Grandpa Earl....

Earl S. Jarrett

1925 ~ 2012

One of the last true beloved agricultural pioneers of Nephi Utah; Earl Stanley Jarrett passed away at the family home on Sunday April 8, 2012. Earl lived all of his 86 years to the fullest; born December 27, 1925 on the family farm in Nephi to William Stanley and Delta Howell Jarrett. He married the love of his life a cute spunkey little gal, Beth Maurine Rosenlof on March 24, 1944 and was later solemnized in the Manti LDS Temple.

Earl, with Beth and their 8 children by his side were able to build their own family farm on the land they loved in Nephi. Earl's accomplishments were many; but none more important than his love of family, farming, and being trusted for sealing a deal with his huge handed handshake. He hardly ever talked about it but he served our country in the 77th Infantry as was wounded in Okinawa. He has been in agriculture all of his life where he has served on many boards and leadership positions; Nephi City Counsel, Nephi Irrigation Company, Juab county Farm Bureau President, was a life time member of the Nephi Nebo Posse, Soil conservation District Board. He was a member of the LDS Church and served in many capacities. He had a great love of the land. He was sent out with a brother at the young age of 12 to Homestead one section of land on the west bench. Although he travelled the world, nothing gave him a greater joy than camping with his family and riding up in the saddles.

His great legacy will always be remembered by those he leaves behind: Children Rodger (Georgia) Jarrett of Salt Lake, Bonnie (Hap) White of Nephi, Paul Jarrett of Nephi, Don (Sherri) Jarrett of Boise ID, Reid (Vicki) Jarrett of Nephi, Karen (Harlo) Newton of Mona, and Wayne (Connie) Jarrett of Nephi, and 5 brothers and sisters Donna Beard of Saint George, Sister in Law Elaine Jarrett of Logan, Emma Porter Nephi, Clyde Jarrett Brigham City, Arlene Jones of Lehi, Glen Jarrett Salt Lake, 24 Grandchildren and 46 Great Grand Children and 3 Great Great Grand Children.

Preceded in death by Parents, Wife Beth, one son Mark Edward Jarrett, one brother Von Jarrett, 1 sister Veda Ferl Jarrett, one daughter in law Teresa Jarrett, Grandson Shane Oliver and one great grandson Ethan Miller.

Funeral services will be held at 11 am Wednesday, April 11, 2012 in the Nephi Stake Center, 351 North 100 West. Family and friends may call Tuesday evening from 6-8 pm at the Anderson Funeral Home, 94 West 300 North and at the church one hour prior to the services. Interment will be in the Nephi Vine Bluff Cemetery.

My new favorite pic of them.  My aunt Teresa and Uncle Mark (who are also gone) are in the background.



Me and Him Easter 1984



I'm having a hard time putting into words how much this man meant to me.  He was not only my Grandpa but one of my close friends and I will always cherish our talks and time together.  There are so many things that I admired about him so I thought I would share what made him so special to me.  He always made time for me and my family and rarely missed an opportunity to support.  For the first 20 years of my life I saw him every day.  He would come in and visit every morning before heading out to farm.  I can still picture him sitting on our chair by the back door visiting and laughing.  He attended every graduation, prom, birthday, holiday party, and just last year came to one of Cael's baseball games.  He didn't show his love by giving material things, but gave the best gift of all, his time, and for that I will forever be grateful.  My kids loved him for this and he was one of the only people Kensie would give a hug to the minute she saw him.  He always called them by name and stayed current on what they had been doing.  He loved to watch Cael & Gavyn wrestle on the floor and would give pointers to each of them.  We started taking the videos of Cael's wrestling matches over and letting him watch.  He told Cael that he was in high school when they introduced the wrestling program and that he was the one the coach chose to show the moves on.  He also played with Kensie which usually consisted of trying to catch her hand before she moved it or him guess what hand she had the prize in behind her back.  She LOVED him so much and when I told her he died her jaw dropped and she said " so mam-aw not alone anymore?"  She would always ask questions about my grandma when we would be over to their house.  It would usually start when she would go in the bathroom and see the butterfly wall paper and wonder who's bathroom it was.  i guess she didn't believe my grandpa would pick butterfly wallpaper.  She is so small that I don't think heaven makes sense to her, but there were times she talked about my grandma and acted like she knew her.  There is no dout in my mind that she ment my grandma, mostly because she wants to be tickled all the time just like my grandma.  My grandpa he always hugged me, kissed my cheek and called me "Hunny". 



Him and my Grandma the day he left for war.



