John Rescues His Brother Tom by Adopting Him

Today I want to tell you the story of the Jones family from the 1940’s near Salt Lake City in an inactive Mormon home.  John Jones was 16 and his younger brother Tom was 11 when their mom died.  That was really hard for the boys to be without their mother.  What made it harder was that their dad was an alcoholic.  He drank alcohol often, and he was a mean man.  When their mother was alive, she would keep their dad away from the boys when he was drunk.  Now that she was gone, John was concerned about Tom.

John had a girlfriend named Susie the same age as he was – 16 years old.  Susie also had a bad home life.  John and Susie talked over John’s worries about Tom.  They made a decision that changed their lives and Tom’s lives forever. 

They got married and rescued Tom!

Susie said, “It was crazy.  I was just a few years older than Tom and now I was his mother.  I didn’t know how to be a mother.  I was just a kid myself.  But we wanted to help Tom.  So we became a family.  I told Tom to be home for dinner and to get himself to school.  I didn’t know any better than that.  I had no other rules.  Tom was a good boy and stayed out of trouble.  We got along fine and everything turned out well.”

Susie and John became active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had several children of their own.  They raised their children in an active LDS home.  All of their sons served missions and all of their children married in the temple.

Neither John or Susie were able to graduate from high school; they dropped out in the 10^th grade to take care of their new family.  But they strongly encouraged their children to get an education.  Among their grown children, there is a doctor, a lawyer, and an MBA executive.

John and Susie Jones did hard, courageous things to help Tom and their other children grow up to be good people.  They embraced the gospel, passing on to them the very things that give us all happiness now and in the eternities.  And they were all sealed in the temple, so that this family that John and Susie worked so hard to build would last forever.

(This true story was told by Spencer Shumway Dacula Georgia February 26, 2011.  Names were changed.  Photo is from MS Clipart)