Darlene Miles Jones

“I’m going to tell you a fabulous story that’s even hard for me to believe. It’s the story of my life.”

Darlene Miles was born in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. It was called Star Valley – the town was Afton in the state of Wyoming. Note of interest: Mom was baptized in a large cheese vat in Star Valley.

Her parents were John LaVor Miles and Meletia Pearl Izatt Miles. She has a brother LaVor and a half-sister Joan Peterson (daughter from her father’s first marriage.)

Mom was great at keeping diaries. On January 3, 1947 (at 15 years old), she wrote: “Dear Diary. Today I went to town and got plastered – er – I mean got a facial!”

In high school, she was a baton twirler/majorette in the marching band and also sang in a dance band.

Not long after she graduated from high school in Afton, her neighbor and Stake President,E. Francis Winters, came to her and said he needed a secretary for his accounting business and wanted to know if she would be his secretary. Mom had never been a secretary before. She had taken shorthand and typing in school but hadn’t had experience using it. She said he was so kind and patient. He taught her how to be a secretary and the more she did it, the better she became. She developed a talent which was a great blessing to her and offered her wonderful experiences and, she said, she shall ever be thankful to him.

One day Mom decided she wanted to move to Salt Lake City and get a job at the Church Office. She went to the Church Employment office and said she was looking for a secretary job. She was given 3 names of people that needed a secretary. One was ElRay L. Christiansen. Mom went to see him and they had a long, wonderful visit. He decided he wanted her to be his secretary where he was working. Then, almost overnight, he was called to be President of the Salt Lake Temple and he wanted her to go with him. He said mom would need get her endowments. She says she thought she was 18 at that time. She went through the temple with a group of missionaries who were getting their endowments and worked at the temple until she was 23.

Every once in a while on a weekend, Mom would go to Star Valley and spend the weekend with her parents. One week they were having Stake Conference where the main subject of the meeting was missionary work. As she was going down the hall afterwards, she came across her former bishop of the ward she had been in when she lived in Star Valley. He said, “How would you like to go on a mission? She told him she was leaving to go back to Salt Lake City in just a few minutes. He said, I’ll be there next week. I’ll come and see you.

The next day she went to back work at the temple, and got a call from her bishop in her Salt Lake City ward. He wanted to come and see her. When he came. he said, “How would you like to go on a mission?”

She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t even thought of going on a mission and here two different Bishops had given her the opportunity. She said, “It must mean that I was supposed to go and right away.” (She found out later why she needed to go right away – that’s where she met her future husband.)

Mom quit her job and went to Afton to have her farewell.

By the way, on her mission application it asked where she wanted to go (that didn’t necessarily mean that’s where they would send her, she said). She put France because she had studied French in high school.

When she read her mission call, it said she was going to Hawaii. Then after she got there, the mission president, D. Arthur Haycock (who went on later to become personal secretary to five Presidents of the Church) assigned her to be his secretary where she worked for about six months. It happened that Elder Arthur Jones had been assigned to be his counselor. That’s how they got to know each other. Their hometowns were only 50 miles apart. Mom asked him why he decided to go on a mission as he had already been in the Korean War and was working on a degree in Minnesota. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

While she was working in the mission office, three different general authorities came through to tour the mission at different times and each one had dictated to her and had her write letters for them. (Again, she was so thankful for the secretarial talent she had.)

Shortly before Mom was released from her mission, she received word that the First Presidency of the Church wanted her to report to their office the first week in January. She was released in November, went to Star Valley to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with her parents. During that time Art came and they dated.

When she went to Salt Lake in January, the First Presidency’s office hired her right away to be their secretary. Pres. David O. McKay was President while she worked there. She got to know Gordon B. Hinckley and they became very good friends. (This was shortly before he was called to be a General Authority.) He called her Sister Smiles (because her name was Miles and she smiled alot.) They remained friends thru the years.

Mom had been working at the First Presidency’s office for about 6 months. Art arranged to get some time off in the summer and he came to Salt Lake. They dated, he proposed, and they got married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 27, 1957, after which they moved to Minnesota where he had been going to school. Later they moved to Ames, Iowa, where Art earned PhDs in both Mechanical and Chemical Engineering.

The last day she worked there at the First Presidency’s office, she brought a box of chocolate because she knew Pres. McKay loved chocolate. She went into his office and offered him the chocolate. He was so pleased.

Before she left, he put both of her hands in his, held them up to his chest and gave me a blessing on her marriage. She thought, “What a wonderful climax to all the experiences I have had because I learned how to be a secretary!”

