Born:
5 June 1910
Died: 30 Nov 1982
Parents: John Wesley Shirts
Susan Irvine Shirts
Married: Jean Hayward Wessman
4 April 1936
Children: JoAnn Shirts
Born: 7 Nov 1936
Died: June
1995
Elaine Shirts
Born: March 1938
Died: 13 Oct 2005
John Wesley Shirts
Born: October 1940
Died: 30 Nov 1982
John
Wesley and Susan Shirts had Wes, Margaret and Joe while living in Tabor , Alberta ,
Canada Duchesne County , Utah
1. King Wesley (Wes) Shirts
Born:
14 Nov 1906
Died: 1998
California
California
2. Margaret Susan Shirts
Born:
24 Sept 1908
Died: 1980
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
3. Joseph (Joe) Alford Shirts
Born:
5 June 1910
Died: 30 November 1982
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
4. Boneta (Bonnie) Shirts
Born: 1 Feb 1912
Died:
5. Clifford (Cliff) Irvine
Born: 5 May 1914
Mountain Home, Duchesne , Utah
Died: 16 Nov 1985
6. Fontella (Tella)
Shirts
Born: 26 Oct 1916
Mountain Home, Duchesne , Utah
Died: 1984
Utah
Utah
7. Robert (Bob) Irvine
Born:
24 Sept 1918
Mountain Home, Duchesne , Utah
Died: 1994
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
8. Bertha Irvine
Born:
28 Jan 1920
Mountain Home, Duchesne , Utah
Died: 1986
9. Mary Shirts
Born:
17 Sept 1922
Mountain Home, Duchesne , Utah
Died: 2008
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
10. Valeria (Val) Shirts
Born: 25 Feb 1925
Mountain Home, Duchesne , Utah
Died: 1997
11. Lois (*was given up for adoption
because Susan was raped)
Born: 1930
Died: 1992
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
On June 5, 1910, Joseph Alford Shirts
was born. He was named after his maternal grandfather “Joseph” Alexander Walker
Irvine.
In From the home at night, the family could see the big light of the train coming across prairie land that John was home steading.
When standing on the porch, the Opera
House that John and Susan owned could be seen.
It was about three or four blocks away.
They used to have traveling troops come there to put on shows and stage
plays. He also had bands play for
dancing. Certain nights of the week,
they had roller skating. John held
roller skating and dancing contests on roller skates. John and Susan won so many competitions that
the judges didn't allowed them to compete after awhile. On the other nights when there wasn't
skating, they had dancing or something else going on except Sundays.
Early one Christmas morning, Susan got
Wes up so he could see the Opera House burn down. It was a big fire. The night before, there had been a big party
and everything seemed to be all right when the clean up was done.
John didn't believe in insurance at
first. He didn't insure the Opera
House. However, Susan in her wisdom had
taken an insurance policy out on the property without John's knowledge. After the fire, John was surprised when Susan
pulled out the policy. John was so
grateful for his wife. They used that
insurance money and left Canada
to go to Mountain Home , Utah Billings , Montana
The family traveled on to Salt Lake City Utah
As the family left Heber City
After arriving in Mountain Home, John's
brothers (William and James (Jim) were already there. They had moved there earlier and made
arrangements for John to homestead his property which was next to theirs.
The ranch in Mountain Home took years
to build with a lot of hard work from John, Susan and the children who were old
enough to walk.
The frame for the first tent that they
used was made out of 2 x 4's and black paper and plain lumber. It was about 12 feet wide and 15 to 18 feet
long and about five feet high. The
boards were filled in between with sawdust (insulation purposes) and banked
with dirt on the outside so water couldn't come in on the dirt floor. That was the first tent.
The second tent was put in so that the
doors of the tents faced each other, about four feet apart. There was a shelter built between with a door
on each side. There was a (Monarch
range) cook stove in one tent and the pot bellied stove in the other. Sleeping was done in the second tent for over
a year. While all the building was going
on, sleeping was done in the wagon. It
was a double bed wagon with a white wagon cover.
