Lingering lights

Daughter remembered through holiday display in her honor

By Sebastián Moraga

Herald staff writer

MARLIN - Even in this remote location of Grant County, Christmas is alive and well thanks to a loving tribute that has lasted nearly two decades.

Ed and Doris Jasman, residents of this area for nearly half a century, have turned their yard into a paradise of lights that has attracted visitors and camera crews from all over the state.

It all began at the end of 1988 as a tribute to their daughter, Jan, who had died of leukemia in September of that year.

"She loved lights," she said. "We were feeling kind of down, so I said, let's put some lights out there."

The first display to light up the skies on Nov. 29, Jan's birthday, was a 40-feet-tall star. Then, in 1989, it was a 40-feet-tall angel, which has become a trademark of sorts for the display.

"Our neighbor says that that is Jan," Doris said.

By the sixth year, the star and the angel (Doris's favorite) had morphed into a winter wonderland that included a train, a Santa, a snowman, a "Noel," a Washington Huskies football helmet and a Navy helicopter, which is a favorite of Ed's, a Korean War veteran.

Ed made it a point to add a different display each year, until 2002. That year, with the total of lights up to 35,000, he cut the number down to 30,000.

Their light bill sometimes runs them past $300, and each of the past four or five years, Ed has vowed to quit doing the display that Christmas. And yet, they are still there, built, installed, connected and then dismantled (on the last week of December or the first of the new year) entirely by a single person.

"Every year he says he'll quit, and every year, he is back," Doris said.

There are three reasons for the fact that the lights are still there, 17 years later. It's still a tribute to Jan, the neighbors still tell him he can't quit and for a 70-year-old farmer, it's still fun to do it.

"I guess I will do it for as Iong as I can," he said. "It does get harder each year."

The idea of taking on associates to help him put up the lights is practically unthinkable.

"Oh, nobody can help him," Doris said with a smile. "He is Mr. Perfection, each light has to be perfect."

But why not use a helping hand? Their son Jerry lives next door and they have a grandson living nearby.

"Because I figure nobody is going to do it as good as me," he said.

With the tribute to Jan turned into an annual, intricate hobby and the single star turned into 15 different displays, the question is what would the original lover of lights say if she saw her parents' front yard now?

"She would say we are crazy," Doris said of her daughter. "She would say 'That's my dad!”'