Lavaughn Claire Linnens

LaVaughn Claire Linnens was born on October 21, 1938 to Winston Bunce and Katie Hester (Wilderson) Bunce in a log cabin her father built on his father’s homestead on Summit Ridge. The cabin still stands, though it was moved to adjacent property and used to store hay in later years. Her father was a dairy farmer and LaVaughn often talked about fetching the cows for the evening milking. She was not as fond of cows as her father was. LaVaughn also talked about walking to the rim of nearby Lost Canyon and watching the Galloping Goose make its way up the canyon from Dolores, heading for Mancos. She remembers the closing of the Galloping Goose route while still in high school and mourned its passing.
LaVaughn attended school in Dolores, graduating in 1956 as class salutatorian. She was an avid, life-long reader, seeming to devour books regardless of the subject. She might have been class valedictorian if it weren’t for the fact that she had met and became engaged to a young man while still in high school. She went out on a date with another boy when she met James Onslow Linnens and never dated another. LaVaughn and James were married May 27, 1956 in her parent’s front yard on Summit Ridge. Her sister-in-law, Harlean Linnens, was her maid of honor and Oscar Hamilton was best man. The couple set up home in Cortez, where James worked.
While LaVaughn was a homemaker most of her life, she worked at the A & W Drive-in restaurant in Cortez for a while after she was married. She enjoyed serving her own children root beer floats in chilled mugs on special occasions. She spent one summer working at the Rio Lado Dude Ranch up the Dolores River (now the Circle K Campground) and was pleased to attend a family reunion held there in 2012. She also worked at home as bookkeeper for Bob Brace’s service station and later kept books for Sunset Texaco in Cortez, which was owned and operated by James at the time. James went on to own and operate Jimmie’s Muffler and Brake Service in Cortez and LaVaughn kept books for that endeavor.
LaVaughn became a mother at 18 years of age and went on to give birth to 10 children in total, two of which died in infancy. Her first and last child are 13 years apart in age. The small home in Cortez was filled to the rafters and noisy. LaVaughn woke the children every morning by standing at the door of their bedroom and flipping on the light while singing out “rise and shine!” While it wasn’t greatly appreciated at the time, that daily greeting was probably a true reflection of her mothering. She instilled a belief in each of her children that they could grow up to be and do anything they wanted and that they should strive to achieve their desires. She was very proud of their accomplishments. She lost her oldest son at 24 years of age in a tragic auto accident and never ceased to grieve the loss. Each and every child was dear to her. She tucked the children in bed every night and her final act before going to bed herself was to stand at the bedroom door and lead them in a nightly prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” She sent the kids to a neighborhood children’s bible study and to vacation bible school in the summer and sent the kids two at a time to her parent’s farm for a week or two each summer. She never drove a car. She was always home for her children and they would come running home from school to a snack and help with homework. She managed the family’s finances, raised huge gardens of vegetables and flowers. One year, she enlisted all the children’s help in cutting up and planting two city lots full of potatoes to feed her brood. She used wringer washers and clothes lines at the Cortez home and didn’t have a dishwasher for the first 17 years of raising kids (except for the kids themselves!) She sewed clothes for the children and slipcovers for the well-used furniture.
LaVaughn raised all her children to take responsibility early and the older kids helped to care for the younger ones. Everyone (boys, too!) were taught to cook from a young age, standing on a chair to carefully stir a pot on the stove and to iron clothes. In the summer when school was not in session, the children participated as a group in meal preparation, with someone making a salad, another brewing ice tea… everyone had a part in getting the meal on the table. Grocery shopping was huge, and when the children got old enough, one would go with LaVaughn and James to push one of two carts. Returning home, the kids would take up stations at various cupboards and the refrigerator to help put groceries away.
Christmases were special times, noisy and happy. Birthdays were celebrated not by gifts, but by allowing the celebrant to choose his or her birthday supper and cake. Fishing at area lakes and picnics at Transfer or up the west fork of the Dolores river were treasured outings and not something “just thrown together” but required a lot of organization. LaVaughn and James only took one vacation during this time, driving to California with the three children they had at the time, staying with James’ cousin at Long Beach and visiting the ocean, Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. LaVaughn kept the children entertained on the long drive by playing road games.
LaVaughn’s mother developed early onset dementia and her father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. LaVaughn’s oldest child was finishing high school and her youngest was only one year from entering kindergarten when LaVaughn and James bought a furnished, double-wide mobile home and set it up next to her parent’s home on the farm so that she could care for her parents and she, James and the children cared for the farm. LaVaughn cared for her mother for four years until her death and her father for another six years until his death. With three bedrooms instead of two- in the new home, they finally had separate rooms for the boys and girls, a washer and dryer, and a dishwasher. What luxury! -until LaVaughn decided that the dishwasher used too much water (James had to haul water from town to fill the cistern) and she returned to washing dishes by hand and using the dishwasher to store dishes.
