If You Could Hie to Kolob

 LDS Hymn 284 is one of my favorites. During a memorial service I recently attended, all 5 verses were sung. I think the notation at the beginning of the hymn explaining how the hymn is to be sung is appropriate for both singing the hymn and even just reading the lyrics: “With contemplation”

If You Could Hie to Kolob

With contemplation

1. If you could hie to Kolob

In the twinkling of an eye,

And then continue onward

With that same speed to fly,

Do you think that you could ever,

Through all eternity,

Find out the generation

Where Gods began to be?

2. Or see the grand beginning,

Where space did not extend?

Or view the last creation,

Where Gods and matter end?

Methinks the Spirit whispers,

“No man has found ‘pure space,’

Nor seen the outside curtains,

Where nothing has a place.”

3. The works of God continue,

And worlds and lives abound;

Improvement and progression

Have one eternal round.

There is no end to matter;

There is no end to space;

There is no end to spirit;

There is no end to race.

4. There is no end to virtue;

There is no end to might;

There is no end to wisdom;

There is no end to light.

There is no end to union;

There is no end to youth;

There is no end to priesthood;

There is no end to truth.

5. There is no end to glory;

There is no end to love;

There is no end to being;

There is no death above.

There is no end to glory;

There is no end to love;

There is no end to being;

There is no death above.

Text: William W. Phelps, 1792–1872

https://youtu.be/7OdUBvB3Ots

All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience

 From a May 6, 2023 Facebook post.

Inspirational thought of the day for my friends who are experiencing hard things.

In a recent podcast, my neighbor Liz Watt talked about how difficult experiences can actually be blessings.

This got me thinking about what God told Joseph Smith while he was unjustly imprisoned in miserable circumstances in Missouri for several months during the cold winter of 1839 while fellow Saints (including some of my ancestors) in destitute condition were driven from the state in the middle of winter by a governor’s cruel extermination order. After enumerating a lengthy list of awful theoretical and real fates, the Lord told  Joseph…

“ …know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” D&C 122:7

It would seem then that the purpose of mortality is NOT to experience fairness and always enjoy ease and comfort, but to be tested and have our character tried and tempered in the crucible of adversity. 

Difficult circumstances and needful opposition in all things provide valuable experiences and tutoring that can be achieved in no other way. 

If endured well with an eternal perspective, these difficult experiences from which we would prefer to be spared, will emerge in hindsight as blessings from a loving God that will sanctify and purify our souls, and through the Atonement and grace of Christ, help us become the kind of beings who, at the conclusion of our mortal probations, will be comfortable in the presence of Almighty God and fellow Saints who have also been willing to humbly submit to the will and wisdom of Him who knoweth all things, and to consecrate their whole souls to qualify to receive Eternal Life, the greatest of all the gifts of God.

So then…as the Lord counseled the Prophet Joseph…

“Therefore, hold on thy way…for God shall be with you forever and ever.”

Blood Red Moon

Last night’s full moon was made blood red by the smoke from forest fires on the West Coast. A good friend commented the night before that he’d never seen such a sight before. 

Such visuals remind me of the scriptural prophecies of the last days foretelling of great pollutions and the moon turning to blood.

 

May God preserve the Constitution of the United States

Yesterday, July 24th, was Pioneer Day in Utah. Its the state holiday set aside to commemorate the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who, not unlike the Pilgrims, fled outside the then existing boundaries of their own country in order to escape persecution, safeguard their families, and emigrate to a location where they could simply worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.

However, they were not just religious refugees. They were also political refugees who were literally running for their lives. They had been violently driven out of the states of New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. For decades, their "guaranteed" rights under the United States Constitution had not just been denied, but repeatedly trampled upon. They were denied voting rights, religious freedom, their private property was either destroyed or confiscated after being forced to flee to save their lives, they were denied the right to keep and bear arms, their free speech rights were met with threats and acts of violence. They suffered every manner of threats, harassment, terroristic violence, arson, tar and feathering, mutilations, assault, rape, and murder, even of their leaders, plus an official extermination order signed by a governor. They sought justice and redress from both state and national leaders, but were rejected.

So, while it is inspiring to focus on their amazing faith and fortitude, NEVER FORGET how the violations of Constitutional liberty made life so unbearable that they were forced to flee the boundaries of the United States to survive. 

Our United States Constitution is a document, a framework, whose basic principles were inspired by God to secure the "rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles".

However, the United States Constitution is only an historical document, a passive relic, UNLESS the principles it espouses are preserved, supported, and fiercely defended by both elected political leaders AND We The People of the United States of America to protect the rights of ALL minorities, be they racial, religious, cultural, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, etc. etc.

THIS is one reason why the Founding Fathers crafted our country as a Constitutional Republic rather than as a pure democracy, because as few as 50.1% of voters can, have, and will inflict horrible injustice on the other 49.9%. So don’t you believe all those arguments by people seeking to impose their agenda that the US Constitution is outdated and inefficient. 

May God preserve the principles enshrined in the United States Constitution and may God preserve the United States of America as long as We The People are righteous enough to warrant His blessings!

Weather photos and videos from June 29, 2021

 The following videos were taken from my Riverton, Utah home on June 29, 2021 during a period of thunderstorms.

These photos were taken of the sunset over the Oquirrh Mountains on 6/29/21.

Glenn Rawson shares "Get on that Bus" story

 During his March 21, 2021 Facebook Fireside, Glenn Rawson shared the miraculous events that happened to Kim and I on March 1, 2013. The story is entitled "Get On That Bus". The lead-in to the story begins at the 16:15 mark of the video.

"I Need Thee Every Hour" A Glenn Rawson Stories Devotional March 21, 2021 - Glenn Rawson Stories

TRIBUTE TO JAMES (JIM) D. MOON

 

The first time I recall meeting Jim Moon was one snowy winter during the late 1960’s when my older siblings and I decided to use our parent’s very old ski equipment to slide down the sloped front lawn of our home on the east bench of Bountiful, Utah. Perhaps we were inspired by watching the ski jumping competition at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. We built a small jump (just big enough to get a few inches off the ground) midway down the hill so we’d have room above to get a little speed and room below for landing and stopping before careening into the street.

 I still don’t know how Jim, who lived in Farmington and who I didn’t recall having ever met before, found out about our lame attempts at skiing. Never the less, I recall my mother driving our family to Farmington to go meet this family who were complete strangers to me. I was told that supposedly Jim and my father were friends growing up. My father was an Air Force pilot who had been shot down over North Vietnam and had been Missing in Action for about a year and a half.

 At the time, the Moon family consisted of father Jim and mother Sue, and two boys. Paul was 3 years younger than I and Wayne was several years younger than my brother Warren. They were very nice and hospitable, but I was still uncertain why we drove to their house to meet them. Then Jim asked if we would be interested in learning how to ski. I remember thinking, “You mean up in the mountains on those BIG hills like we’d seen on television”? I was both excited and scared. Jim knew how to ski and was willing to teach us. WOW! He reassured us that we’d start out on easy, beginner slopes.

