I LOVED LIFE
A sketch of the life of Helen Francis Robinson Jewkes
19 Jul 1914-12 Nov 1971.
(Compiled by her son, Creig R. Jewkes. It was based on a short history written by her on March 16, 1965. Creig wrote it in the first person, because the thoughts expressed here-in were expressed by her many times while she was alive. Prepared for and read at her funeral after her death on November 12, 1971, by Creig.)
My name is Helen Francis Robinson Jewkes, wife of a devoted husband, mother of four wonderful and happily married children, grandmother of 22 healthy grandchildren, and great grandmother of one beautiful great grand child. I loved life and everything of beauty, especially the beauty of the mountains and streams. I loved to help people wherever and whenever I could. I loved my husband and family with all my heart, mind and strength, and put their well being and happiness before everything else. I loved to be with my husband and do everything with him. I especially loved to dance and to fish, and always treasured those times together when we could go hand in hand as one. I loved my Father-in-Heaven deeply and had a firm, non-waivering testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
My life has been filled to capacity with moments of un-equalled joy through the love and devotion of my family and moments of agony and despair through times of sicknesses and the heart aches of life's problems. But through it all if any one has been blessed, I have been blessed beyond measure.
My whole thought and being and every prayer that I have uttered has been for my husband and family. There have been few days in my life that I haven't knelt before the Lord and asked him to guide me to teach my children to seek Him and the gospel so they could teach their children to have a deep, abiding faith in the Lord so their joys could be as great as mine.
How thrilled I am to see how each of my family have grown into the person that I have prayed for them to be. Every one of them are my children . . . my sons and my daughters . . . oh, how I love them.
As a young mother at the age of 29, with four small children to raise, I was stricken with cancer. I pleaded with the Lord to spare my life long enough to raise my children. He granted my wish three fold and allowed me to know my first great grand daughter. The reason I felt that I could withstand the agony and pain of the final days of my life without mental anguish and grief was the knowledge that I could set an example to my family . . . much like the Savior did for mankind. If my suffering could but only touch the life of one of them to be a better person it would be worth it.
My life on this earth began on the 19th day of July 1914, in Knightsville, Juab, Utah. I was the first child and only daughter of Arthur E. and Sarah Finch May Robinson. I have four older half-brothers by my mother through a previous marriage: Charles D. May, Sterling F. May, Melvin H. May, and George I. May. I have three younger brothers by my parents: Albert A. Robinson, Ralph H. Robinson, and John R. Robinson. My father and mother, Charles, Sterling, Melvin, George, and Ralph all preceded me in death.
When I was two years old my parents moved to Murray, Utah, which was to become our long term family home. We lived there until 1925, when, at the age of nine, my father became Superintendent of a coal mine in Consumers, Utah, in Carbon County, fourteen miles north-west of Price, Utah.
During the next nine years, from 1925 to 1934, I lived in this small mining town and learned to love the beauties of nature. Some of my fondest memories of early youth are there. In my early teens my younger brother, Al, and I would often pack a lunch and head for the beautiful mountains. We would usually hike up Beaver Creek over the top of the mountain and down into Jump Creek, a distance of about four miles one way. We would fish until we were tired of catching fish and then eat our lunch and hike the four miles back, thoroughly enjoying every thing along the way. Or, we would often hike up the mountains to see what we could find from animals to wild berries. What a beautiful world God has created for man.
During High School, I lived with my uncle Bill Robinson (music teacher at Murray High School) and his daughter Virge, my age, to attend Murray High, because there was no school in Consumers.
Between my Junior and Senior year I met and fell deeply in love with Edward Parry Jewkes. The coal camps had started a bussing route the fourteen miles to Carbon High School in Price, and therefore I attended my senior year down there. In the Spring of that year a dance contest was held at the Stake Gold and Green Ball to choose the queen of the ball. I can still remember the thrill of dancing with the man I loved and being announced winner and queen. It was this night that Ed asked me to marry him.
