Before I begin may I express the families gratitude for all that you have done for us to make this time as comfortable as possible. We recognize those who have cooked and brought in food, who have send messages, given us hugs, and most of all supplicated the Lord in our behalf; as a family we are grateful to each of you; our friends.
A man’s life is usually summarized with statements like he worked for such and such a company, he was the president of such an such, or he achieved this or that accolade, and my Dad was no exception. As a matter of fact the list would be far to long to mention; so we have provided an opportunity for those who have an interest to read more of his life history by going to the URL printed on your program.
It is my Dad’s way of encouraging each of you to write your own life history.
Dad was a humble man, and most people who spent time with him had no idea of how much he had accomplished; but life was just not about him. He would often say “I don’t want my funeral to be about me”. You see to my Dad his life was not to be summed up by what he had accomplished; but rather by how he lived.
In the church we often refer to individuals as scriptorian’s or gospel scholars; while Dad studied his scriptures every day he would not often quote them from memory. No what he chose to do was to show how well be believed the truths that they contained by living them.
The first principle that my Dad taught us was Mosiah 13: 20 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
To dad that applied to grand parents as well but how could you honor your heritage that you did not know? Let me illustrate:
One Sunday afternoon when Dad was at our house at a family dinner. I Dad had asked Jason (who was about 8 at the time) what was his primary lesson was about today. He replied, “Missionary Work.” With Dad there were always a series of follow-up questions because he was really interested and wanted all the details. The follow up question was who’s missionary experiences did you talk about? Jason said “Heber C. Kimball and Wilford Woodruff.” Dad then asked him if he knew who Wilford Woodruff’s missionary companion was. He replied, “No, I don’t.” So Dad told Jason “ask your father if he knows who Wilford Woodruff’s companion was”. Well I didn’t know the answer either. He saw it as a teaching opportunity and explained that Wilford Woodruffs missionary companion was our great great grandfather Theodore Turley and briefly shared stories of their experiences missionary experiences together.
But that was not enough. He went home that night and thought what a tragedy it would be if something were to happen to him. He children would not know who their ancestors were and the stories that he knew about them.
He started the next morning and published his first book of stories about our Sargent Ancestors. He titled it “Bedtime Stories for Little Sargents - and Big Ones Too”. Each of the stories were short so that they could be used for Family Home Evenings or in Church talks.
Then he summarized each story with the moral of the story, and the topics related to it. We all got our book’s that year for Christmas.
That was the first in the series of books provided to us by our Father. Next he wrote books on our Green heritage (My mothers side); the Barlows my moms mother’s family; then life histories for both my grandpa Sargent and finally Dad wrote his own life history. I cannot imagine a greater gift that could be given me right now than to have those stories that I often forget; and now I can read them again and again.
The best time of day with Dad was usually right before we went to bed when he would often tell us a story. No reading the stories for him; he knew the stories well and would just tell the story which always made them more interesting.
One of Dad’s favorite stories in the scriptures was the story of Samuel; who at eight years of age was taken to Eli the great high priest to serve in the temple. At such a young age the temple had to seem to be such a big place.
One night when young Samuel went to bed, he heard a voice calling his name.
Samuel thinking that it was Eli calling him he ran to Eli's side saying, "Here am I’. To which Eli responded "I called thee not” go back to sleep.
Samuel returned to his room and when he laid down he again heard a voice calling, "Samuel."
Samuel hurried back to Eli's side, but Eli again denied calling him. Puzzled, Samuel returned to his room. A third time he clearly heard his name called and again he returned to Eli. Eli was now awake enough to recognize that it must be the Lord who was calling Samuel, and said Return to thy room, and when the Lord calls, thou shalt say, Speak Lord for thy servant heareth.
Samuel returned and waited. Finally he heard the Lord's voice once more call, Samuel. Anxiously he responded, "Speak Lord for thy servant heareth. The Lord then spoke to him and he was told that he would become a prophet.
