The Lifelong Travels of Joe Quinney

“My grandfather Joe Quinney enjoyed travel throughout his life. His father, Joseph Quinney Jr., was a man who also traveled. He served an LDS mission in Samoa and also twice in Canada. So perhaps the desire to travel was early instilled in Joe Quinney after hearing tales of faraway places from his father.

Joe Quinney started his travels early in life. He served an LDS mission in what today is Germany, Austria and Hungary. He had many good memories from his time in Europe, but it was not until much later in life that he was able to return.

As a young lawyer there was not much time for travel and so Joe and his wife Jess and their two children, Dave and Janet, did local travel. They visited the wonderful parks of Utah and their summer home at Bear Lake. Both children were skiers and so, during the ski season, the family traveled to ski areas to compete in racing and other events. Sometime around 1950 they took a vacation to Hawaii and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the island that was still not highly developed at that time.

In 1955, Joe and Jess flew to Europe for an extended vacation. There were among the first to fly over the pole with SAS airlines. Joe wore his ski boots in order to avoid paying excess baggage fees. Part of the European trip was to include skiing in Switzerland. For transportation around Europe, they bought a Mercedes and, at the end of the trip, shipped it back to Utah. It was the first Mercedes in Utah and Ken Garf needed to get special training to service the car.

Europe was a wonderful time for them, but they also visited Guatemala with their daughter Janet and enjoyed the many sights and vistas that are to be found there.

In about 1958, Jess and Joe joined Jess’s brothers-in-law, Marriner Eccles and his wife Sallie and George and Lolie Eccles, for a trip to Japan. Utah Construction Company, as it was known at that time, had had a ship built and they were here for the launching. It was a fascinating visit and their first to Asia.

I had moved to England in 1965 and Jess and Joe visited me there twice. In 1965 we did an extended visit to Europe and revisited some of the places that they first discovered back in 1955. The second visit was to England alone and we were joined by my sister and her husband. It was a delightful trip as we traveled around England and Wales.

Following that trip, Joe Quinney did not travel out of the US again. But that does not mean that he did not travel. He and his wife spent time in Palm Desert, Carmel, California, and also attended various banking and law meetings around the country.

I know that Joe Quinney always believed that travel broadened the mind and he made sure that his children and grandchildren all visited Europe as well as the national parks in Utah and surrounding states. He certainly believed that his experiences from traveling were helpful in his practice and his understanding of the law. As he quoted many times – ‘travel broadens the mind.'”

-Frederick Q. Lawson, grandson