On the 16th of April 1932, two months before high school graduation, at the age of 17, I was married to Edward Parry Jewkes by my father, in Sweets Mine in Carbon County, Utah. Later, in 1937, I was thrilled to be sealed to him in the Manti Temple.
In September 1934, with two small children, Jenienne age 1 ½ , and Creig age two weeks, the first major tragedy in my life occurred. My husband was struck by a mine train and hovered near death and loss of a foot for three months. The Lord answered my prayers and over the next few months he slowly recovered fully.
After the accident, we moved to Castle Dale, Utah, home of my husband, where our second son, Kenneth, was born in 1936, shortly after the second major tragedy of my life occurred, when my father (who had moved back to our family home in Murray) was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident.
In 1938 our third son, Garth, was born in Murray, where I had gone to have the baby because there were better medical facilities there. A year later, in 1939, we moved from Castle Dale to Salt Lake City, Utah, and lived there until 1942, when we moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
It was there in Oak Ridge that I first learned I had been stricken with cancer. I will never forget the despair that I felt and prayed and pleaded with the Lord to let me raise my four little children. That was the only thought that kept me going. My prayers were answered three-fold, and from that time forward life, people, and the beauties around me took on a very special meaning.
In 1947, shortly after the second world war in which I lost my brother, Ralph, we moved back to Salt Lake City and spent five of the most glorious years of our lives. We were again living near our family members. I was enjoying the best health in years. My children were in their carefree teen age years. Our home became the literal gathering place of the family on Sunday afternoons. Either my brothers and their families or Ed's nine brothers and sisters and their families would be there almost every Sunday. I loved them all and looked forward to their visits. Our two acre yard provided ample space for horseshoe pitching, basketball, softball, football, and any number of games to be going on at the same time, and they usually were. What a grand place to raise teen age boys, and enjoy all our family members. These times started the bonds of a family unity that has grown beyond any that I had ever hope to achieve.
It was during this time that Jenienne was married to Arthur Litson, in 1950, and within the next year I became a grand-mother, at the age of 36.
In 1952 we moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and have made our home here for 19 years, and have fallen in love with so many friends. My three sons met and married three wonderful girls, Creig married in 1953, Kenneth married in 1954, Garth married in 1961. I now had eight children who I loved and cherished. With our children all happily married and having families of their own, my husband and
I were able to go and do many, many things together. We became constant companions in fishing, dancing, visiting friends and family members, and enjoying life to its fullest. These were cherished years. I was always the first to be ready to go fishing and the last to want to leave.
In 1964 I found that my dreaded illness had returned and it was necessary to have more radium treatments which left me with a constant struggle to regain my health. I lived one day at a time, looking for and finding beauty in every thing I saw and did. My love for my husband and family and their love for me grew beyond measure and made my constant struggle all worthwhile.
I have filled a full life as honorably and valiantly as I could and even though I struggled with all my might, mind and strength until the end of my life here on earth . . .Friday morning, the 12th day of November 1971 . . . I am happy to be able to join my father and mother and five brothers forever more.
I leave you with love and fond memories that I hope will live on in your hearts, as I had tried to express in my last unfinished message. In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.
Immediately after her death, in clearing out her hospital bed-side stand, her family discovered "HER LAST UNFINISHED MESSAGE", written during her last days and kept from sight from any visitors. It follows:
"TO MY FAMILY"
"Remember me when you walk through Springtime, April raindrops touching the new-grown grass, giving life to the rising daffodils . . .
Springtime . . . look into the angel face of a child, you'll see it there too. The wonder of the renewal of life.
When you climb the high mountains of Summertime, and walk through meadows of flowers,
And suddenly you come to that clear mountain stream . . . remember me. Remember me in Summertime when it's time to go fishing, and feel the thrill of that fish on your line,
Look to the mountain tops with the clear blue sky, and the fleecy clouds drifting by . . . and you will see me.
Summertime . . . a time of busy days, and happy full satisfying days.
