In his words

My cousin Jill posted this on Family Search, mostly in memory or my dad's dad, but also in memory of my dad. I remember this talk vividly though it was 13 years ago. I think this contains more words than I have heard my dad speak in over 7 years, but it shows how thoughtful, intelligent and clever my dad is.

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My grandpa Jack is the one in the middle with the leather jacket above the baby

(This talk was given at my Grandpa Jack's funeral by my Uncle Lane. I am submitting this with permission. It gives a wonderful history of my grandpa's life and includes many of the stories we grew up hearing. In my opinion it perfectly describes my Grandpa Jack, who we all love dearly and still greatly miss.) In 1924 Vladimir Lenin died and Joseph Stalin won the power struggle over Russia. In the U.S., Calvin Coolidge was President and our Interior Secretary along with several oilmen were charged with bribery and conspiracy in the Teapot Dom scandal. On August Jack Oscar Paswaters was born at home on Westminster Street in Salt Lake City. Many years later, when Dad was probably in his 60's, he drove by the house and stopped to take a picture. An elderly neighbor lady came out and asked if he were a realtor. He explained that he was actually born in this house years ago. The elderly lady, who was an Italian emigrant, told him that she remembered that night very well. In fact she had lived in her same house at that time and had tended the other kids while Grandma delivered Dad. Dad was named for his father, Oscar William Paswaters, who had grown up in Nebraska and had done many things prior to moving to Utah. Oscar's heritage was a bit unclear, probably of German origin, he attended law school at the University of Nebraska, worked as a postmaster, a Railroad detective and as a bookkeeper. It was his employment with the Railroad which brought him to Lyndal, Utah where he met ElVerda Anderson, a young LDS girl of strong stubborn Danish stock who, along with her family were hired as cooks for the RR men. Oscar William was not a member of the LDS Church, and came from an area and culture which were vastly different from the world she knew. Because of the differences it was unlikely that anything would happen, but they courted were soon married. The couple was blessed with several children: Grace, then a son, Gilbert who died a little over a year later, another son, Ves, twins Lloy and Joy. Joy died shortly after being born. Then another son, Dick and finally Jack. People gathering family history over the years would like to name him John, thinking that Jack was his nickname, but it was always Jack. The young family moved around a lot in the next several years. Among other places, Dad lived in Ventura and San Bernardino, CA. , Boise, D. , Portland, OR. , and Seattle, WA. They finally settled down in Murray, UT. During the Depression, my Grandmother and Grandfather operated a small café in Murray, where they probably gave away more food than they sold. It was terrible business practice, but it gave their children a good example of charity and Christian living. Dad would also remark that his father was adamant that the children learn the basics of math well and that they would also expect to have their mouths washed out with soap if they took the Lord's name in vain. The café eventually went out of business, and at that time, as so many of you know, people did what they could to get along. I remember Dad telling stories of the many varied jobs he and his siblings had as kids to help the family. At one time he even sold fruit door to door. As far as I can tell, Dad thought that Murray was the center of the universe. He attended grade school, junior high and high school there and had wonderful experiences with family and lifelong friends, some of which are here today. Dad had a great love and a lot of fun with his friends and family. Dad and his brother Dick wanted bicycles, but since there was no money for them, they had to earn the money. There was never enough at one time, so they earned a little money and bought a bicycle part. Worked some more and bought another part. Eventually; they had enough money for all of the parts, and put the bikes together piece by piece. They then rode the bikes all the way from Murray to downtown Salt Lake where they bought a fifty-pound bag of onions. Then they brought them back still while riding bikes and sold them door to door. It's hard to imagine, because of the emphasis their father made concerning basic math skills, but they sold the onions for 3 cents per pound, or 3 pounds for a dollar. While in the fourth grade, when he was only about 9 years old, Dad and Dick bought a Model A Ford for $5. To earn the money, they sold their bikes and passed out handbills along State Street. At the time the price of gas was 16 cents per gallon. As soon as they earned 4 cents they went to the filling station and bought 1/4 gallon of gas. The car had no tires and as money and material was scarce, they traded the windshield for two tubes and tires which were 30 inches by 3 1/2 inches. (About twice as large as tires are today.) With the car in this condition they drove around the field as long as their gas would allow them to go. One day, they discovered a cement mixer, and since they only had two tires Dad and Dick decided that they would borrow the tires from the cement mixer since they were the same size as the automobile tires. As there was no windshield, Dad decided that they might as well have a convertible, so they took an axe and cut the top part of the car off above the doors. This great vehicle attracted every kid in the neighborhood. They all zoomed around the field as much as they could until the owner of the cement mixer discovered what they had done. With no small amount of anger, he repossessed the two tires. But only having two tires and no gas is no reason not to enjoy a great car, so the group of kids would push the car around. They took the car to the dump where they pushed it to the top of the hill and skid down the other side. Dad was the smallest so he drove. In doing so he ran over his brother Dick's toe with the bare rims. While he felt glad that they were not on the asphalt where Dick's toe certainly would have been cut off, Dad always had a smile on his face when he retold the story as an adult. Part of that mirth might be explained by another car story involving Dad and Dick. Dad had paid the princely sum of 25 cents for a car that was in need of a lot of work. He and Dick worked and traded and ultimately fixed the car. Dick had a love affair with cars that lasted his entire life, and he was very talented. In any event, Dad had arranged for a buyer of the now improved vehicle for $30 or so, and because Dick was a few years older, he was assigned to take the car to the buyer and bring the proceeds of the sale back to Dad. Dick delivered the car and received the money as planned, but somewhere between the buyer and home Dick had spent the money on something else, leaving Dad as perhaps the only person who bought a car for a quarter, and ended up losing money on the deal. Dad's father believed that a person should be old enough to know something of a church before joining, and he just didn't feel that 8 was old enough. So, Dad