My Grandmother passed away last month. I had a close relationship with her and will miss her. Here is her Eulogy that I wrote and then read at her funeral and graveside service. She was a great lady and the Eulogy does not come close to describing her greatness. Love you grandma!

Mary Lou McLaughlin Jones passed away at age 103.99 in The Dalles, OR.

She was born on Aug 4, 1907 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Willard and Priscilla Rose Talbot McLaughlin. She was the 4^th of 6 children. She had 2 brothers Willis and Tal and 3 sisters Lola, Louise, and Pheobe. When she was still a baby the family moved to Pocatello, ID, where Mary Lou attended school.

In Mary Lou’s family she was given many nicknames including Moon, Bonnie, Bonn, and Mamie. Many of her family and friends still refer to her by these nick names.

At the age of 16, Mary Lou wed her sweetheart Leonard Elmer Jones on June 19, 1924 in American Falls, Idaho. Their marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Three children were born of their union, MaryLouise, Robert Leonard, and Thomas Lorenzo.

Mary Lou enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, camping, snowmobiling, bird watching, flowers and traveling. She was active the LDS church and with her husband served an LDS mission in Oklahoma.

Mary Lou and Leonard lived in Pocatello and Thomas Idaho, and after Leonard’s passing 1992 she moved to The Dalles, Oregon to live closer to her daughter, MaryLouise.

Mary Lou passed away on July 28, 2011 at her daughter’s home attended by her children and other loving family members. She is survived by her children MaryLouise Wilcox and her husband Russell Wilcox of The Dalles, OR; Robert Leonard Jones of Billings, Montana; and Thomas Lorenzo Jones and his wife Rita Jones of Wasilla, Alaska.

At the time of her passing her decedents included: 3 children, 17 grandchildren, 59 Great grandchildren, 41 Great great grandchildren, and 1 Great great great grandchild, for a total of 121 direct descendants. So far, 18 of these descendants have served full time LDS missions.

Funeral services were held in The Dalles, Oregon on August 2, 2011 at the LDS Church. Mary Lou Jones was laid to rest, beside her beloved husband, on Aug 4, 2011 – on what would have been her 104^th birthday, at Restlawn Memorial Garden Cemetery in Pocatello, Idaho.

Deflated Ego

Having trained Mitzie (somewhat) and taught my grandmother's dog some tricks, I thought I would be a good trainer. I also thought I was good with dogs. It took Jake about 24 hours to bite my ego balloon.

Jake went from a happy and confident dog at Glenda's to a cowering mass of fur at my home. Wouldn't eat, drink and he cowered at any sharp or unusual noise. It was quite apparent that I didn't know what to do. I called Glenda after about two days of this. She told me to give it time, and not to coddle him. At this point I don't think Jake even liked me, he would not come near me unless he had to. My yard was what people call a postage stamp yard, so walking my dog had always been in my plans. Walking Jake was a joke...a joke on me. Anytime a car went by Jake would try to crawl in between my legs, or sometimes he would try and bolt. That first week I don't think we made it a whole block, before I would turn us around a drag, haul, plead for Jake to walk home with me.

Not knowing Jake's neurosis' was going to be an issue, I had signed us up for a basic obedience class. Talk about ego busting to the max. I walked in with a dog that would not let anyone approach it, cowered at anything and everything, and definitely would not eat any treat provided. I'm sure everyone thought I was nuts for having a dog so neurotic. I remember in that first class we worked on heeling and Jake would take two steps then lie down and not move. No amount of cajoling would persuade Jake to move. That night at home, I was ready to give up, but I had inside my head a vision of who I wanted me to be and the kind of dog that I knew Jake could be; so I couldn't give up.

Over the next few weeks Jake slowly started loosing some of his spookiness. It took him and I years to get him to a place where he was friendly with strangers and confident in new situations. But those first few weeks was still a rough adjustment for both Jake and I.

It was my friend and co-worker Beth who became a mentor and helped give me hope to carry on. At the end of our third class, Beth showed up with homemade liver treats, and she offered one to Jake and to my amazement he took it and asked for more. Beth was one of Jake's favorite people. When I had to travel for work, Beth would take Jake into her home, and when I came home, Jake would refuse to come to me. Another blow to my poor ego.

Through time, and lots of training and working with Jake he became the dog I envisioned. However, he always had the ability to humble me.