Look into your child's face and think of the joys of your Summer Times. The golden days of Harvest time . . . . . . . . . " (Unfinished)
A sketch of the life of Helen Francis Robinson Jewkes
19 Jul 1914-12 Nov 1971.
(Compiled by her son, Creig R. Jewkes. It was based on a short history written by her on March 16, 1965. Creig wrote it in the first person, because the thoughts expressed here-in were expressed by her many times while she was alive. Prepared for and read at her funeral after her death on November 12, 1971, by Creig.)
My name is Helen Francis Robinson Jewkes, wife of a devoted husband, mother of four wonderful and happily married children, grandmother of 22 healthy grandchildren, and great grandmother of one beautiful great grand child. I loved life and everything of beauty, especially the beauty of the mountains and streams. I loved to help people wherever and whenever I could. I loved my husband and family with all my heart, mind and strength, and put their well being and happiness before everything else. I loved to be with my husband and do everything with him. I especially loved to dance and to fish, and always treasured those times together when we could go hand in hand as one. I loved my Father-in-Heaven deeply and had a firm, non-waivering testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
My life has been filled to capacity with moments of un-equalled joy through the love and devotion of my family and moments of agony and despair through times of sicknesses and the heart aches of life's problems. But through it all if any one has been blessed, I have been blessed beyond measure.
My whole thought and being and every prayer that I have uttered has been for my husband and family. There have been few days in my life that I haven't knelt before the Lord and asked him to guide me to teach my children to seek Him and the gospel so they could teach their children to have a deep, abiding faith in the Lord so their joys could be as great as mine.
How thrilled I am to see how each of my family have grown into the person that I have prayed for them to be. Every one of them are my children . . . my sons and my daughters . . . oh, how I love them.
As a young mother at the age of 29, with four small children to raise, I was stricken with cancer. I pleaded with the Lord to spare my life long enough to raise my children. He granted my wish three fold and allowed me to know my first great grand daughter. The reason I felt that I could withstand the agony and pain of the final days of my life without mental anguish and grief was the knowledge that I could set an example to my family . . . much like the Savior did for mankind. If my suffering could but only touch the life of one of them to be a better person it would be worth it.
My life on this earth began on the 19th day of July 1914, in Knightsville, Juab, Utah. I was the first child and only daughter of Arthur E. and Sarah Finch May Robinson. I have four older half-brothers by my mother through a previous marriage: Charles D. May, Sterling F. May, Melvin H. May, and George I. May. I have three younger brothers by my parents: Albert A. Robinson, Ralph H. Robinson, and John R. Robinson. My father and mother, Charles, Sterling, Melvin, George, and Ralph all preceded me in death.
When I was two years old my parents moved to Murray, Utah, which was to become our long term family home. We lived there until 1925, when, at the age of nine, my father became Superintendent of a coal mine in Consumers, Utah, in Carbon County, fourteen miles north-west of Price, Utah.
During the next nine years, from 1925 to 1934, I lived in this small mining town and learned to love the beauties of nature. Some of my fondest memories of early youth are there. In my early teens my younger brother, Al, and I would often pack a lunch and head for the beautiful mountains. We would usually hike up Beaver Creek over the top of the mountain and down into Jump Creek, a distance of about four miles one way. We would fish until we were tired of catching fish and then eat our lunch and hike the four miles back, thoroughly enjoying every thing along the way. Or, we would often hike up the mountains to see what we could find from animals to wild berries. What a beautiful world God has created for man.
During High School, I lived with my uncle Bill Robinson (music teacher at Murray High School) and his daughter Virge, my age, to attend Murray High, because there was no school in Consumers.
Between my Junior and Senior year I met and fell deeply in love with Edward Parry Jewkes. The coal camps had started a bussing route the fourteen miles to Carbon High School in Price, and therefore I attended my senior year down there. In the Spring of that year a dance contest was held at the Stake Gold and Green Ball to choose the queen of the ball. I can still remember the thrill of dancing with the man I loved and being announced winner and queen. It was this night that Ed asked me to marry him.
