Introduction to The Life and times of J. Marcell Pitcher.
This volume deals with the life of J. Marcell Pitcher and a short summery of the “Roots” from which he sprung.
As I have been assembling the material for this book, it has been a challenge to keep it confined to my life history. First one would suggest that some incident should be included, while another thought, surely, I should give an account of something that they remembered. Francine thought that I should include more about our experiences with our family.
I have als9o tried to resist the temptation to include to many pictures and other memorabilia, for fear it would turn into a scrapbook, or an assembly of pictures and statistics, such as dates and places of births etc. So, I shall reserve all such, for another time.
Over the years I have had a strong desire to know from whence I came. So, I have collected every bit of the history I could find, pertaining to those who have gone on before. This I have included in this book. Also, inasmuch as my roots are founded in England, I have a little information about the part that land has played in bringing about the Lord’s plan for His chosen people. This I hope will be of interest to you.
One more item included in this volume is a set of instructions that I prepared for the priesthood leaders in the Benson Stake, many years ago. I entitled them “News Letters”. These were presented at our monthly Stake Leadership Meeting. It was my first attempt at composing, editing and printing.
JMP
Table of Contents
My Life Story..................................................................4
Things that I remember of Grandpa and Grand Mother Pitcher....................11
"Those were the days my friend"...............................................14
Grandpa's Poem - Play Ball....................................................17
Songs I love, & have sung at one time or other................................20
The Billy Goat................................................................25
A Summary of My First Mission & Call to Denmark...............................27
On A Ship Too Far From Home...................................................36
My Mission to West Virginia...................................................38
The City That God Forgot......................................................51
The Miracle At Smith Creek....................................................55
The Summer of The Preacher....................................................58
Sunrise Sunset. .................................61
The Early Years of Married Life................................. 67
Service To God And Country................................. 71
Early Years Following the War .................................74
The Fall of ARDCO .................................91
The Pennsylvania Story .................................104
"The Call" 104
Simon Bar-Jona................................. 107
Our Search for Leadership 112
The House That Ruth Built The Ruth King story 116
Member Missionary .................................121
The Rittenhouse Story .................................124
The Chris Daw Story .................................126
The Rose and The Thorn................................. 128
No More Strangers 132
The Story of Sandy & Roseann .................................133
The Story Of the Long Sacrament Meeting.......................... 134
Don't Stop if George is Home .................................136
The Red Headed Beautician .................................136
The Story of the Lost Lamanite .................................137
The Latter days of Married Life......................................138
Grandpa's back surgery.......................................................139
Home Teaching News Letters.................................141
Family Roots................................................................162
A Royal Seed................................................................162
The Daughters of King Zedekiah.............................................176
Preface to Pitcher Family History................................. 178
John Pitcher 1816.................................186
John Pitcher 1845.................................188
The Everton Letters.................................191
Story of John Pitcher and His Wife Rebecca Brown..........................193
John and Rebecca Pitcher.................................196
Rebecca Brown Pitcher.................................197
The Margaret Pitcher Peterson letters.................................200
John William Pitcher 1871.................................200
The House On The Hill.................................205
Mary Clarissa Thornley 1873.................................206
John and Rebecca Pitcher 1845.................................208
John and Margaret Stringfellow Thornley .................................214
Things I Remember 217
John Harvey Pitcher.................................226
Rosa Jensen Pitcher.................................228
What Growing Old Means To Me.................................234
Rasmus Jensen.................................235
Anna MØRK Jensen.................................236
My house.................................240
Grandpa Tell Me a Pioneer Story.................................240
Who Shall Declare His Generation................................244
My Life Story
by J. Marcell Pitcher
I was born May 11, 1919 in Cornish, Utah, on a Sunday which just happened to be Mother's Day. I was the first child born to John Harvey Pitcher and Rosa Viola Jensen. I was also the first one in my generation to be born bearing the Pitcher surname. I was born at home, with Dr. Parkinson the attending doctor, home, being a house on the old Pitcher homestead located on the foothills west of town. My father had just returned from service in World War One, and had purchased a farm adjacent to one owned by my grandfather, which he had homesteaded back in 1906.
My very first recollection, and that not very clear, was walking down by the canal with my old dog, called Rover. Father said that Rover followed me where ever I went and whenever I was by the water he would always be between me and canal. I also remember a little old man that worked for father, by the name of Almy Cooper. He lived in Weston, Idaho, and he would commute on an old bicycle over the weekends.
My mothers folks, Grandpa and Grandma Jensen, lived in Weston, Idaho, which was about eight or ten miles away. I remember going to see them in the winter time. We were all dressed up in the warmest clothing, snuggled down in an old set of dump boards, mounted on a set of sled runners, being pulled by a team of horses. To help keep us warm Mother had put some old flat irons in the oven and heated them and then wrapped them in old gunny sacks for us to put our feet on. Father had filled the dump boards with fresh straw and had talked mother out of her prized feather tick and blankets to wrap us in. I remember another time, when just a little fellow, of going up to see my grandparents in the summer time. The folks had just bought me a new pair of shoes and they wore a blister on my heel, and it broke while walking down the hill to their home. Upon arriving I told them, using the vernacular of the day, when every auto trip was accompanied by having a flat tire, or blow out, as they were called, that I too, had had a blow out. Speaking of going for a car ride, we went in Grandpa's old Studebaker to Holbrook, Idaho, some thirty or forty miles west of Weston, over past Malad. This was not a trip to take lightly, considering the distance involved and conveyance by which we were to travel. So after a day's preparation we embarked. Taking one day to get there and one day to make the return trip. I can't remember too much about the trip in particular except that it included a half dozen or so "blow outs, and I remember getting in some ruts in the road and going for miles before we could get out. But that wasn't unusual in those days, no oiled roads, no not even gravel roads, and no one had ever heard of a grader in those days, so when the weather was bad and the roads wet the tires sank into the mud and each vehicle that followed just made the ruts a little deeper until eventually it was like driving down the railroad track never getting out of the ruts. It seems that the people we went to see were some old friends that my grandparents had known back in Denmark and they lived in Holbrook, that was the reason for the trip. I guess the thing I remember most was the windmills, I had never seen one before and I was intrigued by them.
Grandfather Jensen died in 1925 and about all that I can remember about him was that he seemed to be a big man and walked with limp having a stiff leg. I was told that he had fallen and broken his knee cap and in those days they just removed it leaving it stiff. I remember him having a little building out behind the house where he would make and repair shoes. It was fascinating to see the tools of his trade. a "last" with different sizes of shoe molds, an old sewing machine and funny looking hammers and pliers etc. But that was how he provided for his family.
We had moved to Weston just shortly before Grand father died, as that was where Dad worked for Nephi Jensen on his farm, a farm that I would eventually own, some years later. We lived on main street in a tall white house. I had a friend by the name of Jess Wolverton and we had a lot of fun together. I remember going out to the chicken coop and getting a couple of eggs and taking them up Tom Preston's store and getting a whole sack of candy. We would go over to the high school and watch the basket ball team practice. Who, by the way, won the national championship about that time. I don't mean the high school championship, it was for the whole thing, beating college teams nation wide. They had a big banner hanging in the gymnasium for years. I guess it was still there when the high school burned down in 1940. Jess's father had a World War One motor cycle with a side car on it and that was something. I remember Dad and I, and Jess and his dad all piling in, or on, and going down to Cornish to see W.O. Hanson and we were just sailing along, when Jess's dad hit one of those ruts I told you about earlier, and all four of us went sprawling all over the road, no broken bones just covered with dirt and dust.
Well, so much for our short stay in Weston. Dad had found a job working as a section hand on the railroad, stationed in Utida, about half way between Weston and Cornish, The rail road furnished what they called "Bunk Houses" for those who worked on the "section crews". There was one building designed with living quarters in one end and a large room to be used as a mess hall on the other. As many were single men the meals were prepared and served in this building. Mother was hired to prepare and serve the meals, and we lived in the living quarters. I remember that they would remove the tables and put the chairs all around the out side and use the hall for dances and other types of entertainment. There was one fellow who worked on one of the crews who was large in stature and at least once a week they would have a night devoted to boxing. Well, this fellow, Del Baxter by name, was far and away the "King of the Hill", as they would say in those days. Well, one night Jack Dempsy was in the area and was persuaded to come and spar a few rounds with some of the local gladiators, Del being one of them. I remember Del was doing really good when he ran into solid blow from Jack and for a few seconds, it seemed longer, he just stood there and finally his knees just collapsed and he fell to the floor unconscious. Lest you think that this is some kind of a "cock & bull" story, I will have to remind you that Jack Dempsy had his roots in our area, and was known as the Mormon Mauler as well as the Manassa Mauler, referring to a town in Colorado where he grew up, but his family came from Utah. Besides there are very few of my contemporaries left alive who can say it wasn't so.
I started going to school while we still lived there. (Utida, I never did know whether it was Utida, Utah, or Utida, Idaho). Well anyway school was held down in Cornish, Utah, some two or three miles away, so I guess we must have lived in Utah. For transportation we had a school wagon in the summer and a school sleigh in the winter. They looked a lot like a sheep camp, with seats around the outsides and a stove in the middle, covered with a canvas, with a stove pipe sticking up through the roof. Our first school "bus" driver was a Mr, Rawlings, latter a man named Pete Veibell and finally Mr. Lynn Eppich. Anyway they would leave Cornish, come north to Utida, west a couple miles, to what was called the upper road gathering kids up all along the way. I can't remember how long it took to make the rounds but it must have been quite awhile. I remember the sleigh stopped across the street in front of Bergeson's and we kids would almost always stop in to see Mrs. Bergeson, not just to see how she was, but get a few ginger snaps she always seemed to have.
There used to be a railroad station and post office also a large water tank, a pump house and a gigantic cistern with a large roof covering it from which they pumped the water for the trains. Every morning the "Yellowstone Flyer" passenger train would stop, drop off the mail and in the summer time a large block of ice for the section houses ice boxes. I remember we kids would find a good sized rock and break off hunks of ice to suck on. I remember it was in the early part of the depression and there were usually a lot of "bums" as they were called, not that they were worthless individuals, but they were called bums because they were "bumming" a ride on the railroad. Well, anyway, as most of the trains stopped for water, many would come over to see if maybe someone would give them a meal. I remember Mother feeding many, but there was one stipulation, they had to chop wood while she was preparing something for them to eat. I thought that was neat, as that was usually my chore, cutting wood for the fire.
One more thing before we leave Utida, Dad had a big bird dog and after he got off work we would go duck hunting. After a kill, I can still hear him telling "Rover" to go get'm. And Rover would splash into water, swim out to where the ducks were and retrieve them. I remember one time Grandpa Pitcher and a couple of my uncles came and we went hunting sage hens and prairie chickens which were plentiful in those days and when we came back we had enough to cover the whole front porch. Then too, there was "Koford's slew" where the fishing was pretty good, and only about a mile away, so we spent quite a few evenings having a good time fishing. I remember one night that Grandpa Pitcher came and we went down to Koford's pond, built a large bonfire and fished by the light of the fire and as I remember we caught a whole tub full. I guess one more thing would be worth mentioning, there was a little white brick school house called the "Silver Star", not very far over the Idaho line, about a mile from where we lived. Well, the school was supported by the people who lived near by. Most of these people were Scandinavians and on Saturday night they would hold a typical "Scnadihovian" dance. It was all square dancing to the music of a fiddler. Well, I can remember the folks driving an old ford car up there to the dance. There were some benches around the outside of the room, where they put us kids and then covered us up with all their coats. I can still here them singing something like "Va linda de, solva yi, danca ma gooland, Hi danca ma gooland." I know that doesn't make sense to you, me either, but they sang it with gusto, way into the wee hours of morning. Just a side-light, President Harold B. Lee was the principal of the school at that time, how about that! Just as improbable as my Jack Dempsey story right?
There was something else that happened that might be of interest, at least we never see it anymore. When anyone contracted the mumps, measles or some other contagious disease, and there always seemed to be something going around, the county health officer would come and put the family under quarantine. He would post a big red sign on the house to warn every one to stay away. Then when the quarantine period had elapsed you were required to fumigate. This entailed sealing all the doors and windows shut and then igniting fumigating candles and waiting for a day or two to make sure the house and all its content were free of the germs that carried the disease. Well, I can remember going through that procedure quite a few times and I can still (almost) smell those foul smelling candles. Another time father and some of the men were boiling some water to scald a pig. This was a process whereby you would pour scalding hot water on the dead porker and then you could scrape the hair off. Well, anyway some how, some of the hot water was spilled on my sister Valoise and she was severely scalded. I can still remember the flesh and skin pealing off as they removed her cloths, and how they treated the burned areas with some kind of foul smelling ointment, and covering her with sheets. I am amazed how resourceful they were, considering their limited knowledge of medicine and how much they depended upon the Lord. It was always a common practice to have someone come in and administer to anyone ill, or suffering from some accident. Modern medicine is wonderful but somewhere in the shuffle we have come to rely more on our own wisdom, and less on help from on High. The first thing we do is call for the doctor or go to the hospital, and when all else fails we call upon the Lord, where the first thing they did in those days was to call for the Elders to give the person a blessing. It's too bad in a way, a lot of testimonies were built around healing and answers to their prayers. I would suggest that you should be grateful, that the Lord has revealed the knowledge of modern medicine to man, and recognize His hand in all the so called miracles we attribute to the skill of our physicians today.
It seems so trivial, when we need something from the store, we just jump in the car and in a few minutes we are back with what we need. But this was a major problem in those days. Most didn't have cars and if they had a team and buggy it was an all afternoon trip to Cornish or Weston to get groceries. I can just hear Mother saying "Jump in buggy and run up to the store and get a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk" Well again, "If you can't go to the mountain, bring the mountain to you" and would you believe it, every Thursday, or some other day, Mr. Andreason from Trenton would pull up with his team and covered wagon loaded with groceries. It was an exciting time as mother would buy us kids some little treat. As I look back now the thing that sticks in my mind was that somehow he was able to keep meat from spoiling, as this was one of his biggest selling items.
When I was about eight, Father bought a small home down in Cornish, from a Mr. Halgren. At that time there was a store owned by Mr. Hunter, who later sold it to Al Bambrough. But anyway this house was just south of the store which was located on the only cross roads in town. It is interesting to note at that time there was a sugar factory, a hotel, two stores, three service stations, one pool hall and barber shop. We also had a full time railroad station, open 24 hours a day. there were stockyards, rail sidings and grain elevators, so you see it was quite a growing metropolis, a far cry from what we see today. There was a four room schoolhouse with eight grades and four teachers. A ball park and rodeo grounds, and a town filled with optimism, surely this was going to be another New York or Chicago before long, but some where along the way they got side--tracked and Cornish is now little more than a wide spot in the road, and not very wide at that.
This was a happy time in my life, every day filled with something exciting to do. Nothing much to worry about, even through the depression, Father was able to provide his family with the necessities and a few things on the side. As I reflect on those days it didn't take a whole lot of money to make one content, everyone was in the same boat, so keeping up with the Jones wasn't too hard, as the Jones didn't have anything either. What entertainment we had, we made it for ourselves. I'm afraid if I were to enumerate all the things we did to have a good time it would necessitate another whole volume. But in the light of the extent to which the people of today go to satisfy their craving for excitement, and at such an enormous expense, it might be refreshing to go back and live in the good old days, and think of all the money we would save. Happiness and having a good time is a state of mind, it's just a matter of being content with what you have, and not always trying to out-do your neighbors. "Having", kind of feeds on itself, it is never satisfied, the more you get the more you want, and where the resources are available our greed is never satisfied. So having a lot of the things of this world is not the answer. The reason for this departure from my life story is that when I see all that we spend in time and money to have a "good time", I see less contentment, more dissatisfaction and complaining about not having some thing to do, in spite of our affluence as compared with the time when a dime once a month to see a movie was something bordering on being extravagant, and fifty cents for the Saturday night dance was worth working all week for. But we did have a good time, I can never recall a time when there wasn't something to look forward to. It just seemed like our minds were filled with new and ingenious ideas, of things to do, to have a good time. How about all sports in their season, baseball, football, basketball, track, and sleigh rides, ice skating, toboggan rides in the winter time, and in the summer time there was always the old swimming hole up to Hanson's, in the West Cache Canal, or the old gravel bar up by Joe Hansen's, where you could catch a trout once in awhile and the fishing was good, or the big sand bar down by Redford's where we used to put out our set-lines. What is a set-line? Well it consists of a chalk line, (a long piece of heavy string), with about fifteen or twenty fish hooks attached, and a railroad spike for a "sinker", which we would cast out into the river and leave all day or night, and then retrieve and remove the fish, re-bait the hooks and cast the line back out again. I remember in the early spring, as soon as the frost was out of the ground, so we could dig worms for bait, that it was cold early in the mornings, before school, so we would go past the old side track that ran down to the sugar factory, and borrow (swipe) oil filled packing from the journal boxes and use it to keep our fingers warm while we were baiting the set-lines. A little piece of waste (packing) would burn for a long time. By the way, suckers (fish) were good to eat when taken from the ice cold water in early spring, and we could usually get 10 cents for a good mess of suckers, and that was good money in those days. Then there was a myriad of not so well known activities today. Such as playing marbles "for keeps". This consisted of drawing a circle on the ground with a stick, and then dickering as how many "dobbies" (home made marbles made out of clay) you would put up against some one else's "steely" or how many "agates" against some ones "glass taw" or how many glass marbles against some ones "flint". And then it was a matter of determining the quality of each, so it was quite a ritual to go through before you even started. Then the marbles were put in the center of the ring and after "lagging, (tossing a steeley to a line, the one who came the closest got the first shot), the winner would kneel down with his "taw" between his forefinger and thumb and with a flipping motion try to knock the most prized marble out of the ring. Then the rest would take their turn until the ring was clear of all marbles. There was a certain amount of skill involved and it was a little like betting on your ability to retrieve more than your competitor. And like most things there were some winners and some losers, but the challenge was always there, and there was always another game. There is a lot more that could be written about the game of marbles, but there were other games worth mentioning and too much detail would make for boring reading. It is amazing how many things that an old inner tube can be used for. In case you don't know what an inner tube is, it is a rubber insert placed inside of a car tire to hold the air needed to inflate it. Well anyway we used to get an old inner tube that had a hole in it, and there used to be plenty of them in those days, cut strips about one inch wide and different lengths depending on what you wanted to build. Being made of rubber, its elasticity was used to propel a rock with a flipper, or used to propel an arrow when used as a bow string, or used as ammunition when stretched over the barrel of a make-believe wooden gun, with a clothes pin used as a trigger. This is getting out of hand, trying to explain or describe things that were so commonplace in my day, and so foreign in today's world, but rest assured we were ingenious in building something intriguing to play with. Then there was the old sugar factory with its high line and pulp silo and the old hotel, boy ! what a place to play "cops & robbers." Then there were the sand hills where we would take our ponies and play cowboys & Indians. Or explore the hills west of town on horse back. Then there were millions of ground squirrels and magpies to be targets for our flippers or 22's, when we had shells. The fish and game department paid a bounty for magpies, either for their heads or eggs. and Grandpa usually furnished the 22 shells if we would shoot those squirrels that were along the irrigation canal.
We learned to dance early in life. It was a favorite pastime for all ages, as there were a number of orchestras, almost every town had one, and the "Saturday Night Dance" was commonplace in most communities. And if that wasn't enough, there were school dances, even grade school, Primary & MIA dances. In fact the church bought a record player and put it in the recreational hall so we could dance every Tuesday night after mutual. I think that it was a sneaky way to bribe us into coming to mutual. But anyway the older girls would take us younger boys and teach us how to dance. And as we got older, and if we could find fifty cents, we went to the big cites, Preston or Logan, and dance to some big name band. I tell you, a chance to dance at the Persiana in Preston or the Dansante in Logan was big time.
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Many years ago I went to a family reunion for the posterity of John William and Molly Pitcher. As part of the program, we were all to bring a short sheet, listing the things that each of us remembered of them. Recently I came across my response to this request. While the sentence structure lacks much to be desired, and being to lazy to change it, I have copied the response as it was written, lo, those many years ago.
Things that I remember of Grandpa and Grand Mother Pitcher
I was born in May 1919 in a house just a few hundred yards from my grandparents and lived there for about five years, then a short time in Weston,
Utida and finally back to Cornish,, when I was about eight years old.
Grandfather's house was a second home to me, as I stayed there so much. The only brothers I really ever had were my uncles, as we worked together, played together, milked cows, thinned sugar beets, hauled milk and went on dates together. Grandpa treated me just like the rest of the family. I could take the car or truck. If I wanted to go hunting , he would furnish the rifles, or shotgun and the shells.
There used to be a lot squirrels that were always boring through the irrigation ditches. So, he would stop at the Smithfield Implement and buy whole cartons of 22 shells and we would shoot squirrels by the hour. While still on the subject of hunting, one of my earliest recollections was seeing the whole front porch (which was big) covered with sage hens and prairie chickens that Grandpa and my father and my uncles brought home after a hunt in the hills just west of Grandpa's place.
I remember the great tragedies that fire brought when the barns burned down and seeing the cows laying out in the yard after dragging them dead from the barns. I can still almost swell the smoldering hay that was put up too green and can see in my mind, the county fire crew stretching the hose to pump water. The fire engine set there for days to put out the fire in the smoldering hay and straw.
I remember when he built the new barn, with milking machines and a track to carry the manure bucket, to be rolled out side and dumped. Boy, that barn was something! Individual water troughs for each cow. Speaking of milking cows and he used to have about 30 milk cows that we milked by hand(about 4:00 or 5:00 A.M. in the morning and 4:00 and 5:00 in the evening). We used to sing by the hours, in harmony and solo. I remember once when Grandpa and Grandma went to Canada. Valden went with the scouts to Independence Rock, Wyoming, and I don't remember what happened to Brown and Mel, but Decon and I were left to milk all the cows. I think I milked about ten and Decon milked about 20.
Grandpa had a horseshoe pit, just north of the house and I can still see him laughing and having a great time with uncle Golden and Milton Boman. Grandpa's gardens were something to behold - I don't know how he did it, but we had green peas, new potatoes, and new carrots (in milk gravy) all at the same time.
He had a chicken coop with plenty of fresh eggs and a smoke house. (I can still smell the inside and see all the hams and bacon hanging in there). Just south of the smoke house was the orchard filled with apples, plumbs, peaches. (and current and gooseberry bushes). He would use the limbs from the fruit trees to smoke the meat. There used to be quite a draw to the west and a small creek coming out and when we first started milking , we would take a pan or bucket and fill it with milk and set it in the creek to cool it for supper. We used to eat a lot of bread and milk for supper. Grandma made fresh bread every day. It was the last thing she did at night and it would raise over night, ready for baking in the morning.
Speaking of food, you have really never had super-meal until you sit down at Grandma's table. The pantry was something to behold, not just one pie, but a dozen, not just apple but lemon, raisin, mincemeat, custard and others. Then there was the plumb pudding and the lemon sauce, the savor ducts and head cheese and much, much more. I can still see the table with all the chairs with their backs to the table to remind us that we knelt in prayer before the meal and it seems like I can still hear Grandpa praying. I can remember how Granddad tried to provide the very best for his family. No electricity in those days, so he had a Delco plant with large storage batteries to furnish his own electricity and then there was no gas, so he put in a carbide tank and we had lights. I remember in the summer time , after dinner, going up stairs in one of the south rooms to lay down and there was always a summer cool breeze coming in the window and outside was a large walnut tree in which there always seemed to be a morning dove to sing you to sleep. Then in one of the rooms was an old peddle organ, and one of the first radios, I'm sure, and an old Maytag washer (first with a handle and then with a little gas engine.
Grandma was such a loving person and as a little boy I remember her washing my hands and how soft her hand felt. She had a large goiter as i remember when I was small, which was later removed. But I guess it was the happy secure feeling one had in her home, it just seemed like everything in the whole world was going right, She was an optimist and it was a pleasure to be there. I never remember her speaking evil of any person. "If you couldn't say anything good about anyone, you didn't say anything". This and many more things sayings were always taught there.
Granddad was also a kind tenderhearted person, thought full of others, especially Grandma. I remember Grandad going to the top of Grass Knoll, as soon as the snow was off, to bring Grandmother the first "curly-cups" and butter cups of the spring. The same with the first sago lilies and wilds roses that bloomed down along the creek, were brought to adorn her table.
I also remember once, when Uncle Val and I had come quit late and we had our girlfriends with us. Grandpa thought they should stay the night. The next morning he got the girls up to show them how beautiful everything was and he took them to gather spring flowers and wild roses, Everything in nature was beautiful to him and he would say "Look at the beautiful things the Lord has made."
I remember when I was about 10 or 12, Uncle Joe Peterson, who owned a school bus, and Grandpa and Grandma, Bertha, Uncle Joe's family, Charlie Jaffa and some other friends decided to go to Yellowstone Park. I really wanted to go too, but had resigned my self to staying home. But when the bus got down to Cornish where we lived, Grandpa had Uncle Joe stop the bus and he came in and got me. I was the happiest kid in all the country, and what a trip it was --a whole week in the Park, sleeping in a big tent, setting around the camp fire singing and listening to stories. I can still hear Grandpa singing the old Billy Goat Song. I can almost taste the goulash, and bacon and eggs cooked on a sage brush fire. Then just to add to the excitement, everyone thought Bertha and I were lost and they had the park rangers out looking for us, But we knew where we were all the time. But we never left again without everyone knowing where we were going.
Another time He took me with him fishing with W.O. Hanson and Raynold Pearson up Willow Creek and on to the Tin Cup, Grays Lake and the Salt River. It was getting late in the evening before we got there. We saw some fence posts that were taller than they need to be so, it was decided that they would look better if the extra was sawed off, besides it would furnish us with some dry firewood for camp, if we ever got there. We hauled those fence posts 40 miles before we arrived on the Willow Creek. As we were driving a long some animal ran across the head lights and I was curious to know what kind of a wild creature it was. Well Grandpa informed me that it was a Hoot-a a-nanny. Not knowing what a Hoot-a-nanny was, (and I still don't know what a Hoot-a-nanny is) I was telling everyone what an exciting thing it was to see a Hoot-a-nanny, to the delight of all who knew better.
One night Grandpa and I went to a little store to get something for supper. Grandpa told the store keeper that he wanted 25 cents worth of hamburger. The fellow starting putting hamburger on the scale, and he kept putting it on and finally Grandpa said "I only wanted 25 cents worth" and the man replied "That's what you are getting, five pounds, at five cents a pound. ( Does that tell you something about the times).
Fishing was poor, until the last day. We stopped and stayed overnight where the Salt River runs into the Snake River in Wyoming. We started catching herring and trout as fast as we could throw in. Before we were done we must have had a hundred or more nice trout and herring to take home. They had a big box. They would lay one row of fish and one layer of leaves, one layer of fish and one layer of leaves until they were all in. Then they covered it over with wet burlap sacks to keep them fresh until we got home.
I remember what an exciting time "Harvest Time" used to be. We used to stack the headings and bundles from the binder and header in big stackes and a wait the arrival of the thrasher. You just cant imagine what it was like to hear the shrill whistle of the steam engine as it approached the farm. Every morning Mr. Frederickson would go down and build a fire in the engine and when it got a full head of steam, He would blow the whistle(almost deafening you if you were close) signaling it was time to start.
That also meant more work for Grandma, who had to feed and board all the trashing crew. She wasn't satisfied to just cook three meals a day. She would have sandwiches with milk, punch and cookies or cake at 10 A.M. and four in the afternoon.
It was fascinating to see the black smoke rolling out of the engine and that big flat belt start to turn. The separator would shake and rattle until you thought it would fall apart. Then there was those big teeth on the feeder literally chewing up bundles as they traveled up to the mouth of the separator. Stacking straw was an experience. (A job that had to be done) Sacking, sewing and stacking the grain in big piles, like giant stairs. You grabbed a sack and ran up the sacks to deposit it on the top rows.
Then haying was something to. First in the old barn with a track and a derrick horse. Then the Jackson fork and a big derrick out side. Quite an art to build a stack that would stand up when finished. Grandpa always did the stacking and I ran the derrick horse part of the time. I can still hear him holler when he had the fork full of hay just where he wanted it "Let’r go!". Then someone on the rope would give a big yank and trip the fork, and the hay would settle where it had been pushed to. I remember the Bomans--Golden, Milton and others would come to help us and we in turn help them. We would trot the horses and wagons to the field empty and bring the full loads back. Under most of the hay piles there would field mice and sometimes snakes, We always tried to kill the mice, but Grandpa said that the snakes ate a lot of mice and we were forbidden to kill them..
I Remember once, everyone knew how afraid Uncle Golden was of snakes, so they put a couple on a load of hay. Uncle Gold was running the Jackson fork and when it lifted from the load one of the snakes fell out, Uncle Gold jumped clear off the load of hay and wouldn't go back on.
I remember going with Grandpa and Grandma to Smithfield to see uncle Jode, Grandpa's brother. Great Grandpa and Great Grandma lived right next door, After Great Grandma died Great Grandpa came to live with Grandpa so, we got to we got to know each other quit well. He could never say Marcell, it was always Mortell. When I was 18 he fell and broke his hip and died shortly after. (Being 93 years old) When I was 19, I was called on a mission to Denmark. Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mother and Francine came to see me off on the train in Salt Lake City, in Oct. 1938. That was the last time I saw him alive. He died of a heart attack the following year. Grandma lived a few years after I got home, but things were never the same. When she lost Will, as she called him, she lost most of the things she lived for. But she knew full well that it wouldn't be for long.
I am sure that they marvel at the size of their posterity and hopefully they are proud. I sure hope I haven't done anything to cause them to be ashamed of me.
"Those were the days my friend"
When I was a young man in my middle teens the "in" thing was to be on the Cornish baseball team. I lived, at that time, just across the street from the town ball park and I would always go over when the team would practice and chase balls, gather bats, and do anything to be useful. After practice the regular players would hit me ground balls & fly balls and would also let me have some batting practice, even though I was much younger than the rest. By the time I was sixteen, I was playing on the town team. The youngest player in the entire league. It's hard to describe how proud I was to have a baseball suit & sweater with my own number on it. It was like saying, "look at me, I'm someone special". In fact we were, whenever you were in Preston or Logan or some other town, where Marcell Pitcher was a complete unknown, I was accepted and looked up to because I was a baseball player from Cornish. And in those days someone with talent enough to play ball in the Cache Valley baseball league was like being of royalty, in a class by themselves. Can you imagine how much self confidence this would install in a young man? This seemed to carry over into every activity of my life, I just felt like there was nothing I couldn't do. It's true my natural ability limited to some degree the perfection I expected in every challenge that came my way, but I found great joy and a great deal of pleasure by being involved in everything that came my way. And come they do when we dare to try. And I found that we are able to improve and even excel, through love of whatever activity we engage in. I think one must be "anxiously engaged" or be enthused, excited about what you are doing. All sports became an obsession, football, basketball, yes even track. I found that after a long time I could run almost twice as fast as when I first started. Then there was tennis, I never gave up until I was the best of my peers. Again when it came to swimming, we used to see who could swim the furthest under water. And after months of practice I was able to swim 100 yards, the furthest of all my friends. Then came challenges in other fields. I was encouraged to sing and was given opportunities to sing in primary, mutual (MIA), and ward choir. I remember there were just two tenors, Uncle Brown and I, yet that was all they needed, our voices were so strong. Later came High School, where I participated in chorus and took leads in the opera. Where our teacher, Mr. Pulsipher, said I had the best tenor voice he had ever had at North Cache. I remember going to Logan every year to see and hear the college perform Grand Operas. While I didn't understand the lyrics I grew to love the music- Madam Butterfly, Tanhouse's Anvil Chorus, Martha & Carman, Faust, Auida, and Celista. Even to this day chills run up and down my spin when I hear someone sing one or another of these beautiful arias. Vista La Guibba, the flower song from Carman, and Martha from Martha, and the clown song from Plagglachi, what a blessing to be able to enjoy all these treasures. At first, school and school learning came hard for me and I was in high school before I started to enjoy reading and other classes. I will be eternally grateful for the classes I had in seminary, four full years. It was there I laid the foundation for my life long desire to know the scriptures and what our modern prophets had to say about them. It was there that I gained a desire to go on a mission, that I to might experience the joy of seeing others join the church. Then came the challenge of missionary work and again it didn't come easy. In fact, there were many low points when it seemed the spirit of the Lord had left me all alone. I'm sure most of the time it was because of my lack of obedience and diligence. But for some reason, maybe because of the prayers in my behalf by loved ones at home, the Lord didn't let me sink into oblivion. In fact, I'm continually amazed at what a wonderful pay master the Lord is. If we will but try to exercise just a little bit of faith, to doing what He wants us to do, we start to feel better about ourselves, our countenances become brighter, our love of others increases, we find solace in times of trouble, and we recognize blessings which were before hidden from our view. Truly a little faith precedes the miracle. And miracles have followed me all through life, through church callings, teaching assignments, involvement in missionary and temple work, and hopefully with my family and friends. Blessed is the man that learns these things early in life, for many blessings come only after a lifetime of diligent effort. "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man, what God has in store for those that Love him".
P.S.
The inspiration or source for the heading of this file came from the words of the song "Those were the days my friend" by Gene Raskin. While the lyrics are thought provoking and laced with nostalgia, it's the music that accentuates and puts the feeling of longing for yesteryear, and wish that some how we might relive again those days, or at least remember with a certain degree of pleasure, the good times we had with our friends.
"Once upon a time there was a tavern, Where we used to raise a glass or two. Remember how we laughed away the hours, and dreamed of all the great things we would do? Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day; we'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never lose, for we were young, and sure to have our way. Lala la la lala la la la lala, Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days."
"Then the busy years went rushing by us, we lost our starry notions on the way, If by chance I'd see you in the tavern, we'd smile at one an other and we would say; Those were the days; my friend we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day; We'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never loose, for we were young, and sure to have our way. Lala la la la la lala, Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days."
"Just tonight I stood before the tavern, nothing seemed the way it used to be. In the glass I saw a strange reflection, was that lonely fellow really me? Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day; We'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never loose, for we were young, and sure to have our way. Lala la la la la lala, Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days."
"Through the door there came a familiar laughter, I saw your face and heard you call my name. Oh, my friend, we're older but no wiser, for our dreams are still the same. Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day; We'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never loose, for we were young, and sure to have our way. Lala la la la la lala, Those were the days, Oh yes, those were the days.
Grandpa's Poem - Play Ball
An introduction to Grandpa's poem, Play Ball
To really get the message and spirit of this poem I thought a few lines of back ground would put it in the proper time frame and circumstances surrounding the account of this ball game which, at the time, seemed to be a tragedy of major proportions to the people of our little town. Although it has been some 60 years ago, and I like Moroni, in the Book Of Mormon "Am one of the last survivors of My People" and I feel that such a moment in time, and a moment of such importance in my life and the lives of my contemporaries, should not pass into oblivion without leaving an account of this day. So that future generations might know that some where back in the "Old Days" there were events that stirred the souls of man just as much as "Hot rods, Video games, Dirt bikes and Dragging main in some fancy painted pickup, set a top of rubber tires big enough to belong on a tractor, excite the young people today.
Those were the days when baseball was KING and every thing, and I mean EVERY THING was centered around the Saturday afternoon ball game (no under the light stuff in those days). It all started the minute after the ball game of the previous week. Notes were taken and the good plays and the errors were all evaluated and come Monday evening after work, the ball park came alive with, "HUBBA,HUBBA" and a myriad of other sayings to "HYPE" us up, and then our practice sessions were started in dead ernest. First warm up,amid a constant chatter, filled with "baseball lingo", which grew in intensity until it was time for infield practice. First around the horn, that meant to throw the ball from one infielder to another just about as hard as you could throw it. Then came the grounders,(infield practice),that is when some one with a bat in hand would hit the ball just as hard as he could and try to place it between the ball players on the infield. First every throw went to first base, then after a few times around the infield some one would say "Now Take Two" so every throw went to second base with either the second baseman or the shortstop covering and then on to first for the double play. This too was filled with a constant chatter, to challenge us to make impossible plays, look like routine. After an hour or so it would be time for outfield practice. Again, some one with bat in hand, would hit the ball just as hard and as far as he could, and some one would holler "I gotter" and off he would go as fast as he could run to catch the ball. There was a constant flight of base balls going and coming to and from the out field, again for an extended period of time. Then they would try to hit the ball as straight up and as high as possible so the catcher could practice catching foul balls. After that came batting practice, everyone got a turn to see how far he could hit the ball. Next we would try to hit the ball to right field to simulate hitting "behind the runner" and advancing the runner on second to third base. By then it was time for "Bunting practice. "The goal was to try to place the ball on the infield just out of the reach of the infielders, thus allowing the runner on first base to advance to second, avoiding a double play possibility and putting the base runner in scoring position. And finally, practice ended up with a good game of" pepper." And so it went, trying to practice every aspect of the game, so we could execute with a certain degree of perfection the same plays the following Saturday. So you see baseball wasn't just something we did on Saturday afternoon. Base ball was a way of life, a life filled with a dedication that would have put the most ardent crusader to shame. No wonder a loss of the ball game on Saturday was akin to having a death in the family. The "Ecstasy of victory and the Agony of defeat" was personified to the n'th degree in every small village in the valley on Saturday afternoon. But after a short period of mourning, and being of an optimistic nature, it was back to the drawing board Monday afternoon getting ready for next Saturday. Lest you think that all this baseball fever was confined to those who were participants as ball players let me tell you, every one in town was just as involved and as "hyped" as those on the field. It was evidenced by the number of fisticuffs and loud expressions of approval and disapproval of everything from the plays to the calls of the umpires, (especially those umpires furnished by the opposing team, which always seemed to favor their own). Then there were the rude and scandalous remarks of the spectators about the play of the opposing ball team, and the roar of approval when the your team would score a run or get a hit. Then there were times when some one "sludd" hard into a player of the opposing team, or the pitcher would "brush back" the home teams best hitter by throwing at him, or at leased what appeared to be throwing at him. This always brought a loud response and stirred up the anger of the crowd even more. You really never lost a game, You might have come out on the short end of the score, but you never lost the game, some how the opposing team or their umpire stole the game by some "skullduggery", bordering on the limits of fair play. This too added to the bad feelings between the ball players and their supporters, and those of the opposing team, causing more fisticuffs and heated arguments, which carried over until the next time the two teams met.
Our town was a small community, over on the west side of the valley, and our only claim to fame was our ball team, so naturally we took pride in their accomplishments,( and it so happened that we came away victorious more than we came home vanquished.) We always seemed to have a championship team, and this I believe was the result of the fierce competitive nature of those who lived on the "other side" of the valley, and the dedication to perfection of every aspect of the game by its ball players. The support of the towns people was evidenced by the way they scheduled their work. It was not uncommon to see every one out in the fields at 4 AM in the morning on game day, so as to have the work all done by noon, as Saturday afternoon was a "Half day" holiday every week. No one worked, hay crews, or thrashing crews knew that when they came to Cornish on Saturday that they would have to shut down at noon, because there would be no help available to run their equipment.
So with this as a back ground now comes Grandpa,s base ball poem. This is the description of the 1935 Cache Valley league championship ball game between Trenton and Cornish as seen and recorded by a sixteen year old spectator, ( A loyal Cornish fan), namely me. All the participants mentioned in this account were actual members of the Cornish and Trenton ball teams.
