Her parents named her Joan but soon all those that knew and loved her called her Joni.
She came into the world making headlines, drawing attention from all corners of the county. Stores from near and far adorned her with prizes and gifts overflowing, all for making her grand entrance on that first January day. Mom has always had great timing!
Recorded in her baby book in her own mother’s handwriting are a few of her early high achievements. But one I found most remarkable (being a mother of three children myself) was that at just one year old “Joan cast off diapers and started wearing pants.” Her younger brother remembers that she loved attention and was always finding ways to gain it. Seems it started right from the beginning.
On September 10th, 1940 Mom became a big sister. Brother Val joined the family and much to my mom’s delight, found she had a real life doll to play house with. As years would pass, Val was subject to mom’s love of play and imagination. He remembers many a time when at her “beauty salon” his hair would get spit upon to control an unruly piece of hair. And sometimes a slap on his hand when he couldn’t salute to meet his sister’s standard at the local parade. But most of all Val was the recipient of her mighty big heart and its ability to love to the deepest degree. Tucked in the pages of her Treasures of Truth book under the heading “Sacred To Me” is her baptism certificate from the Logan temple on Jan. 20th, 1945.
In 1947 the family moved not a far distance to Hyrum. At 13 years old, in her 8th grade year, she and her close friend Joan Jorgensen wrote and presented a one-act play that they adapted from the book “Little Women”. As noted in their script: “Artistic Amy, vain and self-centered, but never-the-less a darling is played by Joan Stauffer”. I can clearly see Mom’s beautiful smile and bubbling personality taking center stage.
On March 6th, 1951 another baby brother joined the Stauffer family. Mom was 14 years old at the time and has shared with me often that she felt like Mike was “her baby”. Grandma Stauffer was ill during most of Val and Mike’s childhood. Mom learned early on what it meant to serve others, to sacrifice and to love unconditionally as she cared for her own mother, and two little brothers. She has told me that although she may have mumbled during some of those times, that loving those little boys was one of her greatest joys. She felt that her testimony of the gospel and her knowledge of Jesus Christ as her friend and comforter were made firm through these early experiences.
Mom enjoyed school and was a bright, intelligent student. She was a whiz at typing (although we don’t talk about the “C” she got in her Type 1 class) and shorthand. At the top of her game she could take shorthand notes at 120 words a minute. As her kids, we took for granted that her fingers had always burned up a keyboard. It was an amazing thing to watch as she willing typed out many of our own school papers. I remember countless baby blessings where sitting beside my mom in Sacrament meeting I would watch her take down the blessing in shorthand. Later she would type it up on beautiful stationary and send it to the new parents. I thought my mom was an angel for providing such a gift.
Mom was a social butterfly. She had a winning smile, loved to laugh and had a fun sense of humor. People enjoyed being around her. She was and always has been so easy to love. She was involved in every committee, in every club, team or group that could be found whether it was school or church. If it was happening, mom was a part of it.
Mom graduated from South Cache High School in 1954 at 17 years of age. She started working almost immediately at Utah State Agricultural College as a secretary for the Automotive & Aeronautics Dept. for $135 a month. She was employed there for three years, the last of which a tall-ish, dark and handsome student entered her life. In mom’s journal she writes, “One day he gave me a ride over to get the mail and told me I acted like everyone was crazy about me. I attempted to slap his face but he caught my hand just before it connected.” Not long after, at an Institute dance, she found out that dad could really move. I’m sure it was his rockin’ jitterbug that won her heart. Dad sold his beloved ’49 souped up Merc. complete with a custom grill to buy mom a ring.
Mom and Dad were married for time and all eternity on April 11th 1958, in the Logan Temple. The following year they moved north to Clearfield, where they bought their first home and exactly nine months and 13 days later welcomed their first son, Craig Robert Stephens into their lives. James Clair, Andrea Dawn and David Claude would join the family over the next 10 years.