On the 16th of April 1932, two months before high school graduation, at the age of 17, I was married to Edward Parry Jewkes by my father, in Sweets Mine in Carbon County, Utah. Later, in 1937, I was thrilled to be sealed to him in the Manti Temple.
In September 1934, with two small children, Jenienne age 1 ½ , and Creig age two weeks, the first major tragedy in my life occurred. My husband was struck by a mine train and hovered near death and loss of a foot for three months. The Lord answered my prayers and over the next few months he slowly recovered fully.
After the accident, we moved to Castle Dale, Utah, home of my husband, where our second son, Kenneth, was born in 1936, shortly after the second major tragedy of my life occurred, when my father (who had moved back to our family home in Murray) was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident.
In 1938 our third son, Garth, was born in Murray, where I had gone to have the baby because there were better medical facilities there. A year later, in 1939, we moved from Castle Dale to Salt Lake City, Utah, and lived there until 1942, when we moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
It was there in Oak Ridge that I first learned I had been stricken with cancer. I will never forget the despair that I felt and prayed and pleaded with the Lord to let me raise my four little children. That was the only thought that kept me going. My prayers were answered three-fold, and from that time forward life, people, and the beauties around me took on a very special meaning.
In 1947, shortly after the second world war in which I lost my brother, Ralph, we moved back to Salt Lake City and spent five of the most glorious years of our lives. We were again living near our family members. I was enjoying the best health in years. My children were in their carefree teen age years. Our home became the literal gathering place of the family on Sunday afternoons. Either my brothers and their families or Ed's nine brothers and sisters and their families would be there almost every Sunday. I loved them all and looked forward to their visits. Our two acre yard provided ample space for horseshoe pitching, basketball, softball, football, and any number of games to be going on at the same time, and they usually were. What a grand place to raise teen age boys, and enjoy all our family members. These times started the bonds of a family unity that has grown beyond any that I had ever hope to achieve.
It was during this time that Jenienne was married to Arthur Litson, in 1950, and within the next year I became a grand-mother, at the age of 36.
In 1952 we moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and have made our home here for 19 years, and have fallen in love with so many friends. My three sons met and married three wonderful girls, Creig married in 1953, Kenneth married in 1954, Garth married in 1961. I now had eight children who I loved and cherished. With our children all happily married and having families of their own, my husband and
I were able to go and do many, many things together. We became constant companions in fishing, dancing, visiting friends and family members, and enjoying life to its fullest. These were cherished years. I was always the first to be ready to go fishing and the last to want to leave.
In 1964 I found that my dreaded illness had returned and it was necessary to have more radium treatments which left me with a constant struggle to regain my health. I lived one day at a time, looking for and finding beauty in every thing I saw and did. My love for my husband and family and their love for me grew beyond measure and made my constant struggle all worthwhile.
I have filled a full life as honorably and valiantly as I could and even though I struggled with all my might, mind and strength until the end of my life here on earth . . .Friday morning, the 12th day of November 1971 . . . I am happy to be able to join my father and mother and five brothers forever more.
I leave you with love and fond memories that I hope will live on in your hearts, as I had tried to express in my last unfinished message. In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.
Immediately after her death, in clearing out her hospital bed-side stand, her family discovered "HER LAST UNFINISHED MESSAGE", written during her last days and kept from sight from any visitors. It follows:
"TO MY FAMILY"
"Remember me when you walk through Springtime, April raindrops touching the new-grown grass, giving life to the rising daffodils . . .
Springtime . . . look into the angel face of a child, you'll see it there too. The wonder of the renewal of life.
When you climb the high mountains of Summertime, and walk through meadows of flowers,
And suddenly you come to that clear mountain stream . . . remember me. Remember me in Summertime when it's time to go fishing, and feel the thrill of that fish on your line,
Look to the mountain tops with the clear blue sky, and the fleecy clouds drifting by . . . and you will see me.
Summertime . . . a time of busy days, and happy full satisfying days.
