Leo Ford Family Reunion

The place to be August 7th, 8th, and 9th at Fish Lake! Sure wish eveyone could be there! We miss all of you who can't come! Pictures to follow.

my mom said stuff too!

It has been brought to my attention that it may have seemed that Mindy merely hosted our fun weekend and didn't participate in the story telling and memory sharing. I guess I have heard her perspective before and therefore it wasn't 'news to me' and I neglected to share it with you ... my mistake and I apologize.


Mindy Sue is one of the 2 sisters that got a middle name ... Grandpa wanted to call her Susan and Grandma wanted Mindy and so they compromised - I like it ... it has a great ring to it! (on a side note: when I was pregnant with Abi, we had decided on Abigail and were thinking of middle names. Thinking that I'd like to have a family name, I immediately suggested Abigail Sue Shaw - Abi Sue ... an adorable name to be sure! Until ... my dad called me up and mentioned the initials. He said, "You're not going to make an a.s.s. out of my granddaughter!" and that was the end of that! Emma was the next best and we sure love our Abigail Emma!!)


There are a few stories that I remember hearing while I was growing up. "Don't play with matches or you'll burn down the barn." Yup that was my mom - the barn burner! "Keep your clothes off the floor or they might get nailed there!" Grandpa Leo said, "If you want your floor covered in clothes - let's just keep it that way!" when all her sisters got their clothes nailed to the floor - she was the one with all her clothes nicely put away! My room was ALWAYS a mess and the pile of clothes was moved from the floor to the bed several hundred times ... on the bed when I need to walk on the floor and on the floor when I needed to sleep in the bed. Grandpa wouldn't have been able to find enough nails or long enough nails to go thru all the layers!! I'm sure he was severely disappointed with my teenage room (shoot, my room right now is a disaster area)!!

When Grandpa passed, we were camping too. It was the 4th of July weekend ... we had just arrived back and mom was in the shower when Roger called. He had called our Bishop's wife looking for us and she had told them that we were camping and when we were coming back. Mom remembers it was on a Saturday, because we had come back from camping to go to church. Dad sent us (Jennalee and I) out to play and sat mom down and broke the news to her. When Jennalee and I came in, she was there on the couch with a tear-streaked face looking stunned. Dad told us Grandpa had passed away and that mom and Molly (then a baby) would leave Sunday morning on a plane and we would follow in the Grand Torino. That was the trip to Utah where my dad was bookin' down the freeway and we were trying to build a blanket fort in the back seat. It was HOT and to save the gas dad had the windows down and we were restless. Dad was trying to help us stick the blanket under the headrest and somehow we ended up in the gravel on the side of the road and that was it - Dad rolled up the windows and turned on the AC and within minutes Jennalee and I were sound asleep! Mom remembers that she arrived at Grandma's before Peggy did. I haven't really ever talked to her about what happened between the time she arrived and the funeral - I'll have to talk to her about that and get back to you.


At the funeral, she was standing in the line with her sisters and brothers sharing hugs and stories with the people who came. Along the line came a man that she had heard stories about all her life but had never actually met - Tommy Rogerson.

Tommy was a short, skinny, squirrelly looking fellow ... he was a little slow (mentally) but a nice guy to be sure! Tommy was Grandma Jenny's 2nd or 3rd cousin and when Grandpa Leo was younger they waited at the same stop for the school bus. One story: As they walked to the bus stop one day, they were teasing Tommy saying that he didn't look too good, that maybe he was sick ... he said he felt fine but they kept after him, until they got to the bus stop and theyhad talked him into it - he was sick and he needed to go home! Grandpa always felt sorry for him and tried to stand up for him. He even made sure he had a job. He worked at the City of Orem with Grandpa. Another funny story: they told Tommy that they were going to blow out the phone lines and they needed Tommy to go around and cover up all the phones so the dust wouldn't get all over. And he did - covered up every phone in the building! Tommy had a sister named Mary Larae - sounded like "Mare-la-ray" all one name and all mushed together. Tommy used to call up Grandma Jenny and 'report' about what "Mare-la-ray" was up to that day or what she had said. My mom remembers hearing about the phone calls and the stories but like I said, she had never met him.

So there they are standing in the line grieving when Tommy Rogerson showed up. He stuck out his hand and grabbed my mom's hand and said, "I'm ... yer relation." They ALL busted up laughing and made formal introductions ... it was a much needed break in the midst all the tears!


I'm sure there's more I could tell you about my mom, many blogs worth! I'll stop here and let others share ... but before I go - I'll share just one picture!

(I am in desperate need of a scanner!!)

i picked their brains!

what a fun extended weekend we had! we ate the best food (a few times at Ivar's, homemade goodness, and who can forget card playing goodies!), played cards 'til the wee hours of the morning and TALKED until we were slurring our words from exhaustion! i was able to entice them to hang around a little longer (and not skip off to bed) by offering nightly back scratches and rubs while i explored their memories! we talked about Grandma and Grandpa Ford and Gordon, their fondest memories of our great uncles and aunts, things they remember about their childhood with Grandma Jenny and Grandpa Leo, and each other.

i absolutely, positively, loved every waking moment of it!

a few facts:

Grandpa Leo James Ford - born: July 18, 1920

he is the second born - he served his mission in 1939 in the southern states and served the majority of his time in atlanta, georgia. he was not allowed to proselyte to the blacks ... at that time they were not allowed to hold the priesthood and therefore they didn't teach them. but his mission president's wife was always adamant that they be cordial and kind to them, they were God's children too - and if she ever heard about her missionaries being rude to a black person they got in some serious trouble - she was a little lady but she packed a punch! ann remembers the first time she saw a black man ... they had gone shopping in salt lake and walking along the street there was a black man and she just remembers staring - couldn't take her eyes off him - and she asked grandpa what was wrong with him.
our aunts didn't go to school with any black people ... there were a few hispanics but that was it. orem was not diverse. i asked them about Martin Luther King ... they remember it vaguely but they remember the Kennedy assasination better.
and the big reunion is not on in july because of his birthday as i have always thought ... it just happens that way ... and we need to figure out why - some of the aunts think it's because of grandma and grandpa ford's anniversary ... but we're not sure. we do know that they started the big reunion July 1969 - after both grandma and grandpa ford were gone.