Mom was valued by all of her employers as she was hard working, talented and just plain fun. Her latest and greatest working experience was being one of the original employees hired at the inception of Davis North Hospital in Layton in 1976. She was the Nursing Secretary and kept the department running like a well-oiled machine. She gave 21 years of dedicated service at the hospital and loved all her friends and acquaintances there dearly. When we were young, Mom made sure that her workday would end when the kids got home from school. I only remember once when I had to call her at work because Dave had a cherry pit stuck up his nose and we couldn’t get it out.
She had a love for the written word – books, poems, stories and certainly her scriptures. She was blessed with a God given talent of her own to write absolutely anything. She blessed many people’s lives with this gift. Mom loved to gather the family together for any reason she could find. I learned at a young age that going for a run to B&R was the code word for a trip to Baskin & Robbins. We camped together, sang around the fire, floated the Green River, dined on fine dutch oven chicken and potatoes and hiked many a trail with Mom along side us. The world was more beautiful when we looked at it through her eyes. She loved to go see musicals and plays and joining her on such a trip was a special treat. Mom had a great appreciation for music and loved to sing. She was part of a double trio singing group during high school that performed all over Cache Valley and she continued to sing in ward choirs wherever she lived. She told her children often that her own mother had the most beautiful alto voice you would ever hear.
Mom was a “super woman”. She held a job while she had each of her babies and never turned down a calling to serve in the church. She seemed to be able to do it all. She was her children’s biggest advocate and cheerleader. She celebrated our achievements and she cried with our sadnesses. Being taught at my mother’s knee has been a gift. She gave us all she had and continued to teach us of patience and of trust in the Lord even through the quiet of these last years. She was the glue in our family and her testimony and love of the Savior was evident in all she did. The power of prayer was a way of life for her, always full of faith that the Lord was near and listening to her heart’s desires. She was valiant in her service to the Lord. I remember being so lucky to have to her serve for four years in the Young Women’s program while I was that age. The Relief Society callings are what kept her busy most of her life. Her capacity to love was immense and she truly enjoyed serving the sisters around her. She found great joy and happiness through these lasting relationships.
Mom lived a life that was dedicated to her family and ultimately her Savior, Jesus Christ. Once when mom’s health was beginning to decline, she was talking to her son, Jim. She was pondering what it would be like to return to her Father in Heaven. She looked in Jim’s eyes and said, “Do you think He’ll call me Joni?”
We know that He did.
We are so grateful to Dad for his care, love and vigilance over his sweetheart. We love you.
Mom, you mentioned often that you hoped Grandma would save you a seat in the alto section in the choirs of heaven. As we listen carefully now to that heavenly chorus, it brings much peace to hear the beautiful new voice in the alto section.
I love you 17.
Sis
Memories of Grandma
by Brooke Adams (mom's oldest grandaughter)
What did it mean to be grandma’s grandchild?
It meant you were special in every way.
Grandma had a way of making birthdays, play dates and overnighters special.
For our birthdays we were invited for a sleepover at grandma and grandpa’s house. Usually followed by a day of shopping at our place of choice and lunch with grandma. As for me, my choice was always a trip to Salt Lake for shopping at Crossroads mall after a stroll through Temple Square.
There were quite a few years that grandma and I did this. In fact one year we managed to lock the keys in car and had to call the locksmith to come rescue us but that was our little secret.
In the summer time after the grapevines had grown over to form the perfect hide out, grandma would call us over to have a picnic under the grapevines. She would make us peanut butter and jelly cut into fours and carrot sticks and we would sit in our hide out and have our lunch and read the book about the hungry caterpillar. Our lunch date usually ended with a walk around the block saying hi to all grandma’s friends and neighbors who were out.
Grandma shared with us her love for books and reading. We would sit on the couch next to grandma and read books like The Giving Tree, Love You Forever, The Jolly Postman, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, and Horton Hatches the Egg. All of her books having a special message:
The Giving Tree - never be selfish.