Look into your child's face and think of the joys of your Summer Times. The golden days of Harvest time . . . . . . . . . " (Unfinished)
I LOVED LIFE
A sketch of the life of Helen Francis Robinson Jewkes
19 Jul 1914-12 Nov 1971.
(Compiled by her son, Creig R. Jewkes. It was based on a short history written by her on March 16, 1965. Creig wrote it in the first person, because the thoughts expressed here-in were expressed by her many times while she was alive. Prepared for and read at her funeral after her death on November 12, 1971, by Creig.)
My name is Helen Francis Robinson Jewkes, wife of a devoted husband, mother of four wonderful and happily married children, grandmother of 22 healthy grandchildren, and great grandmother of one beautiful great grand child. I loved life and everything of beauty, especially the beauty of the mountains and streams. I loved to help people wherever and whenever I could. I loved my husband and family with all my heart, mind and strength, and put their well being and happiness before everything else. I loved to be with my husband and do everything with him. I especially loved to dance and to fish, and always treasured those times together when we could go hand in hand as one. I loved my Father-in-Heaven deeply and had a firm, non-waivering testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
My life has been filled to capacity with moments of un-equalled joy through the love and devotion of my family and moments of agony and despair through times of sicknesses and the heart aches of life's problems. But through it all if any one has been blessed, I have been blessed beyond measure.
My whole thought and being and every prayer that I have uttered has been for my husband and family. There have been few days in my life that I haven't knelt before the Lord and asked him to guide me to teach my children to seek Him and the gospel so they could teach their children to have a deep, abiding faith in the Lord so their joys could be as great as mine.
How thrilled I am to see how each of my family have grown into the person that I have prayed for them to be. Every one of them are my children . . . my sons and my daughters . . . oh, how I love them.
As a young mother at the age of 29, with four small children to raise, I was stricken with cancer. I pleaded with the Lord to spare my life long enough to raise my children. He granted my wish three fold and allowed me to know my first great grand daughter. The reason I felt that I could withstand the agony and pain of the final days of my life without mental anguish and grief was the knowledge that I could set an example to my family . . . much like the Savior did for mankind. If my suffering could but only touch the life of one of them to be a better person it would be worth it.
My life on this earth began on the 19th day of July 1914, in Knightsville, Juab, Utah. I was the first child and only daughter of Arthur E. and Sarah Finch May Robinson. I have four older half-brothers by my mother through a previous marriage: Charles D. May, Sterling F. May, Melvin H. May, and George I. May. I have three younger brothers by my parents: Albert A. Robinson, Ralph H. Robinson, and John R. Robinson. My father and mother, Charles, Sterling, Melvin, George, and Ralph all preceded me in death.
When I was two years old my parents moved to Murray, Utah, which was to become our long term family home. We lived there until 1925, when, at the age of nine, my father became Superintendent of a coal mine in Consumers, Utah, in Carbon County, fourteen miles north-west of Price, Utah.
During the next nine years, from 1925 to 1934, I lived in this small mining town and learned to love the beauties of nature. Some of my fondest memories of early youth are there. In my early teens my younger brother, Al, and I would often pack a lunch and head for the beautiful mountains. We would usually hike up Beaver Creek over the top of the mountain and down into Jump Creek, a distance of about four miles one way. We would fish until we were tired of catching fish and then eat our lunch and hike the four miles back, thoroughly enjoying every thing along the way. Or, we would often hike up the mountains to see what we could find from animals to wild berries. What a beautiful world God has created for man.
During High School, I lived with my uncle Bill Robinson (music teacher at Murray High School) and his daughter Virge, my age, to attend Murray High, because there was no school in Consumers.
Between my Junior and Senior year I met and fell deeply in love with Edward Parry Jewkes. The coal camps had started a bussing route the fourteen miles to Carbon High School in Price, and therefore I attended my senior year down there. In the Spring of that year a dance contest was held at the Stake Gold and Green Ball to choose the queen of the ball. I can still remember the thrill of dancing with the man I loved and being announced winner and queen. It was this night that Ed asked me to marry him.
