Steven's Memories

In regards to his sense of humor I remember dad when he would be putting his boots on in getting ready to go to work he would quote the scripture "No rest for the wicked"

I do not remember dad ever spending much time in leisure but if my memory serves me right he liked reading the humorous comics in the Sunday newspapers.  I think he liked reading comic magazines/books.  I remember seeing him read the scriptures and reading the book Jacob Hamblin which I think he read a couple of times, because he seemed to have an interest in the book I read it.  He did a time or two go down to St. George with Mom in the winter when he was not working the farm.  I never remember my dad raising his voice at me.  He was very frugal in his spending, I think he once bought pants that were to long and then just rolled them up all because they were cheaper than the size that fitted.  Dad as I remember him was very concerned about us, was sparing in preaching to us, teaching more by example than word, but the one thing he did instruct us boys on was to be respectful to women including putting the toilet seat down when we were done.

Note: Steven was born on his dad's 41st birthday, July 29th.

Recollections of a Younger Brother by Isabelle Jackson Coleman

Lafe was christened the same day as I was baptized - Sept 2, 1917.
After 3 daughters Father was probably proud and grateful to at last have a son - Lafe.
Though I often heard Father say if there's anything sweeter than little kids, it's more little kids. He said he couldn't wait until Lafe was big enough to go with him, but when that day came, Father was suffering too much from the cancer to take him. Lafe, Reta, Inez and Kelland stayed Grandpa and Gramdma Schofield and Aunt Lucille, when Mother went with Father to the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. (I stayed with Grandma Jackson, so I could go twice a day to tend chickens & look after home.)
When Father died Lafe couldn't understand why he didn't come home and after Mother explained he had gone up to Heaven to live with Heavenly Father, Lafe would ask Mother why they couldn't get in the car and go up in the clouds where Daddy was.
And when Lafe was a small boy, Uncle Will took him and Kelland with his boys on the father's & sons outing. Some one returned shortly after for supplies and Lafe came home with them. I don't remember the excuse he gave Mother for coming home, but she said she saw him standing in the yard and knew it was because he was missing his own father.
As he grew up he like to tease his sister Inez. One day he did something that aggravated her very much, so she took running to catch him. But he out run her, Kelland was near by so she pulled his hair. Kelland didn't know what he had done to make Inez so angry.
Lafe, Arlo (Brady), Lynn (Boice)* loved to ride their horses. Some times they would be gone most of the day, which was a great wory to Mother. They loved to go to Flat Top Mountain several miles east of Mansassa and try to round up or catch wild horses.
Always when he got near home, Lafe would give Pet, his horse free reins and she would go full speed for the corral. Mother held her breath for fear the horse would cut too close and the gate posts would scrape Lafe off, but they always made safely.

*Lynn Boice was a uncle to Lafe's wife, LaRee.

Dad's Love

As I look at this picture, I realize how handicapped my dad had it as a father. When my dad was two, his dad passed away from cancer. But yet, Grandpa Jackson passed on the legacy of loving children to his two sons and I am pretty sure, his daughters. Aunt Isabelle wrote how Grandpa Jackson loved children and the only better than children were more children. My dad was like this as my siblings and I were growing up. I even saw that example in my Uncle Kelland, who was the youngest child of Lafayette and Jane Schofield Jackson. Even though my dad has been gone for more than 30 years, I still feel of his love. 

Laura's Memories of Mom

Laura (9/20/12)

I remember my mother reading a variety of books to me and Jay (She like "Little House on the Prairie" as much and me I think.  We loved to sit on her lap or on each side.  We'd share her by dividing her in half.  I'm glad she shared family history stories with me. Most mornings when I woke Mom was doing one of two things--making breakfast mush or reading her scriptures at the table. She liked to read the National Geographic and Readers Digest.  (In later years she splurged and added quilting magazine)

I remember the quilting parties sometimes at our home and sometimes at one of Mom's friends.  The kids liked to play under the framed quilts. She sewed all my dresses at least through grade school and then taught me to sew.  

She'd buy bushels of beans or peas and have everyone sit around the table snapping or shelling in preparation for canning.  She canned lots--I especially loved the bushels of peaches. I remember seeing her spending many hours standing at the sink pitting, pealing etc. She baked six loaves of bread at a time. (once or twice a week?)