The houses were worked on after their
other work was done. First, the
framework was put up. Then it was
covered with tar paper and the siding.
The kids had the job of filling in the spaces with sawdust and tapping
it down for insulation purposes.
The siding inside and out was made out
of rough lumber. The rafters were
covered with black paper and wood shingles.
The ceiling was also from rough wood.
The floor was made out of a rough pine wood. It was cleaned by scrubbing. Everyone helped with cleaning the floor by
getting down on the knees with a scrub brush and some of Susan's homemade lye
soap.
In the home, there was a living room, a
kitchen, and one big bedroom. John and
Susan slept in the living room and all the kids slept in the one bedroom. It wasn't like today when everyone has their
own bed. There were two beds in the
children's room. All the girls slept in
one bed and all the boys in another. The
mattresses were filled with oat straw.
Susan made the mattress covers from ticking. In the morning, one would straighten out the
straw and try to make it as even as you could without too many lumps. If someone had wet the bed, then clean straw
would be used. Cotton blankets and
homemade quilts were used to sleep on.
The Relief Society had quilting bees at night. The ladies would all work on a quilt for one
family and then for another. They could
finish the quilting in two or three nights.
Coal oil lamps were used for
lighting. The kids kept the chimneys
cleaned and the lamps filled. Later,
gasoline lanterns were used that had isen glass all around the outside and also
used mantles.
An outhouse was also built. A hole five or six feet deep was dug in the
ground. Over the hole, a 4 x 5 foot
frame building was built over it. The
door had to swing in so that if someone came you could put your foot against
it. The toilet had two sizes of holes,
one for kids and one for adults. After
it was finished, a lot of cedar bark was gathered and piled in a corner to be
used as needed for toilet paper until
the Sears and Roebuck catalog came. That
usually took about six to eight weeks.
Ashes would be put into the hole to keep the scent down and the flies
away. During the winter, few trips as
possible were made especially when the snow was deep and cold. Those necessary trips were always very
fast. The family didn't stop to read the
catalog!!!
A cistern (for water storage) was dug
north of the house and cemented in. A
top was put over it with a hole in the middle that had a frame around it so the
kids couldn't fall in. It had a rope
pulley and a bucket. Mice would get in
there and drown so the water had to be boiled all the time. In the summer, they had running water--they
would get a bucket and run out to the ditch and get a bucketful. There was nearly always a big copper boiler
on the back of the stove full of hot water.
Soap was made out of lye which is
grease from pork. Each summer 8 or 10
hogs would be killed. They were prepared by fattening them up, killing them and
then the hog would be put in a large barrel of boiling water that was on the
stove.
The average time that the Shirts family
got up was at 5:00 a.m. There were usually 18 cows to milk each morning. This was done before going to school. It was
a priority to have the cows milked.
After the milking was done, the milk was separated and put away. The
milk part would be for drinking or use in the house. When Susan wanted a richer
quality of milk, some of the cream that had been taken out, was put back in.
To separate the milk from the
cream, Deval separator was used. It was done by hand. It wasn’t electric. It
was important that the speed was consistent. The milk would go down one spout
and the cream would go down another spout. Everyone
took a bath on Saturday whether or not it was needed. J
There was a big Number 12 wash tub that was just used to bathe in. Two or three people would use the water
before it was dumped out. Then the tub would be refilled again. When the water started to get cold, water
from the copper boiler from the stove top would be added. When in use, it would
sit in the middle of the kitchen floor.
Since there was no refrigerator, the
milk was put in milk pans, pitcher or anything else. The milk was then put into
cellar. The cellar was dirt. In the winter time, the milk had to be used within
two days. If more than that, it would sour. During the summer, it would usually
stay good until that same night. The cows were milked in the morning and then
again at night.