On the 16th of April 1932, two months before high school graduation, at the age of 17, I was married to Edward Parry Jewkes by my father, in Sweets Mine in Carbon County, Utah. Later, in 1937, I was thrilled to be sealed to him in the Manti Temple.
In September 1934, with two small children, Jenienne age 1 ½ , and Creig age two weeks, the first major tragedy in my life occurred. My husband was struck by a mine train and hovered near death and loss of a foot for three months. The Lord answered my prayers and over the next few months he slowly recovered fully.
After the accident, we moved to Castle Dale, Utah, home of my husband, where our second son, Kenneth, was born in 1936, shortly after the second major tragedy of my life occurred, when my father (who had moved back to our family home in Murray) was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident.
In 1938 our third son, Garth, was born in Murray, where I had gone to have the baby because there were better medical facilities there. A year later, in 1939, we moved from Castle Dale to Salt Lake City, Utah, and lived there until 1942, when we moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
It was there in Oak Ridge that I first learned I had been stricken with cancer. I will never forget the despair that I felt and prayed and pleaded with the Lord to let me raise my four little children. That was the only thought that kept me going. My prayers were answered three-fold, and from that time forward life, people, and the beauties around me took on a very special meaning.
In 1947, shortly after the second world war in which I lost my brother, Ralph, we moved back to Salt Lake City and spent five of the most glorious years of our lives. We were again living near our family members. I was enjoying the best health in years. My children were in their carefree teen age years. Our home became the literal gathering place of the family on Sunday afternoons. Either my brothers and their families or Ed's nine brothers and sisters and their families would be there almost every Sunday. I loved them all and looked forward to their visits. Our two acre yard provided ample space for horseshoe pitching, basketball, softball, football, and any number of games to be going on at the same time, and they usually were. What a grand place to raise teen age boys, and enjoy all our family members. These times started the bonds of a family unity that has grown beyond any that I had ever hope to achieve.
It was during this time that Jenienne was married to Arthur Litson, in 1950, and within the next year I became a grand-mother, at the age of 36.
In 1952 we moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and have made our home here for 19 years, and have fallen in love with so many friends. My three sons met and married three wonderful girls, Creig married in 1953, Kenneth married in 1954, Garth married in 1961. I now had eight children who I loved and cherished. With our children all happily married and having families of their own, my husband and
I were able to go and do many, many things together. We became constant companions in fishing, dancing, visiting friends and family members, and enjoying life to its fullest. These were cherished years. I was always the first to be ready to go fishing and the last to want to leave.
In 1964 I found that my dreaded illness had returned and it was necessary to have more radium treatments which left me with a constant struggle to regain my health. I lived one day at a time, looking for and finding beauty in every thing I saw and did. My love for my husband and family and their love for me grew beyond measure and made my constant struggle all worthwhile.
I have filled a full life as honorably and valiantly as I could and even though I struggled with all my might, mind and strength until the end of my life here on earth . . .Friday morning, the 12th day of November 1971 . . . I am happy to be able to join my father and mother and five brothers forever more.
I leave you with love and fond memories that I hope will live on in your hearts, as I had tried to express in my last unfinished message. In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.
Immediately after her death, in clearing out her hospital bed-side stand, her family discovered "HER LAST UNFINISHED MESSAGE", written during her last days and kept from sight from any visitors. It follows:
"TO MY FAMILY"
"Remember me when you walk through Springtime, April raindrops touching the new-grown grass, giving life to the rising daffodils . . .
Springtime . . . look into the angel face of a child, you'll see it there too. The wonder of the renewal of life.
When you climb the high mountains of Summertime, and walk through meadows of flowers,
And suddenly you come to that clear mountain stream . . . remember me. Remember me in Summertime when it's time to go fishing, and feel the thrill of that fish on your line,
Look to the mountain tops with the clear blue sky, and the fleecy clouds drifting by . . . and you will see me.
Summertime . . . a time of busy days, and happy full satisfying days.
