAY WE HONOR THOSE WHO GAVE HELP TO OTHERS

MANY OF US STILL CALL IT DECORATION DAY; AND OTHERS  CALL  IT MEMORIAL DAY.

EITHER WAY, IT IS TO RECOGNIZE THOSE WHO SERVED OTHERS. TODAY I LEFT AN IRIS 

FLAG OR FLOWER AND ON THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE MILITARY,  I SALUTED THEM, 

BUT PAID TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO SERVED OTHERS IN A CHRIST LIKE MANNER. 

DRIVING TO AND FROM VINEBLUFF CEMENTARY, MY SPEED WAS SLOW AND THOUGHT

PROVOKING. AT FIRST,  I WAS ABOUT TO UTTER DISCONTENT TO THE FIVE  SPEEDING 

VEHICLES HITTING THEIR ACCLERATOR UP 1250 NORTH. I  ST0PPED AS THEY 

TURNED SOUTH ON 4TH EAST, BYPASSING THE HALLOWED GROUND OF THOSE  

WHO SERVED,  AND EAST TO THE NEARBY LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL DIAMONDS. 

THOUGH A SINNER I REMAIN, GOD RESPONDED TO MY CRY, AND THE THREE YOUNG 

KIDS CROSSING THE STREET SUDDENLY STOPPED AND AVOIDED INJURIES. GOD

STILL WORKS MIRACLES TO ALL  OF US WHO REMAIN ON EARTH.

THIS IS THE ALMA JONES FAMILY TRIP TO KANAB OF YESTERYEAR

When all of us were younger, everything we did appeared to be easy.. I have now reached the age that I am no longer young, and I at least acknowledge that truth. Alma Jones escaped life on earth in 1984, but his legacy will always live on with his kids and their kids. In Nephi during the 1950's, Alma and LaVon Jones had five kids running around the house that was built in 1885. Even after it was built, there was only a outhouse for adults and kids, but when we kids came along, improvements were made and it was a very comfortable house that became our home.  Alma laid cement where the clothesline was, and with four boys that were a handful, especially when they were only about a year or so apart, our mother figured out how she could do what needed to be done in the house, so she invented a good way for us toddlers and hooked up a rope so each of us could run up and down the length of the clothes line. That provided safety and practical.When LaVon was so busy she was about to explode, Alma took the hint well, and all the kids jumped in the pick up truck and went out to get a load of sand and firewood so our mother could start the kitchen stove, which she used for cooking and the hot water would go in the tank for baths. When Dad and us kids came back, two or three of the boys would take a bath and enjoy supper, and only when we got older, little did we know we were close to poor, but always had plenty of enjoyment. Anyway, we  had fun out west and Mom needed the rest. So over time, we started what  we called "The Alma Jones Trip" and travel to a place that was known to us or back when Wm Jones took a wagon of supplies to places in Nevada that was a part of the Utah Territory. The outline below is the trip to Kanab where we hooked up with the family of Don Jones, who was the son of Bert Jones, who was a brother of Alma Jones. If this old brain can figured it out, we will add how our trucks got stuck in a Tributary to the Colorado River and we got it out and stayed in Kanab where John Wayne stayed when Western movies were filmed.

 

NEARLY A QUARTER MILLION PEOPLE HAVE VIEWED OUR HISTORY BLOGS

We started writing these history blogs about ten years ago, while I lived in the big bad city to our north.  As a kid, I lived in Nephi, Utah where our house on the corner of the corner of 7th north and Main was built in 1885 with several family members lived there and still a Jones lives there. As a young kid, I  loved getting on the Continental Trailways bus with my mother-LaVon Harris Jones, and take old Highway 91 to Salt Lake to visit her brother-Ren Harris, who lived at the Regis Hotel, which at the time, I would say was like a "Bates" Hotel. But Uncle Ren and others like him who were World War One Veterans and injured or homeless had no other place to live.When he had a stroke, he returned to Nephi and lived at the Colonial Manor. In those days the VA was not overly kind to our boys we sent "Over There". Going to the big city was fun and delightful for me and it was good for my mother who had five young kids to care for; excellent but gentle  loving interest to teach us all how to iron; clean house; great cook; informed us how to collect "kindly" to start the kitchen stove fire and the one in the front room. Our mother showed how four boys could squeeze together for our weekly Saturday night bath; shine our shoes after, so we could walk to church the next day, but always made sure we had our school work completed. Our folks taught us that it was essential to graduate from Juab High School, and we all took it so serious, that we would help each other, even though one brother still thought he did it all by himself! Our mother was a stay at home housewife (which term she loved) until we were all in school, then she went to work for Utah Poultry, then a secretary typist was important, and when I was being paid for my work, I had to a select one who could type faster than me and with accuracy. During my 42 years working in Law Enforcement and the Criminal Justice System, I was also a Constituent Affairs Officer 'four different Utah Governor's, and I did so, although 3 of the four thought I was being "too honest" in the letters. Those three stopped their "political double talk" my career was in law enforcement and the Criminal Justice System. When one Governor a letter he was to sign, I mentioned "Our Constitution", which made he and for Clyde C. Child, then Ralph Menlo e, all of who were Supt' for Juab Schools. LaVon believed it was the most important work there was. She was a little like Ellen Anderson Garrett, who was a scribe and typed LDS Patriarchal Blessings'. I believed that made him nervous! Perhaps that is why I did only did one term ats a Nephi City Council Member I could see  too much corruption or the potential with conflict of interests. During my escapades' around the world, I have seen much and acknowledge how God has protected me from the hatred of mankind; shotgun blast to the head and slow to open my parachute until I passed up Alta airport. Along the way I loved being a Scoutmaster and helping kids there and in youth sports, but ran into a big tree that fell on my head, giving me a subdural hematoma. The young scout tried tried to stop but the tree hit me with residual effects to this day. Sorry, it took so long to write this, but my old brain doesn't think too much and these computers are not made for me, Photo is of family members way back when