Jessie Done was a small fiery type of a ball player, actually he was a traitor, having moved to Trenton from Cornish a couple years previously, and had been given the nick name of "Pint", denoting his small stature. The ball player next mentioned was Bill Brough, he to would stop at nothing to win a ball game. And then it was Jude Jensen, a large man, with a gruff voice, intimidating by his size and power, much like I would have imagined the giant in the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk intimidated Jack. The last of those "infamous rouges" who stole the championship from Cornish on that day, a day that will go down in "Infamy", was a colorful character named Clarence Payne. He carried the moniker of "Spit Payne", He was the catcher. He chewed tobacco and was continually, expectorating, without taking off his mask, and as he was never clean shaven he was quite a site to behold when he did remove his mask, as small pieces of tobacco and tobacco juice covered his face. He to was a intimidator, a continual chatterbox, I can still here him hollering "HUBBA,HUBBA, HUBBA" and at the same time spiting tobacco juice all over the shoes of the opposing batter. Though he was knocked unconscious by the "mighty blow, referred to in the poem, he did recover, and later on in life he saw the folly of using that awful weed, repented, and was last known to be a stake president some where in Nevada. And the final character was the pitcher, whose "Anger was stretched as far as could be", was one of the good guys, our pitcher, Roy Bingham. (By the way as the years have gone by, I have mellowed some what, and those arch enemies turned out to be good friends of mine, and I would hope that they will take no offense, realizing the nature of the games in those days and the "hyped" up excited a young loyal Cornish fan, NAMELY ME.
Some of you have already received a copy of this poem, but it is so good, ha, ha, that one more copy will be appreciated I'm sure. I am indebted to Mrs. Donald Humphries, from over in Bear Lake country for the hand script of this poem.
I hope you have as much fun reading this letter as I had composing it.
PS.
My brother Larry has put the words of this poem to music, really did a good job. Maybe some time I`ll get some copies and send you each one
P.S.S.
I sent a copy of this poem and a set of old baseball pitchers of the Cornish teams to the Utah State University Archives Library and they sent me a credit of $240.00, and a thanks for the donation.
Songs I love, & have sung at one time or other.
In the last chapter I dwelt upon the things we did to have fun in my youth. Singing was a great part of our life. We never went to "Rock Concerts" in my day, we had our own. I remember sitting on Anderson's front porch, with all the kids from the alley, singing all the songs that were popular in my day. We also sang in quartets, rounds and some times we would take turns singing verses, only to be joined in by the group on the chores.
Somewhere in my book of memories is a collection of verses to "Come to our Sunday School". This was one of those times when one would sing a verse and then every one would join in on the chores. It was always a challenge to come up with a new verse. As a consequence there were a lot of verses to this song.
I found this list the other day and thought you might like a copy.
Come to our Sunday School
Young folks, old folks, everybody come,
Join our happy Sunday School, and have lots of fun,
Please check your chewing gum and razors at the door,
And you'll hear some Bible stories that you have never heard before.
That's the chores, sang by all, now comes the fun part, the verses.
God made Satan, Satan made sin,
God made a hot place to put Satin in,
Satan didn't like it, so he said he wouldn't stay,
He's been acting like the devil, ever since that day.
The world was made in six days and finished on the seventh,
According to the contract it should have been the eleventh:
But the painter's wouldn't paint and the workers wouldn't work,
So the quickest thing to do was fill it with dirt.
Adam was the first man that ever was invented,
He lived all his life and never was contented;
He was made out of mud in the days gone by,
And hung on the fence in the sun to dry.
Along came Eve, she picked up a paddle and climbed a tree.
She knocked down an apple;
She knocked down two and they each had one;
Right then and there all the trouble begun.
Adam was a gardener and Eve, she was his spouse,
They got the sack for steeling fruit and went to keeping house.
They lived a very quiet and peaceful in the main
Until they had a baby and started raising Cain.
Noah was a carpenter who stumbled in the dark,
He picked up a hammer and built himself an ark.
In came the animals two by two,
All except the worms, and they came in the apples.
In came the lions. In came the bears,
In came the baboons, with out any hairs;
Forty days and forty nights they sailed around the pond.
Noah kicked the lioness out, because she was a blond.
Noah was a mariner who sailed around the sea
With a half a dozen wives and big menagerie
He failed the first season when it rained for forty days
For in that sort of weather, no circus ever pays.
Esau was a cowboy of the wild and wooly make,
Half the farm belonged to him and half to Jake.
Now Esau thought his title to the farm was none too clear,
So he sold it out to Jakey for a sandwich and a beer.
Joseph was a shepherd boy who kept his father's goats,
His father used to dress him in the very loudest coats.
His brothers they got jealous and threw him a well.
Joseph went to heaven and the others's went to ------
Pharaoh had a daughter, she had a winsome smile,
She found the infant Moses, a-floating on the Nile.
She took him to her father with the old familiar tale,
Which is just about as probable as Jonah and the whale.
Salomie was a dancer, she danced the Hoochie Cooch.
But every time she danced it, she didn't wear so much.
"Look here," Said King Saul "We'll have no dancing here!"
"Oh yes we will" said Salomie and she kicked the chandelier.
(Another version )
Salomie was a dancer, she danced before the King,
She wiggled and she waggled and she wobbled most everything.
"Look "said King Saul, "We'll will have no scandal here."
"The -----we won't Said Salomie said and she kicked the chandelier.
Samson was a strong man, of Jeffrey Johnson's School;
He had the strength of thousands and the jawbone of a mule.
And along came Delilh, cut off his curly locks.
And all the strength that Samson had was in his dirty socks.
Jonah was a Mariner on every sea he sailed.
He got free transportation, in the belly of the whale,
In the belly of the whale Jonah felt suppressed,
So he pressed on the button and the whale done the rest.
(Another version)
Jonah was a sailor, so runs the Bible tale.
He took an ocean voyage on a transatlantic whale.
But Jonah didn't like the ride, he said that swimming's best,
So he pressed the belly button and the whale did the rest
David was a shepherd and a plucky little cuss.
Along came Goliath a-looking for a fuss.
David said he'd beat him up, or darn him he would bust
So he took up a slingshot and busted in his crust.
Daniel was a naughty boy, he disobeyed the King;
The king wouldn't stand for any such a thing.
Into the lions' den went Daniel in defeat;
But Daniel was a dentist and pulled the lions' teeth.
Shadrach, Ameshak, and Abenigo wouldn't obey the king,
So they had to go, he threw in the fire, to burn them up like chaff.
But they had on asbestos BVD"s and they gave the king a laugh.
I'm sure that there a whole lot more verses out there somewhere, but that is enough to keep one singing half the night.
I thought that you might like to know the titles to the songs that we sang. Here are a few.
OH! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING
LOVE'S OLD SWEET SONG
JUST A WEARY'IN FOR YOU
PERFECT DAY
I HAVE BEEN WISHING TODAY( I COULD JUST RUN AWAY)
MY OWN TRUE LOVE
SOMEWHERE MY LOVE
LET US ALL SPEAK KIND WORDS
CALVARY
THE HOLY CITY
FASCINATION
CHARADE
I WALKED IN GOD'S GARDEN
I WALKED TODAY WHERE JESUS WALKED
HE THAT HATH CLEAN HANDS
OH! DIVINE REDEEMER
SUNRISE SUNSET
IF I WERE A RICH MAN
RED RIVER VALLEY
TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
OH! LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM
ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
HOW GREAT THOU ART
BEHOLD T'IS EVEN TIDE
JOSEPH SMITH'S FIRST PRAYER
THAT WONDERFUL MOTHER OF MINE
MOTHER MC KREE
THE LORD'S PRAYER
FRIEND OF MINE
I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS
DON'T TAKE ME HOME (AGUSTS J. MC CANN)
THAT SILVER HAIRED DADDY OF MINE
RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET
OH! SWEET MYSTERY OF LIFE
ROSE MARIE
RAMONA
CHILD OF MINE
BEAUTIFUL ISLE OF SOMEWHERE
TIE A YELLOW RIBBON AROUND THE OLD OAK TREE
AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, LOVE ONE ANOTHER
OH! HOLY NIGHT
I'M A PILGRIM
STOUT HEARTED MEN
THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND
MY FAVORITE CLASSICAL MUSIC
THE FLOWER SONG FROM MARTHA
THE TOREADOR SONG
MARTHA FROM MARTHA
SOLDER'S CHORUS, FROM TANHOUSER
POOR BUTTERFLY
VISTA LA GUIBBA
THE CLOWN SONG FROM PAGALOTCHE
RETURN TO SORENTA
I guess that is enough, I'm sure there are many more, but this is enough (maybe more than enough) to give you a feel for the SONGS OF MY HEART.
When my Grandad was alive, I along with all my cousins ( and there were a lot of us) would get him to sing THE BILLY GOAT SONG. I don't know where he got it. He went to England on a mission, maybe that is where it came from. Well, anyway, he would sing this song with a strong "Cockney Brogue" which was more entertaining than the lyrics. I wish that we would have had recorders in those days. But this will have to be next best (The words)
The Billy Goat
An old song sung many times to his children
and grand children, by John William Pitcher
Kind friends I am about to relate,
Give your attention you've not long to wait.
Me father he lived in a place called Conote.
With a sow and a cow and a fine Billy Goat
Sing fallder old daddy, sing fallder all day
Sing fallder old daddy. sing fallder all day
Now this goat had a most curious way,
He'd go out in the morning and stay out all day,
And when he came home like a bull he would roar,
Till me father'd come down and he'd open the door.
Sing fallder me daddy, sing fallder all day
Sing fallder old daddy, sing fallder all day.
One day when we were set down to ate,
The goat leaped the table and stole all the mate.
Without saying a word, this dirty old gammit
Let ram his two horns thro' me poor father's stomach!
Sing fallder old father, sing fallder all day
Sing fallder old daddy, sing fallder all day.
Now Pap says ma'am, and ma'am say I,
Take the dirty old goat and sell him do try,
The words scarcely spoke, till the goat made a jump
Took me mither behind a most murderous bump.
Sing fallder old daddy, sing fallder all day
Sing fallder old daddy. sing fallder all day.
And then we all made a hasty retreat
The goat bucked away at the devil's own rate,
Spied me father's old coat hanging out in the hall,
Made a dive for the coat, stuck his head thro' the wall.
Sing fallder old daddy, sing fallder all day,
Sing fallder old daddy, sing fallder all day.
Next day when we came to look for the goat,
We looked all around till we came to the coat,
And all that was left of that goat on that day,
Was the tip of his tail still bucking away.
Sing fallder old daddy, sing fallder all day,
Sing fallder old daddy, song fallder all day.
A Summary of My First Mission & Call to Denmark
I don't remember just when I received my call, but it must have been some time in July or Aug. 1938. I do remember I was pleased to be going to Denmark, as Asael Buttars went to Nevada and Max Berguson was called to Denver, Colorado. I'm sorry to say, I wasn't very well prepared for missionary work and looked upon my call as a great adventure. Just the thought of going to New York, riding on the train and boat to Denmark were most exciting. And I might add they proved to be just that.
I entered the mission home in Salt Lake City on Oct. 24, 1938. We stayed there 12 days, consisting of study classes and visits by General Authorities. One of them set me apart, but I didn't record who it was. There were 300 in the Mission Home and it was just behind the Lion House on South Temple & 1st East. William E. Barrett taught most of the classes and Donald B. Colton was Pres. of Mission Home. The last day there Pres. Grant came over and talked to us and shook each of our hands. That evening we had a farewell party and had our girl friends and parents there, really nice. Mother & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma Pitcher were down to see me off and of course, Francine.
I left Salt Lake, by train Nov. 5, 1938. One whole car just for missionaries. We stopped in Chicago, Buffalo, then went up to Niagara Falls, finally to New York City. We departed for Europe, aboard the steam ship "Cinthia" Nov. 11.
As Pres. Grant gave us counsel before we left, to use our time traveling well, I decided that as I had never read the Book of Mormon, I would do so. You will have to realize that this was no small undertaking for me. I don't think I had ever read a book, other than "Tarzan of the Apes", "Black Beauty", or some paperback books of "Dare Devil Aces" which Mr. Bambrough, our grocer, couldn't sell so he would give them to me. Well, anyway, to my surprise once I had gone by the "Isaiah" part of the Book of Mormon, I could hardly lay it down and found myself reading well into the night. While on the subject of study, I said that I wasn't very well prepared for a mission. I had gone "through" seminary, and from what I had "gleaned" from Sunday School & Priesthood classes, I had a pretty good idea of what we believed. But I think the beginning of my testimony came as I found that there was biblical proof or scriptural background for everything we believed in. Not one doctrine or principle was without foundation in the Bible. Well by the time I reached Denmark, I had read the Book of Mormon and knew it was true.
We stopped for a day in England and after a short boat ride from Norwitch England to Esbjerg, I arrived in Denmark Nov. 22. I stayed in Copenhagen until after Thanksgiving. We had dinner with President & Sister Garff.
Just a few words about the Garffs. Pres. Mark Garff was only 26 years old, the youngest mission president in church, and Sister Garff was a beautiful young mother. We all loved her. She made us all feel like we had another mother away from home.
The day after Thanksgiving, I, along with Elder Vern Jensen (a professor at the "Y" now) were assigned to labor in Alborg. We went by boat, dropped Bros. Andrew Shumway (from Preston, Idaho) and Elder Madison off at Arhus arriving in A1borg Nov. 27, 1938.
My first companion was Elder Calvin Rassmussen (from Sandy, Utah). He was a good trainer and we got along fine. We had a lot of fun. He and Fru Christensen, our landlady, spent a lot of time helping me to learn Danish. Fru Hensel was a widow lady in her sixties, a lot like Grandma Jensen. The missionaries had stayed there for quite a few years but none were able to convert her. I don't know why. She was very friendly and I really learned to love her.
Well my stay in Alborg was something special, days filled with excitement, nice people, new customs, a time of learning, getting acquainted with the Lord. Some of the things we did were productive and some seem to have been wasted. We did spend a lot of hours in study, both individual and in groups. There were 8 Elders in the branch and we held study classes 2 days a week. Had supper at the church together most of the time. We went out to dinner quite often, at what was called a "Pinchinett", a lot like a boarding house, cost 12 cents a meal. But we had most of the our meals at Fru Christensens, where we paid $12.50 per month for board and room. And she also made our beds, helped me read and learn Danish, did dishes, and took care of us, like a mother would. (By the way I got $25.00 a month from home, and the exchange rate was five to one, or about 125 crowns) We used to have eggs for breakfast and Elder Rasmussen used ketchup on his. So I tried it, and have done so ever since.
Every Saturday we would have a study class in the morning. We studied the Articles of Faith, when Elder Philo Hendrickson was Branch President, but when Henry Christiansen came we had nothing but genealogy. After class we would go to the "bathenstalt" Bath House for our weekly bath, whether we needed it or not. It consisted of a swimming pool, steam bath, showers, and foot baths, (little individual tubs & brushes to wash feet in). There was always competition to see who could swim the farthest under water. At first I couldn't swim even the width of the pool, under water, but before we left Alborg I could swim 2 1/2 lengths of the pool. Best of the group.
By the way, Bros. Christiansen later became head of the genealogical research department for the Church. Earl Olsen became head of Church history archives in Salt Lake. President Garff became head of building department of Church and served on Welfare committee. Elder Peterson also worked in the Church office building.
We spent a lot of time tracting in large apartment buildings, usually five stories high and blocks long. We used "Penrose's "Rays of Leaving Light", about 12 different tracts. We would go door to door, if no one was there, we left a tract anyway. Our contacts were very few. We spent a lot of time delivering "Stars", a publication something like our present day Ensign or Era, they came to the branch and the missionaries delivered them. It gave us a chance to fellowship, visit inactives, and a lot were sold to investigators. We spent a lot of time going to branch functions, MIA etc., that present day missionaries don't do. But in retrospect, I see it filled a need to help new converts get used to new friends and a new way of life. I think it's just as important to keep converts in the church as to go after new ones. Ideally the members should do the fellow-shipping, but many fall away because the members fail to fellowship.
It wasn't long until Christmas and it's impossible to fully describe Christmas in Denmark. The decorations: In the street, every light post a decorated candle, in every store window a nativity scene, with beautiful "Marshupan" candy animals, with pink eared pigs, rabbits, etc. They closed everything up for a whole week, no stores opened, people just stayed home with their families. We went to Bro. Emiel Booke's home for New Year's Eve. He lived on the other side of town. We had an early meal, then we all held hands and sang songs, as we circled the Christmas tree. Then they gave out gifts, I got a 5 million frank German note from first world war, no good, of course, but fun. Then another big meal about midnight. We bicycled back across town, down main street, never saw a soul, show houses, restaurants, everything closed on Christmas Eve.
I'm a little surprised at how often we went to shows & movies, at least once a week (As we never went to one while we were on our mission to Pa. in 1976-78). The local news paper in Logan, "The Herald Journal", sent every missionary the daily news while they were away. So every week I would get a bundle of papers from home. It was nice, but I did waste a lot of time reading them. I picked it up one day just after I had been there a little while and there on the front page was a picture of Grandad Pitcher. He had died and I hadn't received word from home as yet.
There was a Danish American Festival in January and a whole ship load of Americans stopped in Alborg and they had a big party, out at a big convention center, we all went out and spent the evening. The next day there was a big picture of the party in the newspaper, and would you believe it, right in the center sat 8 missionaries. (By the way, we had all you could eat, including 1/2 fried chicken, cost 90 cents). Went to a lady dentist and had a tooth filled-cost $1.00.
Shortly after I arrived in Alborg, we were visiting a Bro. Jorgenson, and he told me that one of his brothers, who for years had been the music director at the "Konliegn Theater" in Copenhagen, would give me singing lessons if I wanted him to. So I made arrangements and for the next 6 months I took lessons. At first I couldn't seem to grasp what he was trying to do, but after a while it started to sink in and before long I was singing the tenor arias from Martha & Carmen and others. It was just unbelievable how my voice changed, how I could go up and hit the high notes, etc. And when I was released to go to Odense he just couldn't understand why the church would take me away from my music. He said that if I stayed, that I had a good enough voice to sing with any opera company in the world. But that wasn't what the Lord sent me to Denmark for. I did a lot of singing in church, for almost every program. And, by the way, I no sooner got there and they found out I could sing, they figured I could lead the music as well, so I ended up doing that, though I had never done it in my life. Many a time- I would run out of beats and they would keep singing or I would still be beating when they would stop.
Danish came slow for me. It seemed like I could master the mechanics of it, but didn't have what they called the "danska sprog" or dialect, I just couldn't say the words the way the Danes did. But I struggled through it. I remember the first talk I gave, I got Elder Peterson to help me, and as I could read a little Danish out of the Book of Mormon, he chose two scriptures and I would read one, then there were was a few paragraphs of commentary which I learned word after word, not knowing what was being said, just knowing which word followed the other. Well, I worked hard for about a week and would you believe it, I got up and turned to the last scripture and read it first, and when I had finished it I was through. I couldn't go on, that was how it ended and I just sat down embarrassed, but the saints loved the missionaries and they were kind. It was hard at first to go out to a cottage meeting and spend all evening listening to people talk Danish and not understand a word. We used film and slide projectors and when they would turn out the light, it was very difficult to stay awake. I remember my companion kicking me on the shins to wake me up. It seems like the change in altitude and the Danish pastry, which you had to eat every time someone invited you in, soon began to show, and I found myself taking my clothes to the tailor to accommodate my ever growing body, soon my 145 pounds turned into 180. And that wasn't all, I started to notice every time I combed my hair there was ever increasing amount of hair remaining in the comb. There was a saying, "You lose three things before you become a good missionary-your shape, your hair, and your girl friend". Well I felt I was well on the way, but Francine stayed with me. About this time, we went to a conference where Pres. Garff spoke and I hadn't been able to understand anything that had been spoken by the previous speakers. But when he began to speak, it was almost like English, I understood every word. I remember thinking this must be what is mentioned in the scriptures as interpretation of tongues. I found in the entry for Feb. 5, that I gave two talks at Brenderslive Conference, so I guess I was able to communicate somewhat. I'm also surprised how early I learned to recognize the presence of the Holy Ghost. How good it felt when I was able to do and say things beyond my natural ability. And how I gave credit to the Lord when ever things went especially well.
One of our choice experiences was with a family, by the name of Hansen. A friend back home in Cornish, by name of Fred Veibell sent me the address of his grandparents, who lived in Norresundby, so we looked them up and they just treated us wonderful. His uncle and aunt took us on their boat down the "Lime Fjiord" (like a river) to an Island for a picnic. They listened to our messages and we felt sure some would join the church, but they never did while we were there. Some twenty years later a young lady came to visit us in Cornish. She had come to stay with Veibelle's and she told me that after the war her mother, one of the daughters of H.P. Hansen, had joined the church, and she had also become a member. I remembered her mother well. I couldn't figure out why she waited so long.
One day Elder Rassmussen and I were tracting and we knocked on a door and when the lady answered she was crying. She was broken hearted. We asked why she felt so badly. She said that she had just had a baby a short time before and it had died before the Priest could baptize it. And the Priest had told her that the baby was doomed to Purgatory. We were able to read what Alma said in the Book of Mormon about little children not needing baptism and that they were saved in Christ. It was as though the whole world had been taken off her shoulders. She was so relieved, she invited us back when her husband was home. They were converted and later joined the church. We spent many hours in their home. They treated us like we were kings. Well, on March 23, Elder Rasmussen left for a new calling & Elder La Rue Thurston from Richfield was my new companion. We got along fine and we worked hard. I remember getting up at five a.m. and going down to the beach to swim before study class. Again Pres. Garff wanted us to see the Kongley Players Opera Company put on grand opera presentations at the big music hall, so we went and saw Tanhouser, Carmen, Martha, Madam Butterfly and Faust. I gained a real appreciation for opera and enjoy it until this day.
One time on our day off, we all decided to go out to "Vesterhavit" by the sea shore on west coast of Denmark to swim and have a fun day. I remember Elder Thurston and I looking out to what looked like a sand bar, so we decided to swim out. When we got out there, there was no sand bar, so without any place to rest we started back for shore. Now I had never had anything to do with tides and it was going out and it didn't seem like I could gain any distance, no matter how hard I swam. Well Elder Thurston was an excellent swimmer and I could swim well too, but we would swim until we were exhausted and would have to turn over on our backs and rest and when we did we would drift further out to sea. Well, it took us about 2 1/2 hours before we made it back. And I have often thought how easily we both could have drowned. I think most missionaries would have, and how wise it is to have missionaries stay out of the water like they do now.
On May 27 all the missionaries boarded trains and all forty of us went to Silkeborg, to a missionary conference and for a whole week we just had a wonderful time. Meetings, good meals, most beautiful landscape I have ever seen, Mt. "Hemmeibjerget" (Heaven Mountain) rises 300 feet above sea level, highest point in Denmark, all surrounded by lakes, just beautiful. Then on the 4th of July we elders from Alborg went down to "Rabel" park. It's the only place in the world outside of America where they celebrate the 4th of July. It was a small valley, like a big football stadium, only you had the grass sides to sit on. And the flag of every state was mounted on a flag pole around the park and those who came from the states, and there must have been a thousand, each gathered around their state flag. The most exciting thing to me was when they played the Star Spangled Banner and we all sang. The chills just ran up and down my spine. There is a permanent museum there and the biggest display is from Utah, furnished mostly by the saints in America. We went on quite a few branch outings, all on bicycles, out in the country side. It was so beautiful, there were large areas of pine trees and fields were so well kept. Never saw a weed any place we stopped. There were a lot of large stones placed in a big circle. They told us these were grave markers left by the ten tribes as they went into the North Country.
Well, I got a new companion on July 7, a new elder from the states. Elder Nielsen and I decided we were really going to work hard, So we found a new tracking area and went to work. Those living in these apartments (government housing) were mostly young people and we were able to get into a lot more homes and we felt good in the work. One day we knocked on a door and the maid came, and in our door approach we usually said something like this," We are from America and missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints." We had no sooner got the word out than we heard a voice calling down from upstairs. "Don't let them get away, I want to talk to them". All this in English and down the stairs she came dressed in a bath robe like she had just jumped out of the tub. I remember being quite flustered. Anyway, she was young and pretty, but I gathered myself together and proceeded to give her the message of the first tract, in English. And to my surprise, I didn't know the scriptures in English so, after stumbling around for awhile, I apologized and told her I guess I would have to give my message in Danish, which I did. She said she was visiting relatives there in Denmark and when she heard some one speak English, or that someone from America was there, she couldn't wait to see us. Well, after a short but pleasant visit, we left with an invitation to return. But within a few days I was called to go to Odense to work, so I never saw her again- Maybe just as well.
One more thing of note before I left Alborg, Elder Jones and I went up to Brendersleve and Hjorring, about 25 miles to hold Sunday school and Sacrament Meeting. It was one of those special spiritual days, they told us of a sister Jeppsen who was very ill, so Elder Jones and I went over between meetings, gave her sacrament and a blessing. Before we left she asked if I would sing, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". I don't remember singing it before. I never sing it now, that I don't think back to that day in Brendersleve. Elder Jones took his violin with and played as I sang, and she so enjoyed the song, she died just a few days later. One more tracking experience-Elder Rasmussen and I knocked an a door and a man answered the door. He had his arm all bandaged up and in a sling. He was grouchy and angry, but finally let us in. It seems he was a butcher and had cut his arm quite badly and was in considerable pain. We usually talked to the wives, so this was a little different. We were able to give him a discussion and even sold him a subscription to the "Star". We were invited back and he turned out to be one of our most cherished investigators. He later said he felt that it was God's will that he had cut his arm, so he would be home when we called. We were called home before he joined the church. So I don't know what ever happened.
Just to show how things have changed, we used to go through 12 discussions and many cottage meetings and etc. before we even asked someone about baptism. So at very best it would take about 6 months, so rarely did a missionary ever see someone who he had tracked out , be baptized. I know a lot were lost by the new missionaries, but now they are asked or challenged in the first or second visit. We used to think we had to do all the converting, we didn't realize that it was the Holy Ghost that converts people.
Well, my release from Alborg came July 20th and I was assigned to work in Odense. I sure hated to leave. We had so many things going for us, good investigators, good tracking districts, my music lessons were getting more promising all the time, But I went gladly, because I had to. Elder Dale Higginsen, an old friend from high school days at Richmond, Utah was the D.P. there. So we had a good reunion. I was given as a new companion, Elder Grant Madison, from Provo. He was new in the mission but could speak Danish fairly well, as his folks were Danish. (I had been in Denmark exactly 8 months to the day when I arrived in Odense.) Everything seemed different there. It was a lot harder to get people to talk to you. Odense is right down in the south of Denmark next to Germany, and the fear of war was on everyone's mind. And almost everyone we contacted, who would talk, wanted to talk about it. It was very difficult to maintain enthusiasm and spirituality. The few saints there, were great, which helped a lot. Shortly after arriving, I was called out to give a blessing to a sister Kamogoard, who was very ill. I had never done this before myself, so I was kind of apprehensive as to what I should say. It was there I learned a great lesson. I had made up my mind just what I would say, but when it came time to give her a blessing, I couldn't say a word for the longest time. Finally I started to speak, and the blessing that the Lord had for her came out. She was made well almost immediately. I'm sure the Lord wanted to teach me a lesson. If she had been healed in the manner I had intended, I might not have given credit, where it belonged, to the Lord. From that time on until this day I never preconceive what I shall say, just try to be as humble and submissive to the promptings of the Spirit as I can. And then utter the words the Lord puts into my mind.
Another rather different experience was to go to the Archives and do research. Bros. Higginsen's people were from Odensa. There was a Sister Hansen from Copenhagen working on her line there and we made a deal. She would search for my people (mother's ancestors) in Copenhagen and I would look for her ancestors in Odense. The archive was in the basement of the old Lutheran church. And we had to get permission from the Priest, we would tell him what years we were looking for and he would bring them to the reading room where you could look over them. There was a certain musty smell, nothing quite like anything I have ever smelled before. And these old books, some two or three hundred years old were something. Some were written in the most beautiful penmanship, while others almost took revelations to decipher. But it was amazing how fruitful our searches were. We were able to gather hundreds of names. It was one of the most thrilling things to see the names you were looking for come up and almost stand out as each page was turned. By the way, the surname changes with each generation, like Niels Rasmussen might name his son Chris Nielsen, being Niels' son.
Shortly after we arrived in Odense Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith and his wife came and spent a day with us. What a privilege it was for the missionaries all day with an Apostle. He talked, his wife, Jessie Evans Smith (His new wife, by the way) sang, and after, we just sat around and asked questions and he would explain them to us. He had been sent by the brethren in Salt Lake to oversee the evacuation of the missionaries. They had already brought all the missionaries out of Czechoslovakia, on the last train out of Prague to Copenhagen. By the end of Aug. all the missionaries from Germany were in Copenhagen. All French and English missionaries were returned to the states. And on the 1st day of Sept. 1939, Germany invaded Poland. I can still remember that day, everyone was nervous, there was no use trying to talk to people about the church, their minds were on the war. So Elder Madison and I went down to some beautiful clay tennis courts and played tennis. Just before noon, five war planes flew over us going east. And we knew this was it. After dinner we received word that they were going to keep all the Scandinavian and young, or new German and Czechoslovakian missionaries, here for a while longer. So, they said that they would send some over to be with, us in a day or so, but we were to be prepared to leave on 12 hrs. notice. We received two German missionaries, Elder Richard Paul (Professor at BYU now) and Elder Stevens. They had both been in Germany only a month or so. They were there with us for about two weeks before we were called out, but the night before we were to leave we held a farewell meeting that I will never forget. We all talked and bore testimony, everyone except the two new Elders. Elder Stevens talked through an interpreter, but when Elder Paul got up to speak he spoke in Danish, very slowly and breaking, but everyone there understood everything he said. The Spirit was there so strong you felt like you could cut it with a knife. Never before or since have I witnessed anything like it. It was as if the Lord was trying to prepare the Saints for the difficult times ahead. There was no way a man could speak a foreign language after only two weeks. You do well to speak Danish in 9 months. He was a witness from God to those Saints of the divinity of this work and that speaking in tongues, "For the edification of the Saints", was part of gifts of the spirit as in olden days.
Well, this just about winds up our stay in Odense, just a few little notes on the lighter side. You have never smelled anything quite like Danish cheese. In fact there was a small cheese shop we had to go by most every day and we used to quote Shakespeare in saying "there is something rotten in Denmark" and concluded he must have passed that way. I had a missionary companion for a short time from Huntsville Utah, Hans Anderson, he grew up in Denmark, was converted went to Utah & returned as a missionary. Well he always had to have "Oster oust" cheese made from goats milk. I could never eat breakfast when he did it stunk so bad. So I would slip out of bed before he got up and fix myself something to eat first.
Elder Higgesen was good looking and quite a ladies man before coming on a mission. In his apartment they had a fire place with a mantel above it. On this mantel were the pictures of his girl friends back home and every morning he would go over and determine which was going to be his girl for the day. Then he would stick a little American flag which he had over the girl for the day. And as time went on and one by one they would send him a "dear John" letter, and he would remove her picture, fold it up and put it in the bottom of his trunk.
Well, the call finally came to pack and be in Copenhagen in the morning, this was 19th of Sept. I went and sold my bicycle, said goodby to as many of the saints as I could, and we boarded the "Lunetoge" lightning train for Copenhagen. Leaving behind Elder Madison (Grant) and Elder Thompsen, two of the few Pres. Garff selected to remain and help take care of the affairs of the church in Denmark. Spent 20 & 21st in Copenhagen, went to see my Aunt Hansena Larsen and said goodby, bought a few presents to take home to Francine and Mother. Received our releases from our mission call to Denmark and boarded the ship "Scan Penn" and sailed for home Sept 22, 1939. Just a footnote: Refugees-- mostly Jews from Eastern Europe flooded into Denmark trying to escape Hitler and would give any amount for passage on any boat, but there were 128 missionaries and the church had such good relations with the shipping companies, they received the tickets first, before any one else, regardless of how much they were willing to pay.
On A Ship Too Far From Home
This is the story of Captain Hansen, the captain of a Danish cargo ship. He and his ship, the Maria, were in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the time this story began to unfold. He was away from home for extended periods, as much as six months sometimes. It was on one of these extended voyages that he received word from his wife stating that she had listened to the message of the Mormon Missionaries and was convinced that their message was true, and wanted his permission to be baptized. He recalled how angry he became, so angry that he couldn't sleep he just paced up and down the deck of the ship. He said that ordinarily he and his crew were very friendly and spent a lot of time talking and joking with each other, but he said that for days he hardly spoke to a soul. His fellow sailors just couldn't understand what was wrong, because he was such a friendly and amiable person ordinarily, but now he would pace right on by, not saying a word. He said that this lasted for weeks, almost to the point that he was becoming ill. He had one more stop to make in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before going on to New York, where he would write and tell his wife that if she didn't get those crazy ideas out of her mind that it was all over between them, and that he didn't want anything more to do with her. Well somewhere between Rio and New York he was praying that somehow the Lord would help his wife see that what she was espousing was of the Devil, when the thought came into his mind, I have known my wife for a long time and she has always shown good judgment and was a stable person. When I get to New York I will go to a library and see what I can find out about the Mormons. This he did, and he found what he was looking for, even the address of the mission headquarters, where he went and picked up a copy of all the books and tracks they had, and returned to his ship. For the next month while unloading and reloading cargo and making the return trip to Denmark he studied the books and pamphlets and by the time he reached home he never delivered the message he intended to deliver when he left Argentina. In fact, he not only gave permission for his wife to be baptized but he to had been converted, and we baptized them both at the same time.
While my companion and I were the ones to baptize them, as was usually the case, we had inherited this referral from the preceding Elders in that tracking district. It was very unusual in those days to tract someone out and eventually baptize them. At that time we had a series of tracts called "Rays of Living Light" by Penrose, consisting of about twenty tracts in all, and if I remember right the tract on baptism was never even given until about the eighteenth visit. So by the time you had made that many visits, usually about every two weeks in between, you can see that most of the missionaries had been reassigned before they were even ready to be taught about baptism. Well this was the case with us, we came in just in time for the dessert. But we also prepared tables for the Elders who followed us. As I have seen the change in the proselyting procedures of the church, where many are challenged for baptism on the first or second visit, I marvel that there were as many baptisms as there were, and they were few and far between, if you had one in your whole mission you were lucky, (in the "Old Days"). I have often wondered why we were led to believe that we had to give our investigators "the whole load of hay" before they could receive a witness by the Spirit that we carried the message of the restored gospel. I have seen just as strong, or even stronger, testimonies, that have been received in a matter of a few visits, as those that have been extended over a longer period of time. What is more of a mystery to me, is that the D&C is replete with instructions to those who embark in the service of God to bear a humble testimony and the Spirit will discern whether or not the person is ready to receive the gospel, and if so He (The Holy Ghost) will confirm their testimony. Why did we fail to teach by the Spirit, thinking that everyone had to have an intellectual conversion, before the witness of the Holy Ghost would come. Like Captain Hansen, his conversion and testimony came from the Holy Ghost, not from a couple of young missionaries who couldn't have taught a duck to swim if left on their own. The acquisition of knowledge of things spiritual are not obtained in the conventional manner, study and evaluation, but one must study out something in their mind, and after they have determined that what they studied is true, then they must go to the Lord in prayer, and if it be right He will "Cause that your bosom will burn within you," if it be a wrong conclusion you will "Have a stupor of thought." So all the study in the world, and all the conclusions and equations arrived at by reason alone will not substitute for personal revelation.
My Mission to West Virginia
I was released from my call to Denmark Sept 20, 1939, and sailed out of Copenhagen Harbor, by the statue of The Little Mermaid and in to the Baltic Sea. As the waters were mined by the different countries, we had a Danish pilot for the first little while, then we were met by a small boat and a Swedish pilot came aboard to guide us through the Swedish mines fields and then about 12 hours later we were met by the pilot from Norway to lead us into the Port of Bergin, Norway. My it was beautiful. Bergin lies part way up the west coast of Norway at the end of a long inland sea. The mountains rising right up and out of the sea to awesome heights, hardly no beaches. We spent four days there. One day was a Sunday so we went to church and it was amazing how similar Norwegian is to Danish. We took a train ride to the top of the mountain. It was really quite exciting and scary. The fish markets were really something, live fish right there in tanks, you would pick out the ones you wanted and then they would clean them right on the spot. In the evening all the young people would go down to the main "drag" or street, all the boys on one side, all the girls on the other and then the boys would walk past the girls, back and forth. Finally, they would start to pair off and disappear.
The ship, The Scanpenn, that we came home on, was a freighter with facilities for a crew of thirty. In the hold of the ship there were four compartments. The front compartment was filled to the top with Danish cheese. The second, had been reserved for passenger space, as was the third. The fourth, was loaded while we waited in Bergin, with cod liver oil. So you can imagine how it would smell.
There was a group of orthodox Jews, probably about a 100 of them. They took blankets and sectioned off a portion of one of the holds. They associated very little with the rest of us. They prepared their own meals, held their religious services both night and morning, which consisted of a lot of chanting and singing. (I guess you would call it singing.) To wash their silverware, they would tie all the utensils to a long line and throw them overboard, letting them drag along in the sea.
Of the 300 on board, 128 were missionaries. As I said, the ship was built to accommodate 35 at most, so just getting to the bathroom was a trick. Many times we would wait until late night or early morning to get a bath. Among the missionaries was Pres. Toronto, of the Czechoslovakian Mission. He was a great guy. We had programs every night and dances and as there were quite a few young American girls abord, they would come and plead with President Toronto to let us dance, but to no avail. He had a way with him that the girls loved, and he could say "no" in such a way that they would think maybe tomorrow night. So it was a ritual every night, coaxing all evening long, but no dancing.
On the front hatch cover was placed a great big American flag, so enemy air craft would know our identity. At night there was about 6 big spot lights shinning on the flag so there would be no mistake as to who we were. Also big American flags were painted on the sides of the ship. We were stopped once by a German submarine, they came aboard to inspect, but left soon after. We did see some Patrol Bombers. We were told that they were British, but that was all. We sailed southwest for a while and then west to Greenland, then down the east coast of Canada to Boston. We had a few really rough days and nights. I became good friends with the captain, and he would take me up in the wheel house to watch the big waves, as they completely covered the main deck and even the spray came clear up where we were. When the nights were calm, we would take our blankets and pillows, up out of that foul smelling hatch, and sleep on the open deck, in the fresh sea breeze.
We arrived in Boston on the 6th of Oct. about 12 days after leaving Norway. I will never forget how good America looked. It was in the evening when we arrived and there must have been an airport close by. I just couldn't believe all the aircraft, big and small, big buildings and everything going at such a fast pace.
We boarded a train, arriving next morning in New York. We stayed there four days, getting our new assignments and making arrangements to leave. We had a great time. The world's fair was on and we spent two days out there. We saw television for the first time. A little 12 inch set. Only one transmitter in all the world (W.O.R. New York). We also saw little photo electric cells that ran a small motor, with sunlight, even electric lights. One room at the G.E. company pavilion had "man made" lightning. The noise was deafening, even if we had ear covers.
Well, all the missionaries, with any amount of time left, were reassigned to different missions, all over the eastern part of the U.S. I received my call to the East Central States Mission (Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina). Head quarters in Louisville, Kentucky. I left New York on the
12th, went to Washington D.C., spent one day sight seeing, arriving in Louisville, Kentucky next day. I was there less than a day, and was on my way to Fairmount, West Virginia. The next day, Oct. 14, I went with Jim and Evelyn Roads to Bendex Maryland, as it was part way to my field of labor. I caught a bus the next morning for Franklin, West Virginia, where I was met by my new companion, Elder Mecham and Bro. Esbee Hartman. This was a little town in south eastern West Virginia, maybe a thousand people. Well we got in Esbee's truck and started for his home, up Smith Creek about 5 miles, but it seemed like fifty, all trees, and they were big ones. Finally we arrived, it was a two story log house, with two rooms down stairs and two rooms upstairs. In spite of 13 children, one room was reserved for the missionaries.
It seems that Bro. Hartman had been cutting logs and putting away lumber to build a house for years, but shortly before we arrived it was decided the branch need a new church house, so Bro. Hartman donated all his dried lumber to build it. Now a few years later, he was back cutting and drying lumber to start on his house again.