 We bought some ski equipment and a few Saturdays later Jim was there in his truck and camper to pick us up at our house to take us skiing. I remember reading an illustrated book he brought along that explained skiing for beginners, intermediate, and advanced skiers. The very first lesson was the proper way to carry our skis from the vehicle to the lift. The second lesson was learning how to side-slip without either the tips or tails of the skis heading down the hill. Then we practiced how to get back up after falling. Then came the big moment when we had to learn how to get on the ski lift chairs. Back in the old days, the chairs did not have the feature that enables the clamp that holds the chair to the cable to release and allow the chair clamp to slip on the cable and slow down when getting on the lift. The chairs moved quickly and at first it was challenging while wearing long, awkward skis to get into position immediately after the previous chair moved out of the way, but before the next fast moving chair hit you in the back of the knees. forcing you to sit down. After managing to NOT fall off the ski lift to what seemed certain death, next we had to learn how to keep our ski tips up and manage to get off the ski lift without falling and having the next chair of skiers have to ski around or into us. Getting off the lift successfully took quite a bit of focus and practice.

 As I recall, the ones who skied the most were Jim, Paul, Warren and myself. It seemed like Jim took us skiing several times a month. We started out at Brighton, but as we got more proficient, we would sometimes go to Park City, which had MUCH longer runs. Sometimes we even went night skiing on school nights. That was usually cold, with sometimes icy ski conditions. Back in the good ol’ days, skiing was MUCH less expensive. I recall all-day all area passes being $5.50 and half-day passes for the entire Brighton resort being only $4.50 and only $3.50 if you were willing to use only the shortest ski lift associated with the easiest green circle runs, then called Mary. This was the perfect, gently sloping, mogul-less run on which to learn how to play follow the leader as Jim showed us how to do the snowplow maneuver to slow down or turn. We eventually progressed to learning how to do Stem-Christie turns, then Christie turns, and a year or so later, we learned how to parallel ski doing slalom turns. I really enjoyed and excelled at skiing. Jim sometimes called me the snake because I could perform many consecutive graceful parallel turns, which produce a track in the snow that looks like a snake. Jim would often bring along hot cocoa in wino bags or thermos bottles which sure tasted good when we were tired and cold. Jim was SO good to us.

 When early spring arrived, Jim asked if I’d be willing to work for him in his cherry orchards. I think Warren helped some, also. I had learned to drive a tractor helping my Uncle Vince do farm work, so I was able to drive Jim’s tractor. At first we loaded up smudge pot assemblies onto a flatbed trailer and distributed them throughout the orchards, then assembled them and connected them to plastic tubing that would be pressurized with diesel fuel, then stayed up most of the night when the low temperatures were going to endanger the blossoms to light and manage the smudge pots.

 In the summer, I mowed their large back yard with a riding mower, which was fun. I also used the tractor to mow the field grass in the orchards and distributed ladders and buckets for U-pick customers who came to pick their own cherries. Right before cherry season, we also distributed fliers for U-pick cherries throughout neighborhoods in Bountiful. I helped sell pre-picked cherries from the shade of the Moon’s carport. To help control the bothersome flies, we hung very sticky spiral fly paper strips from the ceiling of the carport. We learned to try hard to never touch that flypaper because it was very hard to get off our hands. Of course, we all got to eat all the cherries we wanted.

 To help pollinate the cherry orchards, Jim also raised bees. It was amazing to see him work around millions of buzzing and potentially dangerous bees, sometimes without any protective gear, using only the smoke of smoldering burlap in a smoker to calm the bees down where he could open up the hives and check on the production of honey, which he would sell.

Some of the other chores required to maintain an orchard which Jim had me help with included pruning and irrigating. Jim used hydraulic powered pruning shears operated from the end of an elevating boom arm attached to a 3-wheel cherry picker. My job was to put the trimmed limbs on a tractor pulled flatbed trailer and haul them to a pile at the edge of the orchard.

Since the cherry orchards were located at the base of the mountains, deer would frequently come down into the orchards looking for food to eat. They especially like to strip all the leaves and bark off of young cherry trees, which kills them. One method Jim had me help with to protect the small trees is to surround them with chicken wire attached to stakes in the ground. Some farmers (not Jim) sometimes used other methods to deal with dear eating their cash crop. They would either shoot them or scare them off with a rifle. So, Fish and Wildlife agents would give farmers bags of M-80 firecrackers. The waterproof fuses could be inserted into a combustible rope at regular intervals. The rope would be set on fire and would smolder until the embers reached a fuse, at which time the firecracker would go off and scare off any deer in the area. I don't recall Jim ever actually using the rope method, but I did happen upon a bag of old M-80 firecrackers in a shed and had fun lighting some of them and throwing them into a pond, where they would explode and shoot a small geyser of water into the air and create ripples across the pond. Waterproof firecrackers were great fun for a teenager.

 Speaking of fun, Jim had a black Yamaha 80cc motorcycle which he taught me to ride to get from one part of the farm to another. I had been fantasizing for years over the mini-bikes and go-carts in Sears catalogs. I kept asking my mother to buy me one, but she always found a reason to delay a purchase, without coming out and saying “no”. Jim’s motorcycle was MUCH better! I was proud of myself when I finally figured out how to use the manual transmission. I was fascinated with the bright lights in the instrument cluster: green when the transmission was in neutral, blue when the high beam headlight was on. There was also a red light, which maybe came on when the key was turned on. The bike had just enough power to have fun, but not enough for a new rider to get into trouble. Eventually Jim bought a Yamaha 125cc bike that the previous owner had bored out to 175cc. Now THIS bike could get up and go and even climb some hills. Several years later, Jim bought a Honda 350cc 4-stroke dirt bike. The other bikes had noisy 2-stroke engines, but the Honda was smooth and quiet and POWERFUL! It was very fun to ride. Jim was so kind and patient with me! Thanks to Jim, I rode motorcycles for many years. By being safety conscious and fortunate, my accidents have all been relatively minor and I have survived.

 Sometimes after we had finished our work, we’d ride bikes down to Lagoon and go swimming in the million gallon pool. Back in the good old days, you could enter through a back gate into Lagoon for free and then just pay a small fee to go swimming. I loved the huge water slide from which you could skid across the surface of the water on the bottom of your legs. The spinning disc was another fun attraction. The highlight was daring one another to jump off THE TOWER. which was about 30 feet high.