Look into your child's face and think of the joys of your Summer Times. The golden days of Harvest time . . . . . . . . . " (Unfinished)
A sketch of the life of Helen Francis Robinson Jewkes
19 Jul 1914-12 Nov 1971.
(Compiled by her son, Creig R. Jewkes. It was based on a short history written by her on March 16, 1965. Creig wrote it in the first person, because the thoughts expressed here-in were expressed by her many times while she was alive. Prepared for and read at her funeral after her death on November 12, 1971, by Creig.)
My name is Helen Francis Robinson Jewkes, wife of a devoted husband, mother of four wonderful and happily married children, grandmother of 22 healthy grandchildren, and great grandmother of one beautiful great grand child. I loved life and everything of beauty, especially the beauty of the mountains and streams. I loved to help people wherever and whenever I could. I loved my husband and family with all my heart, mind and strength, and put their well being and happiness before everything else. I loved to be with my husband and do everything with him. I especially loved to dance and to fish, and always treasured those times together when we could go hand in hand as one. I loved my Father-in-Heaven deeply and had a firm, non-waivering testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
My life has been filled to capacity with moments of un-equalled joy through the love and devotion of my family and moments of agony and despair through times of sicknesses and the heart aches of life's problems. But through it all if any one has been blessed, I have been blessed beyond measure.
My whole thought and being and every prayer that I have uttered has been for my husband and family. There have been few days in my life that I haven't knelt before the Lord and asked him to guide me to teach my children to seek Him and the gospel so they could teach their children to have a deep, abiding faith in the Lord so their joys could be as great as mine.
How thrilled I am to see how each of my family have grown into the person that I have prayed for them to be. Every one of them are my children . . . my sons and my daughters . . . oh, how I love them.
As a young mother at the age of 29, with four small children to raise, I was stricken with cancer. I pleaded with the Lord to spare my life long enough to raise my children. He granted my wish three fold and allowed me to know my first great grand daughter. The reason I felt that I could withstand the agony and pain of the final days of my life without mental anguish and grief was the knowledge that I could set an example to my family . . . much like the Savior did for mankind. If my suffering could but only touch the life of one of them to be a better person it would be worth it.
My life on this earth began on the 19th day of July 1914, in Knightsville, Juab, Utah. I was the first child and only daughter of Arthur E. and Sarah Finch May Robinson. I have four older half-brothers by my mother through a previous marriage: Charles D. May, Sterling F. May, Melvin H. May, and George I. May. I have three younger brothers by my parents: Albert A. Robinson, Ralph H. Robinson, and John R. Robinson. My father and mother, Charles, Sterling, Melvin, George, and Ralph all preceded me in death.
When I was two years old my parents moved to Murray, Utah, which was to become our long term family home. We lived there until 1925, when, at the age of nine, my father became Superintendent of a coal mine in Consumers, Utah, in Carbon County, fourteen miles north-west of Price, Utah.
During the next nine years, from 1925 to 1934, I lived in this small mining town and learned to love the beauties of nature. Some of my fondest memories of early youth are there. In my early teens my younger brother, Al, and I would often pack a lunch and head for the beautiful mountains. We would usually hike up Beaver Creek over the top of the mountain and down into Jump Creek, a distance of about four miles one way. We would fish until we were tired of catching fish and then eat our lunch and hike the four miles back, thoroughly enjoying every thing along the way. Or, we would often hike up the mountains to see what we could find from animals to wild berries. What a beautiful world God has created for man.
During High School, I lived with my uncle Bill Robinson (music teacher at Murray High School) and his daughter Virge, my age, to attend Murray High, because there was no school in Consumers.
Between my Junior and Senior year I met and fell deeply in love with Edward Parry Jewkes. The coal camps had started a bussing route the fourteen miles to Carbon High School in Price, and therefore I attended my senior year down there. In the Spring of that year a dance contest was held at the Stake Gold and Green Ball to choose the queen of the ball. I can still remember the thrill of dancing with the man I loved and being announced winner and queen. It was this night that Ed asked me to marry him.
