From the Journal of Philip Larkin Waters

Life Sketch, Keith Wilcox

I. Keith Wilcox was born at Sunnydell, Madison Co. Idaho on April 27,
1919. His parents were Annie Grizelda Heileson Wilcox and David Floyd
Wilcox.

Keith was the oldest of six children. His brothers and sisters
are: Doris, David Floyd, LeRoy, Boyd who is deceased and Jackie who is
also deceased.

His father owned a dry farm on the bench east of Sunnydell and a
small farm in the valley where the family lived until about 1950.

Keith grew up during the depression years. He milked cows and did
farm work at home to help provide for the family. When he was old
enough, he hauled hay and worked in the potatoes and beets for his
grandfather and neighbors.

He attended grade school at Sunnydell.   It was a two room
schoolhouse with four grades in each room. It had a pot bellied stove
in the petition wall. He remembers happy times there and walking to
school with his teacher Zula Holm, Faye and Joyce Blackburn who lived
about 1/4 mile from them, Virgil Blackburn who was another teacher and
family members.    School was about a mile and half from home.
Another teacher he remembers well and enjoyed visits with in later
years was Bertha Jeppeson. Keith has told of times, when he drove the
sleigh for his family members as well as a few neighbors. They would
sometimes even ski behind the team as they went to and from school.
Once they reached the school they would board the horse in a barn near
the school until time to return home.
He attended high school the first two years at Archer where he
remembers the students pulling practical jokes on the teachers and
climbing in and out of the windows. There were not many students and
the classes were limited.
He attended Madison High in Rexburg his junior and senior years
which was much better, but it was difficult getting to school,
especially in the winter when they traveled by sleigh.   He was a
good student although he does admit getting some lower grades "due to
lack of interest". He did well in ag classes and took some math
classes including a commercial arithmetic class where he learned to
add long columns of numbers in his head. This training came in very
handy in his later life not only in his business but as he shopped for
groceries. As he would exit through the check out stand he could add
the amounts in his head of the prices of the groceries and beat the
checker to an accurate total.

He graduated from Madison High in 1937.

Keith did not have enough money to go on to college, so he
stayed home and thinned and topped beets and worked for his
grandfather to earn money to return to school. He then attended Ricks
College one year, BYU one quarter and ran out of money and had to come
home. When enough money was earned Keith returned to Ricks and
graduated from Ricks. While he was finishing at Ricks, he stayed in a
dorm and had a job washing dishes at a café in exchange for his meals.

Keith learned early in life how to work hard. Living on a farm,
there was always plenty of work to be done. His grandfather had a
crew that did dry pack potatoes six days a week and Keith and others
in his family would fill in for workers who wanted the day off.
Grandpa Floyd Wilcox also had lots of pigs. At one time they had 200
head of pigs which Keith and David were assigned to herd daily. They
would go each morning and herd them into a field until about 11:30
A.M. Then they would pour a little feed in the trough and pen them up
and walk home for dinner, which was about a half mile away. They
would then go back at about 2:00 in the afternoon and herd them until
6:00 and again feed them and pen them up for the night.

On one occasion, they had trouble penning the pigs up for the
night. One pig ran into the chicken coop and Keith hollered at David
to shut the chicken coop door on it, which he did, but the pig ran at
the door with such force it knocked David to the ground. They tried a
while longer to get it herded into the pen but had no luck so Keith
finally picked up a rock about the size of a ping pong ball and threw
it at the pig. It hit the pig right behind the ear and killed it. A
neighbor girl rode her bike to their home and told their father what
had happened. When Keith and David saw Floyd coming, they thought
they were going to be punished for killing the pig, but instead Floyd
just looked down and said "It looks like you've killed a pig.
Accidents will happen." II. World War II was going on during
Keith's college years and he signed up with the draft board in October
of 1940. He was then drafted on June 23, 1941. Two others were also
drafted from Madison County at that time. They were LaVar Curtis and
Robert England. By taking a transcript of his college credits, 3
letters of recommendation, his Birth Certificate and by passing an IQ
test, Keith was allowed to sign up for the Army Air Corp rather than
the regular army. That immediately raised his pay from $21.00 a month
to $30.00. "Percentage wise it looked pretty good." He was
first sent to Fort Douglas, Utah and then to St. Louis, Missouri where
they lived in tents for a while and attended a Radio School.

From there he turned in papers to attend cadet training. The only
thing holding him back was two cavities. Since he couldn't get in to
an army dentist, he went to a regular dentist who complained that
Keith's teeth were so hard they dulled the bits as he tried to grind
them.