 After cherry season, Jim’s family would invite my siblings and I to accompany them to Flaming Gorge, where they had an older cabin cruiser boat they co-owned. The official name of the boat was Happy Wanderer, but Jim often referred to it as the Old Hog, because it was a converted sailboat and had a rather flat bottom which did not provide a great deal of stability when going over waves. None of my family had been boating before. It was great fun. We spent most of the time on the lake fishing by trolling with pop-gear. Warren and I had been fishing before with our Uncle Glen and our cousin Cort, but we’d never been fishing from a boat before. It was much less boring than just sitting on the shore waiting for a fish to wiggle your bobber. The thing that really AMAZED me was that this boat had a Coleman stove that enabled Sue to cook meals RIGHT ON THE BOAT! I was flabbergasted the first time she passed me a paper plate up on the bow where I was fishing with a hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, and hash-browns. I felt I had died and gone to heaven. GORGEOUS scenery, mirror smooth water, and a hot breakfast on the lake. WOW!

 Fishing was usually best near dawn and dusk. Sometimes during the heat of the day, Jim would take turns pulling the kids around the lake on a wake-board like device, which was tied to the boat and the rider held onto a rope that extended up from near the front of the board. The board had no bottom fin and therefore wiggled from side to side and was unstable going over the wake or at higher speeds, but falling off was half the fun. Over the years, the Moons took us to Flaming Gorge several times, including my mother and sisters and even some of our relatives. The Moons were SO kind to us!

 Jim owned several hunting dogs and belonged to a hunting club west of Ogden. Jim and Paul would take me pheasant hunting with them. Perhaps Warren also went a time or two. We all survived without shooting each other and I got to taste pheasant for the first time. It is DELICIOUS! But watch out for any undiscovered buckshot!

 Myself and some of my siblings went with the Moon family on several fun overnight trips in their pickup truck and camper shell to harvest pine nuts in Nevada.

One summer Jim was hired to brick the outside of a home a few houses north of where my Uncle Glen and Aunt Joyce Lambson lived on North Main Street in Farmington. He hired me as a hod tender to haul bricks and make and transport mortar. That was hot, hard work. I was amazed that Jim knew how to lay bricks, among his many other skills. The rows were straight, looked good, and the house is still standing, so I must not have messed up too bad when mixing the mortar.  

 Jim bought or leased Nephi Taylor’s old gas station located at the intersection of Main Street and Shepard Lane. I think it has since been converted into a beauty salon. Jim had me work at the store during the summers, selling gas, fruit, and groceries. Those old gas pumps were the kind where you pumped first and paid later. I remember that the pumps were mechanically limited how high a price per gallon they would support- $.50/gallon perhaps. When the cost of gas became higher than the pumps would support, the pumps had to be adjusted to half the actual cost/gallon and then signs were posted informing customers to pay twice the amount on the pump. I’m unsure whether Jim ever broke even on that business venture and I think the store shutdown when inspectors discovered that the underground gasoline tanks were leaking and were too expensive to repair, or when cars starting requiring unleaded gas and the station couldn’t accommodate two kinds of gasoline.

 I recall Jim taking myself and Warren and Paul to several Utah Stars basketball games at the Salt Palace, including the championship game in early 1971 when the Stars beat the Kentucky Colonels for the American Basketball Association (ABA) Championship. When time expired with the Stars ahead, the already delirious fans stormed the court and mobbed the Stars players. That game has been called one of the greatest scenes in Utah sports history. Jim was so thoughtful and kind to invite me.

 Jim also took me deer hunting several times. We usually went up Farmington Canyon and hunted on the east side of the ridge line. We may have gotten a deer once or twice, but I remember most of the time was spent just sitting and waiting while occasionally hearing other hunters shooting in the distance. After my father returned home, I recall him coming with us at least once. What was most memorable about that trip was that Jim invited as many fellow hunters to climb into the back of his four wheel drive pickup as could physically fit, and then with the traction that all that weight provided, he was able to climb up a steep, snowy and muddy road that I was AMAZED that the truck could navigate. I was very impressed. Jim was SO kind to invite me.

 During several summers, Jim took Paul, Warren, and myself into the Uinta mountains to cut and haul out firewood. THAT was HARD work! It would take us several days to cut up enough wood from dead and fallen trees to fill the back of an old (1940’s?) high rack cargo truck, which I was reminded was nicknamed The Phoenix. I learned how to safely handle powerful chainsaws and got a great workout from hefting and hauling those cutup pieces of tree trunks and branches. When I was old enough to drive, I would make trips by myself and drive that old truck down the logging roads, through the southwest corner of Wyoming, and then down back to Farmington, where we unloaded the wood into huge piles of wood across from the sheds behind his home. As I was driving down Echo Canyon on August 10, 1972, I was amazed to see a fireball streaking across the sky trailing smoke. I worried that it was an airplane on fire. It turned out to be what is known today as the Great Daylight Fireball, a 10-45 foot wide meteor traveling at almost 10 miles/second and so bright that was visible during the day over much of the Intermountain West.

On several occasions while going or coming from Flaming Gorge or the Uintas, Jim would agree to take an out-of-the-way detour to Evanston, Wyoming and treat us to a chuckwagon dinner at an Old West-style outdoor restaurant, complete with teepees and covered wagons. Did I mention that the Moons were very kind to us?

I remember that Jim was outspoken about his disdain for then President Nixon, especially during the Watergate hearings. Regardless of anything else President Nixon did or didn't do, if he had not decided to resume intense bombing of North Vietnam near the end of 1972, the North Vietnamese, who had broken off peace talks in hopes of waiting for the American anti-war movement to force the US to unilaterally withdraw, the Prisoners of War would have ended up being used as pawns and hostages for a much longer duration of time. President Nixon's actions helped bring the POWs home sooner, for which I will always be grateful.

Prior to Jim started his TransAlaska business of hauling frozen fish from Alaska via semi-trucks, he experimented with hiring drivers to haul lugs of fruit from northern Utah into small towns in Utah and Nevada to sell to retail grocery stores or from the side of the road. Since I did not have a chauffeur’s license at the time, and had no experience driving semi-trucks, I went along to ride shotgun (so to speak), to help load and unload, and help keep the driver awake on the long drives.

 James Dean Moon was a family man, a school teacher, a jack of all trades, and an entrepreneur. He was born a year before the actor James Dean, so his parents weren't trying to name him after a movie star. Above all else, I’ll always remember, and be grateful for, Jim's kindness to myself and my family at a critical time in my life when I needed a substitute father, someone who cared about me enough to treat me like I was practically a member of the family, to provide experiences that helped me learn, mature, and generate memories that I will cherish forever. Thank you, Jim. Thank you, Sue. Paul, thank you for being my friend during those formative years. I look forward to meeting Jim again in the next life to reminisce about our time together, and tell tall tales about the BIG fish and deer that we ALMOST brought home.