The scripture taught us that when the Lord calls you obey; Dad received such a call at the age of 32. A call one evening reached him with the voice at the other end that said. “ Brother Sargent, this is the Presiding Bishoprics office calling, We would like to know if you would come to our office to meet with us tomorrow?” He softly responded “yes”; then he wondered what he had done wrong, and thought why on earth would the Presiding Bishop of the Church want to talk to me? It was a wrestles night as you could imagine. Upon his arrival, he was invited to meet alone with the entire presiding bishopric Bishop John H Vandenberg, and his two counselors Robert L Simpson and Victor L Brown. They began by telling him that they were aware of his background and they knew who he was. They had a sense of humor as we later learned, but he did not know that then and he got really uncomfortable; he still had no idea of what he had done wrong.
It was not until they asked him questions about using a centralized distribution system in the church that he started to relax, and that was the background they were speaking of. In those days each organization of the church functioned as a separate unit; and supplies were ordered from each auxilliary and priesthood organization respectfully.
He responded “that to obtain efficency and reduce costs in the church you should have centralized distribution.” They replied in effect “We felt that there should be but we wanted to get your opinion.” Then the call came “Now that we know how you feel; we would like to ask if you would organize and manage the distribution program for the church. “ Overwhelmed and felling inadequate, he would do just as he always did accept the assignment and put his trust in the Lord. He borrowed a pickup truck and moved all of the supplies (Aaronic priesthood forms and reports, and ward and stake reports and lesson manuals) from the presiding bishoprics storage in the basement of the Church office at 47 east south temple to the new Distribution facility on Richards Street. On August 24, 1964 The Church Distribution Department was officially created. It took just two pickup loads to move all of the supplies, and that was the beginning of Church Distribution System. He later traveled extensively with the Presiding Bishopric through out the world setting up distribution centers in Mexico and Europe.
It proved to be a more difficult task than one would have imagined. In those days each organization had been able to do as they wanted, not reporting to anyone. They were free to sell their supplies at a price that generated sufficient funds to operate their organization, with some budgets being more lavish than others.
When all of the organizations were finally under one roof Elder Marion G. Romney, Bishop Victor L. Brown and my Dad all presented the Church Supply Catalog to President McKay who was so pleased and then referred to D&C 90: 11 “ For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language,” then President McKay said with his finger pointing “You are the ones responsible for accomplishing this”. I think that moment was one of his most cherished moments. To have the prophet tell him personally that he was proud of his efforts.
The scriptures also teach us in John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
One can see from his life that he was a true disciple. The principle of love and charity were such a part of his every day life. I never heard him say I don’t like him or her; he loved everyone. Believe me he had plenty of opportunity to dislike some people. There were those who were out right mean to him, those who cheated him in business deals. But never did the words hate come from his lips - that just was not who he was.
Not far behind love is the principle of service.
D&C 121: 45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.
Doctrine and Covenants 109:8 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;
To my dad this scripture was lived every day as he would begin early in the morning preparing every needful thing. This was done through what we in the family just refer to as “The List”. He would determine what need to be accomplished that day and jot it down on whatever sheet of paper seemed handy at the time. With the list in hand he would set out to get them done, drawing a line back and forth a couple of times across the list item when it was completed. If you were on the list for the day - you might as well just go get it done because he would stay on you to get it done until you did.
In the later years he would often call in the morning (something that was on his list but never written down - to call you first thing in the morning). If he happened to wake you he would simply say “sorry did I wake you? Well now you are awake and proceed to ask you what he intended never missing a beat” I will miss that Dad.
If you responded with I have an appointment this morning or other plans he would be gracious and then just ask so what time will you be here then exactly. If you said around 3 o’clock; and 3 o’clock came you could expect a phone call within minutes if you were not there. Again the phone call would in a loving but firm way say “what time do you think you will be here”. He was letting you know that he knew it was already 3, and he knew that you knew it - enough said.
Many a young boy scout can attest to his constant encouragement. He would let you set your own goal then try to push you a little by saying “Is that all that you are going to do then, or surely you can do better than that”. Always prodding you to set a higher goal, and once the goal was set he would ask you every time he saw you how well you were doing; the answer “ok or fine” was not acceptable - he wanted details. sometimes he was so persistent that it was not a pleasant experience; but the one thing that you knew was that he really cared. He was only doing it to make you a better person - after all it was your goal.
The scripture continues on “even a house of prayer, a house of fasting” it was just part of his life. He spent many hours on his knees supplicating for others. There was never any doubt in the minds of us children that our father loved our Father in Heaven. He was a man of incredible faith. I recall several trips that he made across the country to do genealogical work. He would leave home only knowing the general area where he was headed.