In November, 1941, he was sent to Kelly, Texas (near San Antonio).
Life Magazine took pictures of the first cadets to wear olive drab.
Keith said he had to count the rows so that he could buy a magazine
and find himself in the picture because they all looked exactly alike.

While Keith was at Kelly Air force Base in Texas he had
appendicitis. When he reported it, the doctor asked him if he had
been throwing up and he told the doctor he had not. The doctors said
it could not be appendicitis then and to go home. Keith then told the
doctor it wouldn't look good if he died from appendicitis so the
Doctor reluctantly took blood tests and found out it was appendicitis.
Once it was removed, Keith was sent home for a 10 day leave.
From Kelly, Texas, the cadets were all shipped to an air base run
by civilians with a few civilian flight instructors. Although he did
quite well and was able to solo with 12 flight hours he was not able
to receive all the training needed and was eliminated as a pilot.
When one of the other students who also was eliminated suggested that
with a little more training some of the men would make it the
instructor said "With a little more time, I could teach my Grandmother
to fly, but we just don't have the time." From there Keith
was sent to bombardier school where math was the greatest requirement.
From then on, he felt like he was on top. Upon completing the
classes, he was retained as an instructor. After teaching one group,
he was sent to Carlsbad, New Mexico to a Central Instructors' School.
While there, he contracted measles and was in the hospital for ten
days but said he was not really sick. When the course was completed,
his instructor asked Keith how he felt about his training since he had
missed those 10 days. When Keith told him he felt pretty good about
it, the instructor said it looked good to him and the next day Keith
was installed as Assistant Director of Training.

Keith next had the opportunity to go to Denver, Colorado to study
automatic flight control. He called it six weeks vacation with pay.
He then went to Boca Raton, Florida to study automatic flight control
equipment where he said you simply learned to read the topography of
the ground through the radar scope for increased accuracy in bombing.

They would have continued to give Keith more training but because
he had to serve overseas in order to complete his military hitch he
applied to be sent overseas. He was sent to New Jersey to be shipped
out, but because Radar Navigation was new they did not have a crew to
assign him to. So he went with the order that he would fly with the
lead crews wherever he was needed. Lead crews and deputy crews were
the only ones equipped with navigational equipment. He was sent
overseas at that time. He sailed on the Queen Mary. They unloaded at
Stone England, and he was assigned on a base at Framlingham, England
a rural area some distance from London. He served many successful
missions as part of the lead crew. On one occasion he was sent as
part of a deputy crew. For some reason unknown to Keith the lead crew
dropped out of formation before completing their mission. The deputy
crew then had to make the choice of whether to continue with the
mission or follow the lead crew. In this case, they felt they needed
to try to complete the mission, which they did. Upon arriving back at
the base there was a debriefing and a possibility of disciplinary
action for not following the lead crew and although Keith was never
told all that came out of the debriefing the deputy crew was commended
for completing the mission and had no repercussions or disciplinary
action.

Keith told many times of the blackouts and how the English girls
manned the anti-aircraft guns since most of the English men were in
the service.

Keith had nearly finished the required number of missions when
the European war ended. The military considered sending them to Japan
to finish their missions but since they were so close to being
finished they were sent home instead and a fresh group sent to Japan.
He has always expressed his grateful appreciation that he was able to
serve without injury and that he was able to feel useful and
successful in serving his country.

III. Keith and Afton met at Ricks. It was their second year there.
Mother's friend told her about this good looking guy.   She asked her
brother Roy, if he knew him, and he said yes, he had ag class with him
and he had study hall with him at the library. Mom went to the
library during their study time to (accidentally) meet him. Roy
introduced them and Keith asked her out. They dated, but when he had
to go to the army, things kind-of cooled off. One year later he had
his first leave.   Keith asked her out while he was home on leave.
They sometimes went to the dances at Riverside. On one occasion after
the dance, they went up to Keith's cousins, got some chickens and went
to LaRue Rigby's to eat.   By the time they got home, mother had
fallen for him. The next day he was supposed to go back to the
service, mother was expecting him to be gone. She had been weeding
potatoes and was running around in her grubbies. He came all decked
out in his uniform and asked her to go to Idaho Falls with him and his
parents to see him off on his plane     After that they continued to
write each other.   They dated about 6 years and were married at the
Idaho Falls Temple on June 6, 1947. Their honeymoon was spent on the
west coast where they visited Astoria and Seaside Oregon, and drove
down the Columbia River.   It was their first time to see the Pacific
Ocean. They wore coats, pulled up their pant legs and waded out in
the water--it was cold!)
Their first home was made over a tire store in Rigby. They lived
there for a year and a half until building a home and business in
Thornton. The home is now presently owned by Joel Jenkins and the
business, Floyd Wilcox and Sons has been running for 50 years.