 

Thanksgiving Day Tender Mercy

 

2020-11-26 Journal Entry- Thanksgiving

 It would be an understatement to say that most of 2020 has been a lousy year for most of the planet. Pandemic. Much sickness and many deaths. Political strife and civil unrest. Earthquakes. Wildfires. Floods. Unable to hold normal church meetings or worship in temples. Missionaries being called home. Many businesses struggling or failing. Many have lost jobs and/or are struggling financially. Being strongly encouraged by government leaders and health experts to not gather together in large family groups for the holidays. Even though I've been striving to follow counsel to focus on the many things for which I am truly thankful rather than my problems, I've had rather low expectations for this Thanksgiving Day.

 This morning I awoke early and finished the last chapter in a book written by my friend Debbie Matthews entitled "Excelling through Adversity". Debbie uses personal experiences as a parent and former professional motocross champion to teach important lessons. The book reminds disciples of Christ that this mortal life is INTENDED to be difficult and full of tests and trials. It is a book of hope and encouragement to persevere in the face of opposition in all things, exercising faith in God and NOT quitting when the going gets tough. Among the many analogies in the book is that we should look to Christ as our guiding light in an ever darkening world.

 So, I sent Debbie a brief, but heartfelt thank you note and turned my attention to helping my wife prepare for Thanksgiving. One of the things she had me do was replace a nearly empty bottle of hand soap in one bathroom with a new one. I decided to move the nearly empty bottle next to our laundry room sink. While I was in the laundry room, I was impressed to tidy up some painting supplies that we have temporarily stored on the counter top. As I did so, I noticed for maybe the first time since we've lived here that there is a GFCI plug on the laundry room wall facing the hallway. The thought crossed my mind that I should check whether the plug was tripped or reset. I pushed the test and reset buttons several times. Then I checked and found out that the only other electrical outlet in the room (for the washer and dryer) was oddly not on the same circuit. The question popped into my mind, "I wonder what other electrical outlets ARE on this circuit"? THEN my eyes got very big!

 I've been struggling for many months (maybe a year) to troubleshoot and figure out why the electrical outlets on the backside of the outside of our home stopped working, even though they worked when we moved in. I have checked circuit breakers and all the GFCI electrical outlets I was aware of, to no avail. Unsolved mystery. We have a string of lights on the rear of our home that we use to plug into the exterior electrical outlets. Since the outlets have been non-functional, we've had to connect the lights via an extension cord running through a rear door and plugged in to an outlet inside the house. Less than ideal.

 You can probably see where this story is going. After recognizing that I had found and reset a previously unknown GFCI outlet, I went outside and plugged the string of lights directly into one of the exterior electrical outlets. The lights beautifully illuminated the darkness of the predawn morning. What a SERENDIPITY! What a tender mercy to have a long running puzzling problem resolved on the very day I had completed a book of hope and encouragement to not quit...AND on Thanksgiving morning! My heart swelled with gratitude and appreciation. The experience of having the string of lights illuminate the darkness was a reminder to me to trust in the Lord, the Light of the World with all my heart, because he sees the end from the beginning and his promises are sure.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

Self Control

When I was a child, I would bring home from school report cards that accurately informed my parents that I needed improvement in self control. This was no surprise to them. My father tried hard to motivate me to acquire this virtue.  As I have increased in age, and in experience from trial and error, and hopefully also in wisdom, I’ve learned that the only real control is self control and that it must be self-acquired and cannot be completely attained by external motivations. I’ve also learned that self control is not a simple one-and-done check mark in the citizenship section of an elementary school report card, but is a lifelong inner struggle. The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu advised the following: “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” I believe that implied in the admonition to “watch” is the need for self control of all these determinators of our eternal soul. An ancient American king and prophet named Benjamin taught his people something similar. “And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are diverse ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them. But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.” Mosiah 4:29-30 God has granted each of us the gift of agency, the right to choose. Therefore each of us is the captain of our own ship and responsible for choosing the port to which we sail. The storms of life will inevitably arise to attempt to push us off course, but ultimately each of us determines whether we make needed course corrections to achieve our ultimate destination, with the crucial assistance of the Lord.

Hold On Thy Way

During the past few months as I have watched videos of persons on the receiving end of unjust and unmerited vile and potentially provocative words and often injurious and even fatal assaults, I have literally lain awake at night rehearsing those situations and wondering how I would respond if I were to find myself in similar circumstances. 

Could I, would I, follow the Master’s invitation to Come Follow Me and meekly turn the other cheek, or would I respond reflexively and impetuously as did the Savior’s chief disciple when he drew his sword and defended and retaliated?

As I have pondered past, present, and possible future adversity and injustices, two messages I’ve recently sought to digest have seemed like answers to my prayerful pleadings for guidance and strength.

Quotes from an article from the July 2020 Ensign entitled, “Surviving and Thriving Like the Pioneers“:

“The question is not whether we will be faithful when things go well; rather, will we be faithful when they don’t? Faith is faithfulness in uncertainty and disappointment, faithfulness not to get one’s way, faithfulness regardless of the outcome.”

“Our natural instinct understandably is to shrink from hardship, but it is a grave mistake for that to be life’s primary objective. That kind of thinking wrongly equates the pursuit of joy with the hollowness of ease. While that has some appeal, it is a deeply flawed strategy because suffering and joy are not incompatible but rather essential companions. You can suffer and never know joy, but you can’t have joy without suffering.”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2020/07/surviving-and-thriving-like-the-pioneers?lang=eng

The second source of inspiration is Elder Jeffrey Holland’s 2008 BYU Devotional address entitled: “Lessons from Liberty Jail".

1- Everyone, including and perhaps ESPECIALLY the righteous, will be called upon to face trying times.

2- Just because difficult things happen, sometimes unfair and seemingly unjustified things, it does NOT mean that we are unrighteous, or that we are unworthy of blessings, or that God is disappointed in us.

3- In the midst of these difficult feelings, when one could be justifiably angry or reactionary or vengeful, wanting to return an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the Lord reminds us from the Liberty Jail Prison-Temple, that “the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only (or except) upon the principles of righteousness.... No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.”

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jeffrey-r-holland/lessons-liberty-jail/

Striving For Understanding

Even though we have black and brown grandchildren that have either lived with us in the past or currently live with us, and whom I love with all my heart, I don't completely understand what it will be like for them to BE mixed-race Americans. While I have some limited cognitive understanding, I also don't completely understand what it's like to be female, gay, vertically challenged, or deal with life-long physical handicaps, because these are not my personal experiences.

