Fern Rust Powell
~8 July 1917 - 7 September 1995~
Lavon and Fern Rust at the home of their Bracken Grandparents in Roosevelt, Utah. Photographer unknown |
Mom was born in the small town of Boneta, Utah. When she was a young girl her family moved across the Lake Fork River to the town of Mount Emmons, Utah. She lived there most of her life except for the eighteen months she spent serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served mostly in California with a short stint in Tuscon, Arizona. She was serving in California on December 7, 1940 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Because she was close to the coast she experienced blackouts and the events caused her worry about what would happen to the many young male missionaries who would be called to serve their country. She spent time in Salt Lake City during the war making radio tubes. She came home for good when her mother became seriously ill and needed help to care for the family. The family consisted of two young grandchildren her parents were raising after the death of their daughter.
Fern Rust at the time of her mission. Photographer unknown. |
I wish I would have appreciated her more during my teenage years, but am grateful that as I matured, I
learned how truly special she was. She had the true grandmotherly touch. She could calm a crying child by wrapping them securely in a quilt and holding them in her arms and rocking them. She would get their attention by patting the bottom of their bare foot and reciting the poem, "Shoe the old horse, shoe the old mare, but let the little colty go bare, bare bare." They would snuggle closer when she would bring an imaginary dog into the room by saying something like this, "Go away bad dog, you can't have my baby. Go lay down doggy." If the above didn't work she had one last surefire trick, her false teeth. She would push them out of her mouth and when the child tried to grab them, she would put them back in her mouth. The teeth would appear and disappear and soon the child would fall asleep.
Fern Rust Powell. Photographer unknown. |
Although a natural teacher she was not much for giving advice. The one piece of advise I got before my marriage was to buy a good mattress. The salesman assured us we had bought a wonderful mattress, but as it turned out, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
When my mother passed, she took the many words spoken to her in confidence with her, unspoken. She is missed daily, but leaves a legacy of love, humor and service to others. Oh, how I love and miss my mother.