Comments on: Jane Simpson Bleakley: Lone Latter-day Saint in Ceylon

By: harrison h. horn

harrison h. horn — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 06:38:10 +0000

I served in Bangor on my mission in Ireland dec. 69-71 and had the good fortune to be invited to the bleakly home for christmas dinner and to open gifts the family gave to myself and my companion christmas 1970. Grandma Bleakley was still playing the piano on sundays for the branch and was a delight to all. The Bleakley home was quit an impressive site for a young man from Orem Ut. as it was the closest thing to a mansion I had ever seen, with suits of armor in the great hallway and a commanding stairway with a glass dome etc. What a great family!

By: Jonathan M.

Jonathan M. — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:24:26 +0000

I believe there are several descendants of Sis. Bleakley still active in the church in the UK, including a member of a Stake Presidency.

By: Alison

Alison — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:30:31 +0000

The Bleakley family were still members of the Church in Belfast in the 70s and 80s, I believe.

By: The Other Clark

The Other Clark — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:22:17 +0000

It would have been a major effort to get missionaries anywhere near Ceylon during this period. I suspect that the nearest FT missionaries were in Australia or South Africa. (In either case, it’s a 4,000 mile trip one way–likely by boat.) I suppose the nearest they came to Church leadership in Ceylon was when Elders McKay and Cannon crossed the Indian Ocean in 1921 on the leg from Java to Jerusalem.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:13:55 +0000

Oh, and as one gets older, everything starts to look a bit like On The Beach. Except for the looking (or sounding) like Gregory Peck part.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:12:12 +0000

Shades of A Town Like Alice, perhaps?

I know someone who served a mission in Ireland in the late 1960s. I’ll have to see if he ever served in Bangor, and whether he has any memories of the Bleakley family.

By: Amy T

Amy T — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:28:12 +0000

Wow. Her life sounds like a Nevil Shute novel. (Not On The Beach, though!) Thanks for sharing the story.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:21:14 +0000

In 1934, a young missionary writing for the Millennial Star (somebody named, um, Gordon B. Hinckley) wrote a profile of Jeannie's son John as a "highlight in local leadership." After describing John's outstanding academic and physical achievements, Elder Hinckley said, "There is nothing blustery about his style, nothing officious about his manner. He is a quiet, mild-mannered young fellow with one predominant physical characteristic -- a smile, heartening and infectious." He quoted John's message to the M Men of the Church: "We can be of the utmost service to others and to ourselves only if we are fit, morally, mentally and physically -- the end to which the M Men organization is designed. I commend this great group to all young men, regardless of their religious affiliations, as the young man's ideal: self-government; character formation; development morally, physically, and intellectually; recreation; the study of the recognized arts; and service. The true sportsman has but one rule -- 'Play the game.'"

By: Amira

Amira — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:04:46 +0000

Thanks, Ardis. I hope you can track down her letter to the newspaper.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:20:36 +0000

Thank you, Mina. You can see why I’d like to have her published letter …