A little history of the church in that neck of the woods. It seems that in about 1900, two missionaries were sent to labor in Franklin, but were "rode out" on a rail, One was shot and wounded severely. As they left Franklin, they found there way up this little creek (Smith Creek) where a Mr. Hartman found them and took them to his home where he and his wife nursed them back to health. In the meantime, this Mr. Hartman was converted to the church, together with three of his brothers. That little congregation became the first branch of the church in West Virginia, this Mr. Hartman was Esbee's Father. The Lord never seen fit to send Elders back to Franklin again, until I arrived, 40 years later.
That part of the country is referred to as (The Smoke Holes). Deriving it's name from the time, when the indians used to smoke their meat, in some caves and caverns found in the area. It was an isolated part of the country, with the people living almost completely cut of from the rest of the world. Right after the revolutionary war there was a group of people, mostly of German decent, who had been imported to fight for the Colonies. After the war they went up the Potomac River, where they intermarried. Few, if any, outsiders ever went in there. About 1900 the Mormon missionaries went in there and baptized most of them. They were so poor, other churches weren't interested in setting up a congregation there. The first roads ever built in the area were built by the P.W.A. during the early thirties. The government built little log school houses every five miles up the river and sent teachers into teach the children, who would come down out of the hills to school. I remember the first time I went down to Uppertract, we got stuck in the river and had to wade out and go get a man with a horse to pull us out. It wasn't uncommon to have pigs and chickens in the house, running around your feet, at dinner time. Many a night the bed bugs would be so bad you would have to get up and put your clothes back on, to try to keep them out. Because they never left the area, they intermarried and there were many who were born with birth defects. Moral standards were most nonexistent for a time. We were given an assignment to take a census of church membership in the area, when we would ask who the father was, many times they were family members, even their fathers. Many who joined the church were lost, as far as the church knew. We found some members who hadn't seen a missionary or church leader for 20 years. Would you believe, we gave boys and girls, 14 years old, a fathers blessing and a name, so they could be put on the roles of the church, along with their parents. Years before, there had been an Elder Hunt that went through the area, he was the one that baptized most of them.
Well, I'm getting a little ahead of my story. When we arrived, Esbee was starting to build his house. And I guess Pres.Tew felt we should help Esbee for all he had done toward building the church house. Well anyway, we did very little proselyting, but for the next two or three months we spent most of our time digging the basement, pouring the cement, taking off forms, hauling logs to saw mill, moving old buildings, "shucking" corn, killing pigs, you name it, we did it. Of course, we held church each Sunday and M.I.A. on Tuesday. We would visit and stay with the members up Smith Creek occasionally, maybe 1/4 the time. Just a note, while Smith Creek was in the area of the smoke holes, the influence of church and the small branch, had given those in this area a higher standard of living. Their homes were generally better kept. The children from Smith Creek were being bussed to Franklin when I got here,and they never had livestock in the house or bed bugs. While it was definitely "Hill Billy" country, those who belonged to the Smith Creek branch were a lot better off. A little about the families of Esbee and his wife Leana, They were half brother and sister. They didn't know it at the time, in fact, it was years later that Esbee's mother told them that they had the same father. Well they had thirteen children and there were only three or four who weren't affected one way or another, some worse than others.
Harold, the oldest boy was born deaf and dumb and should have been sent to a school for such as he. But Bro. Hartman thought he would be mistreated, so he stayed with the family. Ruth the oldest was pretty good, still had her problems, but very kind and would do anything to please us. Her hickory-nut cake was something special. Then came Mabel, she was alright in fact really smart and was her father's right arm, doing a lot of the chasing to town and getting supplies etc. Harold and I became good friends, inspite of his handicaps. Then came Reese, he could barely hear and had other problems. Next was Wayne, he could barely talk. Then another girl, Mary, who had problems too. Then a girl, Janiel, who was like Mabel and was all right. Then the two youngest boys were alright. The rest died early in life. So, you see it was rough job for Esbee and his wife, and grandma Hartman had lived with them most of their married life. It was very difficult to keep the degree of spirituality a missionary should have. But, I studied an awfully lot of the time. I remember, as I walking from one place to another, always at least a mile or two apart, spending my time memorizing scriptures. I had quite a time at first, because I didn't know any scriptures in English. I remember sister Hartman saying sometimes I would be talking in English and all at once I would inject Danish words.
Right after the first of the year, we started tracting in Franklin. We had only tracted a couple days when I received a new companion, Elder Adams, 6'6" from Delta, Utah. We rented a room at the hotel in town for $1.25 a day. Though our success was positive, not any baptisms. There was only one home in all of town we were not able to get into. I remember one home in particular. It was a big white stately mansion up on a hill. With big white fences and horses roaming in the acres around the house. We had been tracting in town for quite some time, when one of the ladies asked if we had been up there yet. We confessed we hadn't, thinking people that wealthy wouldn't be interested. She chastized us slightly, saying what wonderful people they were, so up we went. We were greeted by the butler and invited in. The family was named Anderson. They became one of our best contacts, in fact, years later, some members of the family joined the church. I remember being asked out to thier place for dinner (many times) and setting at a big beautiful table, and how all the plates were set at the head of the table. After grace, Mr. Anderson would slice the meat and the butler and maid would finish filling the plates and pass them around.
While in town we took part in all community functions. I sang in the Methodist choir, even auctioned box-suppers at the Drunkard church, and went to revivals of other churches. We just became part of the community, we knew almost every one and they all knew us. When I said our success was positive, we were able to break down old prejudices and create a healthy climate for the church to grow, which it did and is still growing to this day.
There was a home Sunday School out to Upper Tact, held at sister Kimballs. We tried to spend at least 2 Sundays a month up there about 15 miles. There were the Kimballs, the Thompsons, Nielsons, Aults McGunnis, and others. I remember passing the sacrement, we used just one glass for the water. We held cottage meetings and did some proselyting. At one cottage meeting we had 35 out. I remember one place way back in the hills, miles from anyone else, we knocked on the door and the lady invited us in, and said she had seen us coming the night before in a dream, singing "Bringing in the Sheaves". Only we didn't know "Bringing the Sheves".
One of the families where we stayed an awfully lot, was the Mauzes. Fred, big heavy set, and Luther skinny as a rail. This is where Masel Warner lived, a grand daughter. Masel was in her late 20's or early 30's, but she was a fire ball and to a great extent, was responsable for holding the branch together.
A short resume of Mazel's life is worth recording. There were two churches up Smith Creek and they were like Democrats and Republicans, each strong in their belief and set in their ways. Well, the wealthiest families's name was Sponogle and they were strong members of the Drunkard Church. In fact, it was their money that paid the preacher and to a big extent paid for the up keep of the church. Well, they had a boy, whoes name was Glen, about Masels age and they went together. Glen's folks were dead set against it, especially, because Glen had been coming to church and Masel had taught him, until he knew that the church was true, but because of threats and other means of intimidation, he went for a year not joining the church. Finally, it was time to make a decision, either join the church and get Masel, or find someone else. So he joined the church. He and Masel were married. His people cut him off, not even allowing him to come home. Well, the reason for writing this story: He and Masel found another source of income, they were married in the temple. Eventually, the old folks died and he got his inheritance, they took the money and both went on a mission. When I went back, some years later, he was the Branch President. I was surprised at Masel's attitude. She said if she had it to do over again, she would never date out of the church, or marry our of the church, as the odds of ever getting married in the temple are too slim. In spite of how well things worked for them.
We moved out of the hotel on Feb. 23, cost to much. So we stayed up to Esbee's. We would get up and meet Ralph Warner at 7:30, ride into town, tract till noon, sleep in his car until 2 pm and tract until 4:30 and then ride back to Smith Creek with him. He had a model "A" ford. We got to "dickering" and I bought it for $50.00. One of my friends Earl Murphy, was a mechanic, He helped me put a rumble seat in and paint it, really looked sharp. I don't think Pres. Tew was too thrilled, but it sure turned out to be a blessing. I went to Stanton Virginia, about 15 miles away and got Virginia license plates. I recorded-"got 7 gallons for $1.00 and I got 24 1/2 miles to the gallon". More about the car later.
About this time I got word from Grant Madison. My companion in Denmark. He had been selected to stay with Pres. Garff and others, but at the last moment. He decided he wanted to come home with the rest. Well, when he got here things went from bad to worse, he lost his girl back home, became so despondent, he asked to be released and he returned home. The point I wanted to make is this, whenever we turn down a call in the church, we stand on shaky ground. The Lord has plans for our continual growth and when we change those plans, "the spirit is grieved" and most times we are left to "kick against the pricks".
One of my best friends was Woodrew Hartman, Esbee's nephew. We used to stay at his place a lot. His mom would get up at 3:30 a.m. every morning and turned the radio up so loud we couldn't sleep. I can still hear "Cowboy Loy" singing "Country Rose". When we were up there, we would help with what ever needed to be done. Clearing trees off the land so it could be farmed, was one project. When we got through there were always stumps left. So we would take dynamite sticks and put under them to blow them out. One day we ran out of dynamite, so we went down to the state road sheds to get some more. The fellow who was in charge, was Emery Eye, he only had one hand (I don't know if it had been blown off with dynamite or not) Well, anyway, this was the beginning of one of our most successful contacts.
His story is quite unique. When he found out I was a Mormon he asked me, completely out of the blue, " When the Savior was talking to the Nephites, He said, He had another sheep which were not of this fold or of the fold in Jerusalem. Who was he talking about?" I was dumb founded, not that I didn't know the answer, but how had he known that much about the Book of Mormon. Well, "Here is the rest of the story". It seems that about 40 or fifty years prior to this, his grandfather's barn caught on fire, and just after it started, two young men were walking by and ran over and helped him put the fire out. He invited the young men to spend the night, the next morning, he bought a book from them. Well, evidently he never read it, gave it to his son who did likewise, who inturn gave it to his son, (Emery Eye) who did read it. Not just once, but many times. And until he met me, he had never met a Mormon, that he knew of. Well needless to say we spent many hours with him and his family, and his wifes parents as well, they all later joined the church.
He was so anxious for his brother to hear about the church, he asked me to go over to Pocohauntus Co. where his brother lived, some 50 miles away. I don't remember when we got there, but right after supper we started talking about the church. It was one of the most remarkable experiences in my whole life. It seems like just a few hours, but when we finished it was well after midnight. He would ask questions and the answer would just come. Some I had never thought about before. The scriptures would almost open by themselves and I remember marveling how our discussion would lead right into the next logical step, in presenting the Gospel plan. After, Emery and I went outside and he said, "My you must have had a wonderful teacher." I told him that what he had witnessed this night, was someone being taught by the Holy Ghost. All I was doing, was being the mouth piece. Never before or since, have I felt the presence of the Holy Ghost so strong as that night.
Just one short story before we leave the dynamite episode. When we finished building the chapel we needed dirt to fill in around the church. To appreciate this story, you have to vision the church down at a fork in the road, at the bottom of two big "runs" or hollows, and the saints lived up these hollows. Well, we weren't getting much cooperation, with the missionaries doing much of the work. One night a big cloud-burst hit up the hollows and the next morning the floods had washed top soil down from their farms and deposited it right around the church, all that was left to do was to level it and get some shale for the parking lot. Here again, it was so hard to dig the shale out, I got some more dynamite from Emery and blasted the shale loose so we could get at it, without so much work.
April 9, 1940 Hilter's Army's took Denmark and Norway
As summer came, we went further afield, spent less time in Smith Creek. We had a lot of good friends in town and we continued to hold Cottage Meetings with them. The Dyer family, the town doctor, treated us so swell. Her daughter joined the church after I left and her grand son went on a mission. Jack Wilkenson was a big cattle rancher, he and his family were special to us, as were as the Priests, Propts, Eyes, Dauhmers, Murphys and Mrs. Haddly. Mrs Haddly was special, we met her when we first started tracking, she was an invalid and had a maid. She was always glad to have us come to visit. She was a strong Democrat and when it came time to register to vote, she gave me a dollar for pole tax and made me register. I did so and voted for Pres.Roosevelt (3rd Term). Then too, we had S.S. every Sunday morning in Upper Track. As summer came and we could get down into the smoke holes, we started going from one section to another, where we held meetings every night. Usually there was a little one room school house down at the bottom of some "Run or Draw". We would visit members during the day, then in the evening they and their friend would come down to a "Preaching" meeting. Next morning we would get up early and go the next run or hollow. Then the same thing, visit and preach. It took two weeks to make the rounds. It was great, we made a lot of friends, even a few baptisms.
While there I learned a great lesson about speaking. I had always found it hard to speak in meeting. I could never read a talk, or I would lose eye to eye contact. and for some reason, even to this day, when I speak I have to keep my eye on the audience, or the spirit leaves me. Also I was always concerned about how I was doing and what people thought of my talk. Well, one day while reading in the D & C, 84 Sec. 85th Verse, I read "Wherefor take yea no thought before hand what yea shall say, but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour, that portion that shall be melted unto every man." Also Sec. 11, Verse 21. we find "Seek not to declare my word, but seek first to obtain my word, then shall your tongue be loosed. Then if you desire you shall have my spirit and my word, yea the power of God unto the convincing of men"." And in another place we are admomished that we should do all things with an eye single to the glory of God. Well here is the key. So, I studied continually. Never thinking before hand, what I would say, but when it was time for meeting I would try to determine what message would do the most good, for that particular group, and then depend on "the direction of the spirit to the convincing of Men", and it worked miracles. How I marveled, and how grateful I was, that the Lord would use me to teach his children. The Lord told President Grant at one time, "What greater witness can you receive than to be able to speak beyond your natural ability." this truly was the way I felt. And I feel that way, even unto this day.
I still had to learn, through many sad experiences, this great truth. I remember going to missionary conferences, really wanting to do good in front of my Mission President and the other missionaries, yet I never did do well. My eye wasn't single to the glory of God. Another time I had to learn the hard way.
Elder Hardy and I were visiting in the area of Brushey Run, at Scott Regelmans. A super good area. We were scheduled to hold a meeting that evening, but there was "Tent Meeting," traveling revival type. So it was agreed all would go down to the bottom of the draw to that meeting and then they would all come back the next night to Scott's, for our meeting. It was a pentecostal service and many were overcome by "The Spirit". They rolled around on the ground and spoke in tongues etc. It was quite a spectacle. The next morning, as we were studying, we turned to the 12 Chapter in Corinthians, where it speaks of gifts of the spirit. I knew what went on the previous evening, was the work of the devil not the Holy Ghost. Well, there was the answer I needed. "If there be no interpreter in the house let him keep his silence." and much more, just what I wanted. That night, we had all those who had been to the tent meeting the night before and I spoke for over an hour, you could have heard a pin drop. Elder Hardy said it was the best talk he had ever heard. I to was so filled with spirit, I could barely sleep that night. Scott and his brother were especially thrilled. Now this was a classic example of speaking with an "eye single to the glory of God", and having a desire to have "His spirit, unto the convincing of men". The very next night we were in the Morefield area. There were a lot of young people about my age and wanting to impress them. Thinking how good I had done the night before, I thought there was nothing to it. I would give the same talk I had given the night before. Well, you guessed it, I found myself alone with my natural talents and it was a complete failure. I was so embarrassed I just couldn't figure out what went wrong. Hadn't I just delivered the best talk of my life the night before? Then it came to me. "You were thinking of your own glory, not mine. Therefore you were left alone." That terrible feeling, and the awful fear that it could happen again, has humbled me even to this day. Thereafter, my first preparation was my spiritual preparation, by fasting, prayer, and keeping the comanrments to the best of my ability. I have always tried to speak to the subject most needed at the time and always listening to the promptings of the spirit. This formula has never failed for me, unless I failed the formula. "In nothing doth man offend God, or against none is His wrath kindeled, save those who confess not His hand in all things, and obey not His commandments." (D&C 59: 21)
While we are on the subject of speaking, sometime after I first arrived in Franklin, I was over in Elkins, about 50 miles away, when I received word that Sister Judy had died, over in the Smoke Holes and they had been trying to find me, as they were going to hold the funeral later that day. We hurried back to Uppertrack,got there about 12 noon. I never attended funerals at home, I just didn't like seeing everybody cry. Well, here I was a 19 year old boy trying to make arrangements, get program ready and think what I would say in the meeting. I did the best I knew how, but it was a lot less then they were accustomed to. After the funeral I heard one old" Hill Billy" say, "Wasn't that a hell of a funeral." I sure felt bad.
In early June, Elder Adams got sick and we took him to Harrisburg, Va. where he had his appendix out. So I was left with out an companion for a couple of weeks, but once he was well enough to go, we returned to the Smoke Hole Country. One family I felt so sorry for, were the Champs, there were 14 in the family, and way back in the hills, only one of them could read, a 14 year old boy. They were members of the church . They held home Sunday School and he would give the lessons. Sister Champ would have a baby without a doctor or midwife and be back taking care of the family in a few hours. They had to haul all their water about 1/2 mile, up hill from the spring.
Seven or eight years later, I took Francine back to see them, she just couldn't believe people could live that way. We wanted to take one of the younger girls back to Utah with us, but her folks couldn't part with her. Another time we were looking for the family of Jack Self. We finally found the house. No one answered the door, but we knew someone was there, so we went in. There seting on the floor was an elderly blind lady, try to tend a retarded child. It was so sad, there were many who suffered birth defects as a result of intermarriages.
One evening we were to have a baptism, so we went down to the Potomac River and baptized Roxie Champ. After, a large group of men from a lumber mill near by, came over and I ask them if they would like to hear something about the Mormon Church. They said they would, so I talked to them for about an hour, before it started to rain and we had to leave. By the way, while I was preaching a big turtle came up out of the river. I had one of the boys catch him for me and I took him back to Shirks, where we were staying. I boxed him up and sent him back to North Cache High School, to my old Biology teacher Calder Smith. (It weighed 48#)
In the early fall, after school had started, we were visiting a section of the lower Smoke Holes. We were to stop at Shirks for a meeting. A young school teacher from Petersburg was boarding there and she invited us to come down to the school and talk to the students. We talked about the church, a little about geography and had a real good time. She invited us to come and see her family, in Petersburg, on the weekend. Their name was Day, and they sure treated us swell. We held many meetings, spent quite a few days and nights in their home. After forty years, I still get a Christmas card and letter from her.
On Aug the 8th we held conference in the Smoke Holes. All the elders from the district came down. We found a clearing down by the river, took logs and made benches for all to sit on. Everyone came for miles. We had a meeting in the morning and a giant picnic for dinner. You never saw so much food, you could have fed an army. After the afternoon meeting, we all split up and went to different homes. Elder Norda and I went with Sister Shirk., She lived up the hollow about 6 miles. She was in her seventies. She started out at a really good pace, it was all we could do to keep up. I remember Elder Norda saying, no 70 year old lady is going to beat me up that mountain. Sister Shirk just chuckled, as he kept falling further behind. Finally, she would have to wait for us to catch up. We sure felt silly, as she would kid us about getting tired.
Just a little story about Elder Norda. His folks joined the church in Holland, when he was a young man and he had a hard time with his English. Beside he was a little slow reacting. While we were building seats for the conference, he and Elder Hopkins were carrying a large log. Elder Hopkins became exhausted, so he said "drop it". Elder Norda replied "Now?" By that time Hopkins had dropped his end while Elder Norda still had his, about broke him intwo. Well, the Branch President from Richmond, Va. had been released and we knew that one of us would be called to that city, as the new Branch President. Well, would you believe it? That slow talking, slow thinking, Elder Norda was called. The least likely candidate of the whole group, so we thought, but as the Lord told Samuel of old, the Lord doesn't look upon a man as a man would, but He looks upon a man's heart. So he went to Richmond and the members felt so sorry for him they just loved him and he them. They rallied around him, and he turned out to be the best Branch President they had ever had.
Later part of Aug. we had six baptisms on 22nd, two more on 23, and 1 on 24th that was a little different. One of those baptized was Harold Hartman who was deaf and dumb, and twenty one years old. He and I we got along fine together. We would work together on the farm. He went with me, most every where he could. I even took him out in the woods, when I practiced my talk for the next Sunday, and he was good audience, never said a word. Bro. and Sister Hartman had wanted him to be baptized for years, and this was their chance, they knew Harold would let me baptize him. I tried to discourage them. I told them that he didn't need baptism, as he was already saved in Christ, just as little children are. So they called Elder Hopkins. The District President had to approve the baptisms in those days, and he told them the same thing. He also told me that he didn't think it would hurt anything, and if it meant so much to his parents, go ahead, so Harold got baptized. Years later, I returned and he still had my picture in his wallet. He took it out and laughed, as he rubbed his head, referring to my (now) bald head. He had never forgotten me.
Another of Bro. Hartmans children, Mabel, was in her early twenties she had a chance to go up to Hershey, PA. to work. I felt it would be a good chance to get out of that part of the country and make something out of herself. So she got ready and left. I really don't know why but I got all the blame for her leaving. It was just like someone had died. Weeping and wailing. They would hardly talk to me. Well, she did fine and came back to visit a few times and eventually they got over it. After I returned home, she came out to visit us. While here she married a former missionary, Elder Cambell from North Ogden.
We got a new mission president, President Jensen. So we all went to Fairmont to meet him and Elder Charles A. Callis of the Quorum of the Twelve. We had some really good meetings, but they were long, nine to 12 and 1 to 4:30 p.m. It was almost more than my bottom could endure. (Someone coined the phraise "The mind can obsorb no more than the bottom can endure") hence the source of the preceeding sentence.
Elder Adams and I receeved permission to take a trip outside of the mission. We took Ruth, Mabels older sister, Gladis Ault a young lady from Upper Tract and set out for Bethlehem, PA. We dropped Gladis off in Winchester, to visit her sister. Ruth stayed with Mabel in Hershey, PA and Elder Adams and I went on to Bethlehem, PA. to see Aunt Birtha. Out side of a few flat tires, we had a really good time.
Aug. 12 I recieved a new companion, Elder Hardy, from Marysville, Cal. He was swell, and we got along just great. Many of the best experiences I had were with him. One time we were out by Romney, north of Morefield and we stayed one night with a widow lady. It was late fall and getting cold. She hadn't been able to find someone to help her harvest her corn, so Elder Hardy and I changed into working cloths and spent the next two days shucking (taking the husks off) corn for her.
We spent much of the late summer and early fall traveling all over that part of the state, taking church census and just trying to find members of record. We worked in Elkins, Logan, Clarksburg, and all of Pocohants Co's. I would take one local member and Elder Hardy would take another, and go try to find members. Some hadn't seen an elder in 20 years.
Well, Elder Hopkins was released the first part Nov. and Elder Ralph Tingly, from Centerville, Utah took his place. And on the 20 Nov, I was transferred to the Mc Mechen Branch, up in the Pan Handle of West, VA. near Wheeling. So, after 13 1/2 months in Franklin and Smoke holes, I left with a heavy heart, as there were so many friends and investigators there. But that was a long time to leave a young missionary, in one place, with no more supervision than we got. Mission rules are sure a lot different now than they were then. In fact I was two weeks without a companion and it wasn't unusual to be separated day after day doing different jobs with different members. Then too, we never had uniform discussions, district development meetings, zone conferences, or personal Interviews. (I saw Pres. Tew twice, and Pres. Jensen once in two years.) It's a wonder we did as well as we did. There were some things we did that I wish we hadn't. There was a lot of wasted time. It took too long to learn that the Holy Ghost converts people, not missionaries. It was "trial and error", finding the principals upon which the spirit operates. We studied the scriptures, to prove our church was true, not spending enough time, teaching the restoration, the Joseph Smith story, Jesus's crucifiction and resurrection, repentance, faith and baptism, for remission of sins. "Ye are called to proclame my word. not to defend it"
It amazed me then and still does how, the Lord continued to bless me in spite of my weakness. I often wonder what it would have been like, if we had lived and worked like the missionaries do today. As I look back on my stay in that area, I made a lot of friends. The heart, of the town's people of Franklin, were softened, and old prejudices toward the church vanished. I would like to think that maybe it was easier for the missionaries who followed me, to find success. I still hear from some, many kept in touch until they died. I returned there once, after 8 years, and once after 20 years. I was always happy that so many still knew me and remembered the good times we spent together. I would also like to think that someone, years ago, was the pivot, around which the people of Franklin made a turn in the direction of God's Kinghdom.
Well, McMechan was sure different. It was a railroad town with steel mills and coal mines, good Catholics,--- who wouldn't talk--- Elder Pierce, a sheep herder from southern Utah was my companion we lived in the church house. Speaking of Catholics, one instance occurred while we were in McMechan. Lee Tribet, a member, married a Catholic girl and they had a little boy named Roger. Well, one night when Lee was to work, Roger had a seizure of some kind and his mother was frantic. She lived about a block away, and about a block the other way, lived her Priest. Well, Roger got beyond her control and she ran out of the house, not to the Priests, but to where we stayed, to get us to come and administer to her son. We gave him a blessing and he calmed right down, and as far as I know he never had another seizure. The point of the story is, why not go to her priest? Even those who profess Catholism know there is no healing power in their church. I have known Stell, Lee's wife, these many years, in fact her two sons, Roger and Reece stayed at our place in Cornish for just about a year, when they were in their early twenties. She never joined the church and someday I'm sure she will have to account to the Lord for the witness she received that night.
Elder Pierce was a sheep herder before he came on a mission, and he cooked like a sheep herder. His favorite meal was a can of Pork and Beans and a can of spaghetti dumped together, but luckily we were invited out to eat most of the time. A.P Tribett, (where we spent most of our free time) used to make a batch of pancakes every morning. ( I would furnish the eggs), so I would go over and He would make the pancakes, fry the eggs and put them on top of the pancakes. He used to call it "Adam and Eve on a raft". A.P. had about ten children, a few lived close by, Lee, Rudolph, and two sons who were Highway Patrolmen. He also had a brother by name of Evertt. They were the back bone of the branch. The branch was kinda divided, you were either an A.P. man or an Evertt Man. But A.P. was really the strongest. He would "split" with me and go tracking, set up meetings and help teach. He was a retired engineer from the railroad. Nel his daughter, about 30, lived at home, she was rough talking and didn't go to church very often, but when there was any work to be done, she did it, cleaned the church, did all our laundry, and cooked the best cherry pie. She later married Earl Millhouse. They came to Cornish and lived with us for a whole year. Jim, was another son, who worked some in the church, but he would get drunk sometimes, had a swell family, and they all moved out to Ogden. Then there was Rudolph. He to came with and stayed a little while, visiting with us, and finally settled in Las Vegas. We worked pretty hard in McMechin, held a lot of Cottage Meetings, but never seen a whole lot of fruit from our labors.
I was privileged to return to Franklin for Christmas. I got there Christmas Eve, stayed at Mozzes's. Next morning we took presents up to all Esbee Hartman's kids, sure had fun. Went down town to Mrs Anderson, ( the one in the big white house), who somehow had found out I was back, and had a "banquet" prepared for our Christmas dinner. We no sooner left there, than Mrs. Dyer, the doctor's wife, had us come and have Christmas dinner with them. We were so full from eating at the Andersons, it was almost misery to stuff ourselves, there at Dyers, but we didn't want to offend them. By the way, we named our first boy, Dyer after that family. Well, we got back to Mozzes's about six, just in time for Christmas dinner again, Boy! Oboy! I was never so full in all my life. We stayed for five days and every day was filled with Christmas visits, everyone in town had a present of some kind for me and big meals everyday. It was with heavy heart, that I again left Franklin, for our home, in Mc Mechen. Well, I finished writing in my journal 8th of March, so I must have been released about then. Anyway, Elder Tingey and I were released about the same time. As his car was much better, and newer than mine, we went to Fairmount and sold my car to Elder Quintin Peart, who by the way was from Smithfield. I had known him in school. We drove to Winchester, seen the Alt fanily, stayed over night in Petersburg, seen the Day family, and a short stop in Franklin. Then onto Raleigh North Carolina. While there, they had a party, and there was a fellow who looked just like Gorden Goodsell a good friend back home. We went around all night and I kept telling everyone how much he looked like Gorden. Well, when it was time to leave he finally told me he was Gorden, that he was out there going to school. Well, we went on South to Atlanta and Birmingham and finally to Pensacola, Fl. We went swimming in the ocean, where the sand was just as white, as the snow we had left, just the week before, in West VA. We headed west to Biloxi Mississippi. The flowers were just beautiful and the sand on the beaches was as white as snow. I gathered licence plates from every state, we went through, and cept them for quite a few years. We stopped to get a hamburger, but the catsup turned out to be "Mexican sauce" instead of catsup, boy! it about burnt our insides out. But we ate it anyway. One night we were in a fog and we couldn't find a room, finally we saw a sign" Rooms"and I went to the door. Someone opened a little slot, to see who I was. They let me in and I told them we wanted a room. They said it would be about 1/2 hour before one would be available. So I went out and told Ralph to keep going, we didn't want a room there. We went on to New Orleans, and then to Houston, Texas, where we stopped at the mission home. Pres. Elray Christensen put us up for the night, and we had a real nice time. Then to Del Reo, so hot we couldn't sleep. Then on to old Mexico, stopped at the Alamo, then across the rest of Texas. Boy! it's a big state, took three days just to get across it. Stopped at Hoover Dam. Seen La Grand, Sister Pikes brother, who was a guide there. Then to Richfield, Utah, where I spent my last cent. We got up early, arriving in Salt Lake City about, 11 a.m. on the 20th of April. We picked up Francine and arrived back home, in Cornish, about two p.m. Just about 2 1/2 years since I left.
The City That God Forgot
This is the story of the city of Franklin, West Virginia and the consequence of running the servants of the Lord out of town on a rail and severely wounding them.
Sometime about 1890 a couple of missionaries wandered into this little hamlet with a message from the Lord. But because of prejudices created in their minds by the so called professors of religion, they organized a mob and expelled them from their city. After shooting and wounding them severely, placed them on a rail and took them to the outskirts of town and left them for dead. Somehow they managed to make their way up a small creek, Smith Creek, where a Mr. Hartman found them and took them to his home, where he and his good wife dressed their wounds and gave them refuge until they could return to their labors.
When I arrived at the mission headquarters in Louisville Kentucky President Tew, our Mission President, told me this story and said "Elder, the Lord Has seen fit to send His servants there again, as there are many precious souls to be saved, the field is white and ready for harvest so thrust in your sickle with all your might and lay up for yourself a treasure in Heaven." So with this charge I was off to the "Lions Den", so I thought. After a short stop in Fairmont West Virginia, our district head quarters, I picked up my new companion, Elder Mecham. WE boarded a bus for Franklin, where we were met by Bro. Esbee Hartman who took us up to his place in Smith Creek about ten miles, seemed like fifty, nothing but trees, the biggest you ever saw, and nothing but rocks.
This being early October, we spent the rest of the fall visiting and assisting members doing odd jobs that needed to be done, mostly helping Esbee dig a basement for his house. Well, right after the first of the year I received a new companion, Elder Adams from Delta Utah, six foot six inches tall and me five eight, (like Mike and Jeff in the funnies) made for quite a contrast. Well, anyway we decided that it was about time to respond to our charge to take the gospel to the people of Franklin. We rented a hotel room for $1.25 a day and started to tracting. Much to our surprise we found the people most friendly, and after my experience in tracking over in Denmark, where you were seldom if ever invited in, we found out what southern hospitality was all about. We were not only invited in but they were always asking about where we were going to be at meal time. I remember one time in particular It was Christmas Day and I had been transferred to Mc Mechan West Virginia and had been given permission to return to Franklin to see the folks there. We had no sooner arrived and Mrs Anderson found out that we were in town, she sent her butler to find us and make sure we would be there at noon for Christmas dinner. How could you refuse, missionaries are always hungry. So after one of those Mrs. Anderson dinners, we were so full we were in misery. After we had left we were met by one of Mrs Dyer's (the doctor's wife) daughters who she had sent to make sure that we would have a place to go for Christmas dinner, and if you knew how persuasive a teen age young lady could be to a couple missionaries a million miles from home at Christmas time you can understand how impossible it would have been to refuse. So again we sat down to a banquet fit for a king, forcing one mouthful after another down on top of a stomach already filled to capacity. After a wonderful visit and receiving some christmas presents we were on our way out to Smith Creek to visit and take some Christmas presents up to Esbee's kids, when we were stopped by Fred Mauzy, dinner was ready and they wouldn't take no for an answer, so for the third time we sat down to Christmas dinner.
I recorded that there was only one house in all of town that refused our message. At first the reception was cordial and polite, but nothing compared to what it later became. I think one of the turning points came while we were visiting a Mrs. Headly. She was an invalid, had a maid to look after her. The first time we knocked on her door the maid came and said that she didn't think that her mistress would be interested in our message, but she would go and ask Mrs. Headly. When she returned she said that we could come in, so we met Mrs. Headly for the first time. We had a very good visit and discussion, and were invited to return. She was lonely and liked our company. Consequently when ever we were on her street we would stop and talk gospel with her. I remember one time the national election was going on and she was "a dyed in the wool" Democrat. She asked if we were going to vote? I, in a kidding manner, told her that I didn't have a dollar to pay the poll tax and she got out a dollar and said, "You get down there and vote for Franklin Roosevelt". So we did.
We had been tracting for quite some time visiting almost every home in town, when Mrs. Headly asked if we had ever been up to see Mrs. Anderson who lived on the hill. We told her that we didn't think that someone like that would be interested in our message. You have to picture in your mind, over on a hill all by itself stood a big white house, surrounded by acres of beautiful grass and miles of white board fence. With beautiful pure breed horses roaming around in the fields. The most beautiful place for miles around, just like those big beautiful southern mansions seen in "Gone with the Wind". So you can see why we were hesitant to go up there. After a mild chastising from Mrs. Headly she proceeded to tell us a little about the Andersons and what wonderful people they were. So just to satisfy her, we made our way over to the foot of the hill, not really wanting to go up there, we began our assent. I can still remember looking up at what looked like a thousand white stepes ascending to the top of a hill, where stood the largest white mansion I had ever seen. It seemed like that every step seemed to say turn around and go back, that kind of people don't need the Lord, they already have their heaven here on earth. But again we had promised Mrs. Headly we would go, so up we went. I remember counting the steps, but I can't remember how many any more, but there were a bundle. Finally after arriving and taking a deep breath we rang the door bell only to be greeted by the biggest, meanest looking butler you ever saw. We told him who we were and the reason for our visit, to which he said that he would convey our message to the lady of the house. He returned shortly with permission to enter and we stepped into a big beautiful room all paneled in cherry wood. The spiral stair cases seemed to go to heaven, all made out of cherry wood just like the walls. Every room was picture perfect, from carpet to drapes, from furniture to wall decor just immaculate. I remember going up there to dinner many times and sitting down to a table as big and as long as those found in a conference room. More about that table later on. We were put at ease so quickly and cordially you would have thought Mrs. Anderson was some one we had known all our lives. She listened to our message,and after a short visit we were invited to return, Which we did many times, always received in the same cordial manner as on our first visit. It came to be a standard question whenever we were going to leave " Do you boys have an appointment for dinner this evening, or what have you scheduled for such and such a day or some special occasion, always with the invitation to come and have dinner with them. I mentioned that big table,well we would all be ushered into the dining room by the maid and the butler, and after Mr. Anderson,( Mrs. Anderson's son, she was a widow), had said grace and was seated at the head of that big table, we were all seated on each side. He would proceed to carve the meat either beef or fowl and place it on a stack of dinner plates in front of him, and then the maid and butler would serve it to each of us, along with the rest of the meal. Quite a step up in the world of edict for a couple of born again "Hill Billies", and what we were accustomed to.
Well so much for now about Mrs. Anderson and her house, but needless to say when the townspeople heard that she and her household had welcomed the Mormon Missionaries, the doors of the community all swung open wide to receive us. We were able to teach Mormonism in every home in town. As there was no Mormon congregation, or even one member when we arrived, we became a part of the community. Every one knew us. We sang in the Methodist choir. Mrs Biggs, head of the school board had us come and put on the assembly more than once. We helped coach and played football with kids at high school, Auctioned off box suppers at the local Dunkard Church, you name it, we did it. We just kinda melted into community and became one of them. I was affectionately called "Preacher" by most of the town people. I am not sure whether it was by Divine intention or not, that I should remain in that small community for such an extended period of time,( eighteen months and four companions),but it surely wasn't the norm. But plenty of time for them to get to know me and I them, and build a special bond of friendship that would remove all the prejudices that existed "lo those many years ago". Just like the Lord had to raise up a new generation of Israelites who knew not Egypt, so He had to prepare a whole new generation to accept His message in Franklin in this the Latter Days.
I have often wondered what I would have found when I came to Franklin the first time, If the people of Franklin had accepted the missionaries who had come sixty years earlier, as they accepted me? When I returned some forty years later, I found a beautiful ward chapel filled with familiar names, if not familiar faces. It's true there were many whom I had known and it took a little time and suggestions on their part to help me recognize some of them. I also thought how appropriate that the first baptism in Franklin would be Emery Eye of the "Lost Book" letter, almost like the Lord was rewarding his grandfather for sheltering his servants some sixty years before. And how the people up Smith Creek had had the blessings of the gospel for sixty years as a reward for the kindness and charity of Grandpa and Grandma Hartman, to enrich their lives, and the lives of their posterity. And how that now, they had a beautiful chapel and thriving ward, that the Lord could draw upon the maturity of the membership of the Smith Creek branch to staff and provide leadership for His new body of saints.
The Miracle At Smith Creek
This is the story of the first church built in West Virginia and the story of those behind its inception. And the establishing of a branch there. This is a good story to be used when looking for something to illustrate the parables of the Sower (Luke 8: 5 through 15), and the Good Samaritan ( Luke 10: 30 to 37)
First let us consider the sower.
"A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
And some fell upon a rock and as soon as it sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
And some fell among the thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
And others fell on good ground, and sprang up,and bear fruit an hundredfold. And when He had said these things, He cried, He that hath ears to hear let him hear.
And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Those by the wayside are they that hear: then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy: and these have no root,which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
And that which fell among thorns are they ,which, when they have heard, go forth. and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."
In the late 1880 two Mormon missionaries wandered up the Potomac River into a country known as the "Smoke Holes", deriving its name from the many caverns and caves in the area where the Indians used to smoke their venison and other game, to preserve it. At that time there were no roads of any kind, very little contact with the outside world. Because of their poverty and inaccessibility the clergy of the day never ventured into that area. And the Elders were able to teach and convert many to Mormonism,( Howbeit by the early 1940's because of their lack of contact with the church they were little more than members in name only) I know that when I arrived in 1940 we found members of the church that hadn't seen a missionary in years but still maintained that they were Mormons. I remember going into homes and giving names and blessings to children from the new born to 18 years of age, that their names could be put on the rolls of the church.
Well, one evening they, the first missionaries, came across a farmer who was fighting a fire in one of his outbuildings. They proceeded to help and after it was extinguished they were invited to have supper and spend the night. Upon leaving in the morning Mr. Eye, at whose place they had spent the night, purchased a Book of Mormon. ( the seed had been planted), which eventually fell into the hands of his grandson, the first person to be baptized in the city of Franklin West Virginia, and today there is a ward of the church, and many of his posterity are members of the Church Of Jesus Christ. For the story of the conversion of Emery Eye, his grandson, see the news letter entitled "The Lost Book". As they proceeded up the Potomac River they came to the town of Franklin West Virginia. Now you have to understand that although the town was in close proximity to the Smoke Holes, its inhabitants had come from old Southern ancestry and they were much more effluent, as evidenced by their homes and culture. I would think a good comparison would be like us going from here to the Indian reservations in New Mexico or Arizona and returning, as for them to have gone down into the "Smoke Holes" and back. Because of prejudice and opposition from religious leaders the Elder's message to the people of Franklin was rejected, they were severely beaten and taken to the outskirts of town and left for dead. I don't know if they, the missionaries , dusted off their feet as a witness against the people of Franklin or not, as was the custom in those days, but the Lord never again sent His missionaries into that city until all those who had mistreated His servants were dead.
Now to the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Luke Chapter 10 verses 30 to 35.
