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John never married, so he went to live with his family. He lived with his sister Margaret, then with Mary Orgill, and others. He lived with my parents, Mary Janett Nelson and Adoiphus Sessions for seven years until he and dad had a misunderstanding. He then went with his nephew, George Nelson. He lived there the last two years of his life. He died the 12 of February 1935 in Heber City, Wasatch Co., Utah.
John loved to dance and sing. Many remember him for his singing. He owned a horse that he rode to the dances. His friend, Jimmy Beard, and him would take turns riding the horse. John used to tell how he would ride the horse for so long and would get off and tie the horse up and start walking. When Jimmy would catch up to the horse, he would get on and ride till he caught up to John. He would then ride for some distance and he would get off and walk till Jimmy would catch up to where the horse was tied. He would never ride him double or allow anyone else too.
John was very devoted to his Mother. He often said if it wasn't for the teachings of his mother he would have gotten ride of himself. He could quote the scriptures by heart as his mother had taught them to him. John had very little education. He couldn't even spell his name. Even with his little education, John always had work as people knew him for his honesty and his hard work. John loved to sing to the children. He would get them on his knee and sing to them by the hours. I remember very well singing to me and when I got too big to set on his lap I would set on the floor near him. He would also put them on his foot and move it up and down.
John was an honest man but didn't trust some of the people he worked for, so before he would go to work for them, he asked them to put his money under his plate before he would go to work.
When John was a young lad, his Father asked him to go get the horses off the range. It was a summer day and John went with out a jacket and before long it started to snow. It was getting dark and John hadn't come home yet, so his family went to look for him, without any luck. They returned to Heber to get more help. His Father prayed all the time they were looking for him that he would be okay and safe. The first one that was to find him was to fire a shot from their gun. They looked all night and the next morning they found him under a rock that projected out. This kept him from the snow. He was cold when they found him, but other wise he was fine.
The young folks loved to play jokes on him. One Halloween, one of the boys put a sheet over himself and told John his cow was caught in the mier. John went to see and the cow was okay so he picked up a stick and started to chase the ghost. The ghost couldn't get over the fence, so he called out to John not to hit him. "I am Joe", he yelled.
At the dances they would give John something to drink and get him singing. He would sing all night for them. John was a very witty person. He always had an answer for you. One time John went to the dentist to get his teeth pulled. The Dentist, BrigWitt, asked him for his money and John answered you have my teeth, what more do you want. Another time a man paid him to get some wood for him and John didn't get his wood as fast as he thought John should. He asked John one day for the wood and John said he would as soon as the stump grows.
To this day, when I hear certain songs - especially the Irish songs, I remember how well we loved to hear them, as well as how John loved to sing them.
-- Memories of Rose Sessions Lefler.