I am a tall, Caucasian, college-educated, relatively healthy, heterosexual male American citizen, who is striving to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and who derives joy from helping other people. I readily acknowledge that I enjoy some advantages (some would say privileges) because of the conditions of my birth, my citizenship, AND the natural consequences of the choices I have made and the hard work and diligence I have applied towards striving to achieve the American Dream of enjoying life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Even though I have studied the German language and even lived in Germany for several years long ago, I don't completely understand what its like to BE German. I have also studied Spanish and visited both urban and rural areas of Mexico on several occasions, but I don't completely understand what its like to BE Hispanic. I deeply love our gay son, but I do not completely understand what it is like to BE someone who has feelings of same gender attraction. Even though I have lived with my own mother or the mother of my children for nearly my entire life, I do not completely understand what its like to BE a mother. Even though our easy-going black son-in-law seems to get along with everyone, and even though I have spoken to him about his experiences as a black American, I do not completely understand what its like to BE him. Its difficult to understand what its like to be another person unless, as the saying goes, we walk a mile in someone else's shoes.

Back in Junior High or High School, I read a book entitled “Black Like Me”, which tells the story of a Caucasian man who chemically darkened his skin and travelled the Deep South during the late 1950’s to understand what it was like to BE a black American living in the segregated South. To say it was an eye opening experience would be an understatement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Like_Me

Fortunately, conditions have dramatically improved for black Americans in the past 60 years, but as the attached article points out, even successful and well known black American men have experiences with which I am mostly unfamiliar (although I too prefer to not be alone with females to whom I am not related in order to avoid the very appearance of impropriety)

I'm going to strive to be more empathetic with other people with whom I don't share identical life experiences and continue my efforts to serve and love others. I invite you to consider doing likewise.

https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2020/6/4/21280445/black-lives-matter-white-privilege-racism-alex-boye-julie-boye

A Birthday Tribute to Grandpa Newell

My paternal grandfather Newell Hess was born 120 years ago today on February 19, 1900, only 50 days into the 20th century.

Because most of my family members don’t have accounts on the JohnWHess.family website where on is stored his autobiography, I would like to share it here and send His descendants a link to read it.

Here is the preface Newell’s eldest son, and my father, Jay Hess wrote:

Preface

I feel a strong bond to my father Newell Hess. I liked him a lot. He worked hard. He worked long hours. He was thoughtful, respectful and considerate. He was quiet and reserved. He was thrifty, creative and inventive. He was a peacemaker.

I would like you to know him better. I would like to have known him better myself. That is my reason for making this available to you.

Sometime after I left home, Dad took one of my sister Joyce's orange school notebooks and spent a day writing the things he remembered. I don't remembering him keeping a diary but he did carry a small book and pencil in his shirt pocket. He carefully sharpened the pencil with his pocketknife. Each cut was the same depth. It was precision work, which I never duplicated. He carefully formed each letter when he wrote in that book. He had done some surveying and there was some carryover from that trade to the way he wrote in his pocketbook. In Joyce's book he wrote in long hand.

His handwriting tells something about him and his education.

I don't know if Dad attended any other school than the red brick school where eight grades were taught. I do not think he graduated from high school. By contrast, my mother graduated from Davis High School and later taught typing there. Our Uncle Hubert C. Burton was the educated relative.

He had a college degree and became Superintendent of the Davis School District. Dad didn't seem to suffer from his restricted education except there are some misspelled words I found when I used a spell checker. I tried not to change what he wrote but there are some notations in brackets and italics that I hope clarifies that it was not miscopied.

So this is Dad's story, or his Dad's story, or the story of his family, or the story of North Farmington or the story of the 1900's in rural Utah. I don't want to detract from that by my comments. I will add that when I was born in 1930, Dad already had built our really nice brick home at the present address of 947 N Main Street in Farmington. It was really exciting the one time I rode in the snowplow with him as he came by while I was walking home from Primary. I noticed he was really physically exhausted when he came home from working at the Ogden Arsenal where he moved ammunition. While he ran a dairy herd for several years, I think I only milked them one time by myself and then he go there in time to do the stripping. When farming was his main work he always loaded the bales on the truck while I drove. He built a Go-Devil out of an old truck to use as a tractor. The sounds of the anvil could often be heard as he built things like the first baled loader in this area that worked very well. He took us kids to Yellowstone and got me homesick by extending one trip into Canada. He took my friend and I deer hunting a long way up Shepard Canyon in deep snow just because I wanted to go. He never hunted for himself. He seldom bought anything for himself except it was desperately needed. I seemed to sense his anxiety about paying for the only tractor he bought - an Oliver 70 that had a special new paint smell. It was really hard to get in touch with me in Europe when Mom died but he held up the funeral until they found me and I got home. He later married Lenore Ostergaard and moved to her home in Bountiful. I lived with them for awhile and saw him, weakened from Leukemia, lying on the floor frequently. He decided he didn't want any more transfusions and then he was lying in bed frequently. He slipped away when we weren't looking when we went to the kitchen for a bite of breakfast. Joyce stopped by on her way home from the hospital to see how he was doing. She went to his bedroom, came back and said, ''He's gone."

This is what he said back then. I wonder what he would say today? 