In about 1972, we were living in Pleasant Grove. Mom was in Relief Society and they announced that the Stake Relief Society Presidency was planning a spring music festival and wanted sisters to write music for it. Mom said she was sitting on the front row, in a silly mood and said, “Oh I guess I’ll write a song.” She thought to herself, “I was just trying to be funny; I had no intention of writing a song, and didn’t know how to write a song!” Someone in the room said, ‘I think Darlene could write a song!’ That must have stuck in my subconscious mind because some time later I started playing around with a little tune and to make a long story short, I wrote a song called ‘Women, Who Are You’ and had it published. A sister sang my song at the General Relief Society Conference.”

One year when President Gordon B. Hinckley was speaking in General Conference, he talked about women and he quoted, “God’s most beautiful creation is woman.” Mom said, “Oh! My song!” He was quoting from the song, “Women, Who Are You”, she had written and published many years previously. At some point she must have sent her dear friend a copy.

When we lived in Ames, Iowa, she was called to be Relief Society President. She was pregnant with a big tummy and had two little children already.

Later when we moved to Pleasant Grove, she was called again to be Relief Society President. We were renting at that time. Then we bought a house across town. She was released and immediately called to be Relief Society President in that ward!

When I was younger, Mom took me with her to go look at expensive homes in Salt Lake. She loved the old homes on North Temple. She would dress in her finest clothes and act like she was worth a million. She would ask the Realtor if the home came with the antiques. I remember once going to the home of the man who was president of Mountain Fuel. It was so large and extravagant with lush gardens.

My brother Jef said, “Mom would take a break on Sundays and play some awesome classical songs all over the piano keyboard: Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven. I wanted to play like her. She inspired me to play. I'm sure that without that example I wouldn't have believed I could focus on doing something difficult like.” By the way, Jef has written about 109 songs and published 4 CDs. Many of mom’s other children and grandchildren are, also, gifted musicians.

Cindy said: “I remember Mom letting her read some of her diaries. You know moms, how can they possibly know what its like to be us. But reading that made me realize that she had been a teenager just like me. I also would see her from time to time kneeling at her bed saying her prayers. I always appreciated her spirituality and love of God.”

My brother Chris remembers: “One of the most fun things was what she did on the freeway. We would drive down the freeway in our little green 1979 Honda Civic 4 door. And whenever we would get behind a semi-truck she would say “Stink bug!” and we would both howl and she would speed up and swerve away to get out from behind it. It was super silly but to a little boy it was a lot of fun and brings back lots of good memories.”

One time, David made Almond Roca and had it in the freezer cooling off. Mom came along and opened the freezer, accidentally spilling the tray of Roca onto the floor. (Note: we had cats and a dog.) Mom, quietly and quickly put it all back on the tray and put it back into the fridge hoping no one would be the wiser. David came along to try some out a bit later. After spitting out a few hairs, David said, "WHO GAVE ME HAIRY ROCA!" Mom was BUSTED! From then on, it was known as Hairy Roca.

Chris said: “About the same time, I was in 6th or 7th grade and Mom was making me lunch. She decided to make a grilled cheese sandwich. It took her three times. She burned the first one and flipped it over hoping I wouldn't notice. It was pretty black on the other side. Too burned to eat. So she made another. She got distracted and after making it perfect, she turned to bring it to me and it fell on the floor and slid into the corner where all the animal fur would collect. SOO... number 3. She made it perfectly golden and sarcastically put it on a plate and was walking it to me, showing me just how careful she was being. She was focusing so hard on the sandwich that she didn't see the cupboard door open and ran into it, throwing the sandwich back on the floor in the same spot. By then I felt so bad for her I just picked and ate it. Hairy grilled cheese and all.”

Mom loved candy, chocolate, and her Siamese kitties. We all have memories of her candy stashes. Her granddaughter Stacy said, “I have so many memories of doing crossword and word searches with her while eating M&Ms; playing in her basement and thinking her house was sooo big and mysterious; and sneaking into the candy drawer when no one was looking. Once when I had a loose tooth that I was afraid to pull, she promised me a stuffed lion that she had crocheted by hand if I was brave enough to pull it. That was all the motivation I needed to be brave and pull the tooth. I loved that lion, not only because I was a stuffed-animal-obsessed 7-year-old, but because she made it, it was special to her, but she gave it to me.”

Chris said: “When I was about 15 years old, I was the last one at home. I had some disposable income which I used to buy candy from time to time. I would stash said candy in hidden locations, away from visiting siblings or snooping Mothers.

One day I went to open my stash and I found no stash! Only a card that said, “Hello!” With a big smiley face on it. It seems a rat had gotten into my stash and I knew just who that rat might be.

I took the card up to my Mother, who was going about her busy day. It had been a while since I checked my stash and she had partially forgotten all about it. I presented the card to her, she looked at it with a bewildered look on her face for a moment then said, “OH!!!” and laughed in a high pitched “HEHEHEHEHEHE”. She left the room and returned with my bag of candy in hand.