While the land (sage brush) was being
cleared for cultivation and grazing, John used two teams and two saddle
horses. John had gotten railroad rails
somewhere to help clear his land. The
railroad rail had two long logs fastened to it with chains and about three or
four logs across. He had some big rocks
on them for weight. The two teams were
hooked to the rail. The rail then would
be pulled over the sagebrush. The brush
would be pulled up. Susan and the
children (that could walk) would pile the brush in piles. It was very enjoyable, however, at night to
have a big bon fire with the pulled sagebrush.
Another way to clear the land was to
pull a slip. It was about four feet wide and about 6-8 feet long. Rocks would
be piled on and the pile would be taken to a rock pile and discarded. The
family used to say that they “grew rocks” because rocks kept appearing.
Susan would sit on a plow, mower or a
rake or whatever had to be done except to milk a cow. That she said she would not do!!! However, she did do it only in extreme cases. She rode a horse some but not much. They would work from six in the morning till
about eleven a.m.. Margaret would then
put a white towel on the corner of the kitchen that told the family that she
had lunch ready. At that time, she was
about ten or twelve years old. When
lunch was over in about two hours, it would be time to go back to work,
sometimes until dark.
Susan never worked on a farm growing
up. It was a new experience for
her. She took it very well. She worked very hard. Times were tough for the John and Susan
Shirts family. It was very difficult to
keep ten children in clothes. They had
plenty to eat from what they raised on their farm. In the fall, about eight hogs were
killed. Hams and bacon loins were cured
and kept frozen as long as possible.
The times that Susan was not working
outside (hauling rock, burning sagebrush etc.), she was making clothes. She made all the clothes except the levis
Susan used to make all the soap that
they used. The soap was so strong that
if one wasn't careful washing the clothes, it would eat away at the
clothes.
She also made cheese, buttermilk and
butter from the milk they got. They used
a lot of butter. Milk was separated with
a delival separator. Then some cream
would be mixed back in to the milk that was used for the home. At times, it was very thick. At times, cream was sold to the
creamery. That was about all the money
that the family had for clothes and spending.
In early spring, Joe would help his
family on cattle rides. They would put the cattle on the low range. Usually,
they couldn’t get the cattle onto the high range until the middle of June. The
high range was up around Brown Duck and Moon Lake Moon
Lake Moon
Lake , up into the Brown Duck and Kidney Lake
In 1926, the family had quite a few
bees. Of course, everyone worked. Honey
was extracted and put into six five pound cans. Honey was also put into five
gallon cans. The honey was then loaded onto the Studebaker car. The honey was
brought to Salt Lake
In August of 1914, the John and Will
Shirts families went to Salt Lake City to go to
the Salt Lake
The John Wesley Shirts family had a
four room house in town where the family lived in the winter. There were a couple of winters when the snow
was real deep. They had a place where
the hay was kept but also a corral where three or four cows in and a team of
horses were kept. He went to the farm
everyday either with a team of horses or on horseback. If he needed hay, he took the sleigh. There
was one milk cow and John would bring the hay from the farm to feed the milk
cow.
Wes recalled a particular
incident on a tape that he was doing about his own life history to his son Garry. “He’d
(John) go to the farm every day with a bob sled or saddle horse and this
one time, why he came from the farm and he pulled in back of the place where we had for the cows. He had
a load of hay and he had a .22 rifle, and I said. “Ill Roosevelt . So they
called Dr. Whitmore and the snow was so
deep. He had four head of horses,
as I remember it, He came to Mt. Emonds
or Blue Bell with 4 head of horses.
He changed horses there, and bucked
the snow from there to Mountain Home. It
was about in the neighborhood of 60 miles
that he had to go. This happened about
5 o’clock in the afternoon, and he never got
there until about 11:00 the next day after traveling all that night, in the deep
snow, and changing horses, and when he
got there my brother Joe was just about dead. Mother told me about
it. She said he took a long stick and he cleaned this all out and
he was bleeding so bad, but he stayed with him for about 3 or 4 days.
He stayed right there and worked with him until the danger was all over.
After he figured the danger was all over, why then, he went back to Roosevelt .