Jay Hess 

Dec 1996

NEWELL’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

"As I Remember" by Newell Eugene Hess
My first recolection [recollection] goes back to about the year 1902, having been born Feb. 19, 1900 and living with My father Arthur Hess, My Mother Elenora Moon Hess, better known by all who knew her as Aunt Nellie; My two older brothers, Arthur V. and Glen, Glen being less than two years older than I, was my closest friend and pall [pal] all through our growing years. And then there were my two older sisters Ruth and Louise. 
The first event that I distintly [distinctly] remember was when Tracy was born, July 27, 1902, father took Glen and I in the bedroom to see him, after we had a good look at the tiny mite, dad said, "now you kids stay away from him or he will scratch your eyes out,". needless to say we stayed clear of him for some time to come. 
However Tracy grew faster than I did, and I grew faster than Glen so it was only a few years until we were all the same size and were sometimes mistaken for triplits [triplets]. We were all born at Farmington, Utah and all grew up there, under very pleasant surroundings. [W] we roamed at will from the mountain to the lake and some times to the tops of the mountains and some times far out into the lake,[.] Great Salt Lake at that time was quite different than it is to day, the water between Antelope Island and old Lake Park, west of Farmington was about ten feet deep and a forty ft [foot] boat would come to with in about one hundred fifty yards of the shore at lake park before it struck bottom.
Our greatest delight in our early child hood was when dad would take mother and the three younger boys in the single seated buggy with a lively team of horses and go for a nice long drive[.] Tracy would sit in the seat with mom & dad while Glen and I were placed in a small compartment back of the seat which was about two feet square and about eight inches deep,[.] there we would sit with our feet hanging out of the back until we got tired and then we would jump out and run along until we were glad to climb back in and ride again. 
At this time there were not any improved roads and paved roads were not even thought of at that time. In the summer the dust was several inches deep and during the wet season the mud was deeper than the dust had been during the summer and then when the mud froze solid and the land was covered with snow, then the wagons and buggies were laid aside and bob sleighs and cutters were used for transportation. To make the ride more joyful long strans [strands] of sleigh bells were attached to the horses and on a clear cold night those bells could be heard for a mile or two. When there were no bells there was absolute quiet. It would seem strange now days to step out of the house at night into the darkness with out a light visible anywhere except the stars overhead, and not hear a sound of any kind, it would indeed seem peaceful. At this time there was not any electric light or power, nor any automobiles or service stations or any radio or television or telephones or paved roads or sidewalks or city water or sewer systems. Some people were fortunate enough to have access to a spring in the hillside to get their water, others had a deep well outside the house from which they would draw water with a set of buckets on a rope[. ] some others would get their water from an open ditch near the house, but people were free and independent and self reliant, they depended on their own ability and their own resorces [resources.] if they could not change their conditions to suit their needs, they changed their needs to suit their conditions. They did not go screaming to the government every time they wanted something different, and the government did not demand 25 to 90% of all they had in return. But neighbors were alwas [always] willing to help each other.
The religious, educational, social and cultural center of our imidiate [immediate] comunity [community], known as North Farmington [,] was the school house, a tall two story brick building located on the grounds where the tennis court and the cherry orchard, presently owned by Ruland Moon now occupies.
Here school was conducted for the eight grades knows as Gramer school[.] the school consisted of about sixty pupils and two teachers. The fifth to eight grades met in one room down stairs, conducted by the principal and the 1st to fourth grades met in one room upstairs under another teacher. Farmington was all one ward, meeting in the rock chapel which is used today, however for the sake of convenience a branch Sunday school, MIA, primary and religion class was held in the North Farmington School house along with many social events such as dances[,] dinners and comunity [community] programs and dramas.
Prior to the construction of the brick school house located as before described on land donated to the comunity by Grandfather Henry Moon, school was held in a log building located south of the present North Farmington ward chapel. This building and grounds were later purchased by Thoms F. King and an addition was built on the east of the house and used for a dwelling. This is the home presently 1966 occupied by the Laurence Price family.
Prior to about the year 1908 the community was pretty much in its pioneer state. Most of the homes were two or three rooms some were brick some were frame and some were adobe, few if any had any paint outside and none had inside pluming [plumbing] or central heating, only one room in a house would be heated in the winter, except on special ocasions [occasions].
Everyone in the comunity made their living by farming, it being the only occupation that existed. There were many cattle raised for beef and quite a lot of fruit, cherries, peaches, apricots and apples and quite a lot of dairying.
And then from about 1908 or there about unil [until] 1918 things changed greatly. About 1906 the Bamberger rail road was completed from Lagoon to Ogden, having previously been built from Salt Lake City to Lagoon. A city water systum [system] was installed. An electric power plant was built at the mouth of Farmington Canyon and electricity was brought to much of the north part of Davis County. Automobiles began to come in to use and by 1920 most families were in possession of one.
During this period a paved road was constructed from Salt Lake to Ogden, the last link being completed during the summer of 1921, the road in Davis County was paid for entirely by the people of Davis County, However during this period The State Road Commission of Utah was organized during the administration of Governor Simon Bamberger but the commission had no source of revenue except for engineering, the counties furnishing all money for construction and maintenance. This would not be considered a very good road by the standards of today, the pavement being only sixteen and eighteen feet wide, but it served the needs of the day about as well as our super highways serve the needs of today.
In the Spring of 1917 the North Farmington Ward was organized under the Stake President James Henry Robinson. Arthur Hess was chosen Bishop with J. William Walker and George M. Leonard as counselors and John Ivan Hess as ward clerk. There were about forty families with about two hundred members in the ward at that time. All meetings were held in the schoolhouse until the new ward chapel was completed in 1919. 
Arthur Hess was born May 22, 1861 2nd son of John W Hess and Julia Peterson or (Person) at Farmington, Utah, there being two other sons and a daughter in the family, namely Heber Chase and John Fred and Emeline who married John A Bourne. There were also 59 other children of John W Hess who had seven wives. I don't know a great deal about my father and mother prior to the time of my remembrance, except the few tales which they related to us. My greatest delight was to sit by the old coal stove under the dim light of a kerosene lamp and listen to the stories of their experiences. I assume that their early childhood was not to different from the children of my time. They said each child was allowed one pair of shoes a year which were worn only in cold weather, the rest of the time they went barefoot. Their other clothes were home made from home spun cloth. 
The first job which my father spoke of was freighting coal with an older half brother, Henry Hess. One of them drove an ox team and the other a team of horses, they would go from Farmington to Coalville, and each get a load of coal then take it up Silvercreek Canyon to Park City then return to Coalville, get another load of coal and bring it home for winter use, the entire trip taking one week. They had to dig their own coal and haul it to the surface in a car pulled by a mule.
He later went to the Soda Springs area with a number of his brothers to cut ties for the railroad which was being built. This was very hard work, it was all done with an ax [axe], the trees would have to be chopped down the branches trimmed of [off], cut into proper lengths and the ties shaped ready for use.
Early in life father became interested in the sheep business and became very successful. The sheep were summered in the mountains around Soda Springs, Idaho and driven to the desert in western Boxelder County for the winter. He told of many interesting experiences during his sheep business career, both with men and with wild animals. The country was young and man and animals roamed pretty much at will. Men to quite an extent made their own laws, and if they were not strong enough to enforce them they were soon crowded out. One of his favorite stories which he told many times, was his experience with a Grizzly bear, he said he was going out to catch his horses one morning just as it was coming daylight, while going around a patch of scrub brush he saw a bear on the other side of the brush, in the half daylight he mistook the bear to be a small black one which were quite common and not very dangerous. So he thought to surprise the bear and give it a good scare. So he ducked his head and ran to meet the bear, but the bear did not scare in stead he reared up on his honches and stood there. When dad realized what had happened he was about three feet from the bear looking him straight in the eyes, he then realized it was not a black bear but a large Grizzly. Dad was six feet two inches tall and the bear was about the same height, he said he was terrified. He expected the bear to strike him down immediately, but it did not move neither did dad. He said he tried to whistle, he tried to sing and he tried to pray but he was not sure that he made any sound at all, so they just stood and looked at each other for about one hour, when the sun came up over the mountain, the bear immediately dropped down on all four feet and galloped away for about 100 ft. then stopped and looked back, dad said he still did not dare move for fear the bear would come back and treat him the same as a cat would treat a mouse, but after taking another brief look, the bear galloped on over the hill and was never seen again.
I never new how long he stayed in the sheep business for him self, but he eventually sold out and decided to spend more time at home, but he soon became restless and invested his money in what was known as the Utah Sheep Company headed by White and Sons of Salt Lake City. Then during a depression about 1898, the company being heavily in debt and the price of sheep and wool went so low that the company went bankrupt, and dad came out of penniless. Mother said he walked home with only a pair of red blankets under his arm. I remember these heavy red wool blankets remained around the house for many years until there was nothing left but rags.
Mother said, "she never new what had happened until dad had got started in other business, he later went in partner with his brother John Fred, to gather [together] they had a large dry farm in Boxelder County and some land on Haight Bench and some pasture land west of the old home in Farmington. At this time the folks were living in the home now owned by Clarence Perkins family. They later purchased the home south of Grandmother Hess’s home from John and Emeline Bourne, where they lived the rest of their lives. John Fred and Aunt Nell and family were living on the farm at Bear River, as we called it. When dad move to the Bourne home, then Uncle Fred and family moved in to the present Perkins home where they stayed for several years until they built the new home on the old Udy farm where they stayed the rest of their days.
During the time that dad and Uncle Fred worked to gather their families grew very close to gather they went into each others home and also into Grand mother Hess’s home just as they did their own. If we were in Uncle Fred's home at meal time, we were invited to eat there or if their kids were at our home they were invited to eat there.
The two families took turns going to Bear River to do the farming this was a two day trip with a team and covered wagon, I was too young to work but I remember making a few trips there with the folks and going with Dad on the header harvesting wheat or on a plow or riding with him back of the saddle on horseback. Acasionly [occasionally] he would take both Glen and I, one siting [sitting] in front of him in the sadle [saddle] and the other back of the sadle.
Dad and Uncle Fred had accumulated several hundred head of cattle. These cattle were ranged in the Mountains east of Farmington during the summer and then most of them were taken to Bear River for the winter. Acasionly some of them were wintered on Haight Bench. The trip to Bear River with the cattle took four days each way.
