What is your mother’s full name, and when and where was she born?
Jan Peacock was born July 1, 1952. That is her full name–not Janet, not Janice, just Jan. Great Grandpa Peacock believed that children should be named what they would be called. So, since they were going to call Grandma “Jan”, that had to be her name. He also didn’t believe that girls should have middle names, so their maiden name could be their middle name after they were married.
However, his youngest daughter is Carol Jean…go figure.
Grandma grew up in Orangeville and loves that beautiful little town more than anyone. Throughout this post, I will flip flop between calling her “Grandma Jan” and “my mom.” To me, she is both, and both titles are important.
Describe your mother. What did she do for a living? What were her hobbies?
Grandma Jan is an interesting human, who’s led an interesting life. I know we love to tease her about…well, um…everything, but all kidding aside, your Grandma is a pretty remarkable lady.
Let’s start with what she did for a living. As you know, Grandma Jan was a teacher for 42 years. When I think about teaching for that long, I can’t even imagine how she did it. Teacher burnout is a real thing. It is an extremely difficult profession to pursue for that long. I remember lots of evenings playing down at the school while Grandma worked. I often joke that I cut my teeth on the chalk in my mom’s classroom, but it’s probably not too far from the truth.
During her teaching career, she taught mostly 4th and 6th grades. My memories of her as a teacher were how much she loved teaching Utah History to 4th graders (including me), her passion for reading and great books, and her later passion for teaching math. There are a couple of books that I read in her class–The Giver and A Wrinkle in Time specifically–that I still love and have taught to my own students over the years.
Grandma’s passion for education runs deep, which is something that we share. Making sure that the next generation is educated is one of the most important endeavors that we can pursue. Grandma did it at a high level for a very long time. That alone makes her extremely admirable, but it’s not her only admirable trait.
As far as hobbies go, Grandma has had many throughout the years. I don’t think anything outside of her family ever brought her more joy than her flowers and her garden. We had beautiful flowers all over the yard when I was growing up. As an adult, I understand more about the amount of work and patience that have to go into keeping up a single flower bed, let alone many. And yet, it wasn’t ever really work for Grandma. She loved to be outside working in the Emery County clay. From planting to weeding to harvesting, she loved the whole process.
Along with the flowers, we always had a huge garden with straight, perfect rows of vegetables. I used to absolutely hate it when she made me go out and weed, but I loved the fresh veggies, especially the corn and potatoes. As an adult, I see that the time in her garden was therapy. It was her time to do something that she loved and that wasn’t nearly as stressful as her job. We all need hobbies like that.
Grandma has many other hobbies that she has done throughout her life. I will forever be grateful to her for instilling a love of reading and books into me at an early age. While I didn’t read much in high school, the rest of my life has been filled with books, and Grandma’s love of reading and insistence that her kids read and read well is a huge part of that.
Finally, Grandma is a creative person who loves creative hobbies. She loves to crochet, sew, quilt, etc. Pretty much anything having to do with string or yarn brings her joy. She also loves to write and sing–both passions that she passed down to me.
I’m very grateful to have the mom that I do. In my world, neither of my dads were particularly consistent or reliable for me, but Grandma has always been there, always looked out for me, and always loved me unconditionally. She is the type of parent I aspire to be.
Today’s Song
Just a note on this song: We always had the most beautiful rose bushes in town in our front yard. I remember them vividly. I loved the different colors–the pinks, the reds, the yellows. Every time I see rose bushes, I think of my mom.