Their first son, Terry, was born while they lived in Rigby. Barbara,
Lynn and Ron were born while they lived in Thornton. During that time
Keith rented properties and farmed as well as running the potato fresh
pack business in Thornton. In the Spring of 1960, he bought a
240-acre farm located in Burton. It was the home where Lynn's family
currently lives. The family moved to the farm during planting season.
Barbara and Terry remember how Dad would go to the farm early in the
morning and Mom would pack the car with things to move, prepare a
dinner and clean at the old house until nearly noon. They would then
drive to the new house in Burton where Mom would feed them, unpack the
car, and clean at the new house until bed time. The family would be
home in bed long before Dad would be home from working on the farm.
Anita was born June 21, 1960, but passed away only 2 days later.
Rodney was born on Thanksgiving Day, 1962. He later died on Easter,
1976. Debbie was also born while they lived in Burton.
Dad was a very hard worker. About the only time he took time off was
to go fishing and then it was only over night. He would take care of
the cows Saturday evening while the family packed the camper. They
would then drive to Riverside camp ground where they would try to
catch a fish until dark. They'd go to bed and in the morning Dad
would leave the family in bed and drive home in time to go to 7:30
priesthood meeting. After he left, the rest of the family would get
up and get ready for church.   One exception was a vacation the
family took to Yellowstone Park the year of the earthquake. Dad's
family, his parents and brothers and sisters went up to Yellowstone
Park for the weekend. They had a motel at fishing bridge, and had a
picnic and fished around the lake. While they were all out fishing,
the people there told them that there had been a big bear trying to
get in to the bedding that was on top of the car.   When the family
got back to the car they could see that the bear had not only been on
top but had dented in the top of the car. After the rest of the
family went home,   Dad's family camped near Gardner for the night
and planned to go over to Hebdon Lake, and then home.   On the way to
the park exit, Dad said, why don't we go over to Cody instead.
Everybody agreed and so they went to Cody instead of going over to
Hebdon Lake. They stayed overnight in Cody and then the next day when
they were coming back, camped in a campground about 20 miles out of
the park.    Because they stayed longer than they anticipated, they
had to wash some diapers.    Just about time to go to bed, there was a
rush a wind. Mom said "Oh, the diapers will blow away." Dad got up
and put his pants on, but    by the time he got out there, there was
just deadly silence.   The next day they met two older ladies who
rubbed the top of Ron's head and said he reminded them of a little
bear they had seen in the park. They then told how the night before
as they were trying to sleep they thought they had a bear under their
bed. One of the ladies told the other to lean over the bed on one
side with a flashlight and she would lean over the other side to see
what was under it because it had been shaking. As it turned out,
there was nothing under the bed and there was no further explanation.
On the way home there were fallen trees and the water was milky
colored. When they got home, they turned the radio on and heard
there had been an earthquake and that people had been buried at the
campground where they had originally planned to stay.   Heavenly
Father had looked out for them. Terry said, "If Heavenly Father will
look out for us when we do the things we do, just think what he'd do
for us if we were really good." Dad also enjoyed Hunting. He and
the boys had a tradition of going Sage Hen Hunting with Uncle Calvin
Reed and his boys and going hunting with Schneiters. They made
several trips up to Salmon country and Medicine Lodge area.
Another family vacation was a trip to Petit Lake in the wilderness
area. We had decided to hike around the lake which turned out to be a
bigger adventure than we had originally thought. There were fallen
trees, swamp land, snakes and frogs to contend with. We went during
high water season and there was rushing water in many places where it
should have been dry land. It was a frightening experience. We
stopped and had a prayer, then proceeded to climb and crawl over the
logs.   Some of us were too small to cross the logs alone and had to
be carried at some points but we all made it out safely.   June 5,
1976, was the Teton Dam Disaster which badly damaged the home and
crops in Burton. Shortly thereafter, a new home was built just
one-half mile west of the old home. At that time Terry and Barbara
were married and gone, Lynn was attending school at BYU and Ron was on
a mission in Wales. I was the only child at home.   Mom and Dad
enjoyed traveling with Aunt Freda and Uncle Weldon Madsen in the car.
They made a few trips to Arizona and traveled to Canada together. On
this particular trip, they had just commented on how considerate the
Canadian drivers were when someone pulled right out in front of them
in downtown Calgary. Dad had to slam on his brakes to keep from
