Obituary of John Jesse

BIOGRAPHY JESSE ~ John Jesse passed away at the Lloydminster Hospital, Saskatchewan on Saturday, February 18, 2012 at the age of 96 years. John is survived by daughter Claire (Keith) Paton and grandchildren: Aaron (Melissa) and their children: Shelton and Kyla; Michelle (Rob) Wallace and their children: Adam and Lauren; special niece Esther Jesse and their children Deanna and Dwayne (Michelle) and their children: Kaitlyn, Shayla and Brianna; sisters-in-law: Ida (Benkendorf) Jesse, Ida (Rust) Jesse, and Malora Jesse. He is also survived by his second wife Ruth and her family as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Predeceased by his first wife Martha (Rhinehart) Behrens, his parents Jacob and Mary, his siblings: William (Elsie), Pauline (Chris) Albrecht, Andrew, Gust, Samuel (Rebecca), Freda (Walter) Rust, Helen (Edwin) Jesse, Jacob, Glen (Pearl), Leya Rosa (her first husband Frank Duchcherer) and (her second husband Henry Rosa). John was also pre-deceased by special nephew Garry Jesse as well as Martha's siblings and their spouses. The memorial service was conducted from the Maidstone United Church, Maidstone, Saskatchewan on Friday, March 2, 2012 at 11:00 A.M. with Reverend Ean Kasper. The hymns sung were "Bringing In The Sheaves" and "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder" accompanied on the organ by Frances Wright. The honorary pallbearers were All Those Who Shared In His Life. The interment was held at the Maidstone Cemetery. McCaw Funeral Service Ltd., of Lloydminster, Alberta administered the funeral arrangements. EULOGY Good Morning. Thank you for coming to celebrate the life of Grandpa John. I am Melissa Paton. John's Granddaughter. I would like to give special thanks to Judy Bedwell (grandpa's niece) and the rest of the family for contributing information. Grandpa was born on April 13, 1915 and passed away, two months shy of 97 years. What a wonderful long life for this great man. It's pretty hard to put 97 years (35, 404 days) into a few minutes. On April 13, 1915 at their farm near Morse, Jacob and Mary Jesse welcomed their 7th baby - a baby boy who turned into a very big man with a very big heart. Growing up with ten brothers and sisters was fun...maybe not so fun at times. Adventure was in his blood. He loved to snare gophers, make binder twine into harnesses and see which gopher could pull the heaviest load. His formal education was very short, which left him going through life not being able to read or write. In 1927 his family moved from Morse to Fox Valley and once again his hunting skills with rabbits, badgers, weasels and coyotes helped the family income. One of Grandpa's favorite pets was Queen, a foal that was given to him. He nursed her with cow's milk and with a gentle hand and much love the little filly grew into a very useful mare. She was a great little saddle horse but had to be traded for a work horse. The love of his pony was a wonderful memory. In 1934 he decided to find work elsewhere along with his brother Gust. He ended up at Waseca stooking and threshing. His wages were $4.00 a day. They were out in the field by 6:30 a.m. until dark, which made for long days and short nights. Most of their wages were sent home because crops were poorer in the south. In 1935 Grandpa and Harold Rust were working in Golden Prairie. When threshing was done, it was hard finding jobs, so they decided to walk 30 miles to Maple Creek where they caught a freight train to Swift Current. When they arrived, the police were there to put them in the round house. They were fed a meal and told to catch the freight out of the yards in the morning. They got to Moose Jaw and got picked up again and spent the night in the round house. They ran into a man looking for help. They worked for 35 days and then caught the freight train home. In the mid forties Grandpa was working with his brother-in-law Walter Rust building houses for people around the Maidstone area. He was building a house for the Rhinehart brothers when he met Martha Rhinehart Behrens. They were married on August 6th, 1947. This marriage gained him a daughter Claire. Many years of hard work were put into his farming in the Eldon district. A farm that started with 160 acres grew to be a larger farm. He also had cattle and pigs on the farm. In 1956, another addition came to their family. Garry, his nephew came to live with them. Grandpa