Jasmine "Jack" Lewis

Birth: She was born around 1907 in Maryland.  

Family Information: Daughter of H. Claude and Ella Lewis.

Sister of Mildred, Marjory, Belden and Afton Lewis.

Niece of Miss Lou Lewis.

Married Gordon Pickett while living in the colony. She'd first met Gordon in Salt Lake City when he came to collect the family. It was said they "sized each other up with a single glance and their mutual smile seemed to reveal the thought, 'You'll do.'

The trip was unlike anything Jasmine had ever experienced before, and the driver was exceptionally entertaining. They marvelled at the colorful bluffs and mountains... but on the highway through Texas they were almost driven into each other's arms for warmth as they faced wind and rain and sleet that finally started the engine of the car to freezing and they were forced to seek shelter in a tourist camp.

Their journey was continued at four am and from then on, the driver raced on, and on, and on through the storm, on glassy pavement, scarcely pausing for food or rest till the next morning at five A.M. when he plunged the car into a mud hole near the hotel at Llano with a deep sigh of relief, while the Lewis ladies sat dazed until urged to come to the hotel and get warm.

Since then, "Jack" and Gordon have been inseperable. Their first walk, "to view the colony," was done in a snow storm with "Jack" wearing stilts. and the recent moonlight nights among these yellow pines have filled the hearts of this young couple with such romantic ideas that -- well 'ere this paper goes to press the judge shall have pronounced them man and wife. And may they live happily ever after and God bless them."

When the time (February 1933) came, Gordon made his way to the Septer Baldwin house to "borrow" the big Studebaker, the same Studebaker in which he'd driven the Lewis ladies from Salt Lake City during the past summer, among them a dark-eyed maiden named Jasmine. And so, the same car that drove them from Salt Lake City yesterday, now drove them three miles south for the tying of the knot. The happy couple would continue to make their home in Llano.  

Description:  

Pre-Colony History: In 1910 she was living in Maryland with her parents and siblings, along with her grandmother, Eppie and aunt Elizabeth "Lou". At the time her father was working as a chemist in a laboratory.

In 1920 the family lived in Utah while her father worked as Superintendent of Iron County schools. In 1930 she and sister, Margie, were lodging with Grace Brian in Utah.

In December 1932 she arrived in the colony along with her mother, sister Marjory, and aunt Lou in a Studebaker sedan driven by Gordon Pickett. The car had been donated to the colony by George Bancroft of Portland, Oregon and young Gordon was sent to pick up the car and on the return trip to collect the Lewis family from Salt Lake City.  

Home in Colony: On their arrival the family moved into the house previuosly occupied by George Pickett. The old place was vacant for only about an hour before the Lewis' were seen carrying in their household goods.

In early February 1933 the little cabin her father and brother had occupied before the ladies of the family arrived became the center of interest at the Kid Kolony, for "Jack" (Jasmine) Lewis and Gordon Pickett had been seen slyly scouring it and furnishing it with a few neat articles of furniture. The school children kept asking, "when is it going to happen?" but they only smiled and said, "Oh, you'll know soon enough." 

Job in Colony: Soon after her arrival in December 1932 she was helping Lloyd Potter, the fourth grade teacher, teach a Hungarian folk dance to Hilda Mahler and Genevieve Quipp, ages 9 and 10, to be performed at the Christmas program.

In April of 1933 McClurg had planted most of the beans with the two row planter except a piece of the garden which Gordon had planted with the one-row planter. "Mrs. Gordon Pickett" had put in many beans by hand with whatever help she could get.  

Other Info: She helped decorate the big dining hall at the Kid Kolony in December 1932 by making paper window curtains, designed with candles and wreaths, for all the windows. She and Marjory also made dozens of cute peanut men -- the head, body, arms and legs were whole peanuts fastened together with thread.

In January 1933 Doc Williams was planning a Gypsy Program for the theater; Sidney and Ethel Archer were helping him work it out "while the fiddles and etycetery were plinging and a plunking at the roof garden." Lloyd Potter, Gordon Pickett and Margaret (sic) and Jasmine Lewis were practicing the steps for Mrs. Archer's act.  

Post-Colony History: In 1934 she had a daughter, Geraldine Lou Pickett. Her residence in 1935 was in Lewiston, Idaho.

In 1940 she was a resident at North Idaho Insane Asylum and Sanitorium.  

Death:  

Sources: US Census: 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940; "Llano Colonist": December 24, 1932, December 31, 1932, January 28, 1933, March 4, 1933, March 11, 1933, April 8, 1933, April 15, 1933, April 22, 1933; US Social Security Application and Claims