hitting them. As they traveled behind them they read their license
plates. It turned out that they were relatives from Rigby.
Mom and Dad also had the opportunity to travel to West Virginia and
Alabama while Terry was stationed there in the National Guard.    IV.
As a family, we are very grateful for the great heritage we have in
our parents and particularly our Dad. And, we are grateful Dad made
it possible for us to leave in the area and be a close family. He
taught by example many great and wonderful things. We have learned to
work from his example of work, to serve others from his great example
of service to friends and neighbors and to trust in the Lord from
watching as he trusted in the Lord.   Dad was always a very hard
worker and found it very difficult to consider retirement. He did,
however, turn the management of the warehouse and farm over to his
boys about 1989.This didn't mean he was through working. He still
spent many hours watering the crops and working at the warehouse. He
also retired from the Air Force Reserves with 20 years of service as a
Lt. Colonel.     In 1990, he fell and dislocated his shoulder and
was no longer able to work as hard as he had done in the past. He did
not stop working, however. He had a large raspberry patch and garden
which he spent many productive hours working in. Even after his
surgery on his shoulder when the doctor told him not to use his arm
for six weeks, he was back out in his raspberry patch the next day
with a sling on his arm hoeing the dirt up around his raspberries.
It has always seemed to me that he didn't have much time for anything
but work, but as I was reading some of his journal entries and
collecting information from other family members I have found that he
tried many different things and seemed to be good at all of them.
Besides fishing and hunting which we have already told about, he
learned do several other things. Uncle David says he used to like to
play horseshoes. He learned to play tennis in the service and said
that he was soon able to play well enough not to be embarrassed even
when playing with guys who had much more experience. He learned to
play chess and checkers very well. He enjoyed swimming. I remember
one experience at an Elders Quorum Party when Ross Johnson talked him
into trying to water-ski at Palisades. It seemed like he just bounced
up out of the water and took off and they were gone for a long time.
He didn't fall down even once and when they got back in I asked him
why he was able to do so well and he said he was afraid to fall down.
He was excellent at playing Pinochle and enjoyed being on a bowling
league and in a dance club. He enjoyed life and always said he hadn't
been sick a day in his life. Of course that was excluding having
broken his arm, hurting his back, freezing his hand and getting it
caught in a grain auger and several other injuries.
As we were children growing up Dad was always very active in the
LDS Church. Some of his callings included: Superintendent and
Counselor in the Sunday School., Counselor in MIA,    Deacons Advisor,
Teachers Advisor, Secretary of High Priest Quorum, Counselor in
Elder's Quorum and Sunday School teacher.    He also spent a lot of
time in the scouting program. He never complained that church work
took too much of his time or that he didn't like what he was doing.
He simply did whatever he was asked to do.
In the early 1990's there were indications that Dad had developed
Alzheimers. His doctor prescribed cognex to battle it's symptoms.
One of the side effects of cognex is a drop in the heart rate. Since
he already had a very slow heart rate, a pace maker was implanted on
May 25th of 1994 and the cognex was discontinued.   A year later, the
cognex was prescribed again. The Alzheimers continued to progress and
his capabilities diminished. The last few months he could not
recognize family members and was easily confused. Mom dedicated her
time and efforts to his care. When he wandered, she watched out for
him. When he was confused, she helped to explain things to him. She
saw to it that all his physical and emotional needs were met. She
remained his constant companion until the end.

On Thursday, May 7, 1998 at around 9:45 p.m., the power went out.
Dad had already been put to bed for the night so Mom just checked on
him and went to bed. Sometime after 10:00 Dad got up again and was
wandering in the dark. He fell down the stairs and injured his head
and his neck. Mom immediately called the family. We determined to
call an ambulance, although the seriousness of the injuries was not
known until the following morning. He spent the night at Madison
Hospital and was transferred down to Columbia Regional Hospital Friday
morning. The doctors determined that he had multiple skull fractures,
multiple neck fractures and a major bleed in the brain. The decision
had to be made whether to take extraordinary measures just to keep him
alive or allow him to die. He had signed a living will which stated
he did not want to be kept alive and so the decision was already made.
The family gathered together in prayer and with the Lord at our side,
we watched as he completed his mission on earth. He passed away on
Sunday, Mothers Day, May 10 at 11:50 a.m.