Jewel II

Jewel and Tootsie became life long friends with the exception of a short time that was foreshadowed by their theme song. When they were in second or third grade a new little girl came to town. Her family seemed to be well off and it was clear that the little girl always got what she wanted. What she wanted then was to replace Jewel as the social focus this of her class.  one by one Jules friends started going home with the new zero play after school and finally Tucci join them left you allowed. When the little girl held a big party and invited almost every girl in the class except jewel to see was mortified. She didn’t go to the party. She went to Jewell interiors and said she was sorry. The reason the little girl had so many friends all of a sudden is that she bribed them with candy and other presents. They hugged and made up and there friendship continued without further interruption.

Jewell and Tucci were inseparable. They played together when they were little. When they got a little older they were allowed to make an annual excursion to the big city of Provo, Utah. They took the bus from Pleasant Grove to Provo which was 20 miles away. They had soldiers at Walgreens in the town center at University and Center Street. They shopped in all the big stores — Woolworth’s, Kress, Firmage’s and Taylor Bros. Woolworth’s and Kress were national 5-and- 10 cent stores. Fimage’s and Taylor Bros. were locally owned department stores. Kress was owned by the S.S, Kresge Company. The company is now called Kmart. Rumor had it that Kresge changed their name in to Kress because they wanted to avoid being known as a store with Jewish ownership. If that’s the case they miss the boat. Mormons identify with the Jews. Jewish owned stores were successful in Salt Lake City.

Other notable accomplishments in elementary school included being the fastest runner in the third grade including the boys, and taking piano lessons. The children in the open family were encouraged to develop their musical talents. Prominent in their home was a beautiful baby grand piano. The children were all encouraged to take lessons. They promised that the child who became most proficient on the piano could have the piano when they had established their own home. By the time you’ll got to high school she was winning competitions on the piano. She played for church a Sunday through high school and college. When her folks retired and moved to a smaller home Jewel was given the piano.

Jewel and Gayle continued their friendship through high school. They roomed together in college. During her junior high and high school years Jewel kept busy. When she was 12 she started picking fruit in the summers to learn extra money.  Being a fruit farmer at heart Lew  OLpin strongly encouraged his girls to pick fruit in the summers.The boys worked in the lumberyard. Jewel made it sound like he was a match for the overzealous Little League fathers of today.

Jewel:   Nothing made my father happier than getting up early in the morning to wake me at   5:30 AM to pick berries. When I got home he would interrogate me.

Dad: “How many boxes did you fill?”

Me: “6 1/2.”

Dad: “Who picked more?”

Me: “Nobody! I picked more than anybody else.”

Dad: “How much money did you make?”

Me: “$2.75.”

Dad: “Not bad. Keep it up.”

A paper route was a prized economic opportunity for boys 12 to 15. Dee got one of the prized afternoon paper routes when he was 12. By the time he was 15 he had better things to do with his afternoons. It was not cool for someone his age to still be delivering newspapers. So in order to preserve the paper route for Gerald, Jewel became the afternoon papergirl. For three years jewel rushed home from school, changed to blue jeans, put her hair in a ponytail and hopped on her bike and rode downtown to pick up the papers and deliver them. By the time she was 15 she was dating. She told me how undignified it was for her to hurry home after delivering her last paper, hop off her bike run in and get ready for a boy to pick her up and take her to Salt Lake to the Rainbow Rendezvous to dance to the music of one of the big bands and listen to the singing of Nat King Cole. Nat was her favorite. Finally Gerald took over the paper route when Jewel was 16.

Now Jewel was old enough to work her kumu off on the midnight shift at the Pleasant Grove cannery. The word kumu, pronounced Kumy by Jewel’s family is a Maori word meeting backside — Lew’s gift from New Zealand in addition to Dick Marsh. Now Jewel has to tell her dates to get her home by midnight so she can run in change into Jeans and hurry the few blocks to the cannery. Jewel’s competitive drive was demonstrated again in the cannery. She was such a fast and accurate worker that she had the honor of being on the end of the line to finish up all the produce that made it that far. Her partner at the end of the line was a middle-aged woman who could give her a run for the money. She spent the night telling Jewel about the joys and pitfalls of marriage.

In addition to working her kumu off she had an active social life. She dated most of the hot guys between Orem and American Fork — Jerry Pulley from American Fork and David Harvey from Pleasant Grove for example. She did well in school. She loved Stell Fenton’s English classes. She was a student leader. In fact she was so popular she was one of the cheerleaders. The first time I saw Jewell was at a football game.

It was the first game of the season. BY High School was playing Pleasant Grove High School on the Pleasant Grove field. I played both offense and defense at end for BY High School. The Daily Herald sports page hyped it as a big game because they predicted BY High School and Pleasant Grove High School were the two best teams in the region. Of course BY High won 28-0. We won so easily I sat out most of the fourth quarter. I noticed the cute little Pleasant Grove cheerleader who like to show off her pretty legs by spinning so hard that her long skirt came up to her waist. 

Jewel and Gayle joined other high school friends to live together in Provo, Utah while they attended Brigham Young University. Jewel admitted that most of the girls thought of Brigham Young University as a good place to find a husband. Most of them figured on being there two years max. I suspect that jewel considered that option. She was popular. She joined the top sorority. She joined the cougarettes who did synchronized dancing at the football and basketball games.

She initially studied to become a secretary. She struggled because taking dictation and typing fast with stressful. I suspect Jewel didn’t like having incompetent men bossing her around either. After two years she changed her major to elementary education. As far as she was concerned she had hit the jackpot. She loved learning and teaching and helping others, especially children. She had plenty of chances to leave school and her frustrations by getting married. Many of her friends did just that. Jewel had lots of boyfriends and revealed to me before I proposed that she had already had five proposals.

I think Jewel’s low-key competitive drive and her good judgment kept her in school until she found a career she loved and  a partner she loved. Between her junior and senior year she spent the summer helping her sister Catherine with her seven children. She also found a job in a savings and loan in Walnut Creek, California. She finished her senior year by doing student teaching at an elementary school in Brigham City, Utah.

After graduation she signed a contract to teach fourth grade at Westmore elementary school in Orem, Utah. She was excited and eager to get on with her next phase of life. She had graduated from college and found a career that she loved. Now she needed to find the man she loved.