I loved my summers on the farm and spent many hours riding with him.  On one occasion we were taking a load of scrap metal to Spanish Fork.  On the way up a piece of metal fell off and hit a new car driving behind us.  The car followed us to the recycle place and informed my Grandpa what had happened.  At first he tried to deny that it was us.  "How do you know it was me?" He asked the lady as he handed over his insurance info.  Inside I was thinking...well probably the giant truck of metal scraps gave us away.  We laughed about this for years.  Since I have gotten older I have realized how lucky I was to grow up on the farm and the relationships I made with my family.  He always had good advice which usually came down to there is no easy way out so quit whining and go to work.  The year we were building our house was stressful and I couldn't wait for it to be over.  When he heard me say this he came and put his arm around me and said "Don't wish your life away, I can honestly say that the happiest years of my life were when me and your grandma were building our lives together, so enjoy it."  That phrase is something I will never forget,   I think of it all the time and have tried to enjoy the stress life can bring.  He rarely complained and for this reason had nurses fighting over him when he was in the hospital.  Every time he was in the hospital I would have a nurse stop and tell me how sweet he was.  His only complaint was usually about the hospital food and would let Nikki know that he missed her working out there.  During his last hospital stay he had us laughing over one of his meals that he couldn't identify what it was.  For days he would update us on what he thought it was, it started out fish then potatoes, and after much deliberation he decided that it most likely was chicken.  During his stay after his last hip replacement he again had us laughing as he told us about the lady that had passed out during a game of kick ball in the Physical Therapy room.  He had a way of making any story interesting and I could listen to him for hours.  I enjoyed most when he talked about my Grandma which usually brought a tear to his eye.  She has been gone since 1995, but his love for her stayed strong.  They had a good marriage and he even admitted a few weeks before he died that he had missed her every single day since she had passed.  I can only imagine the reunion.  I only saw his gentle loving side, but he could be tough and was very strict.  He had been raised during the depression and saw hard times.  He served in WWII and while in a fox hole had a surprise visit from his brother Von who was on his way home from serving.  He asked if he needed anything and the only thing my grandpa could think of was a watch because he knew some of the men were cheating him out of his sleep.  Von took off his watch and gave it to him.  Another cool fact about this story is that Casey's grandpa Reed Smith was with Von when he visited my grandpa.  Later he was wounded twice and ended up coming home 100% disabled in a wheel chair.   Instead of waiting around for the government to take care of his young family, he bought a farm instead and went to work.  He was an extremely hard worker and pretty much worked full time his entire life.  I know this is the reason his mind stayed so sharp while his physical body gave out. 

The last couple months were very emotional as we watched him get weaker and weaker.  My dad and his siblings were such great examples to me through the whole thing and never complained even though I know how hard and tiring it was.  My dad & Wayne took most of the nights which included getting him ready for bed where my dad would massage his back and try to make him comfortable.  They would then be up checking on him through the night, get up the next morning and help Teresa get him ready and into his chair for the day before heading out the door to work.  I never heard them complain once and seemed honored to do it.  There is something about watching 2 tough men be so gentle and loving to their dad.  At times I got emotional watching them take care of him because it was so sweet.  They loved him so much and took such great care of him along with his long time Home health nurses JulieAnn Parkin & Teresa Hooper.  They wanted to honor his wishes by letting him be home during his last days and for that I know they will be blessed and he was so thankful.  I was able to spend Thursdays with him and then we would stop by when ever we could.  It was fun to be able to spend time with him and all the visitors he had.  Some days were better than others, but for the most part he was able to visit.  I learned things about his family and most importantly his dad.  He never talked about him and the only thing I had ever really heard about him was he was a hard worker and had a bad temper.  One day he opened up and told me and mom about the day he finally stood up to his dad.  He said his dad wasn't a very big man, but was always getting after his mom and little brothers.  On one evening his dad got upset with his mom and pushed her down in the chair and went to hit her.  My grandpa was a young teenager but still got between them, looked his dad in the eyes, and told him he was not going to let him hit his mom and brothers again.  My grandpa cried when he told us about what had happened and I soon figured out why he never talked about his dad.  When I asked him how his dad reacted when he stood up to him he said " he did nothing because he knew I was now bigger than him and I could kick his ass".  Eventually both of his younger brothers moved in with him and my grandma because they couldn't get along with their dad.  At his funeral, both of his brothers commented that he was more of a father figure than a brother because he had always looked out for them.  I was lucky enough to spend the last good day with him.  We had a good visit, looked through pictures, had Arby's for lunch, and then in the afternoon he started getting tired and slept most of the time till I left that evening.  He seemed fine when I left so I was surprised to hear the next couple of days were bad with him being in a lot of pain.  This started the last week of his life and I was able to go see him everyday.  It was hard but I don't regret a second over there.  I could spend days talking about what an awesome man he was.  I feel so proud to call him my Grandpa and will miss him everyday.   

Deer Hunt on Otis

Christmas 2002

February 2012