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Show Page 2 In 1939 he married LaMar Criddle. The/purchased the Joe Hale home and farm in North Morgan and remodeled it into a beautiful place. f.:'\ In 1940 he purchased the Con Wagon buildinp; on n lC)np;~/ basir. and used i t 98S a warehouse for one year. December 1941 came and with it came World War II •••. all business was at a standstill. During these war years .Jack would go East Ilnd buy used <.:IU·6 hz·ill!l,ing them blleK to Murgan All. selling them. He also sold clothing from his showroom (for new cars originally) on Main St : In 1943 he acquired the John Deere Selling Franchise. He opened a store in the Con Wagon building. This store made progress and in 191~6 he hired 'rye Little and they named th . store the Valley Implement Company. In 1947 he started to build a new building in Layton, Utah. He had acquired the Chevr( Franchise in Layton in 1938 but due to the war he had not enlarged it until he was able to get bullding materials. This building was fiDi8hed and opened for business in Hay 1948. Jack hired Ed Stromberg ( a former Morgan man) to manage this dealership. Tye Little took over management of the Valley Implement in a years time and the busine~ grew under Tye's management. In 19;6 he opened a Valley Implement in Layton, Utah and hired Wendel Voss as assisten1 manager under Tye Little down in Layton. At this time he had over fifty-one employees in the four places of business. He purchased the W.O.W. apartment house from Delmar Dickson and did extensive remodelil The apartments we:oe profitable and he never had any vacancies. In July of 1958 rumors were flying aound Horgan that a new federal highway was coming through •••• and sure enough it did. It took his home that he had spent 20 years beautifying and also took his remodeled apartment house. On November 4, 1959 the State of Utah served condemnation papers on his property and he had 45 days to move. On November 10, 1959 he purchased a new frame home from Clarence Francis in South Morgan. In his diary he quotes the the year 1959 was his most prosperous year in his business career in all of his businesses in Morgan and Layton. On October 1959 he purchased all the Welch apartments and the old library building. He had in ~ind to use this space for automobiles. He did some minor remodeling and rented the : apartments for several years. In 1966 he got a permit from the city to dismantle them and has since used this property for automobile storage anQ1;saleslot. His health started to fail in 1966 and he had aevere probl~ms with bleeding ulcers. Later he had a cancer operation and the treatments that followed never allowed him to resum. work with his usual energy. He purchased two large ranches in Wyoming in 1968. He raised cattle, sheep and hogs on these rancheo •••• along with feed for the animals. He visited his ranches often but they were managed by Eldon Wall. He especially enjoyed the calving time and lambing time and sheep shearing time. He purchased the Cal-Pack building and leased it to two companies. Four- D West and Insta-Lay for the manufacturi~of plastic pipes. He served as Vice President to the InstaCo. Today this building is used for the sewing of clothing. He was active in Civic affairs. He was \~ery interested in politics. Holdinp; many meetings in his office on main street. Hany of the 'old-timers' re~ember this was the hub of the Democratic Party. He served as Dire~tor of Civil Defense in the County. lie worked hard at this calling. He was the chairman when they had the drive to identify all type6 0: blood. Many of the citizens have a tatoo under their left arm as to their type of blood. He (along with Joe Williams) were responsible for getting the first ambulance for Morgan Coanty. He was an active member of the "Jeber BcH>in Water Conservency District Board for many years and was still serving in this capacity at the time of his death. Be served as a member of Govenor Rampton's Safety Board. He was n member and chairman of' the State of Utah Automobile Dealers Administ~~ion Board. He looked forward each year to the County Fair and never missed a moment if he could help it. He entered sheep, calves, pigs and rlw~8 his horses. Being born on a farm and spending his early years on ranChes instilled n t m a love of the western country life and it neVer did leave him. He had a great love 0unty • He. had a beautiful 'cabin' in Hardsgrabble Canyon and he enjoyed hunth o~ ~iorhgani Canc:t an Ins ng apprec1ated nature to its fullest. in Layt1966:e P~C~S~d a large ~tract of land across the street from his Chevrolet Dealer presento:ime er~ :h. U11t a restaurant. This building is being leased to Anthony's at the •• 1S same tract of land a new dealership had been started befor, Jack passed away. H1s Sons-in-law are now operating this dealership under the Olsen name. |