On the 16th of April 1932, two months before high school graduation, at the age of 17, I was married to Edward Parry Jewkes by my father, in Sweets Mine in Carbon County, Utah. Later, in 1937, I was thrilled to be sealed to him in the Manti Temple.
In September 1934, with two small children, Jenienne age 1 ½ , and Creig age two weeks, the first major tragedy in my life occurred. My husband was struck by a mine train and hovered near death and loss of a foot for three months. The Lord answered my prayers and over the next few months he slowly recovered fully.
After the accident, we moved to Castle Dale, Utah, home of my husband, where our second son, Kenneth, was born in 1936, shortly after the second major tragedy of my life occurred, when my father (who had moved back to our family home in Murray) was struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident.
In 1938 our third son, Garth, was born in Murray, where I had gone to have the baby because there were better medical facilities there. A year later, in 1939, we moved from Castle Dale to Salt Lake City, Utah, and lived there until 1942, when we moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
It was there in Oak Ridge that I first learned I had been stricken with cancer. I will never forget the despair that I felt and prayed and pleaded with the Lord to let me raise my four little children. That was the only thought that kept me going. My prayers were answered three-fold, and from that time forward life, people, and the beauties around me took on a very special meaning.
In 1947, shortly after the second world war in which I lost my brother, Ralph, we moved back to Salt Lake City and spent five of the most glorious years of our lives. We were again living near our family members. I was enjoying the best health in years. My children were in their carefree teen age years. Our home became the literal gathering place of the family on Sunday afternoons. Either my brothers and their families or Ed's nine brothers and sisters and their families would be there almost every Sunday. I loved them all and looked forward to their visits. Our two acre yard provided ample space for horseshoe pitching, basketball, softball, football, and any number of games to be going on at the same time, and they usually were. What a grand place to raise teen age boys, and enjoy all our family members. These times started the bonds of a family unity that has grown beyond any that I had ever hope to achieve.
It was during this time that Jenienne was married to Arthur Litson, in 1950, and within the next year I became a grand-mother, at the age of 36.
In 1952 we moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and have made our home here for 19 years, and have fallen in love with so many friends. My three sons met and married three wonderful girls, Creig married in 1953, Kenneth married in 1954, Garth married in 1961. I now had eight children who I loved and cherished. With our children all happily married and having families of their own, my husband and
I were able to go and do many, many things together. We became constant companions in fishing, dancing, visiting friends and family members, and enjoying life to its fullest. These were cherished years. I was always the first to be ready to go fishing and the last to want to leave.
In 1964 I found that my dreaded illness had returned and it was necessary to have more radium treatments which left me with a constant struggle to regain my health. I lived one day at a time, looking for and finding beauty in every thing I saw and did. My love for my husband and family and their love for me grew beyond measure and made my constant struggle all worthwhile.
I have filled a full life as honorably and valiantly as I could and even though I struggled with all my might, mind and strength until the end of my life here on earth . . .Friday morning, the 12th day of November 1971 . . . I am happy to be able to join my father and mother and five brothers forever more.
I leave you with love and fond memories that I hope will live on in your hearts, as I had tried to express in my last unfinished message. In the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.
Immediately after her death, in clearing out her hospital bed-side stand, her family discovered "HER LAST UNFINISHED MESSAGE", written during her last days and kept from sight from any visitors. It follows:
"TO MY FAMILY"
"Remember me when you walk through Springtime, April raindrops touching the new-grown grass, giving life to the rising daffodils . . .
Springtime . . . look into the angel face of a child, you'll see it there too. The wonder of the renewal of life.
When you climb the high mountains of Summertime, and walk through meadows of flowers,
And suddenly you come to that clear mountain stream . . . remember me. Remember me in Summertime when it's time to go fishing, and feel the thrill of that fish on your line,
Look to the mountain tops with the clear blue sky, and the fleecy clouds drifting by . . . and you will see me.
Summertime . . . a time of busy days, and happy full satisfying days.
Look into your child's face and think of the joys of your Summer Times. The golden days of Harvest time . . . . . . . . . " (Unfinished)