And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
And went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine,and set him upon his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host, and said unto him, take care of him: and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Now there just happened to pass by one of those despised "Hill Billies" and upon seeing the missionaries liying by the side of the road, had compassion on them and loaded them in his small conveyance and returned to his home in the Smoke Holes where he and his good wife washed and bound their wounds. and for the next few weeks fed and gave them shelter. During the time of their recovery they taught their benefactor the gospel, resulting in his conversion and baptism, and confirmed his family members of Gods church. From this small beginning, the church grew until it became the Zigler branch, the first in all of West Virginia.
At first it was just Brother Hartman and his family holding services in their own home, but as time went on the little congregation grew to include his brothers and sisters and eventually many of his neighbors. Over the years contact with the church was maintained, as opposed to those further down in the Smoke Hole country, who were virtually lost as to contact with the church out west. By the time I arrived the Zigler Branch had just completed building a beautiful little chapel, and most of the activities found in the church back home were in operation there. Sunday School. Priesthood Meetings, Mutual, meetings for the young people, socials and cultural events. All these things were being enjoyed by the posterity of the "Good Samaritan". While Smith Creek was defiantly a part of the "Smoke Holes" and their income was meager, the influence of gospel teachings, and constant contact with missionaries was reflected in the tidiness of their homes and in their dress and communication, as compared to their contemporaries.
Today his posterity is found scattered all over the country, many holding positions of leadership in the kingdom. There are many wards and branches that had their beginning in the home Sunday Schools perpetuated by his children and grand children. Because of the industry and ingenuity of many of his descendents, great sums of money have been contributed to building up the kingdom of God. Thus the "story of the sower, whose seed fell in rich brown furrows". And the rewards to the Good Samaritan who befriended the messengers sent by God. I hope you liked it.
P.S. In singing our hymns we sometimes fail to notice the beautiful lyrics: Case in point.
WE ARE SOWING
We are sowing, daily sowing Countless seeds of good and ill,
Scattered on the level lowland, Cast upon the windy hill;
Seeds that sink in rich, brown furrows, Soft with heaven's gracious rain;
Seeds that rest upon the surface Of the dry, unyielding plain;
Seed that fall a mid the stillness Of the lonely mountain glen;
Seeds cast out in crowded places, Trodden under foot of men;
Seeds by idle hearts forgotten, Flung at random on the air;
Seeds by faithful souls remembered, Sown in tears and love and prayer;
Seeds that lie unchanged, unquickened, Lifeless on the teeming mold;
Seeds that live and grow and flourish When the sower's hand is cold.
By a whisper sow we blessings; By a breath we scatter strife.
In our words and thoughts and actions Lie the seeds of death and life.
Thou who knowest all our weakness, Leave us not to sow alone!
Bid thine angels guard the furrows Where the precious grain is sown,
Till the fields are crown'd with glory, Filled with mellow, ripened ears,
Filled with fruit of life eternal From the seeds we sowed in tears.
HYMNS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
The Summer of The Preacher
This was the most exciting and learning time in my life. The area known as
Smoke Holes stretched for about fifty miles down along the Patomic River, much with no access except trails or paths, very few roads except right down along the river, and it was next to impossible to drive any kind of a vehicle, except me and my old model A ford, we went places where never a car had gone before, believe me. We would leave Smith Creek on Monday and spend all week in the smoke holes, return for Sunday and leave again on Monday, taking two weeks to complete the circuit.
As summer came and we could get down into the smoke holes we started going from one section to another where we held meeting every night. Usually there was a little one room school house down at the bottom of some "Run or Draw" and we would visit members during the day and then in the evening they and their friend would come down to a "Preaching" meeting. Next morning we would get up early and go the next run or hollow, and then the same thing visit and preach, It took two weeks to make the rounds. It was great. Made a lot of friends even a few baptisms. I learned a great lesson about speaking. I had always found it hard to speak in meeting. I could never read a talk or I would lose eye to eye contact, and for some reason even to this day when I speak I have to keep my eye on the audience or the spirit leaves me. Also I was always concerned about how I was doing and what people thought of my talk. Well one day while reading in the D & C 84 Sec. 85th Verse, "Wherefore take ye no thought before have what yea shall say, but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be melted unto every man." Also Sec. 11, Verse 21. "Seek not to declare my word, but seek first to obtain my word, then shall your tongue be loosed. Then if you desire you shall have my spirit and my word, yea the power of God unto the convincing of men"." And that we should do all things with an eye single to the glory of God. WELL HERE WAS THE KEY. So I studied continually. Never thinking before what I would say, but when it was time for meeting I would try to determine what message would do the most good for that particular group and then depend on "the direction of the spirit to the convincing of Men", and it worked miracles. How I marveled, and how grateful I was that the Lord would use me to teach his children. The Lord told President Grant at one time, "What greater witness can you receive than to be able to speak beyond your natural ability." and truly this was the way I felt. And do so even unto this day.
I still had to learn through many sad experiences this great truth. I remember going to missionary conference and really wanting to do good in front of mission president and other missionaries, and I never did well. My eye wasn't single to the glory of God. Every time I had to learn the hard way.
Elder Hardy and I were visiting in the area of Brushey Run at Scott Regelmans. A super good area. We were to hold a meeting that evening, but there was "Tent Meeting," traveling revival type. So it was agreed all would go down to the bottom of the draw to that meeting and then they would all come back the next night to Scott's for our meeting. Well it was a pentecostal service and many were overcome by "The Spirit" and rolled around on the ground and spoke in tongues etc. That was quite a spectacle, the next morning as we were studying we turned to the 12 Chapter in Corinthians, where it speaks of gifts of the spirit, I knew it was the work of the devil not the Holy Ghost manifest the night before. Well here was the answer I needed. "If there be no interpreter in the house let him keep his silence." and much more, just what I wanted. So that night we had all those who had been to the tent meeting the night before and I spoke for over an hour and you could have heard a pin drop. Elder Hardy said it was the best talk he had ever heard, and I too was so filled with spirit, I could barely sleep that night. Scott and his brother were especially thrilled as we stayed the night with them. Now this was a classic example of speaking with an eye single to the glory of God, and having a desire to have "His spirit unto the convincing of men". Well the very next night we were in the Morefield area where there were a lot of young people about my age and wanting to impress them, thinking how good I had done the night before, I thought there was nothing to it. I would give the same talk I had given the night before. Well, you guessed it, I found myself alone with my natural talents and it was a complete failure. I was so embarrassed I just couldn't figure out what went wrong. Hadn't I just delivered the best talk of my life the night before? Then it came to me. "You were thinking of your own glory, not mine. Therefore you were left alone." That terrible feeling and the awful fear that it could happen again has humbled me even to this day. Thereafter, my first preparation was my spiritual preparation, by fasting, prayer and keeping the covenants to the best of my ability. I always tried to speak to the subject most needed at the time and, always listening to the promptings of the spirit. This formula has never failed for me, unless I failed the formula.
While we are on the subject of speaking, sometime after I first arrived in Franklin, I was over in Elkins, about 50 miles away, when I received word that Sister Judy had died over in the Smoke Holes and they had been trying to find me, as they were going to hold the funeral later that day. Well, we hurried back to Uppertrack, got there about 12 noon. I had never attended funerals at home. I just didn't like going to funerals and seeing everybody cry. Well here I was a 19 year old boy trying to make arrangements, get a program ready and think what I would say in the meeting. Well, I did the best I knew how, but it was a lot less then they were accustomed to. After the funeral I heard one old" Hill Billy" say, "Wasn't that a hell of a funeral." I sure felt bad.
In early June, Elder Adams got sick and we took him to Harrisonberg, Va. where he had his appendix out. So I was left without a companion for a couple of weeks but once he was well enough to go, we returned to the Smoke Hole Country. One family I felt so sorry for were the Champs. There were 14 in the family, and way back in the hills, only one of them could read, a 14 year old boy. They were members and held a home Sunday school and he would give the lessons. Sister Champ would have a baby without a Dr. or midwife and be back taking care of the family in a few hours. They had to have all their water carried about 1/2 mile up the hill from the spring.
Seven or eight years later I took Francine back to see them and she just couldn't believe people could live that way. We wanted to take one of the younger girls back to Utah with us but her folks couldn't part with her. Another time we were looking for a family named Jack Self. We finally found the house. No one answered the door but we knew someone was there, so we went in, and there was an elderly blind lady trying to tend a retarded child. It was so sad, there were many who suffered birth defects from intermarriages.
One evening we were going to have a baptism, so we went down to the Potomac River and baptized Roxie Champ, and after a large group from a lumber mill near by came over and I asked them if they would like to hear something about the Mormon Church. They said they would, so I talked to them for about an hour before it started to rain and we had to leave. By the way while I was preaching a big turtle came up out of the river. I had one of the boys catch him for me and I took him back to Shirks. I boxed him up and sent him back to North Cache High School to my old Biology teacher Calder Smith. (It weighed 48#)
In the early fall when school started we were visiting the section of lower Smoke Holes. We were to stop at Shirks for a meeting and a young school teacher from Petersburg was boarding there and she invited us to come down to the school and we taught about the church, a little about geography, and had a real good time. She invited us to come and see her family in Petersburg on the weekend. Their name was Day, they sure treated us swell. Held many meetings and spent quite a few days and nights in their home. And after forty years I still get a Christmas card and letter from her every year. On Aug the 8th we held conference in the Smoke Holes. All the elders from the district came and we found a clearing down by the river, took logs and made benches for all to sit on. Everyone came for miles. We had a meeting in the morning and a giant picnic for dinner. You never saw so much food you could have fed an army. After the afternoon meeting we all split up and went to different homes. Elder Norda and I went with Sister Shirk, she lived up the hollow about 6 miles. She was in her seventies and she started out at a really good pace, about all we could do to keep up. I remember Elder Norda saying, no 70 year old lady is going to beat me up the mountain. Sister Shirk just chuckled. He kept falling further behind. Finally she would have to wait for us to catch up. We sure felt silly as she would kid us about getting tired.
Sunrise Sunset
Some years ago on one of our trips back east to visit the members in Wilkes Barre Branch in Pennsylvania, we took a detour and dropped down into West Virginia to see our good friends Woodrow and Alice Hartman. I had known them from way back in the thirties and early forties when I was there as a missionary, and we had kept in touch by phone and an occasional letter, and even a visit or two. Just a little background on them and their struggle to just survive and eventually becoming very well off. The first time Francine and I went back to see them, this being eight years after my mission and they were still living on the old homestead, with Woodrew's mother. Things were really tough. Woodrow and Alice had been married and were struggling to eke out a living on those unforgiving, small patches of ground that we had wrestled away from the wooded sidehills with the use of an old tractor and a few sticks of dynamite about ten years earlier. (There isn't a flat piece of ground in all of West Virginia. Talk about a home field advantage, even the football field at Franklin High school was sloped so the home team was always running down hill, but it evened out, when they played their away games they always lost. Being raised on a slope, naturally one leg was always shorter than the other, and when they got on level ground they couldn't run with out a catch in their come along. You won't believe this but they used to harvest their potatoes by starting at the top of the field plowing the potatoes to the surface and then letting them roll down to the road where they would sack and haul them to the root cellar.
Well, getting back to their struggle to survive, things had improved some. Woodrow had gotten a job driving the school bus, Alice had gone into Franklin, some twenty miles away, to work in a used furniture store. At that time most of the people "up the creek", Smith Creek, were raising a few turkeys to provide some form of income, Woodrow was doing the same. They had just become parents of a nice big baby boy, who they named Bill. While it's true that they were poor as to the things of this world, they were rich when it came to things pertaining to family and spirituality.
A considerable time passed before we returned to see our friends, some thirty years. Quite a contrast had taken place in their lives. They no longer lived back in the hills, but now they had a very nice home in town, owned a furniture and appliance store. He also owned the local cable T.V. company, and numerous holdings of large tracts of land scattered all over that part of the country, together with thousands of head of cattle and a trucking company of considerable size.
Well, we were sitting around the breakfast table reminiscing of the "GOOD OLD DAYS?" when they told us the story of their life since we were last there. It seems that the fellow Alice worked for wanted to retire, so he approached Woodrow and Alice to see if they would be interested in buying the store and its contents. Woodrow told him that they didn't have enough money to pay the first months power bill, let alone enough to give him any thing. Well, he said, "I have a plan how you can own this business. I will sell you the inventory, and give you the business, not only that, I will wait until you sell the inventory and you can keep the profit to use as operating capital, and just pay me the cost of the merchandise when it's sold." So that was the "carrot" that lured them off the side of the mountain. Things improved dramatically, Things were still tough, but at least they had moved above the poverty line. The really big change came one day when they were at church, and one of the visiting authorities, a member of the mission presidency, Glacus Merrill, (who by the way lives in Logan and is a friend of mine) suggested to Woodrow that he ought to investigate setting up a satellite dish upon the hill and piping the T.V. signal into the homes of the townspeople. As it was, no one could receive the regular T.V. signal because they were down in the bottom of a hollow. Again Woodrew told him it sounded like a great idea but he didn't have enough money to buy a postage stamp. Glacus told him that he would drop by on the morrow and see what they could do. The cost to do such a thing would cost about $60,000.00 and he suggested that they go see the local banker and borrow the money. Woodrow laughed, "They will just throw us out, they wouldn't loan me a tithe of that amount". "They will if I sign with you" Glacus told him. So they went to the bank and received the financing necessary to establish one of the first cable T.V. companies in that part of the country. The rest was down hill from there on.
It was Sunday morning and as we sat at breakfast Woodrow and Alice were somewhat subdued, It seemed that Bill, their son, had married a girl who was not a Mormon and today they were going up to the "Church of the Brethren" to see their granddaughter christened. It about broke their hearts. Well as we sat there, our conversations soon turned to our children, as they usually do when old friends get together. I will never forget Alice saying." When we were back on the farm we took Bill to church, and had some measure of influence over him, but when we came to town and money became no object, we sent Bill to Charleston, to get a college education, something we didn't even dream about in our day. He was a good student, graduated with honors, and was hired by the state of West Virginia as a civil engineer, and eventually became the engineer in charge of all road construction for the state."
Because of his new found environment and friends he gradually slipped away from the teachings of his youth, married someone outside of our faith and fell away from the church". The last thing Alice said before we left was, "The biggest mistake we made was not keeping Billy close to the church, I would gladly give all we have, and go back to the farm, if only somehow it would bring Bill back into the church".
A few years ago, quite a few, back before the block system was had in the church, it was customary on the first Sunday of the month to select a family to provide the opening exercises for Sunday School. Well on one of those occasions our family, (Bart, Francine and I) were assigned to give the spiritual presentation. I don't remember just how we presented the material, I know some of it was in song, and the theme was how quickly the time passes and how soon the time you have to influence your children, one way or the other is gone. We chose two songs and sang them, One Was "Sunrise, Sunset." the other was "The Cat's in the Cradle" and closing with the poems "A little Fellow follows after me" and "Look! Daddy I stepped in your Footsteps all the way." While I can't sing the songs in this letter, the lyrics of the songs and the words of the poems tell the message I want to leave.
PARENT'S RESPONSIBILITY
A careful man I ought to be
A little boy follows me.
I dare not ever go astray
For fear he'll go the self same way.
I must remember as I go,
Through summer's heat and winter's snow
I'm building for the years to be
The little chap who follows me.
I cannot once escape his eyes,
What ere he sees me do he tries.
Like me he says he's going to be
This little chap who follows me.
"I STEPPED IN YOUR STEPS ALL THE WAY."
A father and his tiny son
Crossed a rough street one stormy day,
"See, papa, "cried the little one,
"I stepped in your steps all the way."
Oh, in such a few words a child can deal
A painful thrust no coat of steel could stay.
It can pierce a man as a touch of steel
"I stepped in your steps all the way."
But they who thrust off greed and fear
Who love and toil and pray,
In their hearts it's a carol to hear
"I stepped in your steps all the way."
CAT'S IN THE CRADLE
My child arrived just the other day; he came to the world in the usual way. But there were planes to catch and bills to pay; he learned to walk while I was away. And he was talkin 'fore I knew it, and as he grew he'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, Dad, you know I'm gonna be like you." And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon. When you comin' home Dad? "I don't know when, but we'll get together then; you know we'll have a good time then."
My son turned ten just the other day; he said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let's play. Can you teach me to throw ?" I said, "Not today, I got a lot to do." He said, "That's okay." And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed. It said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah, you know I'm gonna be like him." And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon. "When you comin' home Dad? "I don't know when, but we'll get together then; you know we'll have a good time then."
Well, he came from college just the other day: so much like a man I just had to say, "Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for awhile?" He shook his head and he said with a smile, "What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys. See you later, can I have them please?" And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon. "When you comin' home, son?" "I don't know when, but we'll get together then; you know we'll have a good time then."
I've long since retired, my son's moved away; I called him up just the other day. I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind." He said, "I'd love to, Dad, if I can find the time. You see, my new job's a hassle and the kids have the flu, but it's sure nice talkin' to you, Dad, it's been sure nice talkin' to you." And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me; my boy was just like me. And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon. "When you comin' home, son." "I don't know when, but we'll get together then, dad, we're gonna have a good time then."
SUNRISE, SUNSET
Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play? I don't remember growing older, When did they? When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall? Wasn't it yesterday when they were small. SUNRISE, SUNSET, SUNRISE, SUNSET. Swiftly flow the days. Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers, Blossoming even as we gaze. SUNRISE, SUNSET, SUNRISE, SUNSET. Swiftly fly the years; One season following another, Laden with happiness and tears.
Now is the little boy a bridegroom, Now is the little girl a bride. Under the canopy I see them, Side by side. Place the gold ring around her finger. Share the sweet wine and break the glass; Soon the full circle will have come to pass. SUNRISE, SUNSET, SUNRISE, SUNSET. Swiftly flow the days. Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers, Blossoming even as we gaze. SUNRISE, SUNSET, SUNRISE, SUNSET. Swiftly fly the years; One season following another, Laden with happiness and tears.
Alice's parting words keep ringing in my ears. " I would give it all to have Billie back in the church".
Line of authority
J. Marcell Pitcher was ordained a high priest 25 august 1946 by Marion G. Romney.
Marion G. Romney was ordained and apostle October 11, 1951 by David O. McKay.
David O. McKay was ordained an apostle April 9, 1906 by Joseph F. Smith.
Joseph F. Smith was ordained an Apostle July 1, 1866 by Brigham Young.
Brigham Young was ordained an Apostle February 14, 1835 under the hands of the three witnesses, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris.
The three witnesses were called by revelation to choose the twelve apostles and on February 14, 1835 were “blessed by the laying on of hands of the presidency,” Joseph smith , Jr., Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams, to ordain the Twelve Apostles. (History of the church, Vol. 2, pp. 187-188.)
Joseph Smith, JR. and Oliver Cowdery received the Melchizedek Priesthood in 1829 under the hands of Peter, James, and John.
Peter, James, and John where ordained apostles by the
Lord Jesus Christ (John 15:16)
The Early Years of Married Life
As my mission to West Virginia came to a close, a whole new chapter opened up in my life. We missionaries are prone to say that the time spent on a mission was the best part of our lives. False! it was great and it did set a course for the rest of my life, but early married life with all its challenges would have to rate right up there with the best years of my life.
If I told you that I arrived home from my mission on the 20th of April and was married on the 23rd of April, you probably would have come to one or two conclusions. First: That I being a obedient missionary right to the last, obeyed my Mission President's counsel to get married as soon as I got home. But this was a little too literal. Second: That we had an old spinster in our community whose job it was to be "match maker, match maker, make me a wife" like the old spinster in "Fiddler On The Roof", but this wasn't so either.
You have to go back to the most exciting time in my life, the finding of my sweet heart and our courtship. I would guess that the time when a young man's interest in life turns from sports to girls is probably the biggest change that will ever take place in your whole life time. It is a time reserved for something special, a time to love as you have never loved before. It is a time of craving, a longing for, a time made up of dreams, a time of wanting someone so bad it borders on obsession (some describe it as love sickness). But it is wonderful. I wish I could more eloquently describe it, but suffice it to say it is planted in the heart of most of God's children by Deity himself, so it must be something akin to the love of God. In the Book of Mormon it talks of a time when "Angels came and did administer unto the people, and the words they spoke were so wonderful that they could not be written by man." I find myself in the same boat, my vocabulary just isn't sufficient to adequately describe the "Love experience" of courtship. But I ran the whole gauntlet. From the first sighting of a beautiful girl in someone else's arms gliding across the dance floor and wishing she was in mine. Until finaly I found her kneeling across the Holy altar in God's temple, and hearing the promise that she would be mine forever. The first time I ever saw Francine was at a dance up to Weston on the 24th of July 1936. We were dancing together when the lights went out, "And I danced round the floor with the girl I adored while the band played on", so we danced the rest of the night together. It being dark it was impossible to find the dates we came with, which was alright by us.
In my life there were other girls. We being from different schools made for a lot of other associations in classes, school plays, operas, school dances and other activities and naturally one would make many friends of the opposite sex. To make a full account would probably fill a whole volume, but suffice it to say, using the football vernacular, "After further review the play stands as called" In other words after surveying the field, everything I wanted, and more was found in Francine.
Well, I arrived in Salt Lake City after 2 1/2 years on missions to Denmark and the East Central States Mission. Francine had been staying with and working for a army officer and his wife, by the name of Young. Our first meeting after all that time was quite exciting. A meeting filled with a little apprehension. I was 145# with a full head of brown wavy hair when I left, and now I was 185 lbs. and while I was not bald, it was sure thin. Two and a half years had been a long time and things can change a lot. So with all this in mind I went to the door. We had called the night before, so Francine knew we were coming. When she came out she was all decked out in a beautiful navy blue suit with a big yellow hat. She was just beautiful, petite, weighing just 108 lbs.
Ralph Tingey, my traveling companion, took us up to Cornish where he stayed for a few hours before returning to Centerville to see his folks. Just as he was leaving he told me that if I decided I didn't want Francine to let him know, as he would sure like a chance. (Ralph has been a special friend all our life). But that is as close as he got, as the decision wasn't long coming.
We spent the afternoon visiting everyone, and then went to Church. I guess it was about nine in the evening before Francine and I had a chance to be alone. I remember we drove a little ways from home and sat and talked for quite awhile. Finally she said "I guess I had better hurry up to the rail road station so I can catch the train back to Salt Lake". Well, I couldn't see how we could have much of a courtship with her living that far away. Then there was a war going on and they were drafting returned missionaries just as soon as they arrived home, so maybe there wouldn't be much time for us to be together anyway. Also it would be too much to expect her to wait another,--- who knows how many years till the war was over. So I asked Francine if she was ready to get married and she said "she was", and so was I. The next question was when? Just as soon as possible, the next day wouldn't be too soon! So we went back and told my folks. There seemed to be no big surprise, just a word of congratulation and God speed. Then we went up to Weston to see her folks, It must have been close to midnight by the time we got there. Her folks were in bed asleep. I remember when Francine awoke her father to tell him we were going to get married he replied "Is that all you woke us up for?"
Well you just can't get married that fast. We had to get a license, blood tests (I don't know what for, even to this day). Then to the Bishop and Stake President for recommends, then we needed temple clothes, Aunt Bessie Last got the cloths and helped Francine get ready. I borrowed $10.00 from Dad to buy a ring, and Francine paid for the license. All this took three days and so on April the 23rd 1941, we were married in the Logan Temple. I can't remember much about the ceremony, except the feeling that came over me when we both knelt down and held hands across the altar. The promises and blessing that are a part of the sealing ordinance gave me the feeling that this was a contract for eternity, and that she was indeed a gift from God, one of his choice daughters and she was to be mine "to have and hold" for ever, that she was a princess, to be treated with honor and respect. She was to be a helpmate and companion, one to share all of life's experiences with. I would guess that this was the most important day in my life, yes the most important event as to the direction of my eternal existence. Well, anyway, it's too bad that all marriages can't be performed in such a manner. I have thought how anemic and watered down civil marriages are in comparison.
I remember how tired Francine was, it had been a hectic three days. We stayed up to her folks place the night before, and had gotten up about four in the morning, to get to the temple by seven. Then after the ceremony Dad took all of us down to the "Bluebird" to dinner, then down to Aunt Lily & John Larson's where we sat and visited for ever (it seemed like). Finally about 8pm we got away. Uncle John Larson had built a new motel there in town, and he gave us the bridal suite. Brand new, and we were the first to occupy it. It was beautiful and a nice place to spend our first night together. But it was short lived, I had arranged to work for a couple of my uncles, Val & Brown Pitcher and had to be there at seven in the morning to haul milk. So much for our honeymoon. But never mind that would come later.
As I said I went to work for uncle Brown and Valden Pitcher for $60.00 a month plus a room down to Grandma Pitchers house. It was a hard way to make a living, up at 3:30 am, milk cows, have breakfast and be in the field to work by 8am. Came in from the fields at six, milked cows until 8 or 9 pm. grabbed a bite to eat and then to bed, as 3:30 am came awfully early. This wasn't what Francine expected and she was always urging me to get out of there and see if we couldn't find a job with "civilized" hours. But I felt it an obligation to stay until the crops were harvested, which we did. But in October we left and went to Ogden where I found employment as a hod carrier (pushing a wheel-barrel full of cement all day), the pay was considerably better, especially if I got a chance to work over time at "time and a half". This I did for a few months. One day my brother-in-law, Leonard Jensen told me that they were hiring at the railroad where he worked. So down I went and after a month apprenticeship I was put on the extra-board, which meant that you were on call 24 hrs a day. But that was all right, the pay was even better and the work a whole lot easier. This was an exciting time in our lives, our expectations were small and it was easy to satisfy our wants. I had plenty of overtime work, that meant that $8 plus $12 for the next shift $20.00 in one day, Boy oh Boy! we were instant millionaires! Maybe that doesn't sound like much by today's standards, but after $60.00 a month back home it seemed like a license to steal. Francine went out to "Second Street" (an army supply depot) to work where she made just about as much as I did. I remember paying our tithing back in Cornish and Bishop Neeley saying we were the highest tithe payers in the ward. We bought war bonds and saved enough to pay cash for our first farm (80 acres) up in Weston, Idaho. Just a little side light on that farm, there was 20 acres of old hay (poor stand) not hardly worth cutting, so we just let it go to seed, and would you believe it the "seed set" was the heaviest I have ever seen and the amount harvested was enough to pay for the farm, and we only harvested half of it before it snowed. I tried for the next 20 years to get another seed crop like that and it just never happened.
Well I am getting a little ahead of myself. When we first arrived in Ogden we were broke, I mean really broke, I think we had $10.00 to last till payday. We shared an apartment with Francine's sister Erma, and when I say shared I mean shared. One room to ourselves, kitchen and bathroom we had in common. $12.50 a month with the first two weeks free. Francine worked at Safeways where she bought day old bread for 10 cents a loaf and tuna fish for 12 cents a can and that was what I had for lunch. I had a cousin by the name of Grant Peterson, we grew up together, he lived next door. We chased around together, In fact we decided to pick up Francine and Beth, his girl friend, and go to Preston and get married. But when we got there the court house was closed. And just to show how the Lord works that next week I received my call to go to Denmark on a mission, so that put our marriage on hold for three years. Well the reason for telling this story now is that when Grant received his mission call he didn't think that Beth would wait for him, so he never went. He went to college where he graduated with honors, just about the same time I returned from my mission. Not being able to find work in his chosen profession, he went to work down on the railroad along with me. So my time spent on a mission and his time in school prepared us for the same job on the railroad.
We lived in the same apartment complex, except Beth had to have a better apartment than Francine and it took all they made just to break even. Grant and I spent our free time playing tennis in the summer time and Beth and Francine gave us a membership to the gym at Weber College so we spent our free winter time up there playing hand ball, swimming and basketball. Francine and Beth became mothers about the same time, Wally and Dyer. Dyer being born the 4th of January 1942, and that was some thing else. I was working the night shift at the railroad when I received word that Francine was up to the hospital in labor. I hurried up there and after about one hour Dyer was born. And I was back to work before anyone knew I had even left. Francine was small and she didn't show her pregnancy. When it became time, she and her sister Erma started for the hospital on foot. While waiting for a bus two young men stopped to give them a ride. When they told them they wanted to go to the hospital, they thought they were nurses, until Francine told them that they had better hurry as she was going to have a baby, besides being surprised they made the trip in record time.
I can still remember my seniority date (the day I started work on the railroad 10/6/41). That was an important date, as that determined what job classification and what time of the day you worked, and it also determined if you were laid off or held on the extra-board. I was to be laid off, but my seniority date entitled me to work if I wanted to go up to Pocotello Idaho, so we spent a couple of cold wintry months up there before I had enough seniority to return to Ogden.
Service To God And Country
This is an excerpt from my life history dealing with my time spent in the military service.
The war was on and I was expecting to be drafted at any time, and it finally came in the spring of 1943. We moved to Cornish and into a home we bought from Manuel Neagle. After a few months I was inducted into the army at Fort Douglas and assigned to Camp Roberts in Paso Robles California for basic training. Where I remained until May 1945 when we were shipped to the Philippine Islands, specifically the island of Mindano.
A few things worth mentioning while I was still here in the states. Shortly after we arrived in Cornish, Dawn our only daughter was born in the Logan hospital on October 16th 1943. When I left for Camp Roberts Francine wasn't far behind she followed me all through basic training, from camp Roberts to Fort Ord to Camp Stoneman, determined to be with me as long as possible. That came in May 1945. While in Fort Ord I received a call from Salt Lake to be a "special group" leader, called to hold services and see to the spiritual welfare, as far as was possible, all L.D.S.service men in what ever area in the army I would be assigned. With the charge to communicate with Brother Romney of the quorum of the twelve for literature books and reports forms. A Brother Elsworth, a L.D.S. chaplin stationed at Fort Ord set me apart. Which calling I tried to fulfill to the best of my ability and as circumstances would allow. More about that later on.
While at Camp Roberts I was made a squad leader, and in my squad was an old friend from back home Newell King and he and I went through all the ordeals of boot camp together, and as adversity breeds kinship, we became the best of friends and war buddies. Even to this day we are like brothers. While at Camp Stoneman we were split up and somehow we went overseas on different ships. We landed in Layte, and then transferred to A.P.A. (landing craft and headed for Mindano. We were to be replacements for the 44 infantry division. When I landed on the beach at Kagiann, Mindano I noticed a familiar looking solider coming up the beach and low and behold it was Newell. Boy! was he a sight for sore eyes. We stuck as close together as we could and as they called out the names to go the 155th infantry regiment, His name was the first one called and we were holding our breath hoping my name would be called to go to the same regiment. Would you believe it my name was the last one called. At least we would be in the same area of command. Then came the division into companies. Again we were lucky we both ended up in company B, and once we got there it was easy to talk our company commander into putting us in the same platoon, plate bearers for a mortar squad. We had been trained as riflemen, we had never even seen a mortar before, but never mind they would trade our M.1.s, which we had worked on for days to get all the "cosmoline" off, for a couple of 45s ( Pistols). Having never fired one they gave us a can of ammunition each and told to go over to where there was a large lava cliff and learn to shoot straight, It might save your life they told us. After shooting at that cliff for about an hour I told Newell that if "pinch came to shove" I believed that I would stand a better chance if I just threw the gun at the enemy.
Again I'm getting ahead of my story. When we sailed from San Francisco most of us got sea sick. I remember when we went to chow we would stand in line and slowly pass a compartment where they cut up the meat, and that alone was enough to make one sick, and after they filled your tray you went to some tables that were chest high, you never got to set down, and as the ship swayed back and forth your food did the same thing. Finally you just shoveled the food down and headed for the upper deck. Some took their meal with them others never quite made it. I remember making it to the trash barrel and sticking my head in and "regurgitated" (how about that for a word?) Well anyway what I didn't leave there I left on the gang way going up to the main deck and the guardrail, where in spite of nothing being left down in my stomach I still tried to practice what I had just learned to do (throw up). So much for sea sickness.
As we left port and headed west we had quite a lot of time an our hands. Pursuant to my new calling I went in search of the L.D.S. service men on board. There were not many, but I invited them to meet on the "fantail" the following day at a certain time and we would hold a religious discussion. Well at first there were only a few in attendance. I remember some saying they were members in name only and some hadn't attended church in a long time. Its strange how your thoughts and actions return to God when we face the prospect of dying. Well be that as it may, as we held our meetings we found that many of our fellow solders listening in on what we had to say. Bro. Elsworth had given me a few "Serviceman scripture sets" which included the book by Apostle Tallage, "The Articles of Faith" which we used for our text. Each day the number grew until the ship Captain gave us the use of the ships chapel. Maybe it was curiosity or that we were packed in like sardines, but the fact that the numbers continued to grow daily made me feel like the brethren knew what they were doing when they called me to do this work. I guess I might just as well continue on in this vein.
As soon as we settled in our bivouac area, which was by the way in an old Del Monte pineapple plantation. Just as far as you could see nothing but pineapples, they said there was 10,000 acres. Well anyway I rounded up all the L.D.S. soldiers I could find and we held a Sunday service, with a Sunday School class. It was surprising how many L.D.S. servicemen there were in the area. This was the staging area for the Tenth Corps, that was getting ready to go to Japan, so we had a tank division plus all ordnance and support groups. Shortly after we got going, the First Battalion returned from securing the northern part of the island, and with them came Chester Butters, a kid from Cornish. It was good to see him, although you had to look twice to recognize him. He had been with the 155th from the start of the war. He was skinny, his color was yellow from taking "adabrin", a medication to combat malaria, and drinking chlorinated water. He had a big gash in his head from some accident, in fact he just looked awful. But he was a life savior for me and our Sunday School class. He took over the teaching of the class and did a fantastic job.
After Japan surrendered they started releasing some of the men who had been in the service the longest, and used the rest of us to replace them. Our outfit was the oldest, and most returned home. I was assigned to the Quarter Master Corps and ended up in "Issue Warehouse", which issued food and clothing supplies to all the supply sergeants of the tenth corps. The sergeant in charge of Issue Warehouse was leaving to go home and I was made sergeant and given his job. We operated out of the old Del Monte pineapple factory and warehouse. This was a neat job, we got the first crack at all the incoming supplies. We had the only reefers (freezers) on the whole island. You just can't imagine how good a drink of cold water can be, after drinking warm water laced with "adabrin" and chlorine, from an old "lister" bag, for six months. We also had the only ice cream freezer on the whole island and enough ice cream mix for ten thousand men. You will never know how good a fresh egg can be after eating dehydrated eggs, and fresh meat instead of "K" and "C" rations. In fact we got what we wanted even before the Generals at the tenth corps did. I mention all this to set the stage for our Sunday school meetings, held down at the supply depot. Every L.D.S. service man and their friends came to meeting, including the officers from the corps, because we had better food than they did. I made sure that no L.D.S. service man went without new socks, shoes and pants. I was the only one authorized to issue passes at the compound, so "no probLEM", as the Mexicans would say, they would load up every time they came down. So you won't think that there was some "hanky panky" going on, we would lose half of all our supplies through theft. The M.P.'s who were charged with securing the base were in "cahoots" with the Filipino black market. We would stock all the bins and shelves before we went home at night and the next morning they would all be empty. We would call the M.P.'s they would make a raid on the Filipinos and confiscate a whole truck load of clothing blankets etc. take out anything that was any good and bring the rest back to us, which was then sent to the dump. It was like sending the fox to guard the hen house. When I was in the infantry we had to beg the supply sergeant for a new pair of socks or a shirt. When I was put in charge of issue ware house I was determined to see that there was always more than what the requisitions called for. I would always say "here is an extra bundle of socks or underwear, see that your men don't go with out". So you can see I had no "qualms" about seeing that all L.D.S. soldiers had what they needed, and a little to spare.
Well getting back to our Sunday school we had colonels, captains, lieutenants, and there I was a shave tail sergeant conducting, which doesn't sound unusual to us, but to those used to army discipline found it very strange and hard to comprehend.
There were twelve chaplains attached to the corps, and one senior chaplin. One time he came into "Issue Warehouse' for something, and we got into a discussion about religion and my calling in particular. We became good friends and he gave me access to a driver and a jeep anytime I wanted one. One day I received a call from the commanding officer up at the ordinance division advising me that he had a L.D.S. soldier who was really sick and asked if I would come up and see if I could help him. So I called my friend and he sent a man and a jeep to pick me up. When we arrived I found a very good friend of mine, he had lost about fifty pounds and looked just terrible. He said that he hadn't been able to sleep for weeks, there was something in his mind that kept saying "you are going crazy, you are going crazy" over and over. I had never seen anyone possessed by the devil but the spirit told me that was the problem. We went for a walk and talked for a long time, finally, after a word of prayer, I gave him a blessing and commanded Satan to depart, and he did. He just seemed to relax and when we got back to his tent he went to sleep. From that time on he started to recover and was soon back to his own good self.
Well that aught to be enough about the time spent in the army. it was a great experience, one you wouldn't trade for the world and you wouldn't give ten cents to have again. It was Christmas day when the C.O. came by the tennis court where I was playing tennis and said that if I could make it down to the dock by two o'clock I could go home. After a short stay in Layte we (5000 of us) boarded the aircraft carrier Bhonom Richards and headed home arriving in San Francisco about the 5th of January 1946, then on to Salt Lake and my discharge.
Early Years Following the War
In my journals covering the years after my return from the service I have tried to just summarize in a few short pages the things that happened in each year, in hopes that you wouldn't be burdened with the day to day detail. I suggested in the newsletter entitled "Guide to keeping a meaningful Journal" that maybe you might set down at the end of each year, preferably during the holidays and summarize what happened, that might be of interest to your posterity. Again I'm not sure every one would be interested in too much detail ( the kind of stuff found in a dairy). So with out further ado I will copy from the summaries I made starting in 1946.
1946
I returned home in the spring of that year. I met Rex my second son who was born while I was in the Philippines. I guess his birth was quite a story in its self. He was born in the doctors office in Lewiston. Maybe Francine can give a little better account than I can. Also she might tell of her experiences while I was in the service. When I returned I went back to the railroad to get my old job back, but they used some kind of excuse and I couldn't get it back. I guess if I had really pressed the issue I think they would have had to give me my job back, but never mind I returned home, Dad bought some cows for me to milk and I went to farming. By the way while I was gone Francine had saved some money which I talked her out of to buy a pit full of corn silage. I'm sure she had an other plans for her hard earned savings, but being a good wife and obedient to the demands of a old tyrant of a husband, she gladly gave me the money. ($ 800.00).
1947
In 1947 on the 11th of May Kieth was born, it being Sunday and Mothers Day, it was also quite an a coincidence, as I was also born on Sunday and Mothers day 28 years earlier. He too came into the world in a most unusual way. It seemed that when Mother was going to have a baby, she didn't waste any time, where as Rex and Francine made it as far as Lewiston, Francine and Kieth never made it out of the house. I remember calling the doctor and then waiting for what seemed an eternity for him to come. We tried everything to prolong Kieth's arrival but he and Doctor Cragen arrived at the same time. I'm sure Dr. Cragen thought that he had plenty of time, but he didn't know Francine. I could have killed him.
1948
In 1948 we bought another 80 acres just west of the one we already had from Siverine Hanson for $8000.00 and later we bought 300 acres up in Weston canyon from him, mostly range land with some forest grazing permit.