But in the meantime, I had gone to my Uncle Will’s place. I didn't dare
go home. Uncle Will told me what was happening. I didn't dare go home because I was afraid my dad would beat
me so bad I couldn't stand
it. I felt real bad about it of
course because I disobeyed my dad. And so after the doctor was gone and Joe was out of danger, I
went back home. Dad put his arm around me and he said, “See, I told
you not to do that.” (When Wes was telling
this story in his later years , he still got chocked
up and had a hard time talking).
4 April 1917 - Roosevelt Standard Newspaper
Joe only received
a 3rd grade education.education. Wes tells of
the story that in the fall, he and Joe would run to school to see who
would win. Joe would out run Wes. He would get into town about a block before
Wes. He was always a good runner.
The children of John and Susan
Shirts learned to respect their
father. They did not talk back to him.
When he said something, the children knew that he meant it. He was very strict.
There was a canal that ran through town
that everyone used for irrigation. There
was a bridge over it for access to either side.
The next year, the house in town was
being cleaned to get ready to move in for the winter. When the family left to go home to the ranch,
there was a fire in the cook stove. They
left thinking that it would be all right but later one of Uncle Jim's boys came
and reported that the house had burned down so the family stayed out on the
farm.
Wes said: “After Joe got
better, why we spent the winter there. We went back to the ranch in the
spring the year. I guess that was the last winter we ever lived in that house. Because
the next year, we were going to move to town and
it was late in the fall after we’d had harvesting done and everything. And Dad and Mother
went down to clean the house up. It was just sitting vacant. I
don’t know what happened, but in cleaning and getting hot water, they
had a fire in the stove. But long about 11:00 or 12:00 o’clock at night, the house burned
down. So we lost that. We never lived in it any more because we had to live on the farm the rest of the
time because dad never rebuild
it. The house burned down and we actually lived in it two years. After all the money dad put into it
and the work he had done, why it burned down. So we had to
ride to school. When the snow was real deep, and when it would start to melt then in
the mornings, it was hard enough so we could ride horses right over the top
of the fences, right straight to school. It wasn't that bad or we could walk and run over the snow, right to school, down to where we wanted to
go, but it was really rough going to school in those days, you just can’t imagine it.”
Wes describes the educational
setting as the school house was everything. It was the church house, it was the
school house. It was a dance hall. It was a basketball place. We used it for
everything. It had a big stage in it and this was kinda of a utility place.
They had curtains they would draw across the hall on a wire and separate the
classes.
During Christmas, the family usually
had a tree. The pine tree would be
chosen from off their property for the Christmas tree and set up. The Shirts children would make different
colored chains to decorate it. Paste to
put the chains together with was made from flour. Susan cooked the flour that
made the paste. Cookies were also made
and fastened onto the tree.
Christmas presents most consisted of
clothes mostly overalls or a pair of boots. These were our work clothes. They
had to last us until the next Christmas. We also had Sunday clothes. Mother
Shirts would make a cake or something for Santy Clause to eat. The children noticed on Christmas morning
that a lot of the cake had been eaten.
Susan made most of the shirts. They
were made out of blue and striped denim. They were used also to make ticks out
of it and wore it for everything. It was
almost impossible to wear out one of those shirts.
Christmas was fun. Everyone celebrated.
The parents would go sleigh riding and they would go to different people’s
home. They would have chili, ride for awhile and then go to another home. This
was their entertainment at Christmas.
During the winter, the children would
ride the sleds after they went to church and after Sunday School in the
morning. Sunday School would get out at 12:00 o’clock and there were two hours
before the afternoon meeting.
In the summer time, Sunday School was also
over at noon. The gathering place until the afternoon meeting was at Lyon ’s place. Calves would be rode and Joe got pretty
good at it.
Another form of entertainment for the
entire family was when there were dances at night. There was a piano player,
violin and accordion. John was the caller for the square dances and anything
else that needed a caller.