was delighted to now have a daughter and a son. He was often teased about being the neighborhood taxi man, as trips were made to the hospital delivering very pregnant ladies. Everyone waited to see if one of those ladies would deliver in his car, but knowing Grandpa, he would have managed to act as doctor. Grandpa had his share of accidents. One being when he was hunting geese in the fall, he was crawling along the ground and got snow in the barrel of his gun. When he went to shoot it, it back fired, damaging his right hand. He went into the house hiding it under his arm asking Martha to take him to the doctor. Dr. Marfleet wanted to put Grandpa under to sew up his hand, but Grandpa said he wanted to go back hunting in the afternoon, so he just wanted the stitches without being put under. His closest brush with death was in 1962 when the dreaded cancer took a turn with him. Always a fighter, he never backed down and thankfully, he won the battle. 1980 found Grandpa and Martha retiring to Maidstone. Eldon district's loss became Maidstone's gain. After retiring they flew to Europe with a sister and brother-in-law. Having never been on a plane before, they had a lot of stories and memories. Over the years he was an avid hunter and fisherman, hunting and fishing with family and friends. He enjoyed curling, shuffle board, playing cards, horse shoes, bowling, playing pool, carpet bowling, gardening, picking berries and working in his shop. He was an active member of the Maidstone Seniors Drop In Center where he was on the building committee for the new center. He built and donated a portable stand for the carpet bowling carpets and two flower planters that are still outside in the summer. Unfortunately along with the good times came sad times. His niece Judy asked him what his biggest loss was; a moment of sadness crossed his face and answered one word "Martha". Martha passed away on March 6th, 1984. As time passed, life went on. On April 29, 1987, Grandpa and Ruth Brausse-Schempp were married. Grandpa endured another great loss when Uncle Garry passed away in 2002. He commented "your children are not supposed to go before you." In 2009 he moved to the Dr. Hemstock residence. He quite enjoyed his visits sitting together with new friends, sharing stories. He returned to the Seniors Center at Maidstone to the occasional social function. Grandpa will be remembered for loving children and having patience with them. He always had a twinkle in his eye when children were around. One day when Grandpa and Martha were going to Keith and Claire's, they said to Esther and Garry, "We're going away, can you milk the cows and do the chores?" They pulled out of the yard and pretty soon the vehicle was pulling back into the yard. Auntie Esther was wondering "what now?" When she saw Grandpa telling Dwayne nicely that he wasn't allowed to walk to the store on his own and he needed money to buy something from the store. Grandpa had picked Dwayne up from the ditch, ½ a mile down the road. He had been determined to get to Allen's store. Another incident in his life was when he was called across the road to the Johner farm. Garry was 3 years old, his arm had gone into the flighting of a grain auger. Grandpa and Jack cut his arm out with tin snips. Garry still has the scars to prove it. In closing, Grandpa John lived by five most important lessons. 1. Always make up your own mind. 2. Be creative - always enjoy your own work 3. Always be willing to help someone in need. 4. Keep your word. 5. We live to work. If you can't work, there is no need to live. A man of wisdom, a life of caring. That is Grandpa's 35, 404 days of life summed up with our stories. CARD OF THANKS The John Jesse family wish to thank the staff at Dr. Hemstock for their exceptional care and attention, Dr. West and Dr. Kostic, the nurses and staff at the Lloydminster Hospital, Reverend Ean Kasper, organist Frances Wright and the Maidstone United Church Choir. Thank you to Melissa Paton who gave the eulogy. Many thanks to the Maidstone Senior Citizens Drop In ladies for doing the lunch. Thank you for cards, flowers and donations received, for food brought to the house, phone calls and visits. Special thanks to Dave and Joel McCaw for their friendly, professional manner in making the funeral arrangements. Donations in memory of John may be made to the Maidstone Drop In Centre or to the charity of the donors choice.