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Back to Ann Lewis's Table of Contents Jacob Lee Barker (1907-1970) The Theodore Turley Family Book, pp. 529-530 Jacob Lee was born Jan. 4, 1907 at Fairview, Utah, the third child born to Rufus Orrin and Ella Isadora Bushman Barker. He was baptized and confirmed March 8, 1915 and spent his early years at Fairview, going to school and growing up on the farm. Here he learned to work, doing the many chores necessary to farm life. As a young boy he had a natural ability around machinery, whether repairing or running it. He left school in his early teens and got his first job in the town's garage. From then on he was always able to find employment, even through the depression years when jobs were scarce. He married Mardene Jeffs on Oct. 30, 1929 at Coalville, Utah. To them were born three sons. On May 25, 1938, Lee and Mardene went to the Salt Lake Temple for their endowments and to be sealed. The world was at war the second time and Lee received his greetings from Uncle Sam just six weeks before Judy Lee was born. Boot camp was at Farragut, Idaho. He finished his training at San Diego and Coronado, California, learning to be a signal man in the Navy. He served eighteen months overseas in the South Pacific on the U.S.S. Onieda, a troop supply ship, doing his part to help win the war. He was involved in many of the major campaigns of the Pacific theater. He went in on the first assaults, as a signal man, on the Truck Islands, Siapan, Okinawa, and other major islands. It was on Okinawa he was wounded and received the Purple Heart. He was released with an honorable discharge Nov. 22, 1945 as a Seaman 1st class. Returning home after the war, he decided to work for himself. His brother, Don, already had a jewelry store at Heber, Utah and planned to start one at Vernal, Utah. Together they went in the watch repair business. He also had a watch repair business for a time in Orem, Utah. Carol Ann was born in 1947. Business being slow the next few years, he returned to construction work once again. He was a crane operator on many of the large buildings and bridges in Utah, and Nevada, setting the steel on many of the freeway overpasses. He also worked on the building of Provo Airport, the Joseph Smith Field House at BYU in Provo, and he helped put in the pipelines in Provo Canyon and on the setting up of Geneva Steel. Lee's hobbies were hunting and fishing. He said he felt extremely close to God in the mountains. He had been retired just a few years before his death on Nov. 29, 1970. He was buried at Fairview, Utah. Lloyd and Tommy were sealed to him June 9, 1973.
Children of Jacob Lee and Mardene Jeffs Barker: Lloyd Lee Barker, Tommy Barker, born March 6, 1932; died 3 days later Jerry Jeffs Barker Judy Lee Barker Miller Carol Ann Barker Brown |
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