Even with all that, she stated near the end of her life that she had very much enjoyed living on the farm with her husband and children.
LaVaughn and James had to leave the farm for a time. James was logging and area logging was being severely curtailed due to issues with endangered spotted owl habitat. They bought a travel trailer and lived in the forests of Arizona and New Mexico for a while with other loggers until they could come back home to work. Mom crocheted and read while waiting for James to finish his workday. She didn’t like laundry mats, feeling that they were treated like “second-class” citizens. She enjoyed living in Zane Grey country, though, and was pleased to visit his cabin on the Mogollon Rim.
LaVaughn was a writer, herself. She completed an unpublished manuscript, composed poetry and wrote and illustrated an unpublished children’s book about the Ute Mountain’s toe being tickled to make it rain and another titled ‘Pedro Pinto and Frijole Bean.’ She compiled a family cookbook which she self-published. She was a great letter writer, writing long, newsy letters to her children as they left the nest.
After all the children had left, the farm became too much for LaVaughn and James to care for alone. James knew, however, that LaVaughn would find it hard to leave the family farm, so he searched for a house in Dolores, enlisting his son John’s help, asking “Do you think Mom would like this house?” He finally found one and enticed LaVaughn into selling the farm in 2003, moving into an old Victorian home built in 1915. They enjoyed being able to walk the river trail up to the library and the post office. Together, they emptied the yard of the previous owner’s gravel and filled it with raspberries and grapes and fruit trees and flowers. They managed to fit a lot into a town homesite. They remodeled to add a bedroom and second bath and a garage/workshop. It was a labor of love. LaVaughn renewed old ties to the Dolores Baptist Church and enjoyed going to church again. LaVaughn continued to crochet and read and sew. She made Three Generation dolls for several family members, using scraps from well-remembered clothing. She was the keeper of the family history (pictures, paintings, heirloom furniture and glassware, books and memorabilia).
LaVaughn and James bought a motor home and traveled across the country, fishing, sight-seeing, visiting their children from South Carolina to Texas and Florida as well as Arizona, Washington and Alaska. The highlight of all this traveling was the trip to Alaska, where their son Rob was stationed as an air traffic controller in the Air Force. Mom often talked about the thrill of being at the northernmost tip of North America on the longest day of the year.
LaVaughn broke one hip in 2009 and used a cane until she broke the other hip in 2015 and used a walker from that point on. She had chronic pain from osteoporosis that had severely twisted her back, but she forced herself to get up every morning and wouldn’t let herself lay down during the day. Her eyesight worsened and dementia creeped in until she could no longer follow the content of her beloved books. She developed congestive heart failure. However, she enjoyed watching two aspen trees from her kitchen window, repeatedly commenting on the wonder of the leaves moving in different directions or watching the street comings and goings from the front sunroom. LaVaughn continued to live with James in their Dolores home with the daily help of their children. The two seemed to anchor each other as they grew older. But LaVaughn lost James in January of 2018 to pneumonia while he was undergoing rehabilitation for a hip fracture following a mild stroke. She insisted on staying with him at the nursing home, often positioning herself close enough to hold his hand. She developed pneumonia herself and nearly died then, but survived to return home without James. Her children took turns providing a constant presence, and she enjoyed the return of summer, sitting on the front or back porch or out in the yard to feel the sun and see the flowers and trees, but home was never the same for her without James. She took a hard fall in the house after having walked so slowly and carefully with her walker across the back yard to sit outside the day before. She suffered severe pain with the fall, and while the pain subsided after a few days, her heart and kidneys began to fail. She grew weaker, despite making attempts at returning to her normal routine. It was too much and she was forced to return to bed. Her children gathered from Florida and Colorado Springs and Aztec to join the local children in caring for her in her final days.
LaVaughn passed on September 27, 2018, 36 days after her fall, in her home in Dolores.
She is survived by her daughter Martha Anchando of Dolores, daughter Lois Davis (Russ) of Cortez, son John Linnens of Cortez, son Mike Linnens (Julie) of Aztec, New Mexico, son Rob Linnens (Dana) of Trenton, Florida, daughter Amy Taylor of Colorado Springs, Colorado, daughter Linda Wade (Bill) of Dolores, eight grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother John Bunce, her husband, and three children: Philip Linnens, George Linnens (died in infancy), and Deborah Linnens (died in infancy).
Now, Mom, we lay you down to sleep and know the Lord, your soul will keep.