Grandma 'Jenny' Genevieve Gordon - born: March 17, 1923

she was the very first Miss Orem - have you seen the picture? she's so beautiful! she met grandpa and then he went on his mission and she told him that she would wait for him. grandpa gordon really liked leo and when grandma jenny started dating another guy he wouldn't let her because she had made a promise to wait for grandpa. aren't we all so glad that grandpa gordon stuck to his guns on that one?! we talked a lot about her sisters and i really wish i would have taken notes. you can be sure that when i get to the reunion this year i'll be bringing a recording device!

Roger Leo - born: April 14, 1944

he served in the navy and was on a submarine for over a year ... they remember getting letters that were 'edited' because he had said too much about where he was! they also remember that they heard in the news about a sub being captured and didn't know if it was Roger ... it was scary! he also served a mission ... he said he wanted to go anywhere but denver, colorado - never make such rash statements!! he served in the western states and spent more than half of his mission in Denver!! at one point he was serving in Vernal, but didn't write home and tell them until after he had been transferred. he and aunt karen have been married a long time (i'm sure they told me when but i can't remember!!) but they were sealed in the temple on their 30 year anniversary!!

Jeanette - born: January 26, 1946

Ann - born: September 25, 1947

Peggy Lee - born: June 21, 1949

Mindy Sue - born: October 16, 1953

Laura - born: February 7, 1955

all the sisters LOVE having their backs scratched - jeanette doesn't want her skin torn off (and she likes to have her arms and legs scratched as well) ... but they all could probably have an hour long+ back scratch/rub every night and be perfectly happy!!

Kevin James - born: May 18, 1957



i wrote down a few things and wish that i would have had a recording device - because to hear them tell it sounds so much better than the type-written word!!



but here goes:


Grandma Gordon used to whistle - constantly ... and not a full whistle, it was more just a tune that she would blow quietly and it wasn't always the same tune ... but she was always whistling.
she would also use words like "quishion" as in 'the seat quishion was really soft' and she'd say, "O helly!" and "Gadfreeze/Gashfree" when she needed to curse.



they also told me that they couldn't remember a time when Grandma Ford didn't have on an "aimpron"

Grandpa Ford used to call his kids "stinkin' little hounds" - have you ever heard your mom/dad use that one?? I have!! - and i find myself using it every once in a while! he also would call laundry day "the devil's washday!" it was his responsibility to heat up the water and bring in the ringer for Grandma - it was always a HUGE deal and he hated every minute of it!



Grandpa Leo had a few sayings: "You don't have anything at all if you can't give it away" "The best things in life are things you can give away" "If you can't be good, be as good as you can." and everyone would say that he was 'a friend to all and an enemy to none' - there wasn't one person that knew Grandpa that didn't count him as a friend.



we talked a lot about Grandpa Leo's death and funeral - i don't remember much about it myself ... i do remember that he didn't look like himself laying there in the casket. i distinctly remember thinking that the color of his skin was all wrong - he was supposed to be tanner than that! i also remember playing 'pagent girls' with the flowers at the cemetary. i remember that we stayed at the cemetary a long time and that we went back and sat there by the grave and talked and played on the grass.



i learned that when Grandpa passed away that Laura and Ann were camping together without telling anyone exactly where they were going and Peggy and had gone camping with her family too. Laura's in-laws and Ann's in-laws went looking for them after they heard the news and past each other without knowing it and finally found them. Blaine's dad told him to take his truck and Laura down the mountain and they hopped in and went, Blaine's parents packed up their camping stuff and brought it down for them. Ann still can't figure out why she didn't jump in with Laura ... but she remembers a conversation with Dave as they packed up, something along the lines of, "there's nothing you can do ..." Peggy had stopped into tell her neighbor where they were headed before they left town - otherwise she wouldn't have found out until they got home ... but they were out driving around in a jeep (i think i'm remembering it right??) and they saw a boat driving up to their campsite and it was their neighbor who gave her the news. Jeanette remembers being the first of the daughters (i can't remember if Roger was there??) at the hospital with Grandma and the sad memory of Grandma dropping to her knees when the Doctor came out to give them the bad news ... begging him not to say that Leo was gone. she said it was the most horrible thing she has ever seen. she remembers asking the nurse if Grandpa suffered and finding out that he was gone before he even made it to the hospital. the paramedics worked on him for quite a while ... but he was gone before they even started.


Laura remembers thinking that she should drive down and check in on Grandpa before they left to go camping - but didn't because she didn't want to be the one making everybody late in case Ann and Dave got there ready to leave.



there was a whole lot more but i can't remember it all - i keep trying to run back the tapes in my head ... but i can't get all the details out before they're faded. my family and i are going to try to make it to the Leo Ford Reunion this summer and you can be sure i'll have a recording device in hand ... capturing all the memories and making new ones!



i'm so thankful that the Spirit of Elijah is at work in the Leo Ford Family!



If you have things to add or edit ... feel free - i would love all the information i can get!!