The endless love of a mother singing “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be”
and of course Horton the Elephant; honorable and dependable “I meant what I said and I said what I meant, an elephant’s faithful 100%”.
These books all portrayed qualities that our grandma possessed herself.
Always patient – grandma was willing help with anything. I was in sixth grade and had to type a report on the Netherlands. We didn’t have a computer at the time and of course the report was due the next day. My mom ran me to grandmas where I read her all my information and she typed my report in a matter of minutes, complete with cover sheet and bibliography.
Patient with Hailee when she would hang down the laundry shoot and yell down to grandma “Grandma, can you see my piggies??”
Patient with Kami and her imaginary friend when they were cruising on the freeway and Kami turned and yelled “Beego! Put your seat belt on!” She scared grandma half to death!
Yet I never heard a cross word come from my grandma in all those years.
Grandma and Grandpa would give us grandkids season tickets to the play house for Christmas. Every other month, on a Saturday, grandma would pick us up and take us to these different plays. She would pack a bag of M&M’s for intermission and we looked forward to those Saturdays throughout the year.
I was given the opportunity to go on an overnight trip with grandma. We stayed down in Provo and went to Sundance Theater to see South Pacific. We hiked up to the amphitheatre and wrapped up in blanket. We warmed up with hot chocolate and the biggest rice krispy treat I had ever seen. The King and I was my favorite musical to watch at grandma’s house. One day she surprised me and we went up to Logan to see the actual stage production. I don’t think I ever quit smiling.
Grandma also shared with us her love for music. Watching Disney sing-a-long songs in the basement turned into a karaoke party. Or how about us trying to play the piano, I’m not positive but I think Erin and Maddie are the only ones who have inherited that talent of grandmas thus far.
Grandma’s smile said it all, even when she didn’t have the words to say anything. I went on a trip to New York a while ago. I had the opportunity to see a few Broadway shows. When I came home I was showing grandma the play bills and telling her all about it and how I wished she could have seen them with me. I don’t know if I left her speechless or if she just couldn’t get a word in but all she did was smile.
Flint proposed in December and shortly after we went to visit grandma for her birthday. I showed up grinning from ear to ear with a new ring on my finger and told grandma “Guess what grandma- I’m getting married!” Even though she couldn’t say how she felt she looked at me and smiled and I knew exactly what she was thinking.
For those of us who miss the special time with grandma and for those of us younger that may not have had a chance to sit with grandma on the couch and read her newest book; if she could today she would sit us all on the couch next to her and read to us Oh the Places You’ll Go, a book about hopes and dreams for our future all through the famous words of Dr. Seuss.
“Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
Any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...
be your name Brooke, Hailee, Kami, Jodie, or Jamie, Maddison, Davis, Cooper, or Jake, Danielle, Erin, or Gabe, Sophie or Maeci Jo…
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way! "
To know what it meant to be grandma’s grandchildren remember it is spelled out in her name.
G is for grandma our very own “Giving Tree”
R is for reading and radiant smile
A is for always making us feel special and always being patient
N is for never a cross or negative word
D is for drama and those plays and musicals we love
M is for music, sing-a-long-songs and piano lessons
A is for Angel, the one we remember and now watches over us.
Although we will miss you everyday and we have cried 17 tears, we will remember the words you read to us so many times. “We will love you forever; we’ll like you for always as long as we're living our grandma you’ll be.”
Brooke and I were asked to speak at Mom's funeral. These are what we shared.
I can make a yummy pot roast. I usually put it in the crock pot. It's the perfect method when there is no time. But if you have just a handful of minutes to spare, this is the one to try.
She had a great season and learned a lot about basketball and about herself.
The team became the District Champions!
Once when the zoo was especially crowded and the glass windows were covered in peering eyes, he suddenly JUMPED at the glass, pounding his hands against the window in a thunderous BANG! It scared everyone to pieces.
