Ollie LaVenia Frank Hawkes Written by her daughter Nena Rey Hawkes

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Ollie LaVenia Frank & Herbert Jones Hawkes

Mother’s sweet-tooth was encouraged by Dad. He encouraged the vice by hiding candy in drawers and other places around the house. She must have developed a ‘sweet tooth’ in her youth as she often spoke of the Taffy Pulls the Frank family had on Sunday afternoons.

Her interior decorating skills were notable. She could “make something out of nothing.” She covered lamps, covered chairs with needle-point, and sewed the curtains for all the windows in our house. The radiators were even covered by a special fabric to keep dust off. At Christmas time she decorated the house in a special way. Bells were hung on the door, special candles and reindeer and Santa’s adorned the shelves. My favorite was the white Christmas tree she decorated with beautiful assortment of her costume jewelry.

She sewed the long white dresses on the day we received our Name and Blessing at church. She did the same for her grandchildren. She made all of our temple aprons including the handwork on the apron. She beaded dresses and purses, and embroidered on our scarves, our bandanas, and our dresses. She did this from our youth to our adulthood. She made our formals and even bleached sugar and flour sacks to make our gym shorts and summer dresses.

Mother used a straight forth manner to correct us regardless of our age. One time, Pat had to undergo a serious operation; her surgeon was affiliated with the McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden. Pat figured if she told Mother she was going on a vacation, Mother would not worry about the operation. When Pat came home from the hospital, she called to tell Mother she was home from vacation and would visit her the next day. The next day, Pat was still in a lot of pain, however, she walked fine going into visit Mother, but she was bent over with pain as she stood up to walk out to the car. Unknowingly, Mother called out as she left the house, “Patricia stand-up straight, you are walking like an old lady!” I don’t think she ever told Mother about her operation. We still laugh about the event.

She was fascinating to her twenty-four grandchildren. They loved the individual attention showered on each of them as she treated them in gracious charming ways. Shauna Rey Potter Rich remarked, “Grandmother Hawkes was an intriguing person, all the grandchildren were fascinated with her.” Sue Potter Self, another granddaughter remarked, “My grandmother Hawkes was a superior interior designer. I believe she was years ahead of her time. Looking back on her home, I was amazed at all of the things she did to decorate, and the theme she was able to carry forth throughout the house. In my younger years, I really didn’t pay much attention to this, but I have recognized her amazing genius since my own training in interior design.” (Sue and her husband Drake Self own a store in Logan called ‘Interiors at the Sofa Source.’) Mother possessed some exceptional talents. She had a creative nature about her and insisted that we need not look or act like everyone else. She wanted to be different, and she wanted us to realize that acting and looking like everyone else was not the most important thing in life. We were to hold our head-up and walk tall and straight. These were hard realizations for teenagers.

Each grandchild believed they were Mother’s favorite. She knew what to say to make them feel special, and they returned their love. Her grandchildren enjoyed looking into her closet. They admired her clothes, her shoes and her hats. They loved the times she spent playing the organ and piano to entertain them. The little girls loved the Christmas tea parties she held for them, she seated them at a child’s table and served them small cakes and punch.

She was a wonderful Mother, Mentor, Friend and Exemplary woman. She was reserved; she was not too much of anything, and the best of everything. Our home was richly blessed by the warmth of her love, laughter, and caring ways. And each birthday, as long as she was able, began with an original and distinctive piano rendition of “Happy Birthday to You.” She was a bright light in our lives. We miss her and love her!

AND THAT WAS MOTHER!

Ollie Lavenia was born 2 July 1899 in Nounan, Bear Lake, Idaho to Louis Frank and Ella Elizabeth Haderlie. She was married to Herbert Jones Hawkes in the Logan LDS Temple on 10 March 1926. She passed away 1 March 1978 in Logan, Cache, Utah.

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