As the families began to grow up Dad and Uncle Fred decided to divide their interests. Uncle Fred taking the Bear River property and Dad taking the Haight Bench land and the old pasture and his share of the cattle[.] he later acquired more property on Haight Bench and a section of mountain land east of Centerville.
On Feb 22, 1908 Milda the youngest child was born and naturally she became the pet of the whole family. 
Prior to this time Mother had been very active and strong. She went with Dad many times to cook for sheep shearers or for harvesting hands or just for her own family. She was a rather small woman being only about 5 ft. 2" tall to the best of my judgement and slight of build yet very kind and loving. Nearly always happy and good natured. I heard one man say, while she was cooking for a bunch of sheep shearers out on the range, she had the table all set under the trees a batch of bread in the pan ready to put in the oven and dinner almost prepared when a hard gust of wind came up and tipped over the whole works in the dust. Well she just started to sing and did it all over again. She was always kind to her family or any one in need. I dare say that in her lifetime she fed enough Hoboes to make an army. Some times there would come as many as 5 or 6 men in one day to the house and ask for a hand out, few days past when there was not at least one. But not a single one ever left the house without a good meal. In those days it was customary for the hired hands to eat at the home of the employer and I have heard many men say they had never been fed better or treated more kindly than at the home of Nellie Hess. Let me say here that Mother's name was Elenora but she always went by the name of Nellie, while Uncle Fred's wife's name was Elenor but was always called Nell.
After Milda's birth, Mother was never entirely well again, she developed a heart condition which caused many serious sick spells during her remaining years, but she never complained through all her suffering. Let me say in short, "She was our Mother in very deed." After being bed fast for most of the summer of 1926, she passed away 4 Aug 1926. She was born in Salt Lake City 9 Aug. 1863 daughter of Henry Moon and Temperance Westwood.
She was quite a contrast to Dad who was very tall 6 ft. 2" or more, slender and very straight. He was impetuous and quick tempered. He was in no ways timid nor was he afraid of any man or beast. I heard one man in high office say that he saw dad sit in the Governors of the State of Utah's office and give the Governor the worst tongue lashing he had ever heard, for some unethical act he had performed. Yet he could be as kind and gentle and loving as any one I ever knew. He was very sympathetic to any one in sorrow or in need, he would give his last dollar if he thought someone needed it more than he did. I believe this was the reason that he was always in debt, because he gave so much away and he always did it when no one could see him do it.
After Dad and Uncle Fred divided their interests, Dad spent most of his time, when he was not busy on the farm, buying beef cattle for a meat dealer in Salt Lake City by the name of Milo Knight. Mr Knight required about thirty head of beef per week and that is the size bunches they were bought and delivered in. Many beef were bought from George Howard of Nephi and stockmen around Salina and Lehi. Many were bought from George Thackery of Croyden Utah and George Heiner of Morgan. All cattle from the south were shiped by rail to Salt Lake, while those from Weber valley were driven on foot to Salt Lake. This job fell to Glen or Tracy or Calvin Sessions or myself. Nearly always two of us went together usually Glen and I. This was very interesting work to me as was all the work with the cattle. Those of our own which were ranged in the mountains east of Centerville required a trip to Centerville on horseback every day during April and part of May. During this time they ranged on the face of the mountain and would get into private fields and orchards if not taken care of. As the snow melted and the grass grew on the higher mountains, the cattle went back and were no further bother until Fall except a trip about once a week to carry salt to them and to see that they were all right. This was all done on horseback with a pack horse or two to carry the salt. Then as fall came on the cattle would come back from the high country and required another daily trip to Centerville to bring them home. Then when the growing season was over they had to be fed every day. Most of the cattle handling fell to Glen, however Tracy and I did a lot of it too but I was never as good a hand as was Glen or even Tracy.
Perhaps the most interesting of our cow punching was handling the cattle from Antelope Island. When the lake was high a prefabricated river boat was purchased in Missouri by The Dooley Co. who owned the Island. This boat was shiped to Farmington and hauled by wagon to Lake Park where it was assembled. It was a flat bottom boat about 30 or 40 ft. long and carried about 30 or forty cattle. A gasoline tug boat was used to pull the cattle boat and required about 4 hrs. to bring a load from the island to Farmington. The boat came as close to the shore as it could get then the cattle were kicked off and they swam or walked to the shore. Some times they would head back into the lake and there was real trouble as they were hard to turn back the right way. However in all that were shipped off there were only two that were lost. These two drowned before we could get them headed back to shore. These cattle were extremely wild, many of them had never seen a man until they were rounded up and loaded on the boat. They were easy to handle unless they became suddenly frightened and then they took off in what ever direction they were headed and it was almost impossible to stop them until they run down. The last that I remember that were shiped off was about eight hundred head that were brought off at one time. The boat run 24 hours a day making three round trips each day until they were all brought over. We took care of them on this side until they were all over and then they were driven on foot to Roosevelt Utah.
During this time dad had not been active in the church in any way. However I thought he was deeply religious and lived his daily life pretty much according to the gospel plan and tried to persuade his family to do likewise. We attended Sunday school quite regularly when there were not cattle to take care of and we attended M.I.A. during the season and also Priesthood meeting during the Fall and winter, but few of the young people in this comunity had ever been to a sacrament meeting.
And then when it was deemed wise to organize the North Farmington Ward in the spring of 1917, and Arthur Hess was chosen to be the bishop it was quite a change. For an in experienced man with only the spirit of God and his own doged [dogged] determination to attempt to organized a group of inexperienced people, most of whom were only partly converted, into a ward that would function according to the gospel plan was a whale of a job. After the organization was effected, the next job was to build a decent place to meet in. A spot was agreed on and the land where the Church now stands, which then extended north to Shepard Creek was purchased from the King estate by Arthur Hess and donated to the ward. And the building got underway, but it was an uphill job from the start. Many people were willing to work, but they had no money to donate, some were willing to donate all they could and some were not willing or could not donate money and would not or could not donate money and would not or could not donate labor so Arthur Hess put in all his time and wore out an automobile running around to keep the building moving and donated more cash than he could spare and the building was completed but was not paid for during his term as bishop. The building was very nice when it was completed and was enjoyed and appreciated by all. Many enjoyable socials were held and many successful meetings were held and a weekly dance was held in the amusement hall where people could come and enjoy themselves.
Arthur Hess was elected County Commissioner. I think is was in 1914 and served until 1918 and - he was appointed State Road agent in 1920 and served until 1924. He was released as bishop in ...[23 March 1923] and Armond Rose was set apart as bishop.
Arthur Hess suffered a terrific financial loss about 1916 or there about when the lightning struck a hugh [huge/high] hay stack and burned every bit of feed that he had. This was in February and left him with 300 head of cattle to feed. He started out buying hay at $28 per ton and before winter was over was paying $52 per ton and taking anything that looked like hay. It all had to be shipped from Idaho as there was not any hay available locally. It was a terribly hard winter and many other people were without hay, so big hearted dad let them have a few bales or a few tons with the promise that they would pay in the spring. But when spring came they still did not have the money or $52 looked to much to pay for hay that was already fed up, and the grass was growing now and they did not need any hay so he not only had to feed his own but quite a lot of other peoples too. This was a deal that he never got over.
For many years dad had been afflicted with a cancer on his lower lip. He had consulted every Dr. he could find but none of them would try to treat it. At last he learned of a woman Dr. in Provo who claimed to have good success with such cases so he went there for treatment. The growth was removed all right but a few weeks later it returned much worse than it had been. So he immediately contacted Dr. Nichols who had a hospital at Hot Springs, South Dakota. Attached is a reply letter and a receipt of payment which to me is very interesting. The cancer was removed and never bothered him again but it left his mouth badly disfigured. This was in Jan. 1911.
In 1910 a much needed addition was made on the house, which consisted of a large kitchen also used as a family room and 2 bedrooms a bath room and pantry together with all modern conveniences that were available at that time, except heat and no one in this town had a central heating system at that time. It makes me shiver to think how cold those bedrooms were, we slept between heavy blankets and about four heavy quilts on top of us and then we would have to shiver ourselves warm. Some times we would place flat irons in the bed a few minutes before retiring which made it a lot more comfortable. any way we were all very happy as we had one of the nicest homes in the town. About this time nearly everyone in the north (string as we were known) went on a building spree and added a few rooms to their homes, installed modern pluming and planted lawns in front or around the house.
On Nov. 16, 1909 Ruth was married to Calvin Sessions and moved into the old Grandmother Julia Hess home, which was at that time vacant. 
On Feb. 11, 1914 Louise was married to Archie R. Green and moved to Kaysville living most of their lives in the Old Green home on the Mountain Road.
The period from about 1912 to 1917 when the U. S. entered the 1st World War seemed to me was very smooth going and prosperous for our family, but after the war it seemed things never became settled again. People as well as nations were unsettled and restless.
After mother passed away, in 1924 dad became restless and unsettled, unable to content him self any where or with any thing. In 1926, our home caught fire and completely destroyed the roof and much of the contents. When this was rebuilt dad decided to remodel and repair Grandmother Hess’s old home where Calvin and Ruth lived this was made into a lovely home and stands today a credit to the community[.] in April 1928, Mild was married to Clifford then I (Newell) and Alta Criddle were married 26 Nov 1928 and Dec. 14, 1928 Tracy and Florence were married, however Mild and Cliff remaind [remained] at home for several years which made it much easier for dad, but then in 1929 when the stock market crashed and the depression of the 30's followed it looked like everyone in the country was financilly [financially] ruined. Dad was caught with more debits than he could carry and was forced to sell his cattle and lost considerable of thes/his land, Milda and Cliff were forced to move and find imployment [employment] in Ogden. Glen was married in 1934 and went to Nevada to work for the Eliason Ranching Co. Later returning to Utah and working for the Desered [Deseret] Livestock Co. where he remained most of his life. I was already employed by the State Road Comm. which left only Tracy to look after the farm. Dad and Arthur were now left alone and so remained the rest of dads life.
Through the good management of Tracy and Florence and thrugh [through] their determination the farm began to show a little prophet [profit] and most of the land was saved and by the year 1951 when dad passed away the debt was entirely cleard [cleared] up. And dad died peacefully 24,March 1951. And was burried [buried] in the Farmington Cemetary [cemetery].
And now Tracy took over the farm for him self and attempted to pay the other members of the family their share of the value of the farm. All members were paid in full and Tracy has still been able to live and keep his head above water, but he has worked to hard and too long hours for his own good. And may I say about Ruth and also Calvin they never spaired [spared] and effort to see that both Dad and Arthur were mad [made] comfortable so long as either of them was alive. And also the other members of the family were always willing and anxious to help and all in all this had been a kind and united family and I am proud to be a member of such a family,[.]

