1903 – 1998
Lavinia Bentley Jackson passed away quietly on the morning of January 23, 1998, in American Fork, Utah with her daughter, Velma Keith, at her side.
She was born December 17, 1903 in Colonial Juarez, Mexico, to Maud Mary Taylor Bentley and Joseph Charles Bentley. She was raised in the Mormon Colonies in Mexico, the oldest of eight children. Lavinia graduated from the Juarez Academy in 1923 and attended one year of college at Brigham Young University. She married Armond Lorenzo Jackson, on June 11, 1924, in the Salt Lake Temple. They had been sweethearts since the third grade. Armond passed away nine years ago in December of 1988.Their five living children are Armond (Dorothy) Jackson of El Paso, Texas; Harold (Betty) Jackson of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Velma (Wayne) Keith of Lindon, Utah; Robert (Anabel) Jackson of Provo, Utah; Dwight (Karen) Jackson of Danville, California. She is also survived by her youngest sister, Lucy Ann Priest. Her additional posterity currently consists of 22 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.
Lavinia was a faithful, supportive wife and a loving mother. She taught piano lessons, served as PTA president, and assisted her husband with his farm work. She opened her home to friends and strangers alike. In addition, she was a dedicated and tireless church worker, as evidenced by her fifteen years of service as Stake Relief Society President in El Paso, Texas. When she was in her seventies she served as Primary Nursery Leader. More recently she assisted in Primary as a greeter and friend to all the children. She loved and appreciated the good in all she met. That love was reciprocated. She became known as `Aunt Lavinia’ to countless people. Her descendants treasure unnumbered memories of her sweetness and cheery disposition. She truly has been our `angel mother.’
A viewing for family and friends will be held at Olpin Family Mortuary, 494 South 300 East in Pleasant Grove, Utah from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28, 1998. Funeral services will be held in El Paso, Texas, at the Fifth Ward Chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at 400 Rosemont Drive at 11 a.m. on Saturday, January 31, 1998. She will be interred at Memory Gardens of the Valley Cemetery, 4900 McNutt Road, El Paso, Texas.