Memories of Ken by Joy Lundgreen August 2014

Trying to describe my dad, Ken Leavitt, is like opening up a treasure chest of memories, each memory requires time to savor and experience again.

I remember Dad as a young man when we lived in St. George,
of course he didn’t seem young to me then because I was little and he was my dad. But I remember how strong and smart he always was. I remember how much he loved mom. When we lived in St. George he shooed all of us kids out of the house and of course we peeked through the windows to see the two of them dancing. Mom was laughing and Dad was teasing her as usual, and us too as they knew we would be watching.

I remember when he hurt his back and had to sleep on the floor or a cot in the living room. It seemed like months to me and maybe it was, but I’m sure it seemed longer to him than it did to me.  Dad always was a hard worker, Ronnie Leavitt told the story many a time of how hard Ken Leavitt could work.

Working was Dad’s life, but I don’t believe it ever was a grind for him. He loved it, even when he wasn’t working he was working.

One summer when we were at the ranch Dad had a colt he was breaking. It seems like he had chain around his hand somehow tied on to the horse. By the time he got off the horse his had was all cut and bloody, I was afraid the horse was going to get the best of him, but he didn’t. I don’t know what happened to the horse, but I thought my Dad was the bravest person in the world.

As young children we were taught the necessity of obeying our parents. There were several rules we didn’t break; one was that we were never to say “no” to our parents, another was that we were never to lie, and do not ever ask one of our parents for something the other parent had said no to.

That would get us in a lot of trouble.

One summer we couldn’t stand the thought of the high haystacks that looked so inviting. We slid off the top of them until we were found out, then even threats of a spanking didn’t keep us off the grand slippery slide. Of course we couldn’t hide what we had done and lying was out of the question, so we knew we were in for some discipline when Dad found out. I’m not sure that I got spanked, but I was so scared at three or four years old that I cried anyway.

That is the only time I remember of Dad every threatening to spank me. Dad loved us and showed us that love, knowing that I had disappointed him was discipline enough for me as I grew older.

Dad would be gone for long stretches at a time and when he would come home he would tell us stories about where he had been and the people he had met. He often said that he didn’t know why people would tell him their troubles but it was apparent to me, Dad had a soft heart and people could sense that in him. He gained many friends throughout his life, young and old.

I remember one time I was rehearsing a statistic I had heard about the number of people that had died because of the atomic bomb compared to an estimate of the number of lives that might have been lost during the next military campaign in WWII. Dad stopped me and said, “Joy, you cannot put a price on a human life.”  I think of that often when I am prone to disrespect someone. The statement shows the value and respect he placed on each individual. I think we all felt that.

Some of my fondest memories is waking up to the sound laughter in the kitchen. Mom and Dad were early risers and they would get up before us kids. It gave me a sense of security to hear them visiting and laughing. He was an optimist and nothing was too hard for him.

Dad had an adventurous spirit with a leaning toward engineering. He loved to make things work, and he was always trying something new.

Money was relative to Ken Leavitt, when I was a little girl he told me that he was the richest man in the world because he had such a wonderful family. Money can’t replace the fun times we had together, even though Dad wasn’t always there, we were confident of his love for us and so although we were lonesome for him we didn’t feel lonely.

Dad had a way of making simple things fun, like floating down the river, or chopping corn, fishing or any of the things he did. It was just fun to be around him.

It is a comfort to know that we are sealed together as a family. What a treasure we have in the plan of salvation and the knowledge that death is not the end. I am looking forward to the time when we will all be united as a family, all of us, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and children!