Puppy Pictures of Jake - 1997

Here is Glenda with Russell and Jake. Jake is the smaller of the two puppies. Russell is a litter mate that came and lived with me for a couple of months in 1998.

This is Jake at 3 months old. Isn't he cute?!?!?!

This is Jake at 6 months. He is handsome!

Jake comes home continued

Picture of Jake and I in 1997 Jake is almost a year old.

It took me several months before I had the courage to call Glenda of Glennary Kennels. She was nice and friendly over the phone and said she had a sable - 6 month old dog that she wanted to find a home for. I visited her the next week and found Glenda to be a delightful person. The dog she had was named Jake. He was adorable and full of energy and lots of fun. I was pretty sure when I left there that Jake was going to be my dog, but Glenda asked me to think about it and give her a call. I gave it a couple of days, and my mind did not change. In June 1997, Jake came home with me and together we started a whole new adventure.

Jake comes home

My dream of owning a dog and training him for competition began back when I was home from college one summer. Dad and I visited the Wasco Co. pound and came home with a gray version of Benji. She was quite a misfit so we called her Mitzie. That summer I trained Mitzie and found I loved it and wanted to do more. Schooling and rental housing held me back from getting my own dog. It was not until 1996 that I owned a small place with a small fenced yard that I felt able to think about bringing a dog into my life permanently. I did research on-line and at the library of the different breeds of dogs and narrowed it down to 5. These were.. 1)Boxer, 2)Boston Terrier, 3)Pug, 4)Belgium Tervern and 5)Shetland Sheepdog.

I made plans to attend an AKC dog show in Denver, CO. The minute I walked into the show I loved it! Still today the Denver show is still my favorite dog show to attend. Everywhere I looked there was dogs, and dogs of every different shape and variety. Everything was about dogs, vendors selling dog stuff, people talking dogs, grooming dogs, showing dogs, and watching dogs. The first of my breeds I had chosen to show was the Shetland sheepdog. I found the ring, and got a chair and then sat and watch enthralled with what I was seeing. Of course, I didn't understand a single thing going on in the ring, but the shelties on display were fantastic to my untrained eye. I could not tear my glaze away from the furry things. I loved their poise, their stances, and the joy I could feel from them. There was one handler that I noticed and continued to watch through every class. She was in the ring quite often showing a number of different dogs. I found that I liked the looks and behavior of the dogs she had. I also noticed that she was in ribbons most of the time. She showed a bi-black puppy that I fell in love with. His whole demeanor screamed "I am happy." He pranced and stood so perfectly still when asked. Oh yes, I was in love!!!

After the shelties were done showing, I followed the lady back to her grooming area. I was a little intimidated by her. She seemed to be arrogant and a little brisk and I felt like such an intruder. I pulled my self together and approached her. She talked to me about her breeding program and allowed my to pet Simon, the bi-black puppy I was so in love with. I asked if Simon was for sale and she replied no. She said she had a litter a pups at home and would soon be looking at homes for them. She gave me her business card and I left.

I didn't feel like seeing any of the other breeds I picked, it seemed pointless, I had already made my decision to get a sheltie. I wandered around the show and found my self in the main livestock arena. Here they were having an agility competition. I was again enthralled with what was going on. It looked exactly what I wanted to do with my dog. One of the breeds most prevalent and doing very well were the shelties. Strengthened my conviction that Shelties were the breed for me.

to be continued...

Jake

I think it was appropriate that Jake was born and passed away in October. He loved the fall and always it complemented his coloring. He was more active in the fall. He loved to chase the falling leaves and bark at all the activities going on around him. He became more affectionate and demanding of his time with me. Jake was my first dog that was totally mine. I loved to train him. At first, Jake wasn't too keen on the whole deal, but by the time he turned 5, he would beg for his training time. We made a good team and accomplished a lot, including several AKC Performance titles in Obedience and agility. For a sheepdog, Jake never had any desire to chase sheep or ducks. I tried to get him interested several times, and in the end, it was I who looked funny herding sheep\ducks. He did like to try and herd Ozzie my cat and if there was a flashlight on he would try and herd the light. He made me laugh. He made me feel frustration as well as joy. He taught me so much in the 10 years he was with me. I miss Jake, and wish I could have kept him with me forever.

First Post

My first blog. What can I Talk about? What story can I tell that I will want to read again and again? I guess I'll find out tomorrow.