1953
In 1953 we got a G.I.loan and started to building a new home, the nicest one all of town, three bedrooms, two baths a heated garage. We used the old house and just built around it. It was fun just planing and replanning every room, we must have changed our minds a dozen times, but it turned out just great. Kitchen with a snack bar, which seemed great at the time, but that was the end of all of us setting down for meals, it was just like a fast-food restaurant, Francine being the cook and waitress and dish washer all at the same time. It always seemed like we were in a hurry: cows to milk, chores to do, you name it, there was never enough time to do all that had to be done. I remember Dyer saying that all he ever heard was "get and hurry". I remember how we were always pressed for time to hold prayers before school, and as one could see the bus when it was still a long way of, we would have one of the kids stand by the front room window and watch for the bus while the rest of us had prayers. And it was the same thing after school, chores to do all over again. We bought a new T.V. that year, it was the first one in town, and as the signal had to come directly from Salt Lake City, not every one could get a clear picture, but we were lucky and we always had neighbors and friends over to see a free show. Also I was set a part to be second councilor to Douglas Bergson in the bishopric (served five years.). In January 1953, 21st to be exact, Dan our fourth son was born. I remember taking him to church to be blessed and given a name. For some reason Francine couldn't go and when I got home she ask me what I had named him. I guess we had pretty well decided to name him Dan, after Dan Burbank a friend, and I just threw in Bingham far a second name. By the way Dyer was name after a family by the name of Dyer I knew back in the mission field, and given the old family "stand by', John, as his second name. Rex was named after Rex Pilkington a friend there in town, and given the second name of Lewis after his grandfather Lewis Bingham. Kieth was named after a good friend of mine Kieth Clayson, and given the second name of Harvey after his grand father Harvey Pitcher. I don't have the foggiest idea how we came up with names for Dawn and Bart, but I gave Bart my name Marcell for a second name.
Our biggest draw back on the farms was the lack of water, so in the summer of 1953 my father and I got a Mr. Koller, whose land was next to ours, to go in with us and drill a well. We were told that there was no use to drill on the west side of the valley, as a hundred wells had been drilled and all were "dry holes". Well we got a Mr. Shumway from over in Cove who had some psychic powers, (better known as water witch) to come and find us some water. He went all over the farm and finally up in one corner he drove a stake and said that there was a lot of water there. It was in a under ground stream and not to deep. Well, a while later an other of those "water witches " came along, this one from Idaho Falls and using some kind of device made of metal, ( Mr. Shumway used just an old forked willow), unbeknown to what Mr. Shumway had said, told us the exact same story and drove a stake in the exact same spot. We were convinced there had to be something to this "water witching business", so we hired Andrews Well Drilling Co. out of Idaho Falls to put down a 16" casing to depth of 550 feet where we stopped, they said that there was no water in the hole. We were devastated, that was a lot of money at $16.00 a foot.($8,800.00) But with Mr. Koller paying for two thirds we were able to survive. The following year was exceptionally dry and I told dad that I wanted what ever there was in the well, if it were only a garden stream. In the mean time Mr. Koller had died and when I approached his boys to see if they wanted to help pay to have the well perforated and tested they told me they were no longer interested in it, so I went to the bank and borrowed $512.00 to get it tested. To our surprise it produced more than 2,000 gallons a minute. It seems that Anderw's Well Drilling company being from Idaho Falls had always drilled in Lava formations and were not acquainted with type of aquifer in our area and therefor they never recognized the water sources when they drilled through them. But needless to say once the Koller boys saw all that water they wanted back in for their share, but that was alright there was more water than we could use anyway and there was still a power line to build and a pump to buy and it was nice to have to only come up with 1/3 the cost. To this day it is one of the best water source in the valley. Even in the drought years it's out-flow was never effected.
1956
At the end of 1956 I wrote "At the present time I hold about half the jobs in the ward, class instructor for the High Priests, teach the Genealogy class in Sunday School, Ward chorister, Superintendent of the young mens Mutual, instructor for the Ward Teachers once a week, and I am now taking a class in genealogy two nights a week and I am head of the ward genealogy.
1957
Well 1957 was a busy year also, I guess the most important thing to happen was the arrival of our 5th son Bart. Francine gave this account of his arrival "I got in my car and drove to Logan and went up to the hospital and told them that I was here to my baby. The doctor was Dr. Skabelund, the meanest old cuss you ever saw. I told him this was the worst time I have ever had and all he could say was, that was the easiest he had ever seen. Two days latter I told the nurses that I wanted my baby, as I was going home. They said that I couldn't take him so I told them I was going home with out him, so they wrapped him up for me. I took him with me, went out and got in my car and went down town and bought me a new dress and drove home."
In the spring of that year, 1957 I rented 60 acres of land just west of Cornish from A.L. Bambrough. He had had many renters and the farm was in pretty bad shape, after I informed him that it cost so much for fertilizer, head gates and bridges he ask if I wanted to buy the place. I told him that I didn't have any money. He ask if I had $500.00 to pay down? I told him that I guess I could find that much. Well he said "give me that as a down payment and then a $1000.00 a year for twelve years and it's yours." So that is how we came to buy what we called the "Bambrough place". In 1958 we leveled half of it and the following year we put it all under sprinkler Irrigation.
1961
In the spring of 1961 (March the 20th) Dyer left for his mission to England. I remember how easy the money came. We had a barren old gravel knoll up on the farm in Weston, we never even farmed it, it was so gravelly. Well LaGrand Johnson Construction Co. was building a new road from the Idaho border to Weston. He ask if I would sell him that old gravel hill for road fill, to which I was more than happy to do. They took their earth moving equipment and removed all the top soil and then removed the gravel from the hill. After they were finished they went back in and took the top soil they had removed and put it back where the hill had been. So now instead of a worthless old hill I had about 20 acres of good farm ground and in addition I received $5000.00, almost enough to keep Dyer out the full time he was on his mission. Also shortly after Dyer left Mel Brown Co. from Idaho Falls (The company I had bought our turbine pump and sprinkler pipe from) had a big load of sprinkler pipe rejected by some farmer up in Oxford and he called to see if I could sell it for him. I sold it to some of my friends and I still needed some more so he sent me another load which I sold, in fact we sold quite a few systems for them and I got a 5% commission on all that I sold. One day I ran into a salesman from B.M. Wholesale In Pocotello Idaho and he ask me how much Mel Brown was giving me for selling his pipe and when I told him he said that he would give me 10% if I would sell for him. So we started ordering our pipe and pumps through them. Farming that year was a disaster but with what we made in the pipe business we made-out quite well.
1962
In 1962 we bought our first pipe press and started assembling our own sprinkler pipe. In the meantime B.& M Wholesale decided to leave Pocotello and return to Nampa Idaho and before they left they gave me all the distributer-ships they had for the area: Berkeley Pump, Rain Bird sprinkler heads, Gheen fittings and Reynolds Aluminum. It was mid summer by then and we had ordered a car load of aluminum which was late in arriving and we had about 1/2 left over. We tried to get them (Renyolds Aluminum) to consign it to us until spring but they wouldn't, so we went to the bank and borrowed $8,000.00 and paid them off. I remember Francine saying if we ever get all that aluminum sold we will be well off, as a lot of our profit was tied up in it.
1963
In the spring of 1963 we were able to get our Aluminum consigned from Alcoa, which was a great boost as it gave us a lot of working capitol to purchase fittings and we still gave had a good supply of aluminum. They were great to work with, we ordered three or four carloads of pipe which we were to pay for it as we used it. They were to come and inspect it every so often, but they only came once and after that they just took our word for it. Also Mr Gheen, our principle supplier of fittings, would ship us all the fittings we wanted and we would pay him for them at the end of the year. Alcoa had a plan where we ordered pipe in the fall and paid for it the following June. THERE WAS THE SECRET TO OUR SUCCESS. First: our competition bought through a distributer, namely E.C. Olsen in Salt Lake City, we purchased right from the manufacture, so we could sell to the farmers at the same price that our competition would buy from E.C. Olsen. I remember Mountain States Implement telling their customers that they might just as well go down to Pitcher Pump and Pipe Co. because they (the farmers) could buy their pipe as cheep as Mountain States could from their supplier. Well our customers were our sales force. They would buy their pipe and then tell their neighbors and their neighbors would come and buy their pipe from us. I remember one time when the Alcoa representatives came, (and you had to see their men when they came), they all looked like peas in a pod, tall neatly dressed in dark suits, almost as conspicuous as Mormon missionaries. Well anyway they wanted to know how many sales men we had. When we told them that we didn't have any they couldn't believe it.
Our business just continued to grow, we made a lot of money, and we put a lot back into inventory but because of the losses on the farm we had to cover our farm expenses with the profit from the pipe co. But other than that we had a good year both spiritually and temporally. Dyer returned in the spring and after working all summer he withdrew all his wages and returned to England to get Hillary to be his wife.
1964
This was a year of real growth in the pipe business, but the worst year on the farm. We had 117 acres of sugar beets and because of adverse weather conditions they only went 8 tons per acre. As a consequence we were obliged to mortgage all our inventory to raise $20,000.00 to pay our obligations. We had sold all our hay and straw to a Mr. Laurtzen, which we were unable to collect ($4500.00 worth). In the spring Rex and a Indian boy we had hired took over the irrigating. While trying to get a squirrel out of a pipe they accidently touched a 138,000 volt power line, "but by the grace of God", his life was preserved. It blew holes all down the pipe and even killed the hay where they stood. He had boots on but it blew holes right out of the soles of his feet and the boots. The first we knew of it was when he and the Indian boy drove up and he told mother to tell dad not to go up to the farm, as there was something terribly wrong. Mother could see that he was out of his mind and she told him to slide over and she drove him to the doctor as fast as she could go. He told her on the way that he didn't know how long he lay on the ground but the first thing he could remember was that he could see his body laying there on the ground and he kept saying to him self "I've got to get back into my body". When they got to the doctors office Rex tried to get out of the car and he just collapsed. It had blown big holes in the side of his feet and it looked like puss running out. Well they were able to get him into the doctor's office and then straight to the hospital where they took skin from his hip and tried to graft it onto his feet. It never held and they had to try two or three times more before it healed. He spent all summer in bed, either at home or in the hospital. There was a lot of nerve damage and he hardly seemed himself all summer. The Indian boy was severely burned, big water blisters all over his body. Francine set up beds with braces to hold the covers away from the burns on both of them most of the summer.
1965
1965 proved to be the best year to date. That was the year we bought the pump rig and trailers, fixed the shop. The government had appropriated $65,000.00 to bring the water out of Weston canyon, but those "old knot heads" returned the money and a group from over east of Preston, (The Condie Group) got the loan and put in a big gravity system. That has been over 25 years ago and they are still trying to convince every one up Weston creek to put in that system that should have been put in then, and as Mr. Condie has said many times that the system paid for its self the first year. Well anyway we got to install it. That was the first big job we ever did. We also sold 30 wheel lines up to Rexburg and 20 lines over to Bedford Wyoming, together with a lot of smaller jobs our gross sales reached $250,000.00 with a net of $33,000.00. and with a good crop on the farm we were able to pay of the bank, and for the first time we could spend money for all the little things that make live pleasant. Rex received his call to Denmark and in spite of poor circulation in his legs he had a good year in the mission field. Just a little story and testimony on the payment of tithing. The fall before we were so broke we even had to borrow $20,000.00 just to pay our bills and when it came time for tithing settlement I didn't know what to do. I knew that we haven't made any thing but we had lived pretty good any way. It so happened that Byron & Carl Hansen owed me $300.00 for harvesting their beets so I told Francine we were going to pay our tithing with that. Well the next year was that fabulous year, we paid off all the money we had borrowed from the bank the year before and had quite a lot left over.
1965 was also the year we went to court with C.W. Laurtzen. At first we thought that all we would have to do was have a lawyer send him a letter and we would get our money, but before we were through with pre-trial's, deposition hearings, jury trial, pretention of briefs, and another hearing before the judge we were afraid we were going to loose out farm and home too. All because of a listing to sell the farm three years earlier. It finally was sent to the supreme court of Utah where they ruled in our favor. In their ruling they stated that the district judge should have never even let it come to trial. Just goes to show you what a couple of lawyers and a stupid judge can do.
1966
1966 STARTED OUT WITH A BANG. WE took a trip to, Lubbock Texas and back to see about supplies. (Horris Snyder, Don Forbush and I). I sold 500 feet of 48" steel pipe to the Twin Lakes. I had a deal going with North-West Pipe Co in Portland who had a spiral welding machine to fabricate their steel pipe. Twin Lakes told me what they were paying for pipe in Salt Lake and I told them I could beat it so they said go ahead. After that, I ordered in 12 rail road cars full of 48 and 56" pipe. I was banking with the bank in Lewiston Utah and had a note due for $50,000.00 and they were putting pressure on Francine to bring in some cash. I got a check from the Twin for that amount and she took it over and they changed their story saying that she didn't have to pay the whole thing. Got a large pipe threader out of the sugar factory, got it going and started threading our own well casing. Bought our first back hoe, a new one from a outfit in Nebraska. Got a lot of new sources for steel and other items that went well with the pipe business. The business in Rexberg kept growing, sold a lot of pipe and wheel lines out in Roberts, we even had to send crews out there from home to put them together. We also continued to grow here at home. Sold more and more under ground pipe. Bought a Cleveland wheel trencher. Kay and Dawn came up from Salt Lake to help in the business. In the fall we put under ground asbestos pipe in for Valden Pitcher, Dunford Weston and George Malory. Kieth joined the National Guard and went to camp for six months. Bought him a new G.T.O. car when he returned. So with all the hay and grain and a few peas on the farm we had a good year. Bought 5 acres of land up in Rexberg for $5000,00 and started building a store. Took Kieth and Don Forbush and rented a plane and flew down to Los Angles seen Alcoa extrude pipe. Then over to see The Peerless pump Company to see them make pumps. They took us out to a really fancy restaurant for steak dinners. After dinner Kieth was talking to the Pres. of the company and when ask how he liked the dinner, Kieth told him that he would sooner of had a hamburger. Went on up to San Francisco and seen Berkeley Pump co. They took us out to a fancy sea food restaurant, I don't know how Kieth made out, but he didn't say anything this time. Then we flew down to Eugene Oregon, to see Mr Gheen and see how they "role formed" steel fittings.
1967
1967 this was really and eventful year. First we sold a big job to Woodrew Rigby over in Snowville. Sure had a bad time trying to hold the pressure on the main line. It was transite pipe and it wasn't a heavy enough class. It was just inexperience on my part, Woodrew had already had it engineered and I just assumed that it was done right. We didn't recognize it until it was too late and we tried to compensate by using pressure relief and air vents. Went to Montana and sold $100,000.00 worth of pipe to Paul Taylor, Spence Stoddard and Hewlet Brothers. Finished the store in Rexberg. Incorporated the business up there under the name of Gem State Irrigation Co. We held 84% of the stock and we gave Sylvan 16%. Put a net fence around the yard and sold 240,000.00 worth of merchandise and services out of that store. Next we sold our farms. The 300 acres in Weston canyon to uncle Valden Pitcher. Then Paul Mc Knight bought the Bambrough place in Cornish. Myron Fonsbeck bought the 160 acres in Weston. Lavel Koller our neighbor was upset because we didn't sell it to him, his wife said that we were stabbing them in the back, as the Kollers and Fonsbecks never got along very well. So we met up to the farm and I told them what Myron was paying and Myron told them that he had to live as neighbors with them and that if it were going to be a source of contention they could buy it and he would step out. Well they didn't want to pay that much and they still didn't want me to sell it to some one else. So I told Myron it was his and that was it, he bought it. The sale of the farms was a big decision, I didn't know if we could live without that milk check every two weeks or not. But it had gotten to where we were just getting the "stubs" from the checks, the rest going to the bank anyway. And we were continually using the profits from the pipe business to pay farm expenses, so it didn't take too smart a business man to see "what side of the bread the butter was on", but it had always been our security blanket, if you will, and something to fall back on if all else failed. Francine told me if I missed seeing the crops growing so badly I could go see someone else's grow. But it was a real boost it gave us a lot of capitol to expand our inventory and put the store in Rexburg on its feet. Francine fixed up the back room and office and tiled the bathroom. Built a cinder block fence around the house and really started to make things look nice. I started taking flying lessons and bought me an airplane, a new 207 Cessna, so I could keep in closer contact with the store in Rexberg, also I had went into a venture with John Anderson in Idaho Falls to invent a machine to convert centrifugal force to thrust. (we called it a thruster) So I had to spend a few days a week there. Then we sold a big job over in Snowville to Don Rigby and then two more big ones up in Bancroft to Don and his brother Max Rigby. So still more chasing, so maybe the airplane will work out alright after all. We finally got our money out of Laurtzen for our hay and straw, but we had to get a ruling from the Utah Supreme Court before he would pay. Rex came home from his mission it was sure a thrill to see how much he had grown. He started at Utah State in the fall and is doing just fine. Kay and Dawn went back to Salt Lake to work for Phearsons. Started working with two young men, one in Montpelier and one in Afton Wyoming, maybe something good will come out of it. The sadist thing that happened I went into land at an air strip up in Grace and missed the runway and really banged up my plane, it will cost about $6000.00 to fix it. WE also had a good year here in Cornish, did $450,000.00 in business, with pretty good profit, in fact more than ever before. I am continually amazed at how much the Lord blesses us for no more than we give in return. We have not only grown temporally we have also grown spiritually. I have never known a time in my life when I have found such great joy in the gospel. I'm receiving inspiration and revelation as never before. In fact I am more thrilled with our growth spiritually than temporally. I'm High Priest Group Leader, I teach priest hood class, Sunday School lessons, getting some genealogy done, some temple work done doing better with family home evenings and home teaching.
1968
We finally got our airplane out about the first of March. We flew to South Dakota to see a job and on to Kroy in York Nebraska to see about our aluminum supply, and on down to Mc Pherson Kansas to see the new Certenteed plastic factory, went to see some pivots in Dodge city, Kansas and Greely, Colorado. We sold a big Plastic job over to Richmond, the first Plastic under ground sprinkler in the whole western united states. It came to $55,000.00 with 20% profit. Paul got us a big job over in Murphy Idaho, 37 wheel lines for $100.000.00 cleared $10,000.00. Got our first good sized municipal job, for the City of Whittney Idaho. It got cold and we had a lot of trouble with Preston city and Franklin County with right o ways. Built a hanger in Preston to house our plane. I didn't get up to Rexberg very often and didn't have to good a year up there. Kieth left for Vietnam in May. Got some pretty big orders from Don Rigby, electric wheel moves, took all summer and lost money on them. Put a lot more money into the "thruster" and John Anderson, We incorporated under the name of American Research and Development Co. Gave $10,000.00 for 40% of the company. Worked all fall trying to get Certenteed or Johns Mansville to buy our stainless steel fittings. Sold our first solid set system to Paul Christensen, it ran about $400.00 per acre. Don Forbush came to work full time for us a $800.00 per month. Counting the Rexberg store we had over a million dollars in sales, $675,000.00 in Cornish and $350,000,00 up there. In spite of a few bad breaks we still had a profit of over $20,000.00. Actual cost of repairs on the airplane was $8,000.00. Still enjoying the blessings of the Lord both spiritually and temporalty. Teaching High Priests and Sunday School, the adult class and I am High Priests Group Leader.
1969
This too was really an eventful year. To start off with, we sold Gem State to Sylvan Seeley for $90,000.00, I hated to see it go but he wanted control or at least 50% and we felt that we would be at his mercy. So we thought we might as well sell it and forget about it. We really didn't have much choice as he said if we didn't sell he would set up a business just across the street. But we did clear $50,000.00 in two years anyway. Took $20,000.00 and went into business with Paul Batson making wheel movers over in Eugene Oregon. Sent Dyer, a truck and car over to work with Paul. We got a special discount with Erico for fittings (45% + 6%), I have decided that it's not how you sell, it's how you buy that determines how much you make. Went into business with Bill Slagle in Othello Washington, Central Irrigation. Put more money into Ardco to build stainless steel fittings for plastic main lines. Built machinery to make wheels, but lacked capitol to go into production. Sold 200 solid set lines up to Grace Idaho. It was awfully dry so our regular business was extra heavy. Hired Dwain Murray to help get the jobs done up in Grace. Got a big job over in Etna Wyoming. Dyer and Don Forbush put in a lot of steel pipe. Invested $3,000.00 in a tree farm out in Caldwell Idaho, I thought that was all, but we ended up putting $9,000.00 more into it. Got a call from Apostle Kimball, (later President Kimball) to the stake High Counsel and assigned to Home teaching, started writing a monthly "News Letter" to all stake and ward leadership pertaining to home teaching, quite a challenge. Decided to go into manufacturing steel fittings for irrigation, with Paul Batson and Harold Turnell. Made arrangements to purchase the old Sago milk factory in Preston Idaho. Applied for a loans from the SBA, First Security Bank, State of Idaho and a local development Corp. Harold decided to drop out so Paul and I decided to try it alone. Ordered in 7 car loads of steel tubing, and a $16,000.00 rolling machine. Had a really good fall. Putting in a big job for Newton City In Newton Utah, a big job for the Foster Group (gravity system) and a big system for the Onida Stake Farm up in Dayton, Idaho. Finished up Christmas Evening. Kieth returned safely from Viet Nam. Bart is taking private schooling from Karla Rawlings. Sold my interest in Anderson Manufacturing to Mark Steel in Salt Lake City for $45,000.00 and 3% of the gross sales as a royalty for our patent on stainless steel fittings
1970
1970 We had quit a time with the solid set fittings we sold up in Grace last year we had to change all the gaskets and band & hooks on all but Paul Christensens, those we had to haul down to Preston and replace all the couplers. We were lucky we had the big ware house in the new factory. Foreclosed on Central Irrigation in Othello Washington, sold the inventory to Western Farmers inc. for $55,000.00. Went to Hyder, Arizona, where we traded irrigation equipment to Bill Buse for 640 acres of land. Drilled a well and test results were 3600 gpm. at 1300 feet. The water was 112 degrees. We cleared off all the cactus and got a contract to plant lemons, with Sun Kist inc. never got it done, maybe next year. Sold two good systems up in Moses Lake Washington to Dee Wiser and his neighbor. We also sold 28 wheel lines together with main lines and pumps down in Beaver Utah, which took most of the spring. We bid a big job in Plat, South Dakota for $2,000,000.00 and got it. Don Forbush and Duane Murray spent most of the summer and fall back there. We should have finished it before winter but we had to close it down until spring. We also bid a job over in Smoot Wyoming (the cottonwood Project) for $200,000.00 and got that. Didn't get much done before winter set in there to, so, we will have our work cut out for next year. I spent most of my time trying to get the factory going, so Rex and Kieth pretty well took care of the pump and pipe business down home in Cornish. I made quite a few trips to Othello Washington trying to sell our properties there. We had ended up with a home, a six pulex and a 160 acre farm. I had to put another $60,000.00 in to pay off a Mr. Harrison, so as to get a clear title. I sold my twin engine 337 cessna airplane for $50,000.00 and bought a Beach 285 turboed Bonanza for $25,000.00, put the extra money in the factory. Rex married Jane Buttars and moved in with us Kieth had Married Tamra Kendel from Oxford and they had their second boy and named him Brandon. Kay and Dawn had another girl. They also went into business for them selves at Valley Fair Mall in Murray Utah, a hardware and appliance store. We bought a new home up in Preston and moved in the last day of the year. Paul had come over from Eugene Oregon in the spring and we started on the factory. Moved the wheel mover equipment over here from Oregon, made quite a few and sold them. Removed the old furnace and all of the old milk plant equipment out. Bought a new lathe and milling machine. Started making dies for fittings. Hired Ray Arnold who used to be the machinist over to Gheens to be our machinist. He didn't stay very long. Hired a couple of young men from over to Thiokol, Ted Singelton and Bill Litchfield to do our tool making. We had Mary Dawayne, a girl who worked for us up at Central Irrigation come down and run the office here. We hired a Mr. Seeley away from the George May Business Consulting Firm, to be our controller. Bill Litchfield became our plant manager and by the end of the year we had 60 employees in the plant. Our biggest struggle has been getting the finances to operate the factory. We finally got our S.B.A. loan on the 28th of December but we were still $275,000.00 over draft so we had to borrow the balance from the bank. The S.B.A. loan was only for $125,000.00. Pay role now running $5,000.00 a week, just started getting fittings coated and out by years end. Hired Wayne Loman of Pauls Valley Oklahoma for sales there and in Northern Texas and to run a warehouse we and set up down there. We also hired Carl Martin from Sandpoint Idaho to take over for Mr. Seeley who had left.
Spiritually we had a good year, I sure enjoy my assignment on the High Counsel, I teach the adult class in Sunday School when I am home, done a little better on family home evenings. I have the influence of the Spirit more this year than ever before, found more comfort in prayer, and felt more need of help the Lord. Cara became dissatisfied at home here and went to California to live with her brother Douglas Bodily.
1971
The year started with lots of hope and anticipation of big things. We were making good gains at the plant. Sales looked promising and our capacity to produce increased. We kept making more items to fill our line. We had a hard time trying to find money to finance the production of the plant. By April we were up to 45 employees and a payroll of $5,000.00 a week. We secured another S.B.A. loan for $250,000.00 which we figured would pay our suppliers and give us the needed capitol to run the plant. But when it came, the First Security Bank seen at chance to get out, took all the S.B.A. money to retire our indebtedness to them, which was contrary to the authorization for the dispersement of funds. So without any money to run the plant everything ground to a halt. Gradually we had to let the employees go. Paul went back to Eugene Oregon. We kept five employees and tried to keep going, but on the first of November the bank came in and locked the doors to the plant. In order to secure the S.B.A. loan we had to pledge our home and business in Cornish, trucks, equipment and inventory. We sold everything down to Cornish in an effort to save the factory. We are still trying to sell the factory to the Indians. (the Blackfoot tribe up in Montana) We hope to find someone who will loan us the money to start up again. We talked to few lawyers about the way the "Bank" had handled the S.B.A. loan, and everyone we talked to said that we should file a court action against The First Security Bank to recover our losses. So just before Christmas we made a deal with a attorney by the name of Reed Bowen, from Idaho Falls, who said that he would take our case for one third, and if we lost, it wouldn't cost us anything. So he filed our complaints just before the first of the year. The taking away of our operating capitol not only closed up Ardco it cost us in all our other enterprises. First: for lack of capitol and poor supervision we just about broke even on the job in South Dakota but it took so long to complete that job it put us way behind schedule on the Cotton-Wood project in Wyoming. For lack of operating capitol we were unable to hire enough men and rent enough equipment to complete the job on time, so in consequence of this we lost about $50,000.00 there. We also had to let our ground go in Arizona, and because we can't get the S.B.A. or the bank to release the property in Washington so we can sell it, and it now looks like we will loose that to. John Anderson sold out to Mark Steel Co. and we haven't the money to & save our equity there. But with the threat from the S.B.A. and the bank to force us into bankruptcy. There isn't much incentive to try to save these assets if the bank and the S.B.A. are going to take it anyway. Rex took over Pitcher Pump & Pipe Co. bought about all the inventory and equipment and moved the business to Preston, Idaho. Rex is doing fine. Kieth and Dyer are working for him. By the way the bonding company paid for the loss in on the Cottonwood project in Wyoming.
1972
I guess the most significant thing that happened this year was Dan going on a mission to the Virginia - North Carolina Mission. and the joy and happiness it has brought into the family. At first he was in Fayetsville N.C. and by the end of the year he was in Denbigh Va. Rex's business continued to show good progress. Dyer is doing a good job helping him. Kieth bought a trencher and did sub- contract work for Rex and done really well, even went to Mexico on a vacation., Dawn, Kay & family had an enjoyable year. I don't know how well they made out financially, but they sure are a cute family. Bart is just too old for his age. We tried to get him back to school, but no go. He is just 15 years old, but his friends are 18 to 20 . I hope we will have more success in influencing him in the next year than we had in the last. It's sure hard to want to give someone something so bad, and not be able to. But I guess that the Lord intended that each of us would have to gain a testimony of His divinity for our selves. But like Lehi of old, I sure wish that my children might eat of the fruit of the tree,which was precious above all other fruit -- and live.
In March they (the S.B.A.) held an auction and sold all the inventory and equipment at Ardco for $66,000.00, just a small fraction of what it was worth: example the inventory in the warehouse had a manufactures cost of $280,000.00 alone not to mention all unfinished component parts, $100.000.00 worth of Van Huffle tubing, and the list goes on and on). We with Rex and Dyer were able to buy most of the essential equipment to start up again if we ever get enough money. I and Francine went to work for Rex about May so we were able to make ends meet. In November a Mr. Stark from Seattle, Washington came down and leased the Ardco Building to put in a mix plant and offered me job as manager. I have high hopes that this will work out well for us. (We will mix different products such as whey powder, corn meal, soy meal etc. for the baking industry.) In our law suit with the First Security Bank, nothing much has happened, just a lot of legale "gymnastics" but Mr. Bowen is very optimistic. I am surprised that we haven't been forced into bankruptcy before now. All that we have is so tied up by the S.B.A. there is very little incentive for anyone else to get excited about filing any claimes against our remaining assets. Spiritually I feel pretty good. I took a calling to be advisor to the Priests quorum, and I also took a course in teacher development, which was a real help. I have learned one thing this year that the struggle to attain the things of this world are not worth the price if it stands in the way of family exultation. I also learned that the end doesn't come when we loose our worldly possessions. Life still goes on, chances for service in the Kingdom still come. So if our goal is eternal life we are just as well off as before, maybe even better.
1973
Well it's surprising how much can happen in one year. Grandpa Pitcher (my father) died, and it was a blessing that he didn't have to suffer any longer. Bart married Joyce Smith of Richmond and is working with me at The Stark Co. Dan is still on a mission in Virginia, we have had several letters from his Mission President (Rex Penniger), telling us how well Dan is doing. Two new members were added to the "clan" this year. A boy for Kieth (Aaron) and a boy for Dawn (David). Kay & Dawn are still in Salt Lake. Kay split with Pearson's and has his own store, calling it Penrods. I think things are pretty much "touch and go", just have to wait and see if they can make the store go. Kieth is still contracting installation for Rex. Rex's business seems to be growing by "leaps and bounds", but he works hard and is under a lot of pressure for a lack of capitol. Then there are so many things that are getting hard to get, its almost impassable to out-guess where the shortages will be the worst. My job with Starks is almost a miracle. A year ago I was broke and out of work. Now we get $1000.00 a month and a car and gas, clean cloths to work in plus a complete health plan, all doctor and hospital expenses. Mr Stark even took me to Alaska fishing for 10 days. How about that! Like I told Francine "I guess that is the Lords way of blessing us for paying our tithing. Well, for whatever reason we are most grateful to our Father in Heaven for our temporal well being, in fact we have more money to spend than we have ever had. We have had two setbacks in our law suit against the bank. They got a summery judgment and we were refused a hearing from the state supreme court. But the government is investigating the S.B.A. practices. Attorney Bowen is working with the senate investigating committee, and so maybe we are still in the "ball park". It is sure going to be interesting to see how the S.B.A. in Boise explains how they handled our loan. Something is "screwy" they still haven't come to foreclose on me yet. I still get the rent from the building. Its just like they are afraid to do anything, at least Bowen seem to think so. I still have jobs in the church. I taught the priests until October when I was released and put in President of the Sunday School.
1974
Bart and Joyce added the only new member to the family this year. A boy by the Name of Shane, born the 18th of October. Bart has been operated on twice, once for appendix and once for a hernia. He is now working for Rex. He and Joyce are getting along just fine, for which we are most great full. Dan got home from his mission in March, and is going B.Y.U. full time, even summer school, and is doing fine. He put a sprinkler system all around our house and did some fine land-scaping, the yard sure looks nice. Kith and Tam still live in the "old homestead". Kieth has been subcontracting pipe installations, got a new trencher and a used crawler. Rex's business continues to grow, he is still working long hours and I think they sold over two million this year. He is getting into manufacturing, little by little. His plastic plant and retail business are doing fine, the fittings shop is turning out more items all the time. Kay and Dawn have had quite a trying year, they had to sell their store at the mall, and they have been waiting for some financing they were promised, but it hasn't arrived yet. On the plus side, Dawn went on a diet and lost 40 pounds, and that is a miracle in it's self. Speaking of miracles, Dyer took leave from Rex's and returned to school (trade-school) to become an electrician, and got straight "A-s" for his fall quarter and is doing a wonderful job. Its tough to make ends meet, but Rex is helping and we still have some of my mother's money and we are using some of that. Things here at home have been up and down, mostly down. Employment at Starks came to an end in September, kind of a shock as we were not expecting it at all. I am on unemployment compensation now and Rex says I can go to work for him in the spring. Mother went to work down to Richmond for Pepperridge cake and pastry factory. We had two week vacation this summer and went to the Worlds Fair in Spokane Washington. This has been a year of inflation. Food cost have just jumped, gas prices have doubled. We did get ten thousand dollars worth before it went up, which helps, but we gave Ron Schlenskie some $11,000.00 for some silver which we haven't received yet. Our feud with the S.B.A. hasn't amounted to much. They took me to court for fraud, but I was acquitted. They gave away our property in Othello Washington for $35,000.00 , and it was worth $200,000.00. Bowen still thinks we have a good case against the government, but I am getting discouraged about ever getting any redress. I did talked to Jack Anderson (the news columnist), he said that if I would send him the information he would see if he would help us. Well all in all, things are pretty good, we still have the church and that doesn't change. Our investment in "eternal life" is safe, inflation and depression have no effect on that. Spiritually in the family as a whole has increased. There is still a lot to be done but I can see rays of hope and good
signs in each member of the family. After all its not how much money or how successful we are in business, but how far have we have come in living as our Father in Heaven would have us live. Life is but a passing day, and all we will take home to God will be what we have accomplished in keeping His eternal laws. I think I should make mention of how generous Rex has been in helping the family. Bart, Dyer, Dawn, Dan, and in no small amount to mother and I.
1975
This has been like a year in limbo, waiting for something to happen (Financially). We wrote letters to our congress men and senators about how the S.B.A. loan was handled, and most agreed that it was handled improperly. Bowen has been to Washington twice, arriving home just a few days ago, and we will meet after the first of the year. I ask if he was encouraged with his visit to washington and he said that he wasn't discouraged. So I guess we will wait until next year and see what happens. The S.B.A. sold the Ardco Building and Rex was the highest bidder $4,200.00. The Stark Co is still renting and will until they find another building to rent. Its kinda weird, the S.B.A. hasn't moved against my remaining assets, or forced me into receiver ship, and I don't want to take out bankruptcy. So I can't start in business again until I am out of bondage to them. I wish now I had taken out bankruptcy four years ago. But I kept thinking that something would happen so I didn't have to. Well we haven't suffered any temporally. Francine is still working at Pepperidge. I am still on unemployment so we have had plenty to live on besides helping Dan at school. Kay and Dawn have been having a rough year. They had a new baby boy (Mike). Kay is still out of work so Francine has sent about half of what she has made down there. Dyer and his family are doing fine. He graduated from the Utah Technical College and got his electrician license. Started his own business (Mountain West Electric). He is wiring in pumps for Rex and helping out in the machine shop. Rex's business has been growing, but it has had its problems. Some of his help left and started a business in competition down in Richmond Utah. His volume was big, close to two million, but not with standing a good mark up, labor costs and a drop in value of inventory cut total profit considerably. Rex and Jane had an addition to there family a girl they named Dian, sure a good baby. Kieth and his family are getting along fine. Branden has been having trouble with his hearing and is taking special classes at USU in Logan. Kieth is still in the construction business (Pitcher Construction). Dan spent the summer with us and helping Rex, but back to school in the fall. He is studying to be an electrical engineer, doing fine and is sure careful with expenses, almost too careful. Joyce and Bart are growing up, and Shane to. Joyce is teaching in jr. Sunday School. Bart is still working for Rex, setting up wheel lines and delivering pipe. I feel good about the whole family. There are many things I would like to see change, but I can't help but feel that we are making progress in our quest for eternal life.
1976
This has been a an eventful year, namely because of our missionary call. President Woodward talked to us last fall, and Bishop Hale again this spring. We tried to excuse ourselves, but he called us again in July and we figured maybe the Lord must need us somewhere or the Bishop wouldn't have been so persistent. Well anyway, we got our call in October to go to Pennsylvania--Harrisburg Mission. We spent a wonderful week in the mission home, although the long hours made it seem like an endurance test. Our missionary experiences until May 1978 are in my missionary journal, We were assigned to work in Wilkes Barre Pa. where we remained for the full 19 months.
As for our dealings with the government and the S.B.A. everything went sour. Attorney Bowen was indited for fraud (nothing to do with us) he ended up being disbarred and is no longer practicing law, so that ended that. We continued to correspond with out congressmen and others, but about all we got was "Your cause is just but we can do nothing for you". Sound familiar?
About the time we closed the fittings factory (Ardco) in the spring of 1972 I set down and wrote an obituary, if you will, about it's demise. I found thies notes the outher day, and thinking that maybe someone, some day might like to know a little about that chapter in my life. Maybe you might learn something about banks in general and financing in perticler.
The Fall of ARDCO
(AMERICAN RESERCH & DEVELOPMENT COMPANY)
...the notes I've made in regard to the obtaining of the SBA loan from the First Security Bank and the involvement of Ted Steers and the SBA people and the First Security people out of Pocatello. These different headings may not follow in a chronological order but as these thoughts came to me I jogged them down. I also thought maybe it would be a good idea to put it on tape.
First off, I thought it would be a good idea to go see Mr. Ted Steers and see if he will confirm an open line of credit for $250.000. Also, if he remembers what commitment the bank made for operating capital and how came they let him get in such a bind, and to see how he feels toward the bank.
Just a word in regard to this $250,000 open line of credit that we were supposed to have. On November 25, 1970, we had a note borrowed at the First Security Bank for $192,979.60, plus Mr. Steers held 205 checks totalling $40,000 at the bank. this would help substantiate the fact that we did have a $250,000 line of credit, this being before we ever had any SBA loan.
Next we should call Bert Mitchell about operating funds, its being a contingency of the first SBA loan. Also, confirm a conversation with LaMont Jones about the bank's commitment for these operation funds.
4. The Cost of NICO as a heading
The bank said the SBA required it. We were to maintain a $100,000 in inventory. We consistently kept $175,000 to $190,000, yet we couldn't return merchandise to reduce the payable or exchange for merchandise we were in greater need. And without a court order, or any other authorization, they have all the doors locked and we had to have them come and open so we can ship and receive.
5. One of our greatest losses was the cost of training and acquiring personnel, both management and labor, which we were forced to let go for lack of working capital. And additional large outlay was used in sales, car plane and motel, etc. introducing our products to potential customers. The cost of setting up warehouses in Oklahoma, cash discounts allowed to get product on the market, etc. Marketing a new product is costly, but when you are not able to furnish the product all is wasted and it is doubly more expensive to regain confidence of these distributors a second time.
6. Credit.
How do you put a value on years of excellent credit with large suppliers who literally extended hundreds of thousands of dollars of credit at open account. How long will it take to restore confidence and good credit, if ever. Do you ever consider the additional cost when everything is C.O.D, or time is spent guaranteeing payment when suppliers are dubious and hesitate to ship and delay shipment while they verify credit and payment arrangements. How long will it take to get good information to all the credit bureaus so that their files will again reflect good credit?
7. Damage in loss of market this year.
The projection called for $200,000 net profit in ARDCO. Pitcher Pump has consistently been showing a net gain of approximately $50.000 per year but we were forced to liquidate all of the inventory of Pitcher Pump and Pipe in order to fund ARDCO needs. We had to practically go out of the business because of lack of operating capital, instead of $50,000 net gain, we will show approximately $50,000 net loss at Pitcher Pump because of not enough money to pay needed help, etc. This also eliminated ARDCO's largest customer, Pitcher Pump and Pipe, who annually purchased over $100,000 in products of which ARDCO builds. We were required to put more than $30,000 of Pitcher Pump and Pipe operating funds into ARDCO. We also have other outside investments that we had at the time. For example, in Othello, we have 160 acre farm, four-plex and home, worth between $75,000 to $100,000. This property was given as security for an SBA loan. This was subsequently subordinated to the First Security Bank from the SBA as additional security for $39,000 not covered by the SBA loan, THE $39,000 WAS REPAID TO THE BANK IN JUNE AND AND THEY SHOULD HAVE RELEASED THIS PROPERTY SO IT COULD HAVE BEEN SOLD. As this was strictly investment property, with intent to resell, we had it for sale but were unable to secure a release from the bank to have the property transferred and made available for sale. So consequently, $100,000 worth of capital is tied up there. We have another contract similarly pledged. Gen State Irrigation, Inc. with an annual payment of $5,000. this too was taken by the First Security Bank and applied to the TAIL END OF THE CONTRACT. This further reduced the operating capital. One other contract similarly pledged. John Anderson Division of Mark Steel. The proceeds were assigned to the bank, namely $300 per month or 3% of the gross sales of said company which the company paid the bank the minimum of $430.00 a month. An auditing privilege is in this contract but for lack of operating money this has not been carried out, with potentially much more income coming from this contract. We might mention too that this 3% of the gross sales of this company is a lifetime guarantee.
