Kirk Jones

Mike Plowman, Brad, Steve Mousser, KIRK JONES, Mike Ward, John Davis

We had a dear friend pass away a couple of weeks ago.  He was only 53 years old.  His name was Kirk Jones and he had ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).  I have thought about Kirk and Karen a lot this last couple of weeks.  It is impossible to summarize his life in just a paragraph or two, but I just wanted to share how much he touched our lives.  And by "our" lives - I don't just mean my family's, but our whole "ward family".  Kirk and Karen moved into the ward 2 1/2 years ago.  They knew something was wrong and suspected ALS, but got the formal diagnosis soon after they moved in.  The thing that struck me so much about him was his friendliness and how happy he seemed.  Over the last couple of years, we watched his body wither away, but we were also privileged to watch his spirit grow brighter and stronger.  

He served as Executive Secretary to Brad while he was Bishop and was just released on October 31, 2010 with the rest of the bishopric.  He was so good at names.  I think he knew everyone and had the gift to make us all feel special and like he was our best friend.  Our ward had the opportunity to serve him and his family over the years, but I feel like what we received from Kirk was definitely more than we gave.  I know that he blessed my family's life greatly and we are so thankful that we got to know him.  We will miss him dearly.

Old Friends

I can't believe it has already been 3 weeks since I was in Utah dropping off Taylor at the MTC and playing around with Emily at BYU. While I was there, I was lucky enough to get to spend a whole day with old friends from home! Jodi and I were good friends in High School. We worked at Apache Title together and after school, we lived together in Mesa. We also worked at Lewis and Roca together. Kathy and I are cousins and have a lot of family ties. We spent many Heap Reunions together and lived together for awhile in Provo. She helped me have a great time up there even though I was so homesick. Kelli and I worked together at Apache Title and I had a great time with her and getting to know her. Kelli and Jodi both live up in Utah and Kathy lives in Las Vegas, so I don't get many opportunities to see them.

We had lunch in Provo (thanks Kelli) and then drove to Lindon, and sat on Jodi's porch all afternoon. We laughed and cried and had such a great time together. I am sooo thankful for old friends who will be friends for life. The kind of friend that you can pick up with after so many years and things are just as great as ever. I love all 3 of those girls and will cherish their friendship always!