wasn't baptized until his Father passed away. He was in his mid-teens. Since he was the youngest, and still at home much of the burden of taking care of his mother fell upon him. In later years, when grandma was old and very ill, Dad also brought her into our home to take care of her until her health wouldn't permit even that. At that time people attending school were called Murray Smelterites. Dad enjoyed the unique and lasting friendships of old and new friends. He graduated in 1943 and had already signed up for the Army before school ended. Dad was assigned to the Tank Corps during the Second World War and trained and served in many different places. I've always struggled with those who criticize the tragic bombing of Hiroshima in the attempt to finally end the war. Dad was part of what would have been the invasion force of mainland Japan. All the experts maintain that over a million men would have been killed, had our country not dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. At the war's end, Dad was honorably discharged but then joined the Army Reserve for several more years. He had earlier met Clarissa June Card while roller skating. Quite a while later, while on a short furlough, they were married in Las Vegas at the Wee Kirk O' the Heather. My first job out of law school was with a firm in Las Vegas, where I would stroll past the wedding chapel that continues doing brisk business. The couple bought their first home in Salt Lake for a little over a $1000 and worried that they wouldn't be able to make the payments. Dad had trained as a machinist and was offered a job at Kennecott in 1952 which paid $16 for an eight-hour shift six days a week. He didn't take the job. His great desire was to become a dentist. He actually had the money to do so, but due to very unfortunate circumstances the money was lost. Dad ultimately wanted to own his own business, and so following school, he established his own barber shop, thinking that people would always need their hair cut. Of course, he couldn't foresee the 70's when many young people didn't think it was such a necessary thing. The shop was where Dad worked and supported his family during most of the years the kids were growing up. In the late 1940's Terry was born, and knowing that they could improve upon that, Ron, Colleen, myself, Joan and finally Wade came along. For most of the growing up years we lived in the Canyon Rim area which we all loved. Dad worked hard and long at the shop. I've yet to meet the man who was a harder worker, or one who knew more things about how things worked or needed to be fixed. I think Terry has picked up Dad's ability to analyze and fix things. His working hours brought him home after dark even during the summer. Still he tried to attend as many of his children's activities as he could. He wasn't always there for the first inning, but he often showed up at the game's end, and we appreciated it. One great thing about working at the shop was the ease with which Dad dealt with people. He would talk with everyone, even little kids. He didn't talk down to them, and tried to make them feel at ease as if there was no one else in the room with whom he would rather be talking. I don't think we ever went into a café or restaurant where Dad didn't end up having a short conversation with complete strangers. Dad was generous with his time and talents. Much of this generosity had to do with his children, but there are entire communities who enjoy ballparks and other areas which came about to one degree or another because of his efforts. He was also selfless. I am not aware of any time when he placed his own desires above others. Dad didn't enjoy swimming very much. This was due to the method that was used in teaching him to swim. When he was very young and before he had learned how to swim, his older brother Ves picked him up by the overalls and threw him into the canal where he was expected to swim. This happened twice. The second time, he wouldn't have made it out had not Ves been able to grab his overalls and pull him out. From this time on, Ves never did it again. And yet, I remember when I was a very young boy, maybe eight years old or so, that Dad didn't come home one night until very, very late. A child had fallen into a canal, and Dad and another man swam up and down the canal in freezing water trying to find that child. He was a great model of honesty and character. While he wasn't real active in the Church at this time he fully paid for and supported his children in all their activities, including the children who served as full time missionaries in foreign countries at a time when those countries were quite dangerous. I know that he and mom were quite nervous over those several years. He even continued to support his grandsons. My sons who served and are serving missions in Siberia and Florida were also the focus of Dad's generosity and concern. He was a great and diligent Sunday School teacher and home teacher. For Dad, religion was quite simple. Be good, not bad. Choose right, not wrong. It served him well in his lifetime, and made the lives of others better. We were all thrilled and a little proud when he was ordained an Elder last summer by his oldest son, Terry. Family meant everything to Dad. Even as the youngest child in his family, he always seemed to feel a closeness, almost a responsibility for his mother and even older brothers and sisters. He only met his father's father, in other words his grandfather, George Sylvester one time. And on that occasion his grandfather gave him a silver dollar. This might explain why he gave each one of us a silver dollar in the early 80's. Dad was almost adamant about holding the family together. His greatest joys, and I'm sure sadness, came about because of family. He was behind most family get togethers and family reunions, even when it was the other side of the family. The greatest example he set, I think, is in the way in which he treated our Mother. I have never heard a single cross word between them. They disagreed to be sure, but he and she knew how to express it. I only hope we all will emulate that. I have not said much about his relationship with Mom, because I believe Wade and Colleen will do that. This is a difficult time for our family, but then I consider that Dad experienced the deaths of his brother Ves and sister Lloy when they were both young, his sister Joy and brother Gilbert both died in infancy. And then there was the crushing event in his life. The death of his father when he was still a young teenager. Then despite having lived through the Great Depression, not being able to fill his childhood dream of becoming a dentist, having taken the responsibility of caring for his mother at way too early an age, and then giving up several years serving through the Second World War, he often spoke of the only time that he felt he was cheated out of something in this life, or, in his words: being 'jipped.' And that was not being able to grow up with his father in his life. We were warned by Dad not to try to make him out to be something that he wasn't, but it's not a stretch at all to think of him as a hero. We'll all miss you Dad, but I take comfort thinking of the reunion you are having with your mother, brothers and sisters, and most especially your father.