Afton Irene Furse Parkinson passed from this mortal life after many
years of suffering with dementia and various health problems on Monday,
September 21, 2009, at the Rexburg Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
She was 89.
Afton was born on May 22, 1920, in Garland, Utah, to Alfred Cecil and
Clarissa Saunders Furse, the fifth of 12 children. A few months later
her family moved to West Jordan, Utah, where she lived until shortly
after graduating from Jordan High School.
At that time, a friend asked if she wanted to work as a practical nurse
at the Cottonwood Maternity Hospital in Salt Lake City, to which she
gladly agreed. (In those days, graduate registered nurses trained
practical nurses as helpers or aides at the hospital.) While there she
helped deliver some of her own nieces and nephews, among other babies,
and she fell in love with the nursing profession.
She later applied to the Salt Lake County General Hospital of Nursing,
and in September of 1940 began her "official" nurse's training. Three
years later she took her state board examinations and became a registered
nurse.
After working in a doctor's office and a hospital for several months,
she joined the U.S. Army Nurse Corps and became a Second Lieutenant in
Uncle Sam's Army during World War II. Eventually she was sent overseas
to England, then to France, and finally to the Philippines, having many
challenging and memorable experiences in each new place.
One of her favorite stories of all, though, was when her unit was in
Marseilles, France, at the same time Bob Hope and his troupe of
entertainers were there. Mr. Hope noticed her back by his dressing room
trying to get a picture of him, so he kindly handed her camera to a guard
standing nearby and invited her to be in the picture with him. That
snapshot was always one of her greatest treasures!
After her time in the military, Afton continued to work as a nurse and
also attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In the summer of
1947 she served as the first aid nurse at Bryce Canyon–a job she truly
loved–and then returned to BYU where she worked at the Student Health
Center. It was there that she met her future husband, Morris Doney
Parkinson, from Rexburg, Idaho.
They went on their first date in February of 1948, were engaged in
April, and got married that June in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They made
their home in Rexburg, where they raised their six children and lived for
the rest of their lives.
Besides nursing, Afton had a love and talent for art–something she no
doubt inherited from her father. She enjoyed drawing and being creative
in many ways, loved to read and learn, and was intelligent and
well-educated, particularly in the language arts.
She also enjoyed hosting family and neighborhood get-togethers, and at
one time while raising her young brood, she formed an organization called
the Five-or-More Mothers' Club, in which she and other mothers of "large"
families could share ideas, learn new things, and just enjoy one
another's company. She also enjoyed serving in many callings in the LDS
Church, and especially loved teaching youth and doing genealogy.
Afton is survived by five of her six children: Naida Parkinson, Dena
(Larry) Rock, Janele (Boyd) Weatherston, Doney (Colleen) Parkinson, and
Var (Cassie) Parkinson; 12 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and one
brother and one sister. She was preceded in death by her parents, nine
brothers and sisters, her husband Morris and her son Bayne.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, September 26, at 1:00 p.m. in
the 4th/15th Ward chapel on the corner of First East and Second South in
Rexburg, with a viewing from 11:30 to 12:45. Interment will be at the
Rexburg City Cemetery.