Since there was no electricity, it was
necessary to burn wood for the stove. It was Joe’s and Wes’s job to haul wood
in the winter time. This would be done on
Saturdays. They would pull down the
trees, load them on the bob sled. They would leave about day light and go over
to the back of the Blazzard ranch. The dry cedar and pine trees would be pulled
down, cut up and put on the bob sled. John would contract with the school about the
wood. He was paid so much for a cord of
wood. Joe and Wes would also haul that wood. During the week after Joe and Wes
brought the wood, John would cut it and cord it. Joe and Wes would cut it into
four foot lengths. They had to stack the cords. There was a lot to do and they
had to work together to get it done.
After going for the wood, it was often
wet and snow was often at least three feet deep. When Joe and Wes still had miles to go, they
would be so cold. They found out that if they froze their boots right away,
their feet wouldn't get cold. However, if they couldn't freeze their boots
right away, they would be REALLY cold. They would walk on the road behind the sled
(full of wood), that was pulled by their horses Old Nell and Doc. It took a lot
of hard work and being cold to get the wood chore done.
Joe and his siblings all had their jobs
on the farm to do. Some fed the chickens, pigs, fixed the slop for the pigs,
cleaned the barn and cow stalls.
Everyone worked. It was well
organized. Everyone knew what they were to do. The girls had their inside jobs
and the boys had the outside jobs.
Wes used to joke that they had “running
water.” Someone would grab a bucket and
“run” out to the ditch and fill it up and then take it back up to the house.
There was always water boiling on the stove. It would then be put away to be
used at a later time. Not all water was
boiled.
It was on May 10, 1926, word was received
that John had an accident while working at the Jessie Knight Ranch. Joe
was 16 years old. By then, the family had a Studebaker car and Wes went with
his mother to the accident site. Upon
arriving at the ranch, Susan was horrified at how severe her husband's injuries
were. She found out that a team of
horses had been spooked. As a result,
they ran over John and the hitch of the manure spreader broke his back in seven
places. His body was growing cold, so
the local doctor put hot water bottles around him. It was poorly done and as a result, he had
blisters all around his body.
Susan wanted to call another doctor but
was told that if she did, she would have to pay Dr. Whitmore out of her own
pocket. She said that was okay. She just wanted her husband to have the best
care. She never did have to pay for the
second doctor. Dr. Whitmore was
horrified at the blisters and wanted Susan to sue the local doctor. She never pursued legal action.
John was basically comatose from the
time of the accident to the time that he died.
He was taken by wagon to Price, Utah Salt Lake City
John's funeral was held at the church
house that he attended services in. From
there, John's body was laid to rest in the Bonita-Mountain Home
Cemetery
At that time, Wes, Joe, Cliff and
Margaret took care of feeding the stock and milking the cows and taking care of
all the milk. They had three miles to run
to school (not walk). Susan had the
children's work all planned out for them when they got home from school. If the milking did not get done before
school, their mother would finish it for them even though she hated to milk.
The fall after John died, Susan sold
everything to Nick Killion and the family moved to Salt Lake City
In the kitchen, she had a pot belly
stove that always had firewood in it. It was always hot...never cool. Not only was the home physically warm but
there was also an emotional warmth to it.
Susan seemed to always be in the kitchen. She loved and was a good cook and as a result
she cooked a lot. Joe's family would go
down on Sunday's and have pancakes and of course raisin squares.
Joe would go down at times also during
a storm to rescue his mother because he knew also that she was not comfortable
with lightening. Many times, she would
be hiding under the bed crying and being frightened. When she would be rescued from a lightening
storm, she would first say "I love you."
On Halloween, Joe would take his
children down to visit Susan. They would
go trick or treating in her neighborhood.
When they went to Susan's front door, she wasn't there. The kids were told that she was probably at
the neighbors. They would go in. Soon a knock would be on the door. It would be Susan trick or treating in a
costume herself.
On New Years Day, it was a Scottish
tradition to eat Cream of Tripe Soup.
Joe used to taste it just because his mother made it.
When Susan died, it was very hard for
the family. It was not expected. She had been in the hospital for about a week
for gall bladder surgery. It was
expected that she was going to get out of the hospital the next day. Joe had gone up to see how she was doing and
just to visit. Susan asked if when she got
out of the hospital if she could go up to his home. Joe had serious heart problems, was in poor
health himself and so it was not possible.
