Jeana’s Journal

He was born in the desert and stayed there his entire life. It became a part of him and he a part of it. He understood hard times and was resourceful in difficult situations. He was a man of action and never one to be idle. In his retirement he collected and sold firewood. It kept him busy and was an income supplement. My husband accompanied Dad on one of his wood gathering trip when there was a problem with the key to the truck. As my husband tried to start the truck to move it to a new spot, the key broke off in the ignition. Without a word of criticism Dad set to work and devised a way to “hot wire” the truck and make it work without a key. He then thanked his son-in-law for breaking the key because he said, “Now I won’t have to keep track of a key anymore.”

He supported his family of ten with his hands and his mind. He learned the trade of home construction as a laborer. He made a leap of faith when in middle age he decided to begin his own construction company. His formal schooling was limited and he read with difficulty, so when he took the test to apply for his builders permit my mother went along to read the questions for him. He passed easily and was soon busy with as much work as he and his three sons could handle. He built houses the old fashioned way, by himself from the ground up. He and his sons did it all: concrete, framing, truss construction, roofing, bricklaying, dry wall, painting, cabinets…..everything but plumbing, electricity, and floor coverings. My brothers all learned trades from Dad that have supported their families and that continue to benefit his grandchildren in choosing their careers.

Although he did not read well, he was adept with numbers and when it came to his work there was nothing mathematical that he could not compute with accuracy and precision. Over the years he, with the help of his sons constructed over one hundred homes in Southern Utah. He was know for his honesty and the solid, well-built homes that he built.

His philosophy of life included the belief that everyone needs a hobby to take his mind off of work. He also believed that a hobby should make enough money to support itself. He had a variety of hobbies over the years including prospecting and beekeeping.

All of his children remember some aspect of his beekeeping adventures. During the summer months, the two youngest boys in our family built bee boxes and the slats that fit inside them. One summer Dad was having a problem with skunks bothering his bees and he offered the two young brothers a $5.00 reward for every skunk they trapped. After much planning and effort they devised and set two traps. They returned the next day to find two live skunks inside the traps. That encounter with the skunks left both boys and their traps smelling pretty strong. Their triumphant return home was met with humiliation when they were not allowed in the house without first removing all of their clothing. That was the end of the skunk trap adventure.

He was never one to draw attention to himself yet when he spoke it was with power, wisdom and oftentimes with humor. He had a never ending vocabulary of sage advise in common sayings and ones of his own devising. About teenagers he used to say: “You can’t do anything for them or with them, so you might as well leave them alone.”

 He was a man of honesty, dignity, and courage. I love him for the truths he lived and taught me, the work ethic he taught by example, and his humor in tough situations. My father died almost eleven years ago now, yet his influence and the principles he believed and lived linger in the lives and choices of his children and grandchildren. I still miss him.