So, game on. Two could play this game. For the next few years, until I left on my mission, I would search out her little stashes of candy and replace said stash with the “Hello” card. She would find it and I would hear a loud “OOHHHH. HEHEHEHEHE. You!!! Give me back my candy!” We went back and forth stealing each other’s candy and leaving a ransom note. I loved hearing her little laugh and shock when she would find her candy missing. Or her mischievous high pitched “HEHEHEHEHE” when she got busted. Funny Mom!

Tim said, “I remember hand sewing on a butterfly quilt with Mom and Grandma that went on for weeks. Those were such special times even if you didn’t know it at the time. When I was about 8 years old I remember Mom talking about how dad wanted a new pillow. So mom got dad a new pillow. But then Mom swapped out the new pillow for the old pillow. Dad was so happy with his new pillow. I remember how mom thought that was so funny! You can find my mom’s personality and kindness in all my sisters and yes, my brothers, too! I love you all!”

Of course, I could go on and on, but I wanted to let you peak into the life of our beloved mother and learn from her exemplary life. We admire her spiritual nature, willingness to help anyone in need, selfless service, and non-stop sense of humor.

We learned this from our mom. Be true to your core beliefs and be yourself. Love and serve others, enjoy life and laugh, even at yourself! And most of all, keep on making memories with your families.

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BIO IN OBITUARY

Darlene Miles Jones, age 87, passed away peacefully at the Lehi Beehive Home on July 15, at 4:28 pm (the very same time her husband passed away 16 years ago). She was surrounded by family, especially all eight of her children the last few days of her life.

She was the oldest of two children, born in Afton, Wyoming, to John LaVor Miles and Meletia Pearl Izatt Miles way back in the “good ol’ days.”

Despite adversity in her life, she had become a pillar of spiritual strength to her family and to those with whom she associated.

She had the unique opportunity of working as a secretary to ElRay L. Christiansen, when he was President of the Salt Lake Temple and later as a secretary to the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with President David O. McKay.

While serving as a missionary in the Hawaii Mission, she met Arthur Jones, her “knight in shining armor” who was also a missionary. With a boyfriend or two at home, it was hard for her to accept this newcomer. But his exceedingly great charm began to win out. In fact, the Mission President had to banish her to the island of Kauai to separate her from her “knight” who was the Mission President’s 2nd Counselor. The “knight”, of course, was the epitome of the arm’s length Elder and missionary discretion.

Her great spiritual strength and willingness to be of help convinced her “knight” that he had to become better acquainted after her mission service which ended 7 months after his. She had a knack of wrapping the Elders around her little finger and getting them to do things for her. This was a source of consternation for her “knight.” Of course, they got married after a summer of dating.

In addition to all of this, her “knight in shining armor” considered her to be the greatest wife, helpmeet, companion, counselor and friend.

Darlene is the mother of eight children, five boys and three girls. Her posterity increased to 35 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren with 2 more on the way.

Her talents, other than being a special mother, included music, knitting, sewing, and crocheting doilies (to name a few). She sang, played the piano extremely well and had written two songs, one of which is extra special and was developed from inspiration (“Woman, Who Are You?”). Both songs have been published.

One of her greatest pleasures was entertaining her children by telling little “funnies”, making wisecracks and relating amusing incidents in the young lives of her children.

Another of her greatest desires in life was to help other women:

Help them to be more beautiful, both inside and out.

Help them to have great self-esteem.

And help them to be successful as mothers, wives and individuals.

Darlene served graciously in all her church callings including Relief Society President at least 3 different times, and a second church mission with her husband at the Provo Missionary Training Center from 1999 – 2000.

She would also say to everyone, “My name is Darlene … that means I’m ‘darling’!”

Darlene is survived by her eight children, Cindy (Mark) Wyckoff, David Jones, Randy (Amy) Jones, Melanie (Kay) Johnson, Tim Jones, Jef (Shirlyn) Jones, Cristina Jones, Chris (Lorie) Jones, thirty-five grandchildren and twenty-seven great grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother LaVor (Shirley) Miles. Darlene was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and her half-sister Joan Peterson.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, August 1, 2019 at 11:00 am in the Lehi Utah Willow Park Stake Center Chapel (1998 West 900 North, Lehi, Utah). Friends and family may attend an evening viewing Wednesday, July 31, 2019 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary Funeral Home (495 S. State St, Orem, Utah) and on Thursday from 9:30 – 10:30 am prior to the services at the church. Interment will be in the Orem Cemetery, Orem, Utah. Condolences may be sent to the family on this page.

*(Written mostly by Darlene Jones before she passed away.)