Jesse William Walker ~ Index
Jesse William Walker was born 23 February 1893 at Mendon, Utah. He was the sixth child born into the family of John Robert Walker and Hellen Virginia Bigler Walker. Dad had brown hair and blue eyes. He was a short man with a medium build and a pleasant personality. He had a great sense of humor. He was an easy going man who did't get rilled up very often. When he was seven years old his father was killed in a run-away with his horses and wagon, just south of Mendon. This left Grandma Walker with five living children and a farm. They had four of their children die.
- Laura Virginia, born 13 February 1883, died 26 March 1883.
- George Andrew, born 25 September 1894.
- John Wallace, born 12 December 1886, died 9 February 1887.
- Gerald Cecil, born 23 April 1888.
- Vance DeMont, born 20 January 1891.
- Jesse William, born 23 February 1893.
- Charles Henry, born 27 August 1895, died 25 April 1898.
- Cleopatra, born 3 March 1898, died 4 April 1898.
- Loretta Mary, born 3 May 1899.
Dad learned to work hard as they had a farm to keep going. Later as the family got married and left home the land was divided among them.
When World War I broke out dad went into the Navy. He was assigned as a gook on a sub chaser. He was in the European fighting. They were stationed in England for some time where he made many friends. From his letters he wrote home to his mother I learned that he played the piano. He played at programs in England. When the World War I ended, he wanted to go home but the Navy wouldn't release him. He wrote to his brother Vance to get a lawyer to see if they could get him out. Eventually he got released and was able to go home.
When he arrived home he met a sweet young girl named Ada Plowman who was teaching school in Mendon. She was a very pretty girl and he fell in love with her. They decided to run away and get married so they boarded the train and went to Farmington, Utah. They were married on the 6th of March 1920 and were sealed in the Logan Temple on the 30th, of June 1920. After they were married they lived in Mendon, Utah. Dad became the sheriff of Mendon and then latter the Justice of the Peace. He farmed and milked cows for a living. In those days they farmed with horses and horse drawn equipment.
Three children were born to them; Jesse Ray, born 31 October 1920, Fay Plowman born, 27 October 1925 and Matta Marie, born 20 July 1928. As dad farmed we all learned to work. Hay, grain and sugar beets were raised on the farm. We also learned about cows. It was my job to take the cows to the pasture and bring them home at night to be milked. He always millked between ten and twelve cows. He always kept a bull around to service the cows. It was usually one that he had raised. One day as he was feeding, the bull attacked him and mauled him real bad, until he finally could roll under the fence. It really broke his body up so the he was never the same. That ended them having more children.
Mom milked the cows and took care of things until he was healed. Vance and the neighbors also helped. While farming he had many run-aways with his horses. They would get their horses from horse traders and you always didn't know what you were getting. You used to hear him coming blocks away yelling, Whoa Johnny! Whoa Johnny!
They would come into the yard going wide open.
Years later the farmers started using tractors. Dad bought a Case tractor and sold his horses. He never got the hang of using a tractor as he was run over twice with one. The first time he was loading hay alone and fell in front of the hay load that ran over his legs. They were broken in many places. The second time was when Vern, my husband, was helping him, dad was driving the tractor while Vern loaded the hay on the wagon. Dad went to get off from the tractor with his foot still on the clutch and it was still in gear. Vern saw what was happening and made a run for the tractor as it had run up over dads leg to his hips. The ground was soft so he didn't get seriously hurt but bruised up pretty good. His legs were crippled from the accidents that he had, had.
They sold the cows and mom went to work at the Mode-O-Day in Logan, a dress factory, to support them. While mom worked dad would come out to North Logan and stay with us and she would come and pick him up when she was through work. The kids really loved it as he would play with them. They would play Chinese checkers for hours. He loved to play solitaire with his cards. Vern took over running the farm and paying them rent. This gave them a little extra money to live on. We also rented the pasture from them and kept our cattle there.
As mom needed a car to go to work in, we bought a car for them that had an automatic drive. Dad was good at riding the clutch in their cars and they would burn out. He went through several clutches. When we gave them the car they gave us their old one. It was a Plymouth and fun to drive. Dad drove it everywhere he wanted to go, even through ditches. Vern and the boys decided to go to the Flaming George to fish and decided to take the Plymouth. They got as far as Kemmer, Wyoming and lost all the oil out of the motor. Dad had never changed the oil in it and it had gotten hard on the bottom of the beaten up oil pan and when they traveled far enough to loosen it, the bottom was all cracked and the oil leaked out.
One day mom called up on the phone and asked if Vern could come over and help dad with some cement. He was pouring a new drive-way. He ordered two loads of cement to be delivered at the same time. We jumped in the car and stopped at Settlers and picked up a cement gandy and sped over to Mendon. When we got there dad was about give out and the cement was piled up in the middle. It was a hot day Iin August, so it didn't take very long to set up. Vern worked until he thought he would pass out, but they got it done. It wasn't smooth, but it's still there today.
Mom retired from the Mode-O-Day and took care of dad for many years. When he was 84 years old he had a stroke that left him with no circulation in his legs. He needed therapy every day which we could not give him. We put him in a Nursing Home in Brigham City where they gave him what he needed under a doctors care. He was only there for a month and he died of pneumonia. He passed away on the 22nd of May, 1977. He did not like it there and always wanted to go home. He had mapped his route that he would take if he could get out. He was a sweet and gentle man.