We knew what days laundry was done--she did the bread baking on certain days and laundry on others.  She was organized and kept to her self made schedule so I'd say she was disciplined too. She planned ahead --we'd have a meeting and discuss upcoming trips--including the early hour we'd wake, in the summer we had a week she'd have us prepare for school by starting to go to bed earlier, etc Christmas she handled the budget carefully.  Each child was given an allotment and would spend hours pouring over the Sears and Ward catalogs determining the best way to use that amount.

She liked me to scratch her back and comb her hair.  This made me feel good to do as a young child.

Mom collected interesting rocks while we went on walks.  She didn't use her skirt like I did, but I do remember her wearing aprons.  She usually wore a dress.  She had house dresses for everyday chores.

We would do a "4th of July" program, with patriotic songs, poems, and references to the verses in the Book of Mormon that taught of Columbus and the unique place America is.

Also liked going to the parade with Mom on the 4th.  It was one of the rare times we had potato chips, hot dogs and our own glass bottle of pop (Shasta?)  We'd picnic on the front lawn using a folding metal table.

When I was in high school she was patient with my sometimes teenage irrational notions. One evening during a blizzard I determined to go ahead to play pep band for a basketball game.  I know she tried to discourage me, but in the end seeing my determination went with Jay and me.   After the game the roads were quite blown over.  We amazingly made it within the last mile before we got good and stuck.  I felt very foolish as we trudged home through the deep snow in the cold.  I remember it being a difficult walk home, but I don't remember her saying anything about my foolishness in getting us in that situation.  

During the last weeks of life I learned to appreciate what was important to her.  She was very weak during this time and so naturally let many things go undone, but she remembered she hadn't paid her tithing this month and had Mike fill out a form and write out a check she could sign.  She was in Washington state less than a day when she realized she needed an absentee ballot and had her son, Steve help her fill out a request for this.  (I remember her always voting and taking an interest in elections.)  She was very polite.  Even when she was feeling lousy while in the hospital she would smile and thank the doctors after they came by and talked with her.  She was very patient even when waiting to be helped move because she was uncomfortable in present position or was waiting for requested pain medication.

Mom's Moment

April 7, 2013 – Yesterday, a woman gave the closing prayer in the morning session of General Conference. It reminded of one Father’s Day while I was in elementary school or junior high, Mom got to say the prayer in Sunday School opening exercises. Mom was quite honored to do this. She said that because all the fathers were in Junior Sunday School for a Father’s Day program, there were no men to say the prayer, so she was asked. I don’t know if I have heard Mom pray in Sacrament Meeting because for more than half my life, we have attended different wards. She did hear Steven and I pray in the Paul 2^nd Ward as visiting adults. When people made a big deal about Jean A. Stevens being the first women to pray in a LDS General Conference, I thought of how proud Mom was to say the prayer in Sunday School those many years ago. It was a special moment for her. I don’t know if she was the first woman to pray in a general meeting I the Paul 2^nd Ward, but it meant a lot to her to pray in meeting where men and women met together.

Two Sons' Thoughts

From Steven (Monday Oct 1, 2012)

 That absentee ballot has quite a story to tell, I think is a keepsake if we have not returned and not required to return.  It is another tribute to Mother a memory to not be forgotten, she has stage 4 lymphoma to weak to stand up and she is thinking about.... to me that is remarkable, I hope you never catch me missing an election.

John (Oct 5, 2012)

Our mother was a mother of honor, a person who always sought to do the right thing. She insisted her tithing be paid. She raised us as church-goers. She spoke well of neighbors and valued their friendships. Her hobbies were noble, including genealogy. She was a conscientious voter. She did not believe in debt and did believe in being honest in financial dealings with others, paying them fully. She was not a feuder, but a friend to others.

If I were to contribute one memory, it would be of an offer to join, or to audition in hopes of joining the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It would have required her to stay in Salt Lake City for the six-months (or however long) duration of her membership. She let that opportunity go. That she spoke so little of it tells us much about her, and about her humility. Bless her. We were blessed with a great mother.

Cleaning house while kids are growing is like shoveling snow while it's snowing

Mary (9/20/12) I remember my mother trying to have a clean and shinning living room floor.  She would mop and wax it and then get dismayed when her children would run inside and then outside all day long tracking dirt in on her clean floor. I remember when she had what she thought was a good idea.  She wanted the floor to remain clean for at least a while after some of her moppings and waxings so she moved the couches back to give us one section of the floor to use so the major part of the floor would remain clean and shinning.  But I remember this didn't last long, she gave up and the couches were moved back and we had full access to the floor.  One thing kind of special is that she let us shine the floor up by sliding all over it with our stocking feet.