Fond Memories of Jeff

Two weeks ago my nephew Jeff was in a motorcycle accident and passed away. While spending time with my sister Bonnie and her family, a lot of fond memories of Jeff came to mind. As we sat around the after funeral luncheon and told stories of Jeff, I could honestly feel his presence there. Here are a few treasured stories.

Jeff was always one for a good game. When he was visiting years ago my daughters talked him into playing the game "Pretty, Pretty, Princess." It was Rachael's turn and she drew the card that said something like... close your eyes and have the player sitting next to you put something in your hands--try to figure out what it is without opening your eyes... I think they were playing the game outside or maybe Jeff carefully lead Rachael outside. After several minutes he placed a special object in her hands. It didn't take long for Rachael to figure out that Jeff had placed dog poop in her hands. She ran in screaming! The only way I could think to console her was to tell her that Jeff had held it first. Jeff was never asked to play girlie games after that.

When Jeff was 10, he came to my house for about a month. While here, he worked on improving his handwriting. I can't say that I helped him improve much, but we did work on it.

During that same summer that Jeff was staying with us, I had a hard time getting him to get dressed and ready for church. He waited until the very last minute to get his clothes and shoes on. When we arrived at church he noticed that his hair was in a terrible bed head state. When the next Sunday arrived, Jeff had his clothes and shoes on, and his hair was combed.

Jeff enjoyed the fireworks that we had purchased during the month of July that summer. He had so much fun lighting them that he told everyone that he wanted to own property somewhere and charge people that wanted come and light fireworks throughout the year.

When Joe C. was around 9 we meet Jeff's family in Arizona for a New Year's Party. The place had a swimming pool and he gave Joe some red flowers that stained his hands and head like blood. Jeff told Joe to start screaming "Mom!" I ran over, saw what I thought was blood and freaked out. I think that this is where Jeff picked up the saying... "stop freaking out and screaming like a banchee Aunt Deanna."

When Jeff was going to BYUIdaho, he came to my house for Thanksgiving. With Thanksgiving, there is Black Friday. We spent the night outside of Best Buy. Everyone had an assigned thing to pick up once the doors opened. I remember telling Jeff to save me if I got trampled or anything. When the doors opened, the line started pushing. Someone pushed a cart in front of me and I tripped. I felt myself going down, but instead of hitting the floor like I expected, I felt Jeff pick me up and I was back on my feet running! He even got his assigned items!

When Jeff lived with my family a few years ago, I was concerned about Rachael withering away to nothing. He helped me try to fatten her up by making her a sandwich. The sandwich was made out of two slices of bread and a stick of butter in the middle.

Jeff liked to give things to his cousins. He was generous with his CDS and tee shirts. He was also very complimentary when someone looked nice.

I think Jeff gets the credit for making vampires cool. For Halloween that year, he dressed up as a vampire. He had very realistic fake teeth. When Jeff answered the door after someone rang they went away pretty terrified. After that everyone stared to fall in love with vampires!

When Jeff cooked dinner we always had a feast. He loved cooking with fresh vegetables. Jeff would cook for us about once a week.

I had always felt that Jeff was part of my family. I love him and I will miss him.