Ruth Perkins
Birth: 26 January 1891, Bluff, San Juan, Utah, USALeonard Kumen Jones
Birth: 6 Nov 1889, Bluff, San Juan, Utah, USARuth was the third daughter and seventh child of Hyrum Perkins and Rachel Maria Corry. She attended the public school in Bluff with her siblings and cousins. She assisted her siblings in caring for garden, in the fields, and with milking the cows. From her mother she learned housekeeping and cooking. In 1913, she attended Brigham Young University in Provo.
Ruth had a lovely alto voice and sang in the ward choir in Bluff and later in Blanding.
Leonard Kumen Jones was similarly born and raised in Bluff, attending both public school in Bluff and B.Y.U. in Provo. Leonard was called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the southern states from 1912-1914. When he returned, Ruth and Leonard were married in Salt Lake City.
Ruth and Leonard's family grew first with the birth of a son, Vincent Leonard (Vint) in 1915, followed by a daughter, Mildred, who died at birth in 1918, next came Keith Clifford in 1919, all born in Bluff, then another son, Curtis Whitney, in 1922, and finally another daughter, Mary Ruth, in 1924. Tragedy followed the birth of Mary Ruth, as Ruth died a month following the delivery. She had gone to shop for Christmas, and became suddenly seriously ill. She was rushed to Cortez for medical care, but died in the hospital there, leaving Leonard with a motherless family including a newborn.
Ruth's sister, Rachel, went into Leonard’s home to care for the children. Newborn Ruth later said, "Aunt Rate (Rachel) had to feed a newborn in the dead of winter. She walked clear across town, six to eight blocks carrying me to be fed by a wet nurse, how many times a day? I cannot begin to imagine her feelings at this time." Rachel devoted her time and energy to raising Ruth and Leonard’s children for the next twenty-three years.
Leonard was serving as bishop of Blanding ward when Ruth passed away and continued in this capacity for four years until he was called as counselor to the stake president, Wayne H. Redd, with whom Leonard served previously as counselor in the bishopric. Of Leonard it was said, "In the service of the church and the county he was always in great demand for he was known to be true to his convictions whatever it might involve." He was twice a county commissioner and spent much of his time on some civic or betterment committee in Blanding or San Juan County. He was a cattle man and later a sheep man.
In hindsight, a humorous automobile accident involved Leonard Jones parked car in 1930. The San Juan Record reported that a racing chariot was being driven home from the race track leading one of the race horses. As the team entered town, a small boy pulled the tail of one of the horse being led, frightening the animal. The kicking horse jumped across the tongue of the chariot and the team bolted, racing wildly down the street, hooking a telephone pole with the chariot, leaving the driver on the ground, and the horses dragging just the tongue and doubletrees on up the road. At Main Street, the horses turned south and there was Leonard Jones' automobile parked "crossways of the street." The horses attempted to jump over the car, but only one cleared the obstacle, the other landed on top of the car. The momentum of the animals overturned the vehicle, breaking windshield and door glass, but one of Leonard's sons who was inside the car escaped unhurt.
Leonard suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. His health grew worse and he finally succumbed to cancer of the liver.
The younger Ruth continued, “Aunt Rate was our mother. As I think back on her life of service to my brothers and me, I cannot think of her without tears of gratitude for the good woman she was and the sacrifice she made to care for us, and look after her sister’s children, as her own.”
Sources:
1. Pilgrims in Zion: Rachel Corry Perkins and Joseph Alvin Lyman, by Margaret Tennity.
2.
Obituary of Leonard Kumen Jones
3. San Juan Record, "Runaway Team Turns Over a Parked Auto"
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Ruth Perkins Jones
Ruth Perkins Jones and Rachel Perkins
Leonard Kumen Jones, schoolboy
Leonard Kumen Jones, young man
Leonard Kumen Jones, missionary