In order to secure more operating capital for ARDCO, we negotiated with John Anderson for a cash settlement of this contract. The cash settlement we agreed upon was $16,000. When this was presented to the bank, they indicated it would have to be reviewed by the SBA and in the meantime they contacted Mr. Anderson's attorney and entered into negotiations without my knowledge and agreed to this settlement provided the bank got the check and then they inform me (they, the bank) had drawn up a release. It is interesting to note that the bank had drawn up the release and not the SBA that had drawn the release. This indicating to me that the subordination to the bank of this contract and that they had made arrangement for the bank president to pick me up the following Friday and go the Salt Lake City to pick up the check. When I asked why I needed to go I was told just incase there was any changes to be made in the release and I would be there to sign it. It should be stated this contract with John Anderson and Mark Steel was secured by about $90,000 worth of shop equipment of which they owed our contract $37,000. Therefore, we were selling a real good contract for less than 50 cent on the dollar to get immediate cash and not to mention loss of a lifetime royalty of 3% of gross sales, but again I was told this $16,000 would not be advanced for operating money but would be applied to the TAIL END OF THE SBA LOAN.
9. We were told as long as we kept current with the SBA payment and repaid the $39,000 still owing at that time we could use our receivables for working capital. As all my personal assets were pledged, there was no chance to use them to get additional operating capital. The net worth of Pitcher Pump and Pipe or J. Marcel Pitcher as of January 1, 1971, was $306,000. With an open line of credit at $250,000, and this is the money that ordinarily Pitcher Pump and Pipe used to operate with, but when all of my assets were pledged and tied up and less the $250,000 operating capital or open line of credit that was cut off, there was no way for Pitcher Pump and Pipe to operate.
10. Carl Martin
Carl Martin came down from Sandpoint Idaho, just a little information about Carl. He's a very capable plant manager. He graduated form Montana State in accounting and business management. He taught there as a professor for a few years, He worked for the government on missile installations and for the last few years, he has been Vice President of Clair Pendor Corporation, Sandpoint, Idaho. He started out with 30 employees and now has in the vicinity of 400. So we felt that Carl is very competent. Well, he did all the cash flow and projection charts, labor requirements, etc. This report was thoroughly done. It took probably a month of research by Carl and with the many years of experience on Paul Batson's part to assist him, they were able to compile this report. When we met with the bank and the SBA, they never even as much as went through all this work, but Mr. Phelps, the senior vice-president at Pocatello for Southeastern Idaho, just said, I have never seen an SBA loan that ever done anyone any good, to which the SBA representative took issue. Mr. Phelps was just interested in getting the SBA to guarantee funds already advance. When the SBA representative asked Mr. Phelps what good the SBA loan would do ARD CO, Mr. Phelps said all the money would be put on a long term basis and with NICO bonding us, we could borrow 75 cents on the dollar on all inventory and 75 cents on the dollar on all receivables, 60 days or newer. But when we went to see about borrowing money, they told us they weren't going to put any more into ARDCO. Now Max has a letter confirming this conversation and also confirming this meeting so if we need some corroboration on these facts we can use Max Parish and Carl Martin as they were there and also Stan Pitcher who was our office manager and had many conversations with the bank in regards to NICO and borrowing money against inventory and receivables. I think we should find out from Max who was representing the SBA at that meeting in Pocatello.
11. Double pledging of the assets.
I think it is necessary that we get a little background on this deal of double pledging of assets. To understand how our cash flow was handled prior to Mr. Steers removal on December 25, 1970, our cash flow needs were furnished by Mr. Steers. We would write out checks and Mr. Steers would carry on overdrafts until a sufficiently large amount had accumulated and then put it on a note. We intermingled Pitcher Pump and Pipe receivables from Project 88 in South Dakota and local receivables to put out fires in both businesses. We had been trying to get an SBA loan since about August of 1969 and we were expecting it to come through almost every week, but there was always some delay, some more papers that needed signing. In fact, in the first part of August, 1970, we were waiting for an audit report from Mr. Rudd and I flew to Rexburg to get it, so Mr. Phelps would have the report the next day to take with him to Boise. It should be noted that one of the claims for withholding funds was that they were waiting for financial statements. Mr. Rudd prepared two audited statements in less than six months.
Starting sometime in August, actually August 7, Mr. Steers started holding up checks at the bank and just not sending them through because he felt the SBA loan would be forthcoming. These checks in excess of what could be covered by our receivables were just held at the bank until December 1. On December 1, Mr. Owen Benzley and LaMont Jones came down to the First Security Bank and met with Mr. Steers and when this irregularity had been discovered they proceeded to have me sign a note, promissory note, due on demand to the bank to cover all these checks that the First Security was obligated now to pay and there was a service charge of approximately of $4,000 that was also included in these notes that we had to sign. From that time on it seems to me that it was the full intent of the First Security Bank to insure themselves or put themselves in a secure position beyond anything else. Our credit was cut off and they pushed ahead to obtain the SBA loan and there was an altogether different financial arrangement or atmosphere.
Getting back to this dual pledging of assets, about June 29th a Mr. Harrison that held $37,000 first mortgage on all of our properties in Washington started to foreclose so we made out a check with Ted Steer's approval for this amount and paid him off. Well, this check was returned to Mr. Steers for payment by the Title Company and Mr. Steers held payment for about two weeks. Mr. Harrison's attorney called the bank and was assured by Mr. Steers that it would be taken care of. Mr. Steers was so sure the SBA loan would be there any day and that he would have the funds to cover this check. Well, it went on another two weeks and Mr. Harrison really got irate and called Mr. Steers and Mr. Steers called me and said he couldn't honor it. Well, Mr. Harrison initiated a foreclosing action and in order to save these holdings, I went to the First Bank and Trust and borrowed the money I needed to stall the foreclosure and pay Mr. Harrison off. By the way, it cost me $2,000 more to settle with Mr. Harrison because of these delay. Well, anyway, I pledged to the First Bank and Trust all my inventory and receivables of Pitcher Pump and Pipe. I can't remember of doing so for the First Security Bank originally but they said that we had pledged these assets in order to obtain the open line of credit of $250,000. At least we couldn't find anything of record at the Courthouse at the time I pledged these assets to the First Bank and Trust. So when we got our SBA loans, these same payables and receivables were pledged to the SBA and First Security Bank. The auditors report from Mr. Rudd stated that these securities had been pledged to the First Bank and Trust. This report was part of the papers submitted to the First Security and the SBA for their consideration in making their loan so it was common knowledge that the assignment was in existence. There has been a feud between both banks and their legal counsel to see who has first claim on these securities.
Going back to the time that all these checks were covered by promissory notes, there will be a little repetition here but I want to read it as I wrote it down and we can thrash out the good parts later.
When Mr. Phelps and Mr. Benzley and attorney LaMont Jones found out what Mr. Steers had done, this was in the first part of December, they came down to Preston and started making promissory notes due on demand to cover all these checks which covered a period from August until December and had me sign these notes. At that time we owed our suppliers in excess of $100,000, I think we should check this to make sure this figure is good, at that time we were allowed to pay a few but most weren't. From that point on all the checks for labor were, paid, about $5,000 a week. I guess they figured the labor could turn the rough products into a finished product, and build more net worth. Again they had me sign so many notes, and UC3 forms and anything and everything that they figured would strengthen their security position. When the bank realized how insecure they were, it took only a few days until they had secured the first SBA loan of $125,000 from the SBA. The SBA held up the financial papers about a week at this time so, I called Burt Mitchell, the SBA representative, and he told me that this loan would only be granted on the contingency of operating funds being made available by the bank. A few days later Mr. Mitchell called and informed me that he had a commitment from the bank to furnish us with operating capital. When Mr. Benzley and Mr. Jones came to close the loan the following day, we told them of this conversation with Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Jones said that this commitment had never been made so we got Bert Mitchell on the phone and he told Mr. Jones the same thing and when Mr. Jones asked who it was who had committed the bank, he was told Mr. Phelps. After a short conference between Mr. Jones and Mr. Benzley, Mr. Jones said, "Well, I guess this is an internal matter and they closed their files and returned to Pocatello." This loan was closed and funds disbursed to the First Security Bank to cover part of these notes arising from the overdrafts on checks which Mr. Steers has held. All this time the bank (Ted Steers and Mr. Phelps) were still pursuing the thought that with the use of this bonded warehouse by NICO that we could borrow on our inventories and receivables in sufficient amount to operate the business. Well the need for operating capital continued but no funds were made available and some time in January, (Max has the exact dates of this) the bank decided we needed an operating loan from the SBA so all the papers were prepared and Mr. Phelps personally took them over to Boise to the SBA and in a matter of a few days this loan was also approved. The authorization for this loan for the SBA called for $95,000 debt repayment. And it doesn't say whose debt, whether its First Security's debt or our suppliers, and secondly, $105,000 working capital inventory and $50,000 working capital other. We were led to believe that this $250,000 would be used to pay suppliers and meet the cash flow requirements set forth in the cash flow projection which were submitted to the SBA at the time the application for the loan.
The day we went to Pocatello to sign for this loan, Mr. Batson who was our plant manager said we should get another letter from the bank stating definitely how the money was to be disbursed. But our legal counsel showed us on the authorization from the SBA which outlined how the funds were to be dispersed. So we signed all of the papers. Now the money all came from the First Security and was ONLY GUARANTED BY THE SBA,so we waited for them to give us the go ahead and pay our suppliers. We had informed our suppliers that as soon as the loan was completed they would be paid. Some became impatient and called the bank and they were informed that the funds had already been disbursed and that there would be no more money to pay suppliers. So we went to the bank and were informed that they had kept all the funds and that there would be no more money for payroll or anything else. When we asked how we were to operate, they presented a plan whereby we would collect $39,000 from our receivables and pay the outstanding amount that was over and above that covered by the SBA loan and then we could use our own receivables to operate on. Well, this money was collected and when we tried to fill orders and colect the money immediately to meet payroll, it was almost impossible. Next, our suppliers put us on COD or cut us off altogether and this further compounded our cash flow, so we had to start cutting our labor force, more and more orders were cancelled because we couldn't meet schedule of delivery, soon we started running out of certain component parts and were unable to finish work on the units almost ready for shipment. Then they became more complicated until one by one all 45 employees had to be laid off and all we could do was sell inventory and live in the hope that somehow, someone would come along and see the tremendous potential of this plant and come up with sufficient capital to sustain it. I think the plant potential and all its natural advantages have already been set forth in the Carl Martin's presentation to the Indian Council. This is a folder that we have available.
12. Just a word about the SBA part in this loan. The primary purpose of the SBA is to assist and aid small businesses to operate where other financial sources are not available. As stated in the SBA policy section of the authorization, it is not the policy of the SBA to guarantee loans, to take an unsecured creditor from an unsecured to a secured position. This is exactly what was accomplished in behalf of the First Security Bank. As far as the SBA loan being a help to ARDCO, it actually hurt. Before the loan, the bank was almost committed to advance more financing to protect what they already had advanced, but once the guarantee from the SBA was secured, the pressure was off and our cash flow instead of being helped came to a halt. Second, there were other peculiar things that happened. The SBA is never supposed to take second mortgages. Yet they are second on all the properties in Washington, and the First Bank and Trust's assignment of all receivables and inventory of Pitcher Pump and Pipe. When application was made for this loan, our CASH FLOW and CASH OPERATING STATEMENTS were submitted for their consideration in making judgment for this loan. If, upon reading what we claimed would be necessary for the operation of this plant, they went ahead and approved the loan without making sure the funds would be available when needed, someone somewhere never followed through and made sure the loan was feasible or that ARDCO ever had a chance to succeed. Because without sufficient cash flow and operating capital ARDCO was doomed to failure before it got started.
My suggestion is that Mr. Phelps had enough influence and applied enough pressure to push this loan through the SBA without proper consideration on the SBA's part. At any rate the loan was approved, the bank was secured with government funds, ARDCO with all of its potential, and all it had expended to train personnel, secure a market, test procedures, perfect products, manufacture tooling, organize the plant for efficient production, research and development on new processes and procedures, etc. have all come to naught. Who stands to lose?
First, our faithful suppliers who relied on our integrity and years of good credit, $180,000 they will lose. Second, our community will lose a payroll and material purchases of $250,000 annually. Tax revenues and a broader base for helping finance schools and other civic needs. Third, our friends at the Franklin County Development Corporation who have pledged to pay for the building. Fourth, the U.S. government or we, the taxpayers, pick up the tab for $375,000 and Fifth, all of the assets of Pitcher Pump and Pipe plus all personal assets of J. Marcel Pitcher with a loss of all his credit and good name and integrity. Lastly all forty-five employees, their families who had hoped for a good job so they could live and raise their children in our fine community have had to go elsewhere. It seems to me that this is surely a tremendous loss to an awful lot of fine people that the First Security could take itself from a position of questionable insecurity to one of absolute security at the expense of all these aforementioned situations or people.
I feel that all this was done just because someone at the First Security Bank pushed the panic button and figured that they had better cover up their tracks or clean their skirts so that they wouldn't be held to blame for a situation that the bank had gotten itself into and by useing Mr. Ted Steers as the scapegoat, giveing him the privilege of resigning from the bank, Mr. Benzley first tried to cover up his tracks so he wouldn't stand to be blamed or take responsibility for the position the bank was in and then Mr. Phelps tried to secure himself also and with the help of their attorney, Mr. LaMont Jones, I feel that this plan was deliberate and they set forth to secure their position, regardless of the costs to anyone else.
Just a note in regards to the personnel at the plant. This was quite a time consuming task, and over a period of two years prior to the organization of ARDCO, we were endeavoring to find the type of people who had the knowledge and know-how in both manufacturing and marketing, business management, this sort of a thing, so that when we did start, we would have people who were very capable. A note about Mr. Paul Batson, he had been with Mr. Gheen, of Gheen Irrigation Works in Eugene Oregon for approximately 18 years and had been in charge of tooling and manufacturing and had been their chief sales representative as well. From there he went to work for Western Irrigation in charge of sales and in a matter of three years had taken their sales from one million dollars to well over two million dollars in annual sales and again he was involved in research and development of such things as a hydraulic mover that is so popular in the industry today. We spent considerable time trying to get the services of Harold Tremmell, a manufacturer of wheels, spokes, cleats and hubs on the coast. We spent a great deal of money going to Canada and meeting with him on numerous occasions but we were unable to convince him to come and joint with us in this venture. Next we have a young man by the name of William Litchfield, a very capable young man. He had been working at Thiokol for approximately 12-14 years. He was a top foreman in the shop with 15 machinist working for him. He is a very good idea man and had lots of experience in handling people and this we felt was a very good acquisition and we were happy to have him with us on this management team. There again we secured from the George S. May Company a Mr. Seeley. He graduated from the University of Southern California and had numerous management positions. He worked for the United States government. He worked as chief auditor of Marin County, San Francisco and he was the head of the controlling services that are furnished by George S. May Co. So with his acquisition we felt that we had a Controller and someone who could run that part of our business very efficiently. We also added two young marketing men, Mr. Doug Vaughn who was a marketing specialist for Trinell Co. He came to work for us and another young man by the name of Stanley Pitcher. He too had had considerable experience in this field working for Thiokol, working for Anderson Mobile Homes and Heston in Logan. These young men that we got to help us in our office force were very capable and it took considerable amount of time and effort and pretty attractive wages to get them to come to work for us.
We also had on the floor some of the best machinists that we could find in the country and specially one young man named Ted Singleton. He was obtained from Thiokol, graduated from Idaho State and had worked over there for a number of years and was very capable. We had Jim Rolland who had owned his own business in California, came into the drafting department and helped in standardizing procedures and quality control and we felt very fortunate in having him. In the sales department we had Paul Batson who knew practically all of the distributors across the United States personally and had a great deal of influence with them. He took Doug Vaughn and Stanley Pitcher and was training them in sales, acquainting them with the distributors around the country.
I guess the biggest expense that we had was establishing a warehouse and a sales force in the Oklahoma and Texas area. Maybe a word has to be said here about the reason for this acquisition and why we felt it was necessary that we have a warehouse and have a man and material available in that area. The freight from here into that area (Oklahoma) is bad. It's not that it is so awfully expensive, as it is that it takes so long for it to get there. The only company that has had any success in that area was Irrico and they maintained a warehouse in the Lubbock area so we felt that in order to compete and so that our distributors would buy from us we had to maintain a warehouse where they could get one or two days delivery on parts. So we went to the area of Pauls Valley and hired a young man by the name of Wayne Loman who had been in the business for quite a few years and worked for other companies and was well-known and well-liked in the area and we hired him and his father and they ran the warehouse and we stocked it well with ARDCO parts. Now this was quite expensive. We had Wayne on the road almost continually in a car visiting other distributors, acquainting them with our products and making promises of what we could do, but as it went with the rest of the plant so it went with the warehouse in Oklahoma. We were unable to get some component part where we had everything for a system but maybe the wheels or maybe some other item that we couldn't secure in the plant left us with a warehouse full of equipment and many many thousands of dollars expended in Wayne's salary and wages, car expenses, advertising, and that too finally ground to a halt and we had to sacrifice all of our inventory that we had down there and luckily we were able to get Wayne together with his banker and they bought out the inventory for about 50 cents on the dollar (or a little less) and set himself up as a dealer in that area.
Next, the ordinary run of the mill type labor that we had was obtained locally from people that had lived here in the community, and under the direction of Mr. Litchfield, Mr. Singleton and Mr. Roland, these men were trained in the job that they had to perform and became very capable. We also went through Idaho State and the United States Government on help to disadvantaged people and hired six or eight Spanish-American people from the University who came in and who had had some experience in welding and we trained them in the arts of welding light metal and they proved to be very good workmen. We had very good relationship with them and they helped us a great deal.
The next thing that was very time consuming and very costly was a new process of coating metal. Instead of galvanizing as everyone else in the industry had done, we at the suggestion of some of the engineers that knew something about resin type coating, contacted people from 3-M Company and they came and gave their suggestions and we set up machinery and equipment to clean the metal and to bake these resins to the metal. The advantage was that it was rust resistant, acid resistant and made a very attractive fitting when we were done. Now this was new to the industry and there was a great deal of research and development and trail and error and I would surmise that we spent many many thousands of dollars in perfecting this process of coating irrigation fittings. Because of the fact that we were the only one in the industry that did this type of work, a company by the name of Air Electrol which provided automatic air and electric opening valves for water and effluent waste came to our plant and asked if we could build their valve and coat it with scotcoat as the other valves that they had been using which were galvanized, the acid from sewage disposal plants and factories were eating the galvanizing off of these other valves in less than six months time. So we were very fortunate in getting a good contract with Air Electrol which we still have and we feel that there is a tremendous market once ecology minded people of the nation decide that the logical way to disperse of effluent wastes of cities or plants is to recycle it through the soil and there seems to be a great deal of interest in this at the present time and we feel that we are in a position to take advantage of this market.
Another thing we were able to do in our plant because of new equipment and engineering genius of Mr. Batson. The equipment we installed in our plant was much more efficient and we can run, according to Mr. Batson as high as six times the amount of product through our presses and through our rolling machines as our competition could do on the coast and with many of the innovations and procedures that are set up by Mr. Litchfield which all through the plant was exceedingly good, and that our production rate exceeded that of our competition ten times over.
We also felt that we had many advantages in the fact that we were producing these irrigation fittings in the heart of the area where they were used. A high percent of all irrigation fittings are produced in Eugene, Oregon, which is 800 miles further west and 800 miles back which was very time consuming and which was very expensive freightwise as the steel that these fittings were formed of came from the East and went through here on its way to the coast. Another big item was the fact that it took so long after you ordered your fittings from Eugene, Oregon, to get them here, many times a week to two weeks delay, whereas a distributor here in our area could always get one day delivery or if they were in a real hurry they could come with their own outfits and pick up the parts here at the plant so we felt that this was a real advantage. Another thing, our labor force not being union and mostly young men that worked on a local farms are very anxious to come to work at our pay scale ran from $2.00 to $2.25 an hour while our competition was in the $4.00 hour class on the coast. We also found that the productivity of our young men in his area and their desire to do a good job added greatly to the amount of equipment that could be produced here in a days time. Another big advantage that we felt that we had was in taxation, where there is a free port now in the State of Idaho so that we didn't have to worry about carrying large inventorys into that period of the year when inventory tax was a problem to the people on the coast. We also felt that with free port we could even out our labor force and produce the year around rather than work for a low inventory in December and then hire a lot of men to produce January and February and March as our competition are doing at the present time. Also the taxes on our building and in the county are very generous and they amount to only a fraction of what it would cost us taxwise to operate on the coast.
I mentioned earlier about this young man named Carl Martin who has done some consulting work for us and who prepared our cash flows, cost work projection, cash requirements, etc. We have been trying for quite some time to get Carl to come to work for us because of the type of an individual he is and the experience he has had in management and we looked forward to having him with us but when our cash flow was cut off and we were unable to obtain funds from the First Security Bank, it was impossible to get him at that time, but he still works on a consulting basis off and on to help us and we hope that if this thing ever gets on its feet and gets going, we will be able to use Carl in a capacity as our plant manager. Another side effect of this lack of cash flow to ARDCO, it was my intention to turn the operation of the plant over to these men we had acquired and that were very capable in their field, that I could return to manage Pitcher Pump & Pipe but instead it required all of my time to remain at ARDCO and try to salvage the business, by some way or method where by we could keep operating, and as a consequence of this I was unable to go and supervise the work on Project 88 in South Dakota and also the Cottonwood Project in Wyoming where we had very large crews of men working installing pumps and pipes in the regular course of Pitcher Pump & Pipe business and as a result there were many delays and because of the delays we ran overtime on our contracts and suffered penalties. It has been very discouraging to sustain such losses as we have on those two projects, all because the funds and moneys have not been available to keep the plant in operation. I am sure that with my supervision we could have made substantial profits on these jobs where now they are showing a substantial loss. It was our concern form the very beginning for fear that we would expend what assets Pitcher Pump & Pipe had and what we could get through a bank to capitalize first the Building and the equipment and train personnel and then be left without operating funds but we were assured by Mr. Steers that the funds to operate would be available when we talked to Mr. Mitchell of the SBA he assured us that there was another loan that was available to give us these operating funds that we would need, but as I already stated, they never came. Like someone has said, that they.... like taking a ship out in the middle of the ocean and then taking the oil away from the ship so it couldn't return. Sure seems a shame when you walk through the plant and see all of the equipment that has been installed, all the bugs taken out of operation, everything all ready to go, the market is still there, the raw materials in the plant, still a goodly supply of that, men that want to work, everything sitting at a standstill just because of lack of operating capital. It seems to me that regardless of the operation, regardless of management of any industry or business of this size that one year's operation is not sufficient to judge the potential of the company but rather as a general rule to take up to five years before a large company starts returning their profit, but they expect his plant to be in operation for approximately six months and not show a debit, is being naive.
The Pennsylvania Story
"The Call"
It's been a long time since I sat down to this computer to write another news letter, I had good intentions in taking this computer with me to Mexico but for some reason or other the darn thing wouldn't work down there. As soon as I got home and plugged it in it worked just fine. I had hoped to take my journal and write an account of mother's and my mission to Pennsylvania, and having lots of time I should have had it done by now. Well I can`t do anything about that now, so I guess I will just have to do a little at a time and try to remember where I was when I had to quit.
It seems like that I had always thought that some time Mother and I would go on a mission, but not as soon as the call came. One Sunday morning in the fall of 1975 I was holding a meeting with my Sunday School counselors when Pres. Woodward stepped in on his way to Stake Pres. Meeting and asked me and one of my counselors if we had thought about going on a mission. I told him I had thought about it , but not just now, I had too many things to do, but maybe a little later. Well about a couple weeks later Bishop Hale called mother and me in, and asked if we would consider a mission call. Again we told him we just couldn't leave right now, but maybe a little later. Well, he said "I'll give you six months to get things squared around and then I'll call you back in". Well, as time went on I had thought that the bishop had forgotten all about it, but sure enough at the end of six months we received another call from the bishop. A few things had happened since we last visited the bishop. Uncle Val Pitcher and Aunt Doris were planning to go on a mission, but thought they would go over to Hawaii first, and when they got home they would get ready and go. Well, while they were there Uncle Val had a heart attack. They got him home and we went to see him. There he was, flat on his back, with all kinds of lifesupport systems attached, not knowing if he would make it through another day. I told Francine that if we were going to go on a mission, we had better get with it, before one of us ended up like uncle Val, and we couldn't go. Then too, we were still unsure as to what the bank or the S.B.A. were going to do. We were sort of in limbo, if you will, waiting for something to happen, so we thought we might just as well go, and get it over with. So we filled out the papers, and sat back and waited for what seemed like an eternity. The next few weeks were filled with great expectations, wondering where we would go. If I would have had my "druthers" I would liked to have gone to the Southern Hemisphere, where it was just turning spring. That way we would have spring weather most of the time and miss those cold winters. I had always dreamed of palm trees and sandy beaches.
Finally on the 16th of September we received a letter from President Kimball, calling us to serve in the Harrisburg, Pa. Mission. What a let down! I looked at the map and finally found Pennsylvania, and the boundaries of the mission, which included some of Maryland, a little of New Jersey and there was some of Pennsylvania down by the seashore. So what, maybe there won't be palm trees and spring the year around, but if we ended up down on the ocean, it wouldn't be too bad. Well, would you believe it, we never got sent to the ocean,not even to part of the mission where the winters are mild, NO, the Lord saw fit to send us up to Wilkes Barre, in the tops of the Pocono Mountains. Well, so much for my dreams of Fantasy Island, that wasn't what we really went on a mission for anyway. Well I am getting a little ahead of my story. It wasn't long after we received our mission call that all the excitement returned and we were looking forward with great expectations. The next six weeks were hectic, so much to do and so little time to do it. Bart and Joyce were living over in Spencer Neilson's apartments, Rex and Jane had a home over on 3rd west. So we took some pipe trailers, which are long and wide, and we made a switch. We loaded everything on trailers and then we, Feancine and I, went over to Spencer's apartments, Bart and Joyce went over to 3rd west, and Rex and Jane moved into our home. We put all our furniture and everything we couldn't put in the car in one room of the basement and boarded it shut. And after a tearful farewell we were on our way arriving in Salt Lake Nov. 6th 1976.
Our stay in the mission training school was quite an exciting and spiritual experience. It was some sight to see 225 missionaries and 17 couples, all filing across the street to the church office building to eat. We stayed at Belevdere Hotel, about two blocks away, because there wasn't room at the mission home. Out of the 17 couples, all went to Lamanite missions, except three, and we were one of the three. I have often wondered what our mission would have been like had we been called to go with the majority. It has been a testimony to me of being called of God, when I consider how the experience I had had in church callings, and what talent I did have was just what was needed at that time in the Wilkes Barre branch. Besides I didn't want to go to the Indian mission anyway. We stayed in the mission training center for six days. Days crammed with lecturers and study classes, a visit to the Temple and one to the choir broadcast. While the instructions and study classes were wonderful, the thing I remember most was how tired we got from sitting for so meany hours. Well, after we were released we went down to where Dawn lived in Murray. Bart, Joyce and Shane had driven down to see us off one more time, After a short visit we were on our way. Stopped the first night in Laramine Wyoming. Second night in Des Moines Iowa. And Saturday night and Sunday in Cleveland with Aunt Bertha. Arrived in Harrisburg Pa. just after dinner, spent the night there, received our call to go up to Wilkes Barre, arriving there about 2pm. We stayed with Bob and Sherry Eoff, a special young couple, converts to the church, with two young children, Andrew and Rachel. He worked for Certainteed Corp. who had a factory up at Mountain Top Pa. They were better founded in the church than most. I later chose Bob to be my first counselor, and leaned quite heavily on him. More about them latter. The first night Elder Nielsen picked me up and we went up to Mountain Top to see Roger and Lee Gregory and Roger's sister Grace Griffith. They were new converts, in the church just a little over a month. I later chose Roger to be my 2nd counselor. Their conversion to Mormonism was quite unique. The spirit of Elijah had been working on them for years, and when we arrived at their place I was just amazed to see their Books of Remembrance, with volumes of Family group sheets and pedigree charts. Roger had a brother out in Utah who had joined the church, and he would come back once a year and they would all go and look for ancestors. Well Roger, Lee, and Grace had found out about a branch of the church down in Hometown Pa. and were going to go down and see what Mormonism was all about, when Elder Nielsen and his companion knocked on Sister Griffeth's door. She and the Gregories were neighbors, and as Roger and Lee were both at work she invited the missionaries to come back in the evening so Roger and Lee could be there to listen to their message. Needless to say it was just a few lessons and they were ready for baptism. In just little over a year he was made a bishop, taking my place. and is now a patriarch. To some it is given to know the word of the Lord when it is preached to them. "My sheep know My voice".
Well, the next few days Francine and Sherry went shopping for an apartment, After a couple of discouraging days they finally found a nice place, all new, with washer dryer and fridge,no furniture. Cost 195.00 plus utilities. We had no sooner unloaded what we had when a knock came to the door, and there stood a large, rough looking man. He just barged in, looked around, introduced himself as Frank Cartwright, and said that he would be right back. Well in a little while here he was back with a van full of furniture. It seems that he had some apartment houses, and extra furnishings, and having assessed our needs, brought what he thought we would need, chairs, desk,table,bed and etc. and we were in business, snug as a bug in a rug.
Just for your information
Joan of Ark was not Noah’s Wife.
Pontius Pilate (Pilot) Never few an airoplane
Simon Bar-Jona
(The Frank Cartwright Story)
I guess now would be as good a time as any to tell you about my friend Frank Cartwright. It seems that he was born during the depression down in Tennessee, and things were tough. He told me of working in the cotton fields, and how poor his family was. Then there was a "Hatfield & McCoy" thing going on with in his family. His real last name was Ammons, but he had to change it to Cartwright (his mother's maiden name) because there was a feud going on between the Ammons and some other tribe who were out to get all the Ammons. His father must have been a "mean son of a gun", he told me about his father throwing an axe at him, just barely missing. He told of traveling preacher giving a sermon, when he was just a kid, and saying that if one could control his appetites, and make his body do whatever his mind wanted it to do, he could accomplish anything in the world. So he would go out to pick cotton determined that no matter how thirsty he got he would not take a drink of water, just to test his determination to make his body do what his mind dictated. The reason for this story is to build a background to the story of his conversion to Mormonism. As I told you his appearance and language were rough, as it would be if one were to live the life he lived before joining the church. He was kicked out of his home and went to Texas and worked as a bridge painter, and painting the insides of big oil tanks. He told of how hot it would get inside those tanks, and few if any could stand the heat, but the experience he had had back in the cotton fields of Tenn. gave him the willpower to enable him to do the job, when others just gave up and quit. He told of the tough element he had to associate with. Well, from there he went up to New York and bought a bar down in Harlam, the colored section, and ran that for a few years. He told of the tough neighborhood and how he would keep a sawed off shotgun under the counter. I asked him if he would have used it if things got out of hand, and he said he sure would, and they knew it too. Well, he painted houses on the side, and finally he would buy rundown homes, remodel and rent them out. That is how he ended up in Wilkes Barre, where he had purchased some old apartment houses. That was where he was when the missionaries knocked on his door. He said that he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, drank at least a couple dozen cups of coffee a day, had his own bar, and coupled with his bad language, he was the most unlikely candidate a missionary could have found. But like Paul of old, the Lord knew Frank and his potential. So the missionaries taught him the discussions. When they came to the one on the word of wisdom, and told him that he would have to give up all these things, he asked "when"? The reply was right now. Well, Frank said that he swallowed a couple of times and said, "Well, if that is the way it has to be, so be it" and right there they gathered up his cigarettes and threw them into the fire place, took all the liqueur and coffee and dumped them down the drain, and that was it. Again it was the self discipline he had mastered in the cotton fields of Tenn, that gave him the will power to do what had to be done before joining the church. And join the church he did. In fact he had been a member about six months when he came busting into our apartment to see what we needed in the line of furniture etc. His voice and language were rough to say the least, reflecting the life style he had lived before, In fact whenever he found it hard to express him-self in his new environment, he would say, "Excuse my English" thinking that would give him license to revert back to his former means of expression. As I said his voice was rough and loud, One time Sister King, a sweet refined person, decided that she would speak softly to Frank and maybe he would lower his voice a little. But Frank in his usual rough, loud voice said "Speak up Woman! I can't hear what you are saying" but Frank was Frank and everyone loved him. They all knew that beneath that rough exterior was a heart of gold, a real "Diamond in the Rough".
He was, and is an important part of the success of the church in that part of the Lord's vineyard. As time went on I came to lean on him quite heavily. It was always, "Go get Frank he will do it", and do it he did. Every thing from making sure that everyone had a ride to church, or some other church function, to doing the clean up after our monthly fund raising suppers and church services. It was he on whom we called to move the missionaries or someone else in the branch. He would jump in his old van, grab one of his hired men and away he would go. I'm sorry to say that it got to where everyone just expected him to be there, and many failed to even thank him or offer to buy a little gas, but no mind, he cheerfully went about his service to his fellow men. Now, mind you, Frank was not a wealthy man, I have seen his kids go without so he could pay tithing or a ward budget assignment. Money didn't come easy for him, "He made it the old fashioned way, he worked for it". (in the vernacular of the Stewart Varney add). He would get up at 3:30 am, so as to be in New York by 8:am and ready to go to work. Work until dark, cuddle up in his old van, he and his hired help, spend the night, get up early next morning, work all day and drive back to Wilkes Berry, getting home about midnight. And he worked just as hard the days he spent at home. I never knew a man to work as hard as he did. He never complained about the work, he always said that he thanked the Lord for the work. Remember the old saying, "If you want to get a job done, find the busiest man in the ward, and get him to do it". Well, that was the way it was with Frank. Another thing, if there ever was anything you needed, regardless of what it was, Frank had one. When we moved into the Eastern Star building to hold church services all we had was a card table to stand behind when conducting. When someone mentioned that it sure would be nice if we had a pulpit to stand behind, Frank said "I have one of those". He said that one time he was in the Salvation Army thrift store and saw this old pulpit and thought of all the sermons that had been preached over it, and decided to buy it. He didn't know why then but he knew why now. Another time we were discussing our need for a duplicating machine, Frank said "I got one of them". Another time we were thinking of trying to find an 18:mm film projector, you guessed it, Frank said "I got one of those". And so it went, you name it, Frank had at least one.
I asked him one time about his struggle with the word of wisdom, and he said of all the things he had ever had to cope with this was the worst, it about drove him nuts. In fact, it still was a struggle, but with his determination not to let his appetite determine what he was going to do, he had been able to overcome it.
His was a simple faith, he took the Lord at His word. He never questioned or doubted, case in point: administering to the sick. He had a young nephew, about 12 years old, who was sick in the hospital, they didn't think he would live the night through. Frank told his sister in law, who was not a member of the church, let me go get Pres. Pitcher and we will give him a blessing and he will be all right. She told him to go ahead, so he came and got me and we administered to him. Almost immediately he calmed down and went to sleep, and to everyone's surprise, except Frank, he was up and back home in a couple of days. Another time one of his tenets, named Nancy, an older lady, had a daughter who was going to have a baby, and as she had had such a terrible time with her first child, and the doctor told them that it would probably be just as bad this time, there was much concern for this birth as well. Well Frank told Nancy if he could go and get Pres. Pitcher and give her a blessing that she would be all right. So he came and got me and the next day the baby came, baby and Little Nancy were just fine. It seemed that little Nancy's mom, Big Nancy had been suffering for some time with a bad back, and after she saw what had happened to little Nancy, Frank asked her if she didn't want a blessing too. So we gave her a blessing and the next morning she was up and about her house work, doing things she hadn't done in months. Now both Little and Big Nancy were not members of the church, and Frank just couldn't understand why they didn't join the church after they had received such a witness from God, but they never did. There were many times when he would call, and after a blessing every one was healed. One more story and we will go on. Frank was moving some furniture around when his hand slipped and went through a glass mirror, severely cutting his arm, just above the wrist. He about bled to death getting to the hospital. After the doctor examined his arm he told Frank that he would never have any use of his hand again and that it would take $800.00 to sew it back up. Frank told the doctor to just wrap it up so he could go home, as he didn't have $800.00 to pay for it. When he got home he called Elder Robinson and me to come over and give him a blessing, which we did. and would you believe it, it took a while but eventually he regained the use of his arm, to the amazement of all, especially the doctors. I told Francine if anything ever happens to me and I need a blessing call Frank, he has a pass right to the top. When Frank speaks the Lord listens. I guess one more short story won't be too many. Sister Yudichek was in the hospital for some reason, and wanted a blessing, so Frank and I went over to give her a blessing. She was in a ward with two other women, so there was no way to make it private. After we were finished one of the other ladies asked if she could have a blessing also, but she said "I am a Methodist", to which we replied it didn't make any difference, she was a child of God and if she had faith to be healed, she would be. So we gave her a blessing and left. The next day Francine and I went back to see Sister Yudichek, and she told us that the lady next to her had fallen and broken her hip a couple of days before and had been continually groaning with pain, but as soon as Frank and I left she had fallen to sleep and slept all night, without pain. Both she and the other lady in the room turned out to be good contacts for the missionaries, but that is another story.
Well, getting back to the story, before Frank so abruptly entered our life, we unloaded our car and about 6:30 pm we headed out for Tunkhannoch with the best directions, just couldn't miss it they told us, but we managed to get lost both going and coming, finally having to call Bob Eoff to come and get us at 12:30 in the morning. We were in some other city altogether. We had managed to find the church house and had an interview with Pres. Aldricks. He informed us that I was to be the new branch President, and that he and his counselors would be down Sunday to organize the branch, and for me to give him a list of officers to be sustained with me when he got there. This being Thursday, and we had only been in town three days, and all I knew were Bob Eoff and Frank and them not very well. Just a word a bout Pres. Aldricks before we leave him, he was the Pres. of Charmin "don't squeeze the paper" Co, who had a factory there. He was a convert to the church some years ago and was solid in the faith, just like a stake Pres. back home. Well, after Bob had come to Pittston and led us back home, we had two days to staff the branch. Where do you start? Well I knew Bob would be one of my counselors, so I kind' of had to rely on him. He told me that Bro. Lamaraux, who had been the Elder's quorum Pres. and was the only one who did any home teaching. He was 70 years old and had been a member for 5 years, so I thought he would make a good 2nd counselor. Now where to look for a clerk? You know you can get along with out counselors, but not a clerk. Well, some one mentioned that a new convert, by the name of Fillman could type, but he had only been a member a little over a month, and that a clerk should hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, but never mind he looked the best I could find, and the best he turned out to be! He was my salvation! He was about 45 years old, retired from the army, and now working for the post office. He was single and was able to spend a lot of time helping me. He became my executive secretary, my financial clerk, my historical clerk, branch clerk, and all other kinds of clerks, rolled into one. More about Paul Fillman, probably a lot more later on. Next we needed a Elder's Quorum President. Bro. Matthew Howell had been in the church a year, 36 years old and very enthusiastic, and turned out to be the best fellowshipper I ever saw, he could have made friends out of "Scrooge" in the matter of minutes. No one ever entered the church house that he wasn't the first one to greet them, and if for the first time, and if first impressions are the most lasting, he was our best salesman, so we ordained him an Elder and made him Elders Quorum Pres. Now we had three Elders in the branch, one High Priest, namely me, no Seventies and that was it. Now just one more step to go, a Relief Society president. There was only one member in the whole branch that wasn't a convert, Sister La Fawn May, She was a Humphreys from over in Star Valley. Well she was something else, a real fire ball if there ever was one. I remember her telling Francine that they were going to have Relief Society if she and Francine were the only ones there. More later on her.
