Frank Jefferson Thurston

Frank Jefferson Thurston, long-time resident of Hyde Park, was welcomed home by his Heavenly Father and a host of loving relatives on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Frank was born February 19, 1902, in Layton, Graham, Arizona to Jefferson Smith and Sarah Stock Thurston. He was the second of three children. He and his wife, Rhoda Weyerman, were married in the St. George Temple January 17, 1939 and they are the parents of nine children: Thomas Janet, Alice Dee, LaRue Thayle, Myrl Orvetta, Bernard Marie, Jerry, Kenneth Vicki, Rachel Sheldon and Joseph. Numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews also honor his name and consider themselves blessed to belong to him. Frank was a pioneer and spent his childhood and youth helping to subdue the deserts in Arizona, southern Utah and northwestern Nevada. He also spent several childhood years in Garcia, Mexico, where parrots squawked in the trees and he learned to love Mexican food. During World War II, he raised wheat in Idaho one summer for the war effort. In 1944, he and Rhoda bought the old Daines home in Hyde Park and raised a large family and was engaged in farming and then in the lumber business for over 30 years with several different partners, including Ollie Thurston, Brigham Morse and Uel Hunting. When Mr. Morse retired as custodian of the old LDS chapel on Center Street, Frank became the custodian for eight years until he turned 70, when he retired. He worked for many more years with the Campbell brothers, Dick Smith, Dick Waters and Lee Stevens before moving to his son Ken?s ranch near Las Cruces, where he has kept himself busy with the various activities in running a ranch. Frank loved young people. He loved baseball and basketball. Summer evenings would find him cheering the Hyde Park ball teams on to victory, especially when his sons Jerry and Kenny were pitching. In his youth, Frank pitched baseball for the Winter Quarters team. With his curve ball and a home run, which knocked in two runners, the Winter Quarters team won the game and the tournament and for a few moments he was the hero of the day. According to his report cards, Frank was a good student, earning high grades in his classes, especially math, biology and woodworking, when he was able to attend school after taking the responsibility of providing for his mother and brother at 16 when his father died of blood poisoning. Frank loved fun as well as hard work. As a youth working as a sheepherder, he sometimes rode his horse 50 miles to attend a dance. His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren loved him so much they planned birthday parties and other celebrations so he and grandma could be the center of all activities. He also loved checkers and Chinese checkers and you had to be on your toes to win a game. He was an active lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Frank loved Jesus Christ. The center of all his teachings was ?Keep the commandments.? He served as the secretary of the seventy?s quorum for over 20 years and was ordained a high priest and then sustained to be the secretary of the high priest? quorum. According to his bishop, he and his truck were always the first to arrive and the last to leave when a welfare project needed doing. One of the coveted rewards for children and grandchildren alike was the hour before bedtime, when we heard the stories of his life and felt his love and concern for each of us. Frank gave us the most precious gift a parent or a grandparent can give: He gave us his time and his love. Never once have we heard him say an unkind word about anyone, even those who were unkind to him. Frank was preceded in death by a stillborn son; his sister, Lavern Joseph; brother, Erwin Loraine; grandsons, James Frank Brown, James Dean Thurston, and Ryan Merrill; and a great-granddaughter, Savannah Bloomfield. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, January 28, 2003 at 11:00 a.m. at the Hype Park Center Street Chapel, with Scott Erickson presiding. Friends and family may call at Nelson Funeral Home on Monday, January 27, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and Tuesday, January 28, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Hyde Park Center Street Chapel. Interment will be in the Hyde Park Cemetery.