Today I was lucky enough to have lunch with Grandma Johnson. After a delicious lunch that she made, I ran across this email that had been printed off... it caught my attention and as I began to read it, my heart was full of gratitude once again for the legacy that Grandpa left. He was so influential in the lives of so many people other than his family. How blessed we are to call him dad, Grandpa, and Great-Grandpa. I am truly grateful for the people that have taken time to share these amazing experiences that cause us, his posterity, to pause once again reflect on the man that Grandpa was. I am certain he is doing this same kind of work on the other side of the veil... bringing souls to Christ and sharing his love for the gospel with all those around him! Enjoy!
Dear Sister Johnson,
I hope this is your correct email address as it was written rather differently on the note passed to me in Church this morning. I am Clarice Talbot Jensen and your husband was my first seminary teacher in Boise. My father, Wilburn Talbot, was the one who pushed getting that early morning seminary started because he knew I was starting High School that year and he had once been a full time seminary teacher, himself, and realized the importance of what it would do for our testimonies.
A few months ago when we saw the notice in the obituaries about Brother Johnson's death we were surprised to realize that you live here in Utah rather than Boise -- and even more surprised because just a few days before that my husband, Blaine Jensen, had asked me who was the most influencial adult in my young life. I had replied without hesitation that it was your husband because he taught us those first two years of seminary and was such a great influence on us. In those days the young people didn't have their own sets of scriptures and he was the one who opened my eyes, mind and heart to the scriptures and gave me such a love for them -- a love that has stayed with me throughout my life.
He was teaching Old Testament that first year and he made it come alive for us. My husband said he was one of the people who influenced him in his love for the Gospel as well. And that is really what he did for us. Not only did he help us appreciate and love the scriptures but he gave us fuel for our testimonies at an age when that made a big difference in how we thought and felt about the Gospel.
A few weeks after we read the obituary in the paper I was giving a lesson in Relief Society on being a disciple of the Savior, and I used your husband as one of my examples for I truly feel he lived what he believed. In my mind, those who are true disciples are those who not only talk about the Gospel being true but they live it in the way they know it is true. They are true to themselves, to the commandments the Lord has given us, and to their testimonies of the Gospel.
I will ever be grateful to your husband for those two years he arose early every morning and met with a group of young people in that room in the Boise Tabernacle with a smile on his face, a gentle kind patience with those who were not yet ready to open their eyes and their hearts to learn that early in the morning, and to teach us the stories in the Old Testament in such a way that they made at least some of us love those stories and believe in them as much as he did.
And thank you for helping him fulfill that calling -- which had to make a big change in the life style of your little family as well. None of us were smart enough to realize that you and your husband were sacrificing precious time together and with your family in order for him to meet with us so early each morning. Thank you both for your willingness to give of yourselves and your time to strengthen my testimony and give me that profound love of the scriptures that I treasure so much.
My uncle is, indeed, William K (or Bill) Dunkley and my mother, Mary Talbot, was his sister and their sister was Usa Cutler. I know they knew you well and cared for both you and your husband.
May the Lord bless you and comfort you as you adjust to a new life without Brother Johnson by your side. We are all getting closer to that age ourselves and feeling how precious the time together is for us. My husband was made the Stake Patriarch a few months ago so we will be able to live in our own home for at least awhile after serving many missions -- one as a Mission President of the London England South Mission, one as President of the Preston England MTC, one at the MTC here in Provo, one at the Church Offices in SLC, and several times as host and hostess for the Welfare and Humanitarian Missionary couples. Plus, some of the credit going to your husband and what he taught us and how he influenced us, we each served our own mission as young adults.
In case you should need to contact us our cell phone number is 801-380-3875.
Sincerely,
Clarice Jensen