He explained his situation to his mother. Joe felt very bad that he couldn't have his
mother at his home. That night Susan
died. Joe felt horrible because of his
mother’s plea to stay at his house and also the fact that she died. He wished that he could go back in time and
change things.
Ernie and his family traveled with Jean,
Joe and their family from Salt Lake City to
Wayne Wonderland to Price to Zion ’s National
Park, to the Grand Canyon then to St.
George. They were both in 49 Model A
Fords. Joe couldn't' go 15 miles without
boiling over.
Joe met Jean Hayward Wessman on Easter
Sunday. This was on April 21, 1935. He was engaged at the time but he still asked Jean out. The engagement was called off by Joe so he could pursue Jean. They went on a double date up to the
canyons. Jean was staying with Harry in Salt
Lake City
They never had a formal engagement.
They would say “...maybe in a month.” They didn't have a wedding because no one
could afford it. This was during the Great Depression days. They eloped to Heber City , Utah Salt Lake City , Utah
Jean and Joe would get together with
Paul and Lorraine
The first few years of their married
life, it was very tough financially. Each family was allotted so many coupons
for meat, dairy and gas. They would either walk or take the bus.
After having three children,
they decided not to have any more children because of Joe's health. They didn't know how she would support them if something ever happened to Joe.
Joe and Jean never went any
where until Johnny was 5. Jean said, “We seldom left them except for church
dances. We were appointed to teach dance in different wards by the stake.” They taught square dancing and ballroom
dancing. “When we went to the Golden Green Balls, we were part of the
exhibition dancing group. It was fun. We really enjoyed it. We liked to dance.”
Joe was a good father. He
did not spank or yell. He was pretty indulgent to a point. When he got mad,
everyone knew it. Joe
and Jean thought that they had pretty good kids. Joe REALLY loved the children.
It was when the children got to be teenagers that the problems started. “The
biggest problems were with JoAnn. She got involved with those nit wits in
Junior High.” We never beat her but we tried to talk to her. She was too
stubborn or too independent to listen to anyone.
Every summer, the family would take a
trip to national parks, camping, fishing etc.
Joe
and Jean lived in a house on E Street with his mother-in-law and had the
upstairs apartment. They lived there
from 1938- 1952. They helped out financially by this arrangement. This was during the depression and it was
tough financially. Not many people were
working. Joe was working with the W.P.A .(Work Progress Administration). He was hired at the Hotel Utah (now the Joseph Smith
Memorial Building
In 1952, Joe and Jean moved from E
Street to 2505 East Commonwealth Avenue .
They had bought a house with the money that Hazel “Jean” got from the house on
E Street. Hazel Jean moved with them. She lived with them for many years
because she didn't want to live with anyone else. Jean's mother had no source of income so they
were willing to take care of her. Back then, people took care of their parents.
When Joe got sick with his first heart
attack, his mother-in-law helped him to recover. She got along really well with Joe. Jean was
so grateful for that and said “thank goodness!”
Joe was easy to get along with “Sometimes” (said his wife smiling)” Joe
had gall bladder surgery and ended up getting pneumonia and phlebitis. He was laid up for 9 months. Jean had to go to
work to bring income into the family. This was about 1945. Johnny was 5 years
old. Joe eventually went back to work. Hazel Jean was an important force in his
recovery. Since the children were all in school, Jean continued working. Joe
had a number of heart attacks over the years which worried Jean. Joe was working at Dilworth Elementary School
Joe and Jean had their own family
traditions. On Christmas morning, the presents would be passed out to the kids.
Each had their own stack of presents. It was Joe who would pass out the
presents.
The Joseph Shirts family took trips
that they truly enjoyed. They went to Yellowstone
in their Model A Ford. It took about a week. JoAnn was 10, Elaine was 8 and
Johnny was little. They also liked to go
to Southern Utah . They went to all the Southern
Utah parks. They would get away whenever they could.