Well, that pretty well takes care of the cast, now just a little about the stage. Wilkes Berry is just down the Susquehanna River a few miles from where the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey received the Priesthood from John The Baptist, and where they were baptized. I guess there has been some missionary effort in that area ever since. Those early converts were shifted back and forth from one small congregation to another, some went west, others just fell away. Six months before we arrived Elder Hugh Pennock, of the first quorum of the Seventies, who was then the mission Pres. organized the Wilkes Barre branch and prophesied that it would never be removed again. He sent a missionary couple, Bro. and Sister Bullock, to run the branch and they were released just a few weeks before we arrived, so you can see that it was a relatively new branch. I remember going to church the first time and there were about 15 out to Sunday School, ten out to Sacrament Meeting and two besides the Missionaries to Priesthood Meeting. Well, you have to start somewhere, even if it is at the bottom, at leased there is only one way to go, and that is up, and up we went!
Well, the stage is set and the cast is pretty well in place, I guess we might as well get on with the show.
P.S. Some 8 or 10 years after we returned home we decided to return for a visit, and see a few ball games. We called Frank to tell him we were coming. The first thing he said was where are you going to stay? We told him we didn't know yet. Well, he said, "I have just finished remodeling an apartment, I want you to come and stay with me", so we did. We went to New York a couple of times and Philadelphia a couple of times to see ball games, and he would never go to bed until we got home, he was so concerned for our safety. We were there for a couple weeks and he would come up every morning, stick his head in the door and holler out loud, "I'm coming in". Always concerned that the fridge was full of chocolate milk and other things to eat, wanting to know where we were going, and if there was anything he could do for us before he went to work.
Our Search for Leadership
(The Paul Fillman Story)
Well getting back to the story, before Frank so abruptly entered our life. We unloaded our car and about 6:30 pm we headed out for Tunkhannoch with the best of directions, just couldn't miss it, they told us. But we managed to get lost both going and coming, finally having to call Bob Eoff to come and get us at 12:30 in the morning. We were in some other city alltogether. We had managed to find the church house and had an interview with Pres. Aldricks. He informed us that I was to be the new Branch President, and that he and his counselors would be down Sunday to organize the Branch, and for me to give him a list of officers to be sustained with me when he got there. This being Thursday, and we had only been in town three days, and all I knew were Bob Eoff and Frank and them not very well seemed to me to be quite a task. Just a word about Pres. Aldricks before we leave him. He was the Pres of Charmin "Don't Squeeze the Paper" Co. who had a factory there. He was a convert to the church some years ago and was solid in the faith, just like a Stake President back home. Well after Bob had come to Pittston and led us back home, we had two days to staff the branch. Where do you start? Well I knew Bob would be one of my counselors, so I kind of had to rely on him. He told me about a Bro. Lambrose, who had been the Elder's quorum President, and was the only one who did any home teaching. He was 70 years old and had been a member for five years, so I thought he would make a good 2nd counselor. Now where to look for a clerk? You know you can get along with out counselors, but not a clerk. Well some one mentioned that a new convert, by the Name of Fillman could type, but he had only been a member a little over a month, and that a clerk should hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, but never mind he looked like the best I could find, and the best he turned out to be! He was my salvation! He was about 45 years old, retired from the Air Force and was now working for the post office. He was single and was able to spend a lot of time helping me. He became my executive sectary, my financial clerk, my historical clerk, branch clerk, and all other kinds of clerks, rolled into one. More about Paul Fillman, probably a lot more, latter on. Next we needed a Elders Quorum President. Bro. Matthew Howell had been in the church a year, 36 years old and very enthusiastic, and he turned out to be the best "Fellowshipper" I ever saw. He could have made a friend out of "Scrooge" in the matter of minutes, no one ever entered the church house that he wasn't the first one to greet them, and if for the first time, and if first impressions are the most lasting, he was our best salesman, so we ordained him an Elder and made him Elders Quorum Pres. Now we had three Elders in the branch, one High Priest, namely me, no Seventies and that was it. Now just one more step to go, a Relief Society Pres. There was only one member in the whole branch that wasn't a convert, Sister La Fawn May. She was a Humphreys from over in Star Valley before she was married. Well she was something else, a real fire ball if there ever was one. I remember her telling Francine that they were going to have Relief Society, if she and Francine were the only ones there. More about her latter on.
Well that pretty well takes care of the cast, now just a little about the stage. Wilkes Berry is just down the Susquehanna River a few miles from where the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey were baptized and received the Arronic Priesthood from John the Baptist. I guess there has been some missionary effort in that area ever since. Those early converts were shifted back and forth from one small congregation to another, some went west, others just fell away. Six months before we arrived Elder Hugh Pennock, of the first quorum of the Seventies, who was then the mission President organized the Willkes Barre branch and prophesied that it would never be removed again. He sent Brother and Sister Bullock a missionary couple to run the branch and they were released just a few weeks before we arrived, so you can see that it was a relatively new branch. I remember going to church for the first time and there were about 15 out to Sunday School, ten out to sacrament meeting, and two besides the missionaries to priesthood meeting. Well you have to start some where, even if it is at the bottom, at least there was only one way to go, and that was up, and up we went!
Well, the stage was set and the cast is pretty well in place, I guess we might as well get on with the show. I have just finished reading my journal and there are so many stories to tell I find it hard to know where to start. I have decided to make this summary a lot of short, and some not to short, stories of the events and individuals, and hopefully placing them in a setting that will be faith promoting, and at the same time create in you a desire to enrich your life by getting involved in the "Missionary Experience". This will not be a history, and the events will not fall in a chronological order, as the stories unfolded over the full time we were there. As I stated earlier, I would have to give much of the credit for the every day mechanics and the necessary tasks that had to be done to run the branch to Paul Fillman, without him we could have never had the time to fill the spiritual needs of the branch and enjoy the many wonderful experiences we had. If there was one thing I learned, that is how much time and effort a ward or branch clerk contributes to his calling, and how little credit or recognition he receives. I know that the Lord raised Paul Fillman up to fill that need, at that precise time. Of all the members of the branch, he gave the most in time and service. His conversion and baptism came just a little more than a month before we got there. In telling of his conversion he said, "His knowledge of Mormonism was very limited, but when the missionaries came to his door he knew they were messengers sent from God, with a message for him even before they had given the first discussion and he was baptized a week later". Brother Fillman was 45 and single, having recently retired from the Air Force where he had been involved in clerical work, hence his ability to type and take care of financial records. His years of service in the Air Force was a time of preparation by the Lord to be used at a critical time, in a small struggling branch of His church, namely the Wilkes Barre Branch. Upon his retirement he went to work for the U.S. Post Office, delivering mail. He was able to do his work and be off before noon, leaving his afternoons free. This gave him the time to do all that he did for me and the branch. As I was reading my journal I was amazed at the number of times his name kept coming up in reference to his calling as clerk and every activity of the branch. Of the hundreds of miles he traveled to and from his home, some 20 miles away to provide transportation to church or some other meeting. It seemed like that most of members didn't have cars, and if it hadn't been for Brother Fillman many would have missed their meetings, and the other activities of the branch. As I read in my journal entries for every Sunday it would read something like this. Brother Fillman picked me up a 7:30 this morning and we went down to the church house to Branch Presidency Meeting, or this afternoon Brother Fillman picked me up and we went down early for Branch Correlation Meeting, or Brother Fillman stopped and picked up Brother Budnick and the Elders and brought them to Sacrament Meeting, or Priesthood Meeting or some other kind of meeting. And for 20 months, every Monday the entry in my journal would read something like this." Paul got here about 9 o'clock and stayed until 1:pm getting the tithing and fast offerings receipts off and money taken to the bank." And this didn't include the countless hours he spent at home typing up the minutes of the meetings of day before, correspondence to Salt Lake for supplies, and things pertaining to new building. There really is no way of knowing the countless hours he freely and cheerfully gave. He was always there. I can't remember a time, or a meeting when he was absent, His was a total commitment! Not only was he committed to his callings in the branch, but his quest for a personal testimony and knowledge of the gospel was all consuming. With his work at the post office he had time to not only to do his church work, but he would take his "relief time" to accompany Francine and me to Zone, District, and Mission Conferences. I remember how involved he got at the farmer's market, selling hot dogs, hamburgers, and bake goods. I can still see him with chain saw in hand, cutting wood down in the river bottoms, laughing and just having a ball. Along toward the last the single adults, ( the young unmarried) would come over to our place and hold family home evening on Monday nights, and we had a ball. Sandy Schultz was in charge, I can still see her sitting on the floor and all the rest of us, including Paul, listening to her colorful presentations. After which we were all treated to refreshments, furnished by someone. It was a special time, and one of our fondest memories. I think the ultimate compliment to Brother Fillman came from Frank Cartwright, and you would have to know Frank to get the full impact, when he said "He is one hell of a guy".
When it was getting time for our release, President Aldericks was interviewing for someone to be the Branch President after we left. When he asked me what I thought, with out hesitation I told him that I thought that Bro Fillman was the man. He said that he had only one reservation, and that was, that one of the requirements of a Bishop, or Branch President, was that he be married, but that he would seek counsel on the matter. Shortly thereafter Brother Fillman was up on the hillside, back of his home trying to pull out a piece of cable that was buried in the ground, when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. After resting for a few minutes he started for the house, before he got there he collapsed. Thinking that he was surely going to die, he took out the small vile of consecrated olive oil which he always carried with him and proceeded to anoint and give himself a blessing. After liying there for quite some time, he decided he had to do something, so struggling a few feet he took a few steps at the time, until he reached the house and called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital. He later said that if it hadn't been down hill he would never had made it. When we were released he was still recovering, but doing well. So Brother Gregory was made the new Branch President and the decision as to whether a single man could be made a bishop or branch President never had to be made. Sometime after we returned home we received word that he had left the church. The fact that once you are released as Bishop or Branch President you are not privy to the circumstances surrounding the reason for someone's name being removed from the membership rolls of the church, I never asked, and no one ever offered to tell me why, but it doesn't matter, that is a private affair between Brother Fillman and the Lord. The only one called to be a Common Judge in Israel is the Bishop, unto the rest of us the Lord has told us to judge no man, but show love and charity to all, and to forgive all men their trespasses, "For judgment is Mine, sayth the Lord."
I doubt that there is, or will be found, in the annals of the history of the Wilkes Barre Ward, any mention of Brother Fillman and the part that he played at its inception. But I know that I will be eternally grateful for what he has meant to me. I also know that the Lord knows, and any service rendered, whether great or small, is recorded in Heaven and blessings are bestowed upon the head of the donor. Brother Fillman's efforts were not in vain, and he will yet receive his reward for his part in building up the kingdom of God here in the earth.
Some will say that it just happened that way, but to me, I acknowledge the hand of the Lord in preparing Paul to do the task he did, and at just the time that it needed to be done. I'm sure the Lord knew that I wasn't capable of doing the job alone, so He looked over all His sons until he found the right one, and his name was Paul Fillman. God bless you Paul, I love you!
The House That Ruth Built The Ruth King story
No this isn't the story of Babe Ruth, and the house that he built, Yankee Stadium, it's the story of Ruth King and the church house she built in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania.
When we arrived in Harrisburg Pa. we were interviewed by Pres. Boud and given two specific assignments, One prepare the Wilkes Barre branch for self leadership and second, raise the funds and build a church house. This is the story of the latter.
When we arrived in Wilkes Barre the branch was meeting in the Eastern Star building.(The women's auxiliary of the Masonic Lodge). It consisted of a main meeting hall, large enough to accommodate about 100 people if you really crowded them in. It also had a kitchen, a cloak room and small storage room where we put the folding chairs after services. We rented the building for Sundays only. Later on we added Thursdays so we could have a place for the young people to meet on some day other than on Sundays. It also gave us a place to meet and hold executive meetings, genealogy classes and a number of other activities not suitable for Sunday.
Just a little background on the branch,it seems like that over the years there had been different attempts to establish a branch there, only to fail because of lack of numbers and enthusiasm. Well six months before we arrived Elder Hugh Pennock, then the Mission President, organized the branch and prophesied that it would stick this time. Sister Williams, a member of long standing had some properties down along the Susquehanna River and she gave enough ground to the branch to build the church on. But as it turned out it was considered to be on a flood plain and the church didn't want to build there. President Bullock who preceded me found a piece of ground up in Dallas Pa. that was more suitable, and with Sister Williams permission sold the land down by the river and purchased the land up on Carverton Road in Dallas. And that is how things stood when I arrived. There were two things involved. First how large a unit to build, and second, how to raise the funds to meet the share required of the local congregation, as I recall it came to about 10% of the total, the Church in Salt Lake City supplying the balance. In the Mission Field in those days they didn't build a complete unit with class rooms, chapel and recreational hall. The number you had in attendance determined how many class rooms, and if you could add a multipurpose room or a Bishop's office. They called each addition, a phase, and to qualify, a certain number had to be in attendance for a predetermined period of time. So it was a constant effort to get as many out to church as possible in order to get the most desirable unit, commensurate with our ability to finance it. We determined that we would set a goal for 100 in attendance, for the required period of time to meet the requirements for a building including four class rooms, a multipurpose room and a Bishop's office. So now we had only two things left to do, take our average attendance up from about 25 to 100, "Piece of Cake" no problem. You never saw a reactivation program like that one, we even reactivated people who had never been active in the first place. Everyone was to bring someone with them to church, it didn't make any difference if they were interested in the church or not, we just needed bodies. I remember when we were within one or two to meet the minimum, I had Bro Howell call Sherry Eoff who was home with a sick child to see if she couldn't leave long enough to come and at least have her counted, so we wouldn't fall short that day. Another time we were one short, I went out on the street in front of the church and the first person I met asked if this was where the Mormons met, I told him that it was. He said that he had been thinking about coming and seeing what went on at our meetings for some time, but he never knew for sure where we met, so he came and we had an even 100 in attendance, Just in passing, that fellow who just happened to be there at the right time, later ended up joining the church. (and that is another story). While this was no little undertaking to meet our goal in attendance, the real challenge was where on earth were we going to find the money to pay for our share of the building. We had been given a figure for the total cost of the building at $80,000.00, with our share being 10% or $8,000.00. Do you know how much $8000,00 is to people who have never given more than $25.00 a year to anything before in their life? Well, we had to start somewhere, so every fund raising scheme you ever heard of was employed. Just to name a few. The Easter egg project. This consisted of all the sisters, and some of us brethren pressing wet sugar into some molds and then letting them dry, forming half shells, which were filled with imitation grass and small jelly beans, then the sisters would decorate the outside. It was something to see how Francine organized an assembly line, and how each egg went from trim to leaf and then flower, starting with half shells at one end of a long table, and after each sister had attached her specialty, rose, leaf, stem or trim, the finished special decorated Easter Egg was packaged and ready to be sold. Then we recruited the M,I.A, the young people, to do the merchandising. They went door to door, they got restaurants to put them on their counters for sale, took them to school, you name it, they used every marketing skill known to man. This we did for two years, First year we made $500.00, the second year we made $2500.00. Francine had gotten it down to a science, a model of efficiency. Well, that was great, all we lacked was $5000.00 more! So back to the drawing board. Some one had heard that Mc Donalds would participate in fund raising such as ours. The deal was that they, Mc Donalds, would sell us $1.00 certificates for 50 cents and we could keep the balance. So we all jumped in with both feet, old and young alike, selling McDonald tickets. Again not a whole lot, but a few hundred dollars more. The next project was the Farmers Market. Every Thursday during the summer months the main square in down town Wilkes Barre was turned into a farmers market, where the farmers brought their produce for sale. It was quite an occasion, a carnival atmosphere prevailed. They limited the concessions stands to one, and somehow we were able to convince the town fathers that we would do a good job, and that the proceeds would be going to a good cause. Well, this was quite a circus. Francine and the sisters would stay up all night on Wednesday baking bread and different kinds of pastry. And I don't mean just a few loaves, I mean over a hundred. Homemade bread sold like hot cakes. Then we sold hot dogs and hamburgers and soft drinks of all kinds. It was a ball as we merchandised our products, much like a vendor at the county fair. Again a few more thousand dollars. It was adding up but we still had a long way to go. We had tried direct donations, but as I said before people back there had never been exposed to contributing large sums of money to a church. And where we needed thousands we got hundreds, and not many of them. In all fairness to the Saints in that area most were poor. I don't know why but our missionaries never seemed to convert anyone who had money. Well, it looked like we were closing in on the eight thousand needed. One Sunday morning Sister Ruth King stopped me and asked how we were coming on our building fund. I told her we were about three thousand dollars short. She related to me how that before her husband died they had been saving money to build a new home. Well she said," I have been thinking, I don't need that new home, I can get by nicely with a small apartment, here is the rest of the money you need to get the building project off the ground", and she gave me a check for $3000.00. Well, we were home,"Scott free" so we thought. We went to close the deal only to find out that inflation had boosted the price from $80,000,00 to $150,000.00. We were devastated, we had worked so hard only to see our hope of a new chapel slip further and further away. Well, back to the drawing board. Someone heard that corps of army engineers were looking for some one to cut the trees down inside the retaining dikes along the Susquehanna River at Plymouth which was close by. It was a good, deal, except for one thing, how were you going to get the wood up the forty foot high dikes after you cut it down. Well, we decided that we would get some of the brethren who had chain saws to cut the trees up into small enough pieces that they could be handled by women and children and we would enlist the whole branch, everyone who could walk, to form a human elevator from the bottom of the dike to the top, and as each log was cut and split into small pieces it was handed to the first person who inturn handed it up to the next, until it reached the top of the dike and was deposited in a waiting truck. The price and demand was good for the wood, so again we were back in the fund raising business. It wasn't all work and no play. Francine assigned some of the sisters to prepare lunch, with hot soup and sandwiches, drinks and other goodies to give the workers at break time. As it turned out it was just like a ward outing, everyone in the branch was there, from the new born to the eldest, everyone having a ball. Well, another small boost to our building fund. Just one more project that we used to raise a few more dollars. There are a lot of garment factories in that area, with a lot of piece work being done in individual homes. Some of the sisters in the branch were involved in this type of employment. Francine and some of the ladies conceived the idea of making book covers, using a good heavy vinyl, as compared to the light unattractive covers then being sold. So they went up to a factory in Avoka and purchased a large role of material, then took it to one of the factories where they had large shears, where they cut the material to conform to the size of the books, then the sisters would take them home and sew in the zippers and return them to the church house where Francine, Sister May and others found a market for them. The church distribution center in Philadelphia taking most of them. In fact, when whoever it was that was making the old style covers for the book stores back home saw how much nicer these covers were and looked, stole our idea and now all the covers sold to the missionaries are like the ones we made back then.
Well, I can't remember all the things we did to raise the additional funds, but we managed to raise another few thousand dollars, still a long way short, some $7,000.00 short. Again one Sunday morning Sister King asked me how we were coming with the building fund. I explained that I was discouraged and didn't know where to turn. She asked me how much we were short, I told her about $7,000.00. She said " You know I have some money in C.D s and I think the Lord needs it a whole lot more than I do, Here is a check for the $7.000.00 you need. Let's get that church house built. Well that was where the building program stood when we left to come home. Two years later we were invited to return to Wilkes Barre to the dedication of the chapel. It was beautiful, setting out on a little hill, all surrounded by grass and shrubs, nestled in a forest of trees, just picture perfect, and we had a wonderful time. After the meeting I had a chance to talk with the new bishop, Bro Mechilik and he told me of the struggle they had raising the funds to complete the building. It seems that before they finished the price had gone up to $225,000.00 and if it hadn't been for Sister King giving another $12,000.00 they never could have finished the building.
As I look back I marvel at two things. First how our obsession to get a church house, solved our first objective, to prepare the branch to be self sustaining in leadership and membership and it also built a sense of unity in the branch, everyone involved, every one excited, and everyone was filled with great expectations. They couldn't wait for the next Sunday to come, to hear what had happened and what new things were coming up in the weeks ahead. Consequently our attendance shot up to figure not even equalled to this day. When we arrived in Wilkes Barre we were offered condolences and expressions of sympathy by the missionaries, telling us that Wilkes Barre was the "Gulag Archipelago" of the whole mission, and they felt that it was like being sent to outer Mongolia or Siberia. If consigned there, no one wanted to labor in Wilkes Barre period. Well, strange things started to happen. All those bodies we were herding into the church house to get our attendance up, started to show interest in what was going on and wanted to become a part of it. All at once the missionaries were inundated with requests from people who wanted to know more. The whole branch membership in their effort to help meet our attendance goal, enlisted the support of their relatives and close friends and many came just to accommodate the members of the branch. At first we had two discouraged missionaries besides Francine and me. Soon because of the work load, we received two more, and before long two more and eventually we were up to eight excited and enthusiastic missionaries. Whereas just a few months before, a call to labor in Wilkes Barre was the last place any missionary wanted to go, now every missionary in the mission wanted to go there. In eighteen months there were 38 baptisms, there hadn't been that many baptisms in Wilkes Barre in the last fifty years. Instead of struggling to maintain a small branch, they were not only talking of a ward, but of establishing the stake center there. People like to ride a winning horse, climb aboard the band wagon, or support a winning team, so it was with us at that time, making the task of meeting the attendance requirements for our building project almost non existent. I wonder if that isn't what the Lord means when He admonishes us "To be anxiously engaged in a good cause". D&C 58:27 The moral of this story is, if you want to improve the activity and growth of your ward, don't prescribe steroids, BUILD A CHURCH HOUSE.
Second, what a marvel Sister King was. She was a lady of refinement, played the organ religiously, practiced two hours daily, she said that she had to, or she would lose it. It took an appointment to see her, she was so involved in her church work, mostly gathering the names of her ancestors, by constantly corresponding with relatives and scheduling time to travel 200 miles to the temple to do the work for her family. She and her husband had been denied children of their own, both were employed professionally and had retired, expecting to build a new home and settle down, maybe do a little traveling, and just enjoy being together. When her husband quite unexpectedly died, she said that she didn't have anything to live for and wished that she could have gone with him. That was when the Lord sent two missionaries to her door. The gospel had a "Familiar Sound", and she soon knew why the Lord had left her behind. Her obsession with providing the saving ordinances for her husband and kindred dead has consumed her every awaking hour. She arises before it is day light, has a schedule as full as the most successful business executive, that is why you almost have to get an appointment to see her. Her whole life is dedicated to doing what she can to help the Lord accomplish His work here on the earth. God bless you, Sister King.
Member Missionary
One of the reasons we were so successful in our little branch, was the commitment to the "Every Member a Missionary" program given by President Kimball. A really good example was the chain reaction that began with Roger and Lee Gregory, and I would guess they, Roger and Lee, were the fruits of his brother and his wife, wanting to share the gospel with them. Well anyway we have to start somewhere, Just a little about Roger and Lee, they were baptized just a few weeks before we arrived in Wilkes Barre. They had been touched by the Spirit of Elijah, and had a record of their progenitors that would indicate years of research and commitment to a knowledge of their roots. This was the "Jewel" in the crown of the teachings of the Lord, that led them into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It also gave a reason and purpose behind all that they had done over the years. Shortly before we arrived in Wilkes Barre they had a really big flood, and Roger and Lee were sitting up on the roof of their house, as the water had filled the bottom floors. On the roof next door sat Don and Alice Musser, and as usual, catastrophe breeds strange bed fellows, though they were neighbors they had never met. Alice said that she had often seen Roger walking by with his dog, but thought that he was "stuck up" because he never ever said hello or anything. Well he said "Hello" this day, and eventually they became the best of friends. When Roger and Lee joined the church they wanted their friends, the Mussers, to hear about their new found faith, so they had them come over to their place where the missionaries taught and converted them. Sister Musser was so excited about her new found faith that she wanted the missionaries to teach her brother, Johney Kolinda the discussions, which they did and he joined the church. He had a girl friend named Sandy Beemer, and he wanted her to hear about the restored gospel, so he had the missionaries give her the discussions, and she joined the Church, and she had Elder Robertson the Elder who had taught her the gospel, perform the marriage ceremony for her and Johney.
The Story of a Lost Sheep
We had been making easter eggs out of sugar molded in the shape of an egg, and then decorating them with roses and leaves and filling them with small jelly beans and imitation grass. Then the members would go door to door selling them, to raise funds for the new church house we were going to build. Brother Art Davis was contacting the people who lived in a big public housing complex over in Edwardsville. When he knocked on the door, a young lady answered. He told her that he was from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that he was selling eggs as a fund raising project. When she heard that, she said " I am a member of that church". It seems that when she was a little girl she lived in Mississippi and was baptized, but shortly thereafter her family moved and she lost contact with the church, never attending a meeting thereafter. After an interview I thought it best that the missionaries give her the discussions again, as she knew very little about the church. So the Elders made an appointment and started to give her the lessons. She and her husband Bill had been living apart. He had been really mean to her, and it seemed like that every time he would come to see her, they would end up fighting and she would be severely beaten. Well, one time while the Elders were giving her the discussions she asked if they could come back again that night, as Bill was coming and she wanted him to take the discussions. Which they did. And after the lesson was over he asked them when they were going to come gain, as he would like to hear more. Also Kathy asked the girl in the next apartment, Sister King, if she would like to come over and sit in on the discussions with Bill and the Elders. Sister King thought that they just might as well teach her younger sister, Sandy, while they were at it. Well, any way they taught all four, and all four were converted, along with Kathy. They all became good members of the church. Just in passing Bill and Kathy's activity in the branch and the teachings of the gospel changed their lives and they went back to living together and got along fine, at least they were the last time I heard from them.
The reason for telling these stories is to illustrate what can be done when the members of the church become involved in missionary work.
THE ARROGANT MISSIONARY
A short time before we were released a new district leader was sent to our branch, an Elder Turner. I don't know much about his back ground, but for some reason he was originally assigned to labor in Italy, but returned to the states, and assigned to our mission. He was very articulate and head strong. We held a missionary correlation meeting with the branch leadership every Sunday morning, where we would pass on the referrals of the branch members, and make arrangements for the missionaries to teach their friends in their homes. But for some reason Elder Turner decided that they would hold correlation meeting with the branch mission leader, on Monday. But by doing it that way the branch leadership lost the interaction with the missionaries that had been so successful in the past, and to some extent the referrals dried up. I remember Elder Turner saying that it didn't make any difference, they would make the work go forward, with or without the help of the members of the branch. Well, for a period of time, all the time he was there, the success of the missionaries almost stopped. He and his companion were teaching a young man, and made arrangements to baptize him in the river near by. It was winter and when they got down there they backed out, and he was never baptized. And as it turned out he, the young man they were going to baptize, was on drugs and left the area soon after anyway. The thing that was disturbing about the whole affair was, that contrary to normal procedure of involving the Branch Presidency they had gone directly to the mission president and eventually clear to church headquarters in Salt Lake City to get permission to perform the baptism, I still don't know why all the secrecy, but it sure upset the branch membership, who ordinarily would attend baptisms and extend a hand of fellowship to the new member. To make things worse, most of the members in the branch knew the young man they were going to baptize and of his problem.
The Elders and Francine had been working for some time with a really special family down in West Nanneycoke, by the name of Newbarry and they, the Newbarries, had been out to church a couple of times, and everyone in the branch was excited, as they had four young children too. Well, this Elder Turner decided that he and his companion would take over and finish teaching them. I don't know to this day what went wrong but they stopped coming, and never did join the church. It got so bad that the membership discontinued turning in referrals for fear that he and his companion would end up with them, and that the same thing would happen to their friends as had happened to the Newberries. The first time I saw President Payne I told him what had happened and he said "I guess I have a problem up there" and shortly thereafter Elder Turner was released. He and his companion were the only set of Elders to come to Wilkes Barre while we were there, who failed to have a baptism. So again I say, membership involvement is the key to convert baptisms.
The Rittenhouse Story
(The Spirit of Elijah)
The first time I ever heard of Shirly Rittenhouse was early one morning in the winter of 1977 (26th of January). I received a telephone call asking me if I was President of the Mormon Church, to which I said Yes.( So what, I wasn't exactly Pres. of the whole church, but I was president of something that had to do with the church). Well, she wanted to know if we would come out and help her with some genealogy. We made an appointment the next day and went out. You never saw anything like it! She had literally boxes and boxes of letters and papers with histories and names and places of every one who had ever lived in Lehman Township. It seems that she and her cousin Judy Daw had taken on, or had been given the task of writing a history of Lehman Township. And every one that ever lived there, or their descendants, had sent all their family histories and records to them. Now Sherly had heard that the Mormons were knowledgeable in these things and she was hoping that we could help. Well, we had brought some pedigree charts, and some family group sheets with us, so we sat down and tried to explain how to use them, and after a very nice visit we left, not really knowing what we were in for in the days ahead. About a week later we received another phone call asking if we had a couple thousand more family group sheets and a few pedigree charts, and if we had time to come out again. I told her that as soon as I could round up that many sheets we would be out. She lived out in Pikes Creek, about twenty five miles and no members of the church in that area. Well, after a little scrounging around we came up with the sheets and went out. What a sight, she and Judy Daw had moved everything out of her bedroom, and all their boxes and records moved in. There on the wall they had a pedigree chart as big as the wall itself. They had gone down to the meat market and gotten some big sheets of meat wrapping paper and pasted it to the bedroom wall and had it filled with names. We gave them the sheets and some advice, had supper with them and left. I recorded on the 21st of Feb." Shirley Rittenhouse called this evening, and talked for about an hour on organizing and recording all the information she was getting. We stopped the next day on our way out to Sweet Valley to see Ray Kivler.( and that is another story) It seemed that she was getting more records all the time. A week later Sheerly called to see if she could get 3000 more family group sheets. By then I could see that we were getting in over our heads with the magnitude of this genealogy business. Just a little background on Sheerly and Judy and all these records. They were not novices in genealogy. They had been gathering history on their people for years. Judy told of all the times she had gone to cemeteries seeking information on some of her ancestry. One time in particular when she was driving down an old dirt road she had been down many times, something told her to stop, which she did and there was a little side road she had never noticed before. She drove up a little ways and there was an old cemetery, and lo and behold after a little moving of brush and weeds there was the grave marker of her grandfather, the one she had been looking for, for years. Sheerly told of how bad she felt when she had finally found the relative who had all the records on one of her ancestral lines, only to find out that when he had died some one had thought they were of little worth and had burned them. These are but a couple of many experiences they shared with us. Then there was an active genealogical society in the township, (Lehman) and they were involved in that.
Just a little about the people in that area, they were mostly Anglo Saxton,(from Western Europe) as compared with the those in Luzren township and the closest large cities Wilkes Barre, and Scranton, who were mostly from Eastern Europe. The people in Luzern township were coal miners and industrialists, as compared with the people of Lehmam Township who were aquarian (mostly small farmers) who had come into that area early in our nation's history, and had pretty much stayed together over all these years. As a consequence most had a common ancestry, all being related in one way or the other. We found many who had a common ancestry with the Prophet Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and others of early church history times. Harmony Penna. where John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery was just a few miles up the river, so you can see where this volume of records was coming from.
We had been told of a missionary couple up in Moosic Pa. and not too far away, who had had some expertise in this area, so we went up to see them. Their name was Todd. Sister Todd was from over in Clifton, Idaho, but now lived in Salt Lake. She had been employed by the church to work in the records department, and knew all about compiling and recording genealogical information. So we persuaded her to come down and help us. We set up a date when they could come, called Sheerly and Judy, and on about the 15th of April we went out to Pikes Creek to see them. Bro and Sister Todd could hardly believe what they saw, there being so much genealogical information in one place. Sister Todd had made a "flip chart" to be used when she taught a lesson on genealogy, which she had brought with her and she proceded to tell them all about why we do genealogical research, using modern scripture and biblical references, as to our life before we came here to this earth. How they had temples and what they were used for anciently, of baptism for both the living and the dead, and quotations from the Ancient Apostles telling of Christ's visit to the Spirits in prison who were once disobedient in the time of Noah, and why the Savior went there, and of the Lord's promises to Abraham and his seed, and of the Mission of Elijah, as foretold by Malachi. All these things and much more, finally leaving a most wonderful testimony of how the Spirit of Elijah was behind the kind of work they were doing. Sheerly and Judy both had tears in their eyes, and you knew that the Spirit had borne witness to them of the truths that Sister Todd had taught. After a nice dinner we left.
"Now here is the rest of the story," As Paul Harvey would say. Sister Todd's son worked with a micro filming crew who just happened to be filming records a couple hundred miles away, and with her persuasion and a little inside pull by her son they,( The Micro Film crew) received permission from the Church Genealogy Department to go and microfilm all those records. And as a copy is always given to the donor, Sheerly and Judy were more than happy to have them come. Like Sheerly said, "Now no one will ever burn any more of my family records".
The Chris Daw Story
(Elijah's Beautiful Tapestry)
I had felt, and still do, that Shirley and Judy were kindred spirits, and that some time before we came here we were very close, as they never seemed like strangers from the first moment we met, I felt really comfortable and free, and our conversion was never in the spirit of doubt or contention, everything accepted and given freely, just like talking to old friends, not having to measure every word with concern for what they were thinking, you just felt that every thing you said "Had a Familiar Sound" to them. Well, we would call on them whenever we were in that neck of the woods. One day Sister King, (and she is another story) invited Francine and me out to see her. She was the organist at the church, so we practiced a song I was going to sing Sunday. After practice she invited us to go out and have dinner with her. In our conversation she mentioned that she once lived out on Meeker road, and that she and Judy Daw were good friends, so we decided to go out and see her. The Daws were pretty well off, had a really nice home, beautiful yard and horses roaming around in the pastures. Judy's mother was quite old and lived with her. They had a piano and when Sister king told her I that sang in church once in a while, she wondered if I would sing for her, which I was more than happy to do. While standing next to the piano I noticed a picture of a young man in uniform, and we were informed that it was Judy's son who was in the Air Force stationed in Spain. Judy just happened to mention that one of his Air Force buddies was a Mormon. After a really special afternoon we took Sister King home. Nothing more than an occasional visit for about six months, when one Sunday morning a tall young man came in and introduced himself as Chris Daw. It didn't ring a bell with me, but when he said "I'm Judy Daw's son" my heart about jumped out of my chest, for he too seemed like some one I had known before. We went into the Branch President's office, (which was the kitchen) where we could be alone and talk. He told of how he had become good friends with a Mormon who was in his squadron. That he had been taught by his friend and the missionaries and had joined the church about a year ago, But he didn't dare tell his parents, who were strong Methodists. His family was the principal contributor to the maintenance of the church in that area. He thought that it would be better to wait until he came home to tell his parents. Instead of his parents disowning him and feeling bad about what he had done, they encouraged him. In fact, almost every week he would bring in a stack of family group sheets for Sister Gregory, our branch examiner, to examine and send into the temple for ordinance work. Judy would sit down with him every night and help him put the parents and their children on the right sheets. I don't know just how the family name of MAJOR fit into the picture but I would think it was Judy's mother's people, but anyway they were special to Chris and Judy. They held them all back. Then one Sunday Chris came and asked if he could get a recommend to go to the temple and do the work for his forefathers, the MAJORS. After our visit I called in Bro. Eoff and we ordained him an Elder and sent him on his way to see Pres. Aldrichs, our Stake President. We had previously been given permission to do so, as we were anticipating his coming in. It's strange but I felt a close kinship to those he was going to do the work for, and still do today. I can hardly wait to meet them when I get over on the other side and find out why. Well needless to say I was thrilled to request that he be given a temple recommend, and he went and personally did the work for his people.
One little foot note, little in size, not necessarily in importance. It seems that Chris was anxious that the missionaries give the discussions to his brother, so the missionaries went out to see them. John, Chris's brother, tried to get his wife Dottie to come and listen to the missionaries, but she preferred to remain in the kitchen. After a few weeks they challenged him for baptism, but he still had a problem with the word of wisdom and preferred to wait a while. Just as they were about to leave Dottie came out and told the missionaries that she had listened to all that they had to say and she was ready for baptism. "The Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform". She was baptized, and she was something else! She was a school teacher of young children and stepped right into our Junior Sunday School and filled a great need, she too had a familiar spirit. I know that I have known her before.
As I have been sitting here writing this news letter the thought keeps coming back to me of a Master Weaver, gathering fine linen and strands of silk of many colors and sizes and skillfully weaving then into a Beautiful Tapestry. I am sure that Elijah had a hand in weaving this "Beautiful Tapestry", gathering together in one small place, all at the same time, all the right individuals, with all the right information, that this story could be told. Here He goes out to a small town in Idaho and implants in the hearts of a couple a desire to go on a mission, not to a Lamanite mission or some other mission, but called to go right to where he had been preparing and assembling all the records of a people, who I'm sure had been taught and accepted the gospel in the spirit world. And planted in the hearts of a couple of young ladies the burning desire to identify their ancestors. Then He just happened to have another couple from way out in the west in that very spot, namely the Todds, who were well prepared to help organize and record on family group sheets the names of all those waiting on the other side. Then the microfilm crew and Sister Todd's son just happened to be close by to preserve all that had been gathered. Then the missing link was half way around the world serving in the armed forces. He just happened to be in the same squad with a young man, a member of Gods only true Church, who just happens to be bold enough to tell him about Mormonism. How that in far away Spain there just happened to be a couple of missionaries to teach and baptize him into the church, the only one of his family a member, and one who could submit the records and do the temple work for his ancestors. And how he just happened to return just in time to go to the temple and do the work necessary for the exaltation of so many of those who had gone on before. Just a "happenstance" many will say, but to me there were just too many things that had to be in the right place, at the right time, to be just a coincidence. I bear testimony, and the Spirit has born witness to me that this was the work of that "Master Weaver" Elijah, assembling and weaving this Beautiful Tapestry.
