DeLoa Dawn Johnson Oakes was born in Provo, Utah to Francis and Elvada Johnson on August 25, 1929, and passed away in Cambridge, Idaho on May 4, 2024 surrounded by family She was the middle child, with two older brothers (Francis Bernell and Merlin) and two younger brothers (L’Dean and Howard), all who preceded her in death.
Growing up during the Great Depression was made especially hard when her father died in a car accident when she was only 10 yrs old, causing her to work at a very young age to help the family survive. She began babysitting for ten cents an hour and later began picking fruit in the summers which she did every summer through high school. Though she didn’t make much money picking cherries, (she would eat them as fast as she picked them) that became a family favorite activity later in life as going to Emmett and doing U-Pick cherries (many pounds at a time) every year. She was never one to stay on the ground as the best cherries were higher. She grew up planting and harvesting a garden to help them survive the tough times, and that turned into a real skill in planting and growing all kinds of things, and she had a great love and ability to grow flowers. She worked for the Union Pacific Railroad as a cabin maid, a waitress in Bryce Canyon where she saw people like Pres. George Albert Smith and Dale Carnegie, and later as a receptionist/assistant in a dental office where she made $22.00 a week.
In November of 1950 she met her eternal companion James Frederick Oakes Jr. (Jim) who had begun to attend Firesides while at BYU. She was the outgoing Queen of the Gold and Green Ball and she asked him to be her date. Four months later on June 9, 1951 they were married in her home and later sealed in the Salt Lake City Temple on August 21,1952. They were the parents of four sons, Jimmy (died in infancy),Jerry (Cindy), Gary (Nancy) and Darrell (DeAnna). Darrell is the only surviving son. The family was DeLoa’s main focus in life and she was a great supporter of Jim and all of her kids in their many, mostly sporting, activities, going to ballgame after ballgame and never seeming to tire of them. She knitted sweaters and blankets, sewed and cooked, and loved all of it. She had the ability to knit sweaters etc., while watching the games of Jim and the boys. The love of her life died in January 1983, so she would spend the rest of her life as a widow, just as her mother had.
She was very active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served faithfully in many callings. She had a strong testimony of the gospel and shared it with her family and those around her. She was a frequent temple attender and when the Boise Temple opened she became a temple worker and a shift supervisor from July 1984 until August 2007, where she was loved by all of her coworkers. In April 1984 she became the receptionist for her son at Oakes Chiropractic Health Center, where she worked for 27 years until she retired and moved to Cambridge, Idaho to live next to her son Jerry where she enjoyed walking in the outdoors and just watching the deer, turkeys and other wildlife and enjoying her family close by, until the day she died,surrounded by family. She had 16 grandchildren and 42 great grandchildren. She was so loved by all of her posterity and will be greatly missed.
There will be a brief graveside service at Morris Hill Cemetery Friday June 28, 2024 at 11:00am.