Joe and Jean flew back and visited their son Johnny in Minnesota
Jean and Joe would go fishing to Moon Lake Utah
Jean and Joe had many mutual friends.
They were mostly people that Joe worked with. Some of their good friends were
Wayne and Lucille Cochrane, Byrd and Lee Eddy, Don and Jean Pierce. They would
go on trips together.
They would also bowl every week.
Sometimes it would be on a mixed league. Other times, Joe would bowl in a men’s
league and Jean would bowl in a woman’s league.
They were pretty good bowlers. They won many awards and trophies. They
eventually got tired of bowling after so many years.
Jean and Joe would teach dances and do
floor shows in the Stake all the time that they were living in the 20th
Ward (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). It was really fun. They
were good dancers. There were four of them. They danced with Chet and Dorothy
Coles. Chet and Dorothy were also in their Family Home Evening Group in which
they met once a month. This group met for many years but it dwindled smaller
and smaller as the different participants died.
Jean and Joe would have spats but they
never stayed angry with each other. Jean
said “Joe's temper was the most frustrating. He learned to control it because
it didn't do any good.” They were both
stubborn in their own way. They strengthened their marriage by doing things
together and what the other person was interested in. They didn't like to do a
lot of things without each other. She just knew that Joe loved her and the
children. One way that he showed this was that he always wanted to be with
them. After Joe died, one of the hardest adjustments was to go places without
her spouse.
The funniest thing about Joe that Jean
thought was when he talked about his experiences as a kid. She couldn't relate
to it. She never lived on a farm, stole chickens etc.
He could
be with a person and within a couple of minutes he knew what type of person
that they were. He had that skill and talent. Even though he only had a 3rd grade education, he was wiser and more insightful than many educated people.
Several generations and different
family members have lived at 2505 Commonwealth Avenue Salt Lake City , Utah Cal
Joe loved his grand kids. JoAnn married
Ray Binkerd and had Charles Albert Binkerd (Chuck), Raymond Scott Binkerd
(Scott) and Toni Lee Binkerd. She divorced Ray and married Carl (Cal) LeMmon. From
that marriage, she had Gerald K. LeMmon (Jerry) and Bryan Keith LeMmon. For
many years, Joe and Jean considered JoAnn’s step sons (Carl & David
LeMmon) as their own grandchildren. However, later on in life, they didn't feel
that way anymore after having some bad experiences with them and JoAnn divorced Cal..
Elaine married Bob Lundberg. She had
one daughter name Theresa Lee (Terry) Lundberg
Johnny married Vicki Erickson. They had
John Shirts, Andrew Shirts and Lisa Koo Shirts.
He was a great and wonderful grandfather. He
couldn't stand anything bad happening to
his grandchildren. He was crazy about them.
At the time of his death, he was the proud great grandfather to Mindy
and Amy Manwill, Jessica, Robin and Lindy Binkerd.
From the grandchildren, his prosperity
grew even larger. As of December 2008, his prosperity included: Chuck had
Jessica, Robin, Alexander (Alex) and Anthony Scott (Scott) Binkerd. Scott had Linden Bryan
JoAnn called and told her parents that
she and Cal were going to get divorced. She asked them to come to San Jose , California Cal Cal Salt Lake City Cal
Right after Cal Cal
Chuck had run away back to Joe and Jean’s house
and never went back. JoAnn sent the police but Chuck said that he wouldn't go
back. The police left him here because he was with his grandparents. Scott
tried to run away but they caught him and made him go back. The following July, Joe and Jean were at Moon Lake Moon
Lake
The
courts wouldn't let the kids be up at Joe and Jean’s place for awhile. It then
got to a point where they had them part time-just on weekends. During the week, they stayed with JoAnn.