Sesquicentennial of Transcontinental Railroad

On May 10, 1869, the American continent was spanned by a transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah. Saying that it was a major technological milestone is an understatement. It forever changed the United States. There were both positive and negative consequences.

On May 10, 2019, thousands gathered again at Promontory Summit to celebrate the Sesquicentennial anniversary of that momentous event.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900069988/thousands-gathering-to-mark-150th-anniversary-of-transcontinental-railroad.html

Slightly more than 100 years after the completion of the transcontinental railroad, mankind achieved another historical technological achievement on July 20, 1969 when a trio of United States astronauts, with the help of an enormous support team, achieved the first landing of humans on the moon.

The golden anniversary of this major achievement will be celebrated with increasing frequency as the 50th anniversary date of July 20, 2019 approaches.
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/events.html

Another, major milestone occurred in 1969, with much less recognition and fanfare. UCLA, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah installed the first nodes on what was then called ARPANET, which would evolve into today's Internet. The first attempt to logon failed and crashed the server. Its worth noting that the state of Utah was again a participant in this technological first. As with the railroad, this invention forever changed the nation and our world. The Internet also brought with it both positive and negative consequences.

https://www.livescience.com/20727-internet-history.html

We can only speculate about what technological achievements will be accomplished in the next 50, 100, or 150 years, but it will be amazing to watch. Hopefully the positives of such inventions will outweigh the negatives.