He learned in life that this life was just too hard to make it without some help
There are different kinds of people in this world those who have scriptures; or at least they think they do; they just don’t know where they are at. Then are are those who know where their scriptures are because they read them every day. There are even some who become doctrinal scholars who read and study and can quote any scripture at the drop of a hat. Then there are those who humbly study the scriptures and incorporate the principles in their life - there are very few of these people in the world but my dad was one of them.
As I would go to his office almost every day over the past tens years or so to see what was on his list for me for the day I would notice that his scriptures were usually opened, and some notes were along side.
During the late 60’s and early 70’s things in Layton were much different than they are today. My Dad was very well known in Layton and when we went someplace and were introduced by someone all they would say would be “he is one one Jerry’s kids” no one every asked Jerry who that I can remember. I altered learned that being one of Jerry’s kids; because of the Jerry Lewis telethon was not always a good thing; but in the reference in which it was always made it was one of great respect. We knew it. Dad would often say to me you cannot be like the other boys; you just can’t people know who you are and you cannot get away with anything.
The scripture says “a house of faith”. It was always obvious to us that Dad had great faith. So great was his faith that he was always optimistic about the future. He knew who was in charge of this world, he understood the plan of our father in heaven and he lived his life in a manner that would always be true to those beliefs. Such faith on genealogy trips start out knowing only general area
Complaining was something that was just not acceptable. If you complained you would hear something to the effect of “Either fix it or forget it!”. I recall a time when I was about 15 years old. I was in pretty bad shape as my body had felled up gang green. After laying in a hospital bed for weeks; I was in so much pain that one night I told my Dad that I simply could not take it any more and I thought that I wanted to die. I will never forget his response. It was “son don’t tell me there is nothing that I can do to help you, or that the doctors can do” we are doing everything that we can. So it you want more help you better ask your father in heaven. There was not any doubt in his response. In other words he was telling me “if you have faith go put it to the test; if you don’t you better go get some”. I did as my father had instructed, and that night and then the day after provided a testimony for me that our father in heaven has a plan for each of us, that he loved me as an individual, that there is life beyond this life, and the separation between the two is very thin.
My house is a house of order. My dad kept everything in order through the use of a list.
It also meant that everyone on this earth needed the essential ordinances in order to return to the presence of God. My dad knew this; and he made it his life mission to help every person that he could possible think of receive the saving ordinances of the gospel.
But since he is not here to speak his mind I would like to mention a few things that you may not know about him:
He lost his mother at 3, in second grade he became ill with polio and spent months without being able to talk to his parents as they had to stay on the other side of the glass window.
He paid his way through college receiving only a $25 bill from his parents when he left for BYU where he earned a BS in Accounting.
He was in the Lientenant in the United States Air Force.
He signed a contract to play professional baseball for the Pittsburg Pirates.
During the 60’s he served on the Young Mens Mutual Improvement Association General Board, and his first assignment was to Develop an activity program for Teacher and Priest age boys.
He was the Director of Distribution At Ingersoll-Rand and Levi Strauss.
He founded Ensign systems a POS company with systems in over 4,000 retail locations including Apple Computer, Deer Valley Ski Resort, Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium, Phenox Suns Stadium.
He became know as Mr Christmas when he started a christmas display in the late 80’s with some kids skating on a pond. The decorations grew each year, every year people would ask what they had to do to get some of his decorations on their lawn at Christmas the next year. The displays grew in popularity and peaked with displays at 114 homes in layton and a nativity scene as well located at the west Layton Church bowery. During those christmas years both sides of the street in front of our house were fashioned with christmas displays. Thousands of cars would parade by each year just to see the lights, displays and music.
1998 Called on a mission to Germany - special assignment to work on the distribution
1995 Layton Area Chamber of Commerce as the Citizen of the Year. This is awarded each year to the citizen that has the most positive effect on the community during the year.
In the 1990s Layton City built the Ellison Park an as it was being completed he asked Dean Allen, Chairman of Layton City Parks and Recreation, why there was no trees to which he replied, “No funds”. Dad asked him “What is a park without trees? If you aren’t going to provide them I would like to provide the funds for them.” They graciously accepted his offer. He prepared a list of all persons who might be able and willing to donate $150. I then personally contacted them. He raised enough money for about 150 trees.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.