Later on during the court proceedings, Joe and Jean were able to have the kids most of
the time. JoAnn had the opportunity to
have the kids two hours once a week. At first, she and Cal picked them up but
it got to a point that they didn't pick them up anymore. She didn't come up at all. A very HARD time…
“Ray decided to sue for custody. He found out that he wouldn't win because he never paid child support for the children and his hours as a policeman were not desirable. He was not a viable candidate.The
ensuing court battle was awful and emotional for everyone. Everyone had to be psychoanalyzed. The judge
decided that neither JoAnn nor Ray were fit to take care of them. Toni told the judge that if she had to go
back, she would burn the house down. Jean said, ”We were asked if we would take
them or else they would be put into foster homes. Ray's hours that he worked as
a policeman wasn't certain and kept changing. He also didn't pay child support
or contacted them for many years. The
judge felt that he had given up his privileges and proved himself
irresponsible.
Joe and Jean were told that because of
their age and Joe's health that they would never get custody. There was a
family by the name of McConkie that Jean grew up with. One of the children was named Briton (Brit)
and he was a lawyer. Joe and Jean went
to him for legal advice. After giving legal advice, Brit (very spiritual man)
asked them what they thought God would want them to do. They replied that they
felt that they were to try to get custody of the 3 children. They couldn't get custody of Bryan and Jerry
because Ray was not their father. There were some other legal issues that
stopped them from getting custody of them even though they wanted to. It was
quite the strain on the grandparent’s emotions. “We would have done anything to
keep the kids together.”
Eventually, we took legal
custody of Chuck (13years old), Scott (11 years old) and Toni (9 years
old).”
JoAnn blamed her parents for taking the
children and causing the problems. It wasn't them. She forgave her father much
faster than she did her mother. It was very hard emotionally on Joe and Jean
fighting their daughter. They knew they had to do it to protect their
grandchildren. Ray had sued for custody and that was what started the custody
battle. JoAnn said that her parents were trying to take the kids away. That was
not the intent. Joe and Jean just wanted their grandchildren to be safe and
taken care of. It was very hard to take. JoAnn said that she would never talk
to her parents again.
As some of the grandchildren grew and
married, they also added to the family. Terry
had Mindy and Amy. Chuck had Jessica. Scott had Lindy. Joe was ecstatic when he was with these babies. He truly loved and
enjoyed every minute. He had a gift with children.
He lived
to see many new and exciting advancements of the 20th century. These
were things like fast cars and planes, television, electricity and indoor
toilets. He didn't see an indoor toilet until he moved into Salt Lake City. It
was in a “small closet” that had a string hanging down from above that when
pulled, the toilet would flush. He thought this was the greatest thing. He was
fascinated with that invention. He was also relieved because he didn't have to
use an outhouse anymore.
Joe had congestive heart failure and
ended up on oxygen. He couldn't move around much. He had a lot of pain in his
legs because of the poor blood circulation. “At night, Jean would reach over
and put her hand on his chest to feel his chest moving. Another thing, that she would do is put her
ear to his chest and hear his heart flutter around. It was pretty hard watching
her husband suffer. She had to “steel” myself and build up reserves so she
didn’t howl her head off everyday.”
In November of 1982, Joe's heart was so
enlarged and had a hard time beating. He
collapsed in the bathroom and the paramedics had to be called. The dog “Munch”
wouldn't let them in so he was put in another room with the door closed.
He was in the hospital four days when
he died. His heart just quit working. He said not to revive him if he died. Dr.
Dalrymple had also left a message that said “D.N.R.” (Do Not Resuscitate) or no
heroic measures. The nurse told Jean not to leave because his heart had almost
quit.
Right before he died, he was mumbling and it appeared that
he was talking to someone. He also kept reaching out his hand and said “Help
me” as if he was reaching out to some unseen being. He would talk a number of
times about how excited he was to see his mother and father again. Jean was by
his side when she noticed that he wasn't breathing anymore. When Jean rang for the nurse, she knew that
Joe was now with his mother... JoAnn was on the phone talking to Johnny and
Elaine was there also at that moment. It was a very quiet death. The last two
years of his life, he hated it. He couldn't do the things that he wanted to do.
He was so miserable and in such great pain.
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