LOOKING BACKWARD, ALSO FORWARD

Photo shows Kumen in the center, honored as the last surviving "adult" who came through Hole-in-the-Rock.  He is surrounded by others, who were children when they came through.

A Tribute written by Kumen Jones

Written about his mother: "SAGE TREHARNE JONES and his brother Lehi. His mother had no schooling. She was born Nov. 27th, 1832, Llanelly, Glamorganshire, South Wales, and died at Cedar City, Utah, March 20, 1897. She joined the L. D. S. Church with her family, both parents, three sisters: Mary, Jane and Sarah, and brother William. [She] emigrated in the year 1848 [with] all the family.

Mother lived to see all of her sons and her only daughter get married, and she felt pleased with the choice that each one had made. She saw all her sons chosen for responsible positions in the Church and state which repaid her, at least in part, for her sacrifices. When the time comes when the One Just Judge rewards His children for their loyalty to Him and to His earthly authority, we know that our faithful, devoted mother will be rewarded in full. May our Heavenly Father help all her posterity to so live that we may be worthy of our noble parentage when we all meet again."
"  MY BROTHER LEHI, born November 1854 at Cedar City, Utah, was 5 feet, 9 inches in height and was very light in complexion, followed farming, stock raising and general business. By strict economy, thrift and industry, he made his way up to a good success. Being the oldest son to live, he took very early in life the responsibility of the care of the family, in which he took a noble and intelligent part."

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A Tribute

Had I my life to live again,

  when this good life is through,

Retaining all the best of this

   and adding to the new,

I'd start by being kinder to our good mother, left alone

With six small kiddies, under eight,

   and the work of home;

Left almost penniless too,

  with broken health and nerve,

The only asset left her

   was the iron will to serve.

Through this short, cruel story

  there is history sublime

Reaching up towards heaven

   to realms of the divine.

She drew much needed courage

  from the servants of the Lord,

In material help and counsel,

  from fathers of Cedar Ward,

Who always gave a kindly hand,

  a friendly word and smile.

Ye public servants keep this up, '

   Twill help us out the while;

There's one more family item

  that should be noted too,

To round the story out

   and make it full and true,

It is of a child turned man

   almost overnight,

Turned into a princely man

   and made a noble fight,

'Twas our brother Lehi

   made that character summersault,

Turned from childhood to manhood

  without one serious fault.

Though eighty-three he still plods on,

  in a slightly lower gear,

With wise and friendly counsel

  his life work has made clear.

I wish all men had brothers,

  just like this pal of mine,

'Twould make this a wiser world,

  much better and sublime.

A San Juan Pioneer, Kumen Jones

By Josephine Bayles

We've heard about the Pilgrims
  who came across the sea,
And the Pioneers and the traders
  and the men of victory.
But the man I want to mention
  (Though the words I use are rough.)
Is a man who helped to settle,
  the little town of Bluff.

His years were not so many,
  when he first received his call,
To go into the great Southwest
  where he must give his all.,
To pioneer this country,
  and help the Indians too
And there were just a core of things
  he had to help to do.

I guess he didn't falter when there were no roads at all,
And they left their homes of comfort sometime in the fall
To make a home out in the rocks where thieves and bandits stayed
And some lawless wandering renegades just never had obeyed.,

With the others of his party
He helped establish Bluff,
And the way in which he did it,
Just can't be praised enough.
The Navajos learned to love him
For he was good and kind,
And in his home, the stranger,
Was sure a friend to find.

Down through the years he's traveled, he's been a real success
He's helped to steady others with his life of usefulness.
He's had his trials and troubles, and ordeals hard to bear,
But they come to all us mortals in this world of toil and care.

Well, now he's over eighty, and his step is rather slow,
But he's taught just dozens of us the best way we can go.
I hope when life is over and I have met my doom,
That I can just be somewhere near to dear old Uncle Kum!

Favorite poem of Kumen Jones

"OUT WHERE THE WEST BEGINS"
   Arthur Chapman © 1917-1918

Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
Out where the smile dwells a little longer,
That's where the West begins;
Where there's more of singing and less of sighing,
Where there's more of giving and less of buying,
And a man makes friends without half trying,
That's where the West begins.
Out where the mountains are a little higher,
Out where the climate is a little drier,
That's where the West begins,
Where most all folks are neighbors,
Take interest in each other's labor,
And each thought with sympathy savors,
Out where the West begins.
Out where the sun shines brighter,
The air you breathe is lighter,
That's where the West begins.