The Rose and The Thorn
This is the story of my friend Stan Docknovitch
The first Sunday we spent in Wilkes Barre I was called to be the new Branch President, and after sacrament meeting a pretty, blond headed mother, and her four little blond headed daughters, came up to introduce themselves to us. She was very out going and friendly, just like an old friend. She said "You are just what this branch needs." As time went on, I would guess we spent more time in their home than any other. She had been a member for quite a while. Her husband Stanly, Stan for short (no one ever called Stanly), was not a member. While he was friendly and made you feel welcome, he never felt the need to join the church. Besides he would have to quit smoking, and he did like to go down to the bar and have a beer or two with the boys. Carol, his wife, had just about given up hope of him ever joining the church. He was a building contractor by trade, and a good one at that. He knew how to organize men, and his crews were very efficient. Stan, Carol and the kids kind of adopted Francine and me as foster Grandparents, consequently we were invited to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all holidays at their place. It was almost like a home away from home, a place to kind of let your hair down and relax. Stan was almost as big a sport buff as I was, so we had quite a lot in common. He thought that he was a pretty good tennis player, so he challenged me to a game of tennis. He was a lot younger and would run me all over the court. So we decided that we would find a couple more tennis players to come and we would play doubles. That way I wouldn't have so much court to cover. Well, we had a couple of members who expressed interest in playing with us. One, Ron Pell, while he was a member, he too had a word of wisdom problem, and not very active. Then there was Denton May, while he didn't have a word of wisdom problem, he only came to church once in a while. He was the president of Kings College, and somewhat of an intellectual, and was involved with his work, using that as an excuse for his inactivity. He was an Elder and had been married in the temple. He and his wife, were the only ones in the branch, besides Francine and me who had been members for any length of time. He and La Fawn, his wife, were from Star Valley Wyoming. Well, getting back to the tennis match it was decided that the "Two Old Men", namely Denton and me, would take on the two young "whippersnappers". Would you believe it, we could beat them every time. It was always, "Just one more game, we will beat you next time". Well, we played every Saturday all summer long, and formed quite a comraderie. You know a strange thing started to happen, their interest in the activities of the branch increased. We were able to get Denton to speak in Sacrament Meeting a time or two and finally to teach the adult class in Sunday School. Brother Fillman, our branch clerk, had more than he could do, so we got Ron to come and help him with taking and recording the minutes of the different meetings, so that gave him a reason to be in church. Stan's activity in the branch took a little different route. One night Elder Robertson and his companion were out in Stan and Carol's neighborhood on a teaching appointment, but were "Bombed Out", as the missionaries would say, when no one was home when they got there. Well, as was the custom they would stop at Stan and Carol's when out in that area, which they did this particular night. To their surprise Stan said something like this, "There is no use of wasting the whole night, why don't you give me the discussions?" So they did, and after a few more visits he was ready for baptism, and he had one of his old friends, Brother Lamerox do the honors. We were not long getting him involved in the activities of the branch. The branch was in the middle of a building fund drive, and every fund raising scheme anyone could think of was employed. Well, Stan got right in the middle of all of them. We had a fire wood cutting project, where we would get every one in the branch involved cutting, hauling, loading and selling fire wood. Stan was in charge of that, and with his ability to organize and handle people, he was a natural. We held a budget dinner once a month, where the members would furnish the food and then we would charge those who came a small fee for dinner to help with the expenses of the branch. For one whole month Stan and Dannet, his daughter, went fishing every night, up to Harvey's Lake, and put the catch in the deep freeze, until they had over a hundred trout, Then on the night of the budget dinner they precooked them all and brought them down to the church house where they warmed them up, and they furnished the rest of the dinner too, this being one of the most successful suppers we had. We were having some problems with reverence, and after some consideration, and in spite of the fact that Stan still had a word of wisdom problem with smoking, and every one knew it, and not having too many other choices, we called him to be a counselor to Frank Cartwtight in the Sunday School. He and Frank Cartwright did a fantastic job. Then too, he had a way with the young men and they all liked Stan, so we put him in charge of activities for the young men, and made him the Priesthood Instructor for them also. He took them camping and helped them with their scout merit badges, and the attendance at our Aaronic Priesthood meetings just shot up. We even got him to speak in Sacrament Meeting a few times and he did just fine. But that old "Bugabo" cigarette still was a mountain he hadn't been able to climb.
There is an old Japanese proverb that tells the story of a great teacher who brought to his class a rose, a lily, and a beautiful branch from a tree. He had three of his proteges come forth and he gave each of them one of the specimens. To the first he gave the branch. Upon receiving it he said "Look there is a withered leaf on this branch". To the next he gave the lily, and he said "Look there is dirt on the bulb". And finally he gave the last one the rose, and as did the others, he exclaimed "There is a thorn on its stem".
There is a moral in there somewhere, maybe two or three, but the reason I have retold this story is this. Shortly after we returned home we received word that someone came to the conclusion that Stan's smoking was setting a bad example so they decided to release him until he quit. Well he still was not strong enough to quit, and too honest to make everyone think that he had, by smoking on the sly, so he was permanently released. I don't think that Stan took it quite as hard as did Carol. She had been praying ever since she had become a member, that somehow Stan would join the church, and that some day he would take her and the kids to the temple. She was devastated! Stan had come so far and she just knew that if he could have had a little more time, his testimony would have gotten strong enough so that he could have quit smoking, and stayed active in the church. As it was, he fell into that vast reservoir of what we sometimes call perspective Elders, (with out much perspective). Carol never quite forgave the bishop. She and the girls rarely attend church anymore and Stan never.
How often do we find ourselves so concerned with the THORN that we fail to notice the ROSE? I can just hear the ancient day Saints saying,"Oh No! Not Saul of Tarsus!" As they looked at the dirt on the bulb, or the withered leaf of his past. Or the Saints in the Book of Mormon, when they heard that Alma the Younger and those "Renegade Sons" of King Mosiah had been called on a mission. Can't you just hear them saying "Well, if it were not for the fact that they were the sons of the King and the Prophet, they would be in jail, instead of being sent on a mission to reform them." Again they were looking past the Rose to see the Thorn. The best Bishop and Stake President that I ever saw, was the self same man, and he was also the best M.I.A. President, and the best Sunday School Superintendent before that. And he was also a man many had seen at one time in his life so intoxicated he had to be shown which house he lived in. So again in our day there are those whose vision is so blinded by the Thorn, or the Dirt on the Bulb, or the Withered Leaf, that if they had been in a position to judge, they would have denied some one a chance to advance in the kingdom, through service, and denied the Lord an excellent Stake President.
P.S.
Just one more short story and an observation. Some years ago, when I was first called to be a High Councilman, I went home teaching to an elderly brother by the name of Merrill, who years before had served on the High Council up in Idaho. He told me this story. One evening at their High Council meeting the Stake President announced that he had chosen so and so to be the new Bishop of the New Dale ward, and wanted the high Council to sustain his decision. Brother Merrill said that the brethren were shocked. They all knew this man, and all his failings, which included the word of wisdom. He liked to go hunting and fishing, and Sunday was the day he chose to go. After a lengthy discussion the Stake President told the brethren that (using the foot ball vernacular), "We will send it back to the replay booth for review," which they did. The next week the Stake President told the brethren "That after further review, the play stands as called on the field." So with no further debate they called the brother in to meet with the Stake Presidency and the High Council, not telling him the purpose of the meeting. When the good brother arrived at the meeting he was white as a ghost, thinking that he was being tried for his membership in the church. When he was finally told the purpose of the meeting, he just sat there dumbfounded for a little bit, then he said "Brethren if you have that much confidence in me, I will take this call, and do my very best not to betray your confidence in me". President Merril said that he turned out to be the best Bishop they ever had.
Now the Observation
Over the years the person who smokes has been driven from the source of divine help, our meetings, by the bigotry of some of the "Holier than Thou Faithful Members" of the church. Because of the visible nature and smell that accompanies the person that smokes, it is easy to identify them, and in some cases reason enough to avoid them. I have actually seen individuals get up and move, when someone who smells of tobacco has come to church and sit down beside them. Just like saying, "You are not welcome in our gatherings". THIS JUST OUGHT NOT TO BE! We should be happy he or she is there, and wish that more of these Brothers and Sisters who are desiring our association, were in our midst. The reason we go to church is to receive the Spiritual Strength, to go with our own resolve, to help us overcome our weakness. Do you think that you will be held guiltless, if your actions have offended some one seeking the Lord's help? I think it is terrible, that just because their weaknesses are so easy to identify, that many who have failings and sins that are of a much more serious nature, find it so easy to justify their failings, while at the same time condemning their brothers and sisters who smoke. I would hope that none of my posterity would ever show such a lack of insensitivity, and concern for another fellow being. I think that we sometimes lose sight of the role of the church in our lives. Some have the mistaken idea that somehow, if it were not for our effort to support the programs of the church, the church would cease to exist. Paying more attention to the "Letter of the law, than the Spirit there of". The sole purpose for the existence of the church is for the perfection of God's sons and daughters. The most effective way to learn and grow in the kingdom, is by being anxiously involved in the salvation of others, thus all the meetings and activities of the church are aimed at our being involved in this great work, to help God to "Bring to pass the Immortality and Eternal life of His children " THE CHURCH IS FOR MAN, NOT MAN FOR THE CHURCH. So any activity, or conduct that does not contribute to the Spiritual growth of the individual is not in keeping with God's plan for man or the church.
No More Strangers
"Now therefor ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God."
Ephesians 2:19
This is a group of short stories of conversions to Mormonism that occurred while we were on our mission in Wilkes Barre Pa.
I don't know about you, but I have always been fascinated by the stories of people who have joined the church, especially after some special witness of its divinity. I have also observed that a special, or miraculous manifestation does not necessarily lead to a strong or an abiding faith. I am in a quandary as to why someone who has been a recipient of a great manifestation, would deny the faith and leave the church. Case in point, the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and many of the stalwart leaders of the church in the early days, many who were members of the Quorum of the Twelve, some had seen Angels, heard the voice of the Lord bearing witness that He was the author of this great work. All chose to disassociate themselves from the church, while not necessarily denying the witness they had received from the Lord. In most cases they still bore that witness, fearing that they might offend God by denying that which they knew to be true. I can't understand their reasoning, don't they know that they offend God by not accepting their responsibility to help build up His Church and Kingdom here on the earth? The only conclusion I have been able to come up with is, that there was something in their lives which was not compatible with the teachings of the church, usually personal unworthiness, is generally the case. There are times when great manifestations are received, or when the manifestations of the Spirit is unusually strong. I don't know just why, but I know that the Holy Ghost will strive with a man, or a woman, for a short time, even though they have not received the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands. But to receive the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, to be our constant companion, one must live up to the covenant of baptism. "My spirit will not dwell in unholy tabernacles". "And My spirit will not always strive with man", are scriptural statements that help explain to me at least, why some leave the church, in spite of what one would have thought was a sure fire, life long member of God's Kingdom.
This has been quite a long introduction to this letter, but some of those who I will tell you about are no longer members of the church, which breaks my heart, but, hopefully, like Martin Harris, and Oliver Cowdery, they will at some future date, come back and partake of the blessings of the Church. While some will have left the church, most have not, and are the stalwart members of the ward there.
Many I have already told you about, The Gregories, Roger and Lee, Sister King, Kristopher Daw and others, so here are a few more.
The Story of Sandy & Roseann
Let us start with Sandy Shultz. She is a fun person, and was about 18 years old when we were there. The Elders were going down Malory street on a referral, when no one answered the door, as was the custom they tracked the home on either side. Without any success, they were about to leave when the Spirit prompted them to visit just one more home before leaving Malory street, so they knocked on Sandy's door. She invited them in, and proceeded to tell them that she had a friend with whom she corresponded up in New York, who was a Mormon. She told them that she was a great fan of Donnie and Marie Osmond, and had gone up to New York to a concert they were having. While there she had met this friend who had told her about the Mormon church. She was hoping that sometime she would find the missionaries and learn more, and learn more she did, and was baptized. As Branch President, it was my calling to see that she was fellowshipped and involved in the activities of the Branch. She had been a member of the Jehovah Witness Church, and her mother was very much against what Sandy had done, in fact she would have nothing whatsoever to do with Sandy. It was just like she didn't even exist, but as Sandy told us, that was just part of the belief of Jehovah Witness. So we were never welcome in their home when her mother was there. As it is the procedure of the Church to have permission from the parents before baptizing those still in their teens, she persuaded her father to give his permission, and that is how she was able to be baptized. It was Christmas time, and as the Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate Christmas, they had never had a Christmas tree, Santa Claus, or Christmas presents, but this year her father said," This year we will have a Christmas." We were invited over, and we had a wonderful time. Sandy had a younger sister and brother, and it was a treat to see how much they enjoyed their first Christmas.
About the same time another young lady, by the name of Rose An Wilson, who was about the same age as Sandy was baptized and made a member of the church. She lived over in Plymouth, and she was a sweetheart too. She and Sandy became the best of friends, and added so much life to the branch. Just a little about Rose An's conversion. She went down to Richmond, Virginia to spend the summer with her sister, who had just recently joined the church, so when she returned home she came to church and the Elders had their "Golden contact", and she was baptized in just a few weeks. She came out to Ricks College to school, started dating Elder Gray, the Elder who had baptized her, and they were later married, and now live in Idaho Falls.
We held family home evening on Monday nights for the single adults of the branch in our apartment and they, Sandy and Rose An were in charge. If all family home evenings were like the ones they put on, there would be no trouble getting the family together. In fact, I'll bet the children couldn't wait for Monday nights to come. One little story, we were going down to a mission conference in Philadelphia, and Sandy and Rose An wanted to go with us, not so much to see what a mission conference was all about, as to see Elders Scholes and Gray, the Elders who had baptized them. Well I told them that I knew that President Paine would never go for that. That didn't deter them, they got Francine to call Sister Paine and with a little coaxing we were given permission to take them with us, and we had a good time and I guess no real harm was done.
The Story Of the Long Sacrament Meeting.
Fast and Testimony meetings in our branch were usually a "Spiritual Feast". It seemed like everyone wanted to tell of the goodness of God, and what He had done for them. The missionaries were advised not to bring their investigators to church on that day for some reason, maybe it's because of the uneasy feeling that we get when no one comes forth to speak and that might be hard for investigators to understand. Well, anyway this particular Sunday we had one of those special fast meetings. There were a lot of new converts there and the Spirit was really evident. In fact, the testimonies just wouldn't stop, everyone wanted to take part and it lasted for two hours. Well, the missionaries had brought two young men they had been teaching and after the meeting both came up and said that they had seen enough, they were ready for baptism and they were baptized the following week. They were DeWayne Engleheart and John Melenovitch. A little background about how they came to be taught by the Elders. In the summer months we had a concession booth at the farmer's market on the square in down town Wilkes Barre. The Elders would set up a flip chart and a church oriented display near by, and as people would stop to eat a hot dog or a hamburger they would look at the displays and talk to the missionaries. Well, one of those who stopped to talk was De Wayne Engelheart. He was in his early twenties and had a brother some where down in Texas, who had just recently joined the church, so that gave him an added incentive to talk to the missionaries. He turned out to be a "golden contact". John Melenovitch, on the other hand, was a little older in his thirties. He was somewhat of an intellectual as he had graduated from college when most of his contemporaries were just graduating from high school. His major was in the field of electronics and for a few years he was very successful in his chosen profession, but there was something missing in his life, and he didn't know what it was. His search led him into the "Hippy Culture", that was the "In Thing" at that time. From there into drugs, and almost complete despair. He ended up in New York City, where he said that he would spend a lot of time in the library searching for answers to life and its purpose. One day he came across a book with an intriguing name of "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder," by a man named Legrand Richards. And he found in it the answers to all the questions that had been bothering him. He also learned that this Mr. Richards was an Apostle in the Mormon church, So he set out to find a Mormon congregation. That is where I came into his life. It was one Sunday morning we had counted those in attendance,and found that we lacked one of having 100 which was our goal. (Just a little explanation, we were getting ready to build a church house, and our attendance determined what size building we would be allowed to build.) So I said that I would go out on the side walk and talk someone into coming in. Well, that person was John Melenovitch. He told me he had been looking for sometime, trying to find where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints met, and he wondered if this was the place. I told him that it was and I literally pushed him through the front door. After the meeting he left before I could get to talk to him. I figured that was the last we would see him. Well, would you know it, he just happened to come to that Fast and Testimony Meeting I was telling you about earlier, and his request to be baptized immediately was quite a shock to all of us. After convincing him that maybe he ought to have the missionaries give him the discussions he agreed and was baptized the following week.
Don't Stop if George is Home
We had received a referral from a Kathy Lane up in Tunkannock telling us that she had a girl friend out at Harvey's Lake who she would like us to go see, but cautioned us not to go when her husband George was home. We were not to go in if his black pickup was there. We went out a couple of times, the pickup was always there. I turned the referral over to Elder Robinson and the next time he was out in that area he stopped by, and disregarding the warning in the referral, stopped in to see them, even though the black pickup was there. Elder Robertson and his companion asked if he would like to know more about the Mormons and he said that he would, so they taught him and his wife and eventually it was George and not his wife that joined the church. He became the Bishop of the Wilkes Barre Ward, and served in that calling for close to ten years. He and his wife were having marital problems when we were there. Eventually they were divorced and he married a member of the church from down in Allentown and they have a real nice family. He never had any children by his first wife.
The Red Headed Beautician
Elder Hewlett and his companion were over in Plains, a little village on the northern outskirts of Wilkes Barre, in response to a referral. The apartment was upstairs over a beauty salon. As they went by on their way upstairs they overheard some ladies discussing religion, so on their way back down they decided to step into the beauty parlor and see if they could get involved in the discussion. The ladies had left but Joan, Joan Katstock, the operator was still there. She told the Elders that her friends stopped by once a week, and they had a "Bible class." They were not affiliated with any particular religion, but they were dissatisfied with what they were being taught in their own churches, so they were trying to find the truth for themselves by study of the scriptures. So Elder Hewlett asked if she would be interested in knowing what the Mormons believed. Her answer was yes, so they proceeded to teach her and in a few weeks she was baptized. She was a beautiful lady, with a couple of children, and a husband who was abusive, and he only came around once in awhile to get a handout, and beat her up. He left her to support herself and the children. She was well educated , and a good teacher, a great addition to the branch. She came out to Salt Lake to see one of the lady missionaries, and we went down and brought her up home for a visit. She said that she had decided to get away from her husband and all the abuse she had been receiving, and that she had decided to move out to Denver, Colorado with her children. That is the last I have heard of her. I have often wished that I had an address so I could find out how she was getting along.
The Story of the Lost Lamanite
One day while tracting we knocked on a door, and a beautiful dark haired young lady answered, you could see that she was of Latin descent. When we told her who we were she responded that the missionaries had called on her quite a few times over the years and that she had read the Book of Mormon, but she had never received the witness promised by Moroni. We had a very nice visit, and among other things we talked about reading with faith looking for evidences that would substantiate the claim that the Book of Mormon was indeed a true history of an ancient people, and that a record of this ancient people had been preserved by God to come forth in our day to be another witness of Christ. So she said that she would try reading the Book of Mormon again, believing and with real intent. Some time later we returned and she told us the most remarkable story. She said one night while she was reading the Book of Mormon the pages began to be illuminated until they were as bright as the sun. She was so frightened that she slammed the book shut and just sat there trembling from head to foot. Finally a calm feeling came over her and she heard a voice, just as plain as yours, President Pitcher, saying "This is a history of your people". Sister Angley was born in Mexico and had come to America when she was just a child. She and her husband Jim Angley and her son were baptized just a short time later.
The Latter days of Married Life
THE YEARS AFTER OUR MISSION TO PENNSYLVANIA
1978 through 1995
After all the lecturing I have been giving you about record keeping, I now am about to reap the fruits of my own neglect. For some reason, maybe I thought life was about over or something. Well, except for a short period from 1981 to 1983, when I cept a daily Journal, the rest of this portion of my life will have to come from memory. I have hesatated to begin this portion for fear I will not be able to remember many important events.
When we returned we moved back into our home. Rex was running the pump & pipe bussness under the name of Pitcher Irrigation. Francine and I went to work for him for a year.The next year Francine and Rex made a deal where Francine would run the parts counter and she would pay him the cost of the inventory, and she would keep the profet for her wages. This was a time when Rex was getting started in the plastic fittings business and he really had more to do than he could handle. So, Francine named the new business Rainbow Sales. This was 1979. In 1980 a deal was struck between Rex and Bart for Bart to purches the retail part Rex's bussness. So, mother and I went to work for Bart. We operated out of room in the front part of the fittings plant. This was convient, as we had a lot of inventory just behind the back of the of the office (parts counter). The next big step, as far as Bart was conserned, came in the fall of 1985 when he had to make a decision wheather to buy a building that was for sale or not. I was more hesident than Francine and Bart. I hated to leave the convience of the plastic factory inventory and that maybe customers would not be able to find us. As it turned out I was really "off base" on this one. So we went out north of town, to the old "Four Seasons"building. Bart was able to puchase some extra land to go with what he already had. Things have gone from good to better ever sincince. I guess I should get Bart to write his own accout of the rise of Irrigation Aid Company, it would make quite a story.
Just a short sumery of my church activity to let you know that I never left the church when we finished our mission to Pennsylvania. In 1979 I was called to the High Counsel for Preston South Stake. Shortly there after they devided the stake and I ended up on the High Counsel of the new stake (Franklin Stake). I served there for six years, being released in 1985. I was called to be an officator in the Logan Temple. I was there for three years.
As winter approched I was having some health problems and at the suggestion of Dr. Abadulla we went south for the winter. We bought a place in San Carlos, Senora. Mexico. The how-come Mexico and the reason for going is a interesting story.
As I stated I was struggling with lung congestion. The local Dr.s Had given me all kinds of medication even breathalizers, nothing seemed to work.
We were visiting with Sherman Johnson a friend and Dr. We told him of my problem. He suggested that I go see a Dr. Abadulla, in Ogden, as he was a specilest in that field. We went. After an examation he took me off all the medicine I had been taking. Gave me one small heart pill and told me to go home and walk at least a mile a day. Refrain from dairy prodcucts, (Which I failed to do) It was then that He suggested that go where it was warm for the winter. So, where to go? Tammy, Kieth's wife, was visiting one day and I told her that I had to find me a "Place in the Sun". She Said "No problem, I'll get you one". Duane Anderson, a relative of hers was on a mission in Canada, and he had a trailer in Mexico. She gave me his number to call. Mr. Anderson told us how to get there and said to go and stay for the winter if we liked.
Well, thats how we came to go to Mexico. We packed everything into our old Car and headed south. We arrived in San Carlos in late October 1988.
The trailer was a fifth-wheeler. I had always wanted one, but after a couple of months, cooped up in one, I came to the conclusion that was not the life for me.
A Mr. Cullly, who lived just across the street from our trailer decided to sell his home and trailer. This was something really nice, bath room with emphis the "room", It had a nice front room, wash room and a comfortable place to sleep and eat. So we negotiated a deal., Jumped in our old car, came home, rounded up enough cash to purchase the property. Back to Mexico, paid him and after a short delay, we were in our home away from home.
This being 1996, making this our eighth winter in Mexico. It is with a great deal of anticipation that we look forward, each fall to our annual "Hiatis". And it is with the same enthusiasm that we look forward to returning to our summer home.
Our life there is one of play and fun. Fishing every morning. Dinner and a afternoon nap. A swim in the heated pool. A "bull" session in the Hot Tub with the "boys" seeing who can tell the biggest lies, about the one that got away.
I am now (77 years old) and all is well. When I return home each spring I am amazed at what “old Father Time” has done to so many of my friends, while he has practically left me untouched. (I think!) The Mexican weather and a lot of activity, has been a “Fountain of youth for me physically, and the composing of “News Letters” has helped to keep me mentally alert. I have come to the conclusion that one must be anxiously engaged in a good cause, to live an extended life style.
Grandpa's back surgery
Summer of 92
Well summer is about gone and we are already thinking about our "paradise" in Mexico. We have a spare bedroom , now that all the kids are gone, that we use to store all the things we will be taking with us when we go back home, I think we look forward to returning to Mexico with greater anticipation than coming back up here, well any way the room is getting about full, if that means anything.
I hesitate to dwell on the aches and pains of old age, but it's getting to be some concern when something comes along that might interfere with my fishing. I awoke one morning with a ketch in my "come-along" and I couldn't stand up straight with out it about killing me. So off to the chiropractor and he twisted and pounded on me for a couple of weeks, all the time I was wishing I could die it hurt so bad. If it hadn't been for my Boston Whaler setting down in Mexico and the thoughts of some one else using it and having all that fun, I would have abandon ship right there and then. Well the chiropractor only made it worse, so off to see some witch doctor who stuck needles in my back and filled me with cortisone, with the assurance that in a couple of weeks I would be as good as new. So two more weeks spent all bent over and racked with pain. So after all this they said that I had better go to a neurosurgeon and have my back operated on. Well after all the horror stories of those who were permanently crippled after back surgery, it was with a great deal of apprehension that I consented to go see a "Doctor Gorden" who gave me some pretty good odds for relief, if I would let him operate on my back. Well by then I knew that I was going to die anyway, so what if the odds were only 50 50, maybe death wouldn't be so bad after all.
So after receiving my last rights (Just kidding of course we Mormons don't believe in that sort of thing) it was off to the operating room, and about three hours later I heard some on say " are you all right Mr Pitcher" and I knew that I was still with the living, because if I had been on the other side they would they would have addressed me as "Brother Pitcher" instead of "Mr. Pitcher"
Well so much for this foolishness, I beat the odds and would you believe it, I was up and out of the hospital the next day, the pain all gone, a little week and sore where they had made the incision, but out side of that I feel great, and ready to head out for Mexico as soon as I see the first snowflake
Francine has had a pretty good summer, she has finally come to the realization that the "old gray mare ain't what she used to be, many long years ago" (I'll get hell if she ever reads this letter referring to her as the Old Gray Mare). But if she just takes it easy and does just one days work instead of two every day, she gets along pretty good.
*********Insert Picture of Stake Presidency
As we approach this glorious Christmas season, our hearts are turned to the Prince of Peace, who gave his life on the cross that we might live again. He taught us the way of life that brings us eternal happiness. It was he who said, “I am the resurrection and the life, eh that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live.” And he also said, “Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
We shall be eternally grateful for the testimony which we have as to the truthfulness of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And again we express our deep appreciation to all of you as members of the only true church upon the earth, and thank you for all you do in this great work.
We pray for the choicest blessings of our father in heaven to be upon all of you. May this joyous season bring happiness, and the true spirit of Christmas into your hearts and homes. May the New Year be a bright and prosperous one.
Benson Stake Presidency
high Council and Clerks
Home Teaching News Letters
An introduction to home teaching news letters
In the mid sixties one of the many callings I had in our small ward was High Priest Group Leader. It was a time when the church had given "WARD TEACHING" a new name and a renewed emphasis on the oral evaluations and called the new program "HOME TEACHING." It was thought that if the home teachers were called in to meet with their group leader or quorum president and were to give an accounting of their stewardship, that the quality of the visits and the frequency thereof would improve. About this time I received a call from Pres. Anderson, our Stake Pres. asking me if I would come to the early session of conference the next morning. After that session was over I was walking down the hall to attend the general session, when I felt some one take hold of my arm, as I turned to see who it was I was surprised to see Spencer Kimball, a member of the quorum of the twelve, who was our visiting authority that day. He was very casual as we talked about his old friends the Claysons, who lived in Cornish. Finally just before we were to enter the chapel he ask me if I would mind stepping into a class room for a minute, as he would like to talk to me before going into the general session. The reason for the interview was to inquire as to my worthiness to be presented at the conference to be sustained as a new high council man. That was quite an interview, to have an apostle of the Lord ask if there was anything in my life that needed to be resolved before being called to this position. After the general session he set me apart in my new calling. Just to show how much things have changed with the growth of the church, here Pres. Kimball was setting me apart as a high council man, and just a few short years before Pres. Romney had ordained me a High priest.Today the only time we see one of the twelve is on T.V.
As I had had some success in my calling in our ward, I was assigned to work on the Melchizedek priesthood committee, and given Home teaching as my responsibility. We met monthly in general priesthood meeting, and I was given about twenty minuets to address all the bishops, quorum pres. and group leaders. Thinking that if I gave them a hand out covering the material we discussed each month maybe they would read it when they returned to their wards. Thus these news letters. I would compose and hand write a letter each month, take it over to Carla Rawlings and she would type them up for me, then I would take them over to Brother Willson and He would run them off on an old mimeograph machine and have them ready for the next leadership meeting.
The reason I have saved these letters, is that at the time I really felt that the Holy Ghost was inspiring me, as to what I was to write, and if this were so, I felt that they should be preserved. Also this was my first attempt at composing a "so called" NEWS LETTER.
BENSON STAKE NEWS LETTER
HOME TEACHING
August 1969
To: All Bishops, quorum presidents, and group leaders
Dear Brethren:
It has been our desire to be of the utmost help in assisting you with your calling, Home Teaching. Not only getting it done but making it more effective, and more meaningful. Brethren, we need to touch the lives of our families and get the thrill that comes when we see them become more active, and find greater joy in life through the gospel. We feel that lack of motivation or desire on the part of both leaders and home teachers are the reasons more fruits of home teaching are not evident.
In trying to find ways whereby we might help in this great and marvelous calling, we have thought maybe a small news letter sent out monthly with tips from successful home teachers and leaders would help. Also, a word of encouragement from your Stake President and Melchizedek Priesthood Committee.
Our desire is to see that those in positions of leadership get the vision of the work, that they might pass it on to their home teachers. Therefore, we dedicate ourselves, Our time, and our talents to helping you. We cannot do the work for you, the Lord called you for that job, but he called us to council and advise and be of all possible assistance to you in your calling.
We have the good pleasure of visiting the different quorums of our Stake monthly and see different ways and methods used by your brothers in similar callings, but we do not see you often enough to pass on all suggestions, testimonies, and better ways of getting the job done. Therefore, if we can get this help in your hands quicker and while they are fresh on our minds, we feel this little letter monthly will be of some help in your calling. Also, we will work as a research team, spending our time in reading all publications, seeking advise from any and all sources that might be helpful to you and sending it along in the news letter.
We do not want you to think that this is all we are going to do. If you have any problems we might help with, call us and tell us what you would like us to do, or what your problems is, and maybe we can find an answer. If you would like us to talk to your home teachers, give us a call.
Brethren, we firmly believe that this home teaching program has been given by the Lord to prepare this generation of saints to receive Him at His coming. When the home teachers of this church learn their duty and then act in all diligence, there will be no more 50% goals in this church. Our chapels will be over-flowing, our tithes and offerings will bulge our bishops storehouses, juvenile delinquency will be done away with, and love of parents return. If we are to be prepared to meet Him when He comes, we must be like Him. This Home Teaching Program is the tool the Lord has given us to accomplish this task.
In closing brethren, we quote President McKay. "Home teaching is a divine service, a divine call. It is our duty as home teachers to carry the divine spirit into every home and heart. To love the work and to do our best will bring unbounded peace and joy and satisfaction to us as dedicated teachers of God's children."
Don't let your home teachers ever feel like they are "just home teachers", but rather that they have the most important calling ever given to man, namely to prepare this generation to receive the Master and dwell with Him and all the saints of old a thousand years.
With love from your fellow servants,
SEPTEMBER 1969
TO: All Bishops, quorum Presidents, and Group Leaders
Assuming we have our home teachers to oral evaluation, next we must motivate them. Here are some suggestions:
Last month we stated we felt that lack of motivation was the reason for our difficulty in getting our home teaching done, and getting our home teachers to oral evaluation.
There are many things that motivate us; money, desire for recognition, or plaudits of men, desire for security, new car, new farm equipment, sports. But what does it take to motivate us as home teachers. Most of us have a testimony of the gospel, some stronger than others, but all can be made stronger. It seems our degree of dedication is in direct proportion to the degree of our conversion or the strength of our testimonies. So our job is to some how build stronger testimonies, get greater conversion and commitment from our home teachers. As there are many things that motivate us to achieve in our temporal affairs, so likewise there are many things that motivate us in our spiritual callings. Some things motivate one, something different motivates another.
1. We have found that good personal interviews often, under the influence of the Spirit of our Father in Heaven motivates men to greater service. Personal testimonies born in humility, of the goodness of the Lord in times past, and of how great the rewards are to those who keep the oath and covenant of the priesthood as found in Section 84:33-39 are testimony builders.
2. They say if you want to move a man touch him where his heart is, normally his family and wife. What greater reason could he have for being faithful. Read section 131:1-4, Section 132:19-20.
3. And Oh what great promises are given to those who keep our Father's commandments. Section 76 beginning with the 50th verse through 70th tells the state of those who come forth in the resurrection of the just to celestial glory.
4. Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, and great is His joy in the soul that repenteth. And if we labor all our days and bring save it be one soul into the Kingdom, how great will be our joy with Him. Section 18:10-16.
5. Sometimes it takes such soul searching questions as, "what have I done with the opportunities given to me?" It is this accountability for all our time and opportunities in mortality that is the real action prodder for those who comprehend the Plan of Salvation.
6. We are told where much is given much is expected.
Section 82:3.
7. And in the 4th Section of the D. and C. we are told the field is all white ready for harvest and for us to thrust in our sickle with all our might that we might stand blameless before God at the last day.
8. And the admonition given in the 58th section verse 26-29 that we "shouldn't be commanded in all things for he that is compelled is a slothful servant. but we should be anxiously engaged in a good cause." And how often do we find ourselves doing nothing until we are commanded and then "with a doubtful heart and keepeth it with slothfulness." The scripture tells us the same is dammed.
The use of some of the forging scriptures with your own personal testimonies will spark almost every home teacher to a greater degree of dedication.
We pray the Lord will bless you with wisdom to know which approach will bring the best results. If we can somehow get our home teachers to love their families, and be concerned for their welfare, then one visit monthly will not suffice, then your Home Teachers will start to catch the vision of this work.
There can be no real and abiding happiness without sacrifice. Our greatest joys do not result from our efforts toward self-gratification, but from loving and spontaneous service to others. Joy comes greatest to him who seeks it for others.
May God bless you in your calling.
HOME TEACHING NEWS LETTER OCTOBER 1969
TO: All Bishops, Quorum Presidents, and Group Leaders
Last month we explored the subject of motivation to get quality home teaching done. It seems like one of our biggest problems is to get all the brethren to come and report their teaching. I know it is a time worn statement that we are still ward teaching, but think about it for a few minutes. When we see our home teacher waiting untill the last few days to get their teaching done we can be sure they are still "ward teaching." They feel that they must get it done so as not to disappoint their group leaders or bishop, or maybe they feel like one visit is a maximum instead of a minimum. One hundred percent home teaching is not necessarily what we are after. It is true we must go home teaching before we can worry too much about quality! If we as home teachers get the vision of this work we won't procrastinate visiting our families until the last few days of the month.
I sometimes wonder if doctors work harder the last few days of each month, or if they put off visiting their patients, thinking that the sick only need him the last few days of the month? Just as those who are ill need a physician at almost any hour or day of the month, so our families needs are not confined to the last week of every month.
Another tell-tale sign is in the column on your report "additional visits." If your home teacher has caught the spirit of this work he will be conscious of the needs of his families continuously and as soon as the need arises he goes; not waiting till months end to deliver the antidote that was needed at the first of the month.
Home teaching becomes a rewarding experience and a joy when we put the welfare of our families first, instead of just making a visit so we can report our home teaching done. So when we see those additional visits we can feel quite sure the home teacher has the spirit of his calling. Too many of us procrastinate. We study the program, know what is expected, but the slightest excuse causes us to put off this important work until next week. The Savior said, "Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord (those who study the program) shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but they that doeth (goes home teaching) the will of Him who sent me." the apostle John said, "Show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works."
Getting back to oral evaluation. We find altogether too many brethren who go home teaching, but for some reason, feel that oral evaluation is not important. Oral evaluation is the whole heart of home teaching. It is here plans are made, challenges given, spiritual guidance received, and encouragement given. A time to report progress in achieving goals, a time to receive timely messages and pertinent information from the Bishop, Stake President and from the Ward Executive and Council meetings.
I think it is a challenge that we as group leaders and Quorum Presidents must meet. If our home teachers go home teaching unprepared and without a message we must be prepared to accept part of the blame. Make your oral evaluations more than just report meetings. Make it such a rewarding experience for your home teacher that he will look forward to meeting with you. Bishops, maybe it will be necessary to call some of the home teachers in for a private interview and impress upon them the importance of coming to oral evaluation meeting with their leader. And brethren, if the Bishop calls them in, do not let the Bishop down. Make every effort to have a truly spiritual experience that will make the home teacher want to return next month to oral evaluation.
Brethren, we know it is discouraging, but we must be long suffering. It takes prayer, lots of coaxing, and the spirit of the Holy Ghost to direct you, and slowly but surely the brethren in this church are going to catch the vision of this work, so do not feel too bad if it goes slowly. The work of the Lord will go forth, and as weak as we are, we are still the best the Lord has to work with.
May the Lord bless you and strengthen you in your calling. We pray in His name.
NOVEMBER 1969
TO: All Bishops, Quorum Presidents, and Group Leaders
Last week in High Council meeting we were read a letter from a former member of our stake who has moved into a new stake where there is a waiting list of brethren and sisters wanting jobs in the church. Can you imagine what it would be like to want a chance to work in the church and not being able too.
President Joseph Fielding Smith has said, "If we think that by attending all our meetings, and paying a full tithing and fast offering, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and being morally clean will get us into the Celestial Kingdom, we will be sorely disappointed."
The only way into the celestial Kingdom is through service to our fellow men. Thank the Lord for all the opportunities we have here in this stake to serve.
President Anderson told us of his visit with Brother Stapley of the Council of the Twelve in which he said that the time of sifting among the Latter Day Saints is at hand. The day of just filling positions in this church so that the Bishop can report that all his organizations are fully staffed, will soon be a thing of the past.
The thing that is so sad when we don't do our duty, is that we are depriving someone else this opportunity, while we remain in that position of responsibility. So likewise every family in the church is entitled to the assistance and visit of two faithful home teachers, and the Lord will hold us accountable for our stewardship.
Too many of our home teachers feel that their calling is to make a visit monthly. We must somehow let our brethren know their calling is to save souls and bring all our families in full activity. When 50% of our families are not in sacrament meeting someone needs help. When only 28% of our sisters are in Relief Society, 72% need help.
We were impressed by Elder Packer's philosophy that we must get our lost sheep involved. All the preaching in the world will not bring them into activity. We must find a way to make our brethren and sisters feel needed. Pray for wisdom. Use your imagination.
He also gave a real good example of being specific in our giving assignments, using his two boys as an example. If, when he left for conference he told his boys to get the work done while he was gone he would find upon his return that nothing had been done. But if before he left he told his boys that the hinges on the gate needed repair, and that he had purchased a new set and that they were in the workshop on the bench, and that when they got ready to put the hinge on they would have to block up both ends and one steady while the other replaced the hinges. With this kind of instruction before he left there would be a good chance that upon his return the work would be done.
Brethren we cannot just send our home teachers out to visit and expect results if we are not specific about their calling, and we cannot be specific if we do not have a planning session with plenty of time to set down, ask the help of the Lord and then plan in detail what is to be done, who is to do it, and when it will be done. Then like Brother Packer said, as soon as I get home I will head straight for the gate to see if the new hinges are in place. So likewise, next oral evaluation meeting, head straight for the hinge and see if the plan was followed and the desired results were achieved.
Brethren, let's don't just fill positions with names and deal with children of God as statistics. One hundred percent of the homes visited in the ward is fine, but what the Lord wants is Brother Jones and his whole family at sacrament meeting and Sister West at Relief Society and the Baker boys at their Quorum meetings.
The ultimate goal for all home teachers is to see their families exalted in the Celestial Kingdom. How can we ever let our Home Teachers feel like their calling is unimportant, that it isn't much of a challenge. Home teaching is just as great in its sphere as the work of the Lord is in its sphere, for the goal is the same, the exaltation of Gods children.
The dedication needed is, all of our might, mind, and strength. Brethren, let's make our calling and election sure by thrusting in our sickle with all our might, that we might stand blameless at the last day.
Best wishes for success.
DECEMBER 1969
TO: All Bishops, Quorum Presidents, and Group Leaders
Brethren, are we putting all we should into our oral evaluations? Are you taking the time to have prayer individually with each home teacher? Are you planning in depth, setting long term and short term objectives or goals? Are you using challenges and getting commitments? Have you considered ways and means of getting our families involved in church service?
One of the unique things about Christ's Church is that there is a job for every member and whether we consider some callings large or small, every calling in the Church is greater than the capacity of any of us if we do all that could be done with each assignment.
Getting back to holding oral evaluation and interviews, President Anderson gave us some real good instruction concerning this. He reminded us these interviews are to help our brethren and sisters, not a time to check up and criticize them, but a time to extend love and understanding and words of advice and encouragement. Let's make our interviews and oral evaluation meetings more than just a report meeting, a time of checking to see if last months home teaching was done. Go to these meeting spiritually prepared, to give each set of home teachers a lift spiritually. Make the meetings personal, bear testimonies often, enjoy the fellowship of the gospel under the influences of the Holy Ghost. Then there will be no room in your heart for criticism, then you will send your brethren forth with love for their families and a strong desire in their hearts to see that each member on their beat "be made partakers of this divine spirit." This is a gospel of love and results can only come when those involved in this work approach this calling with love in their hearts, and a Godly concern for the true happiness of the families they visit.
We may devise different approaches, different plans of attack, and ways of getting our families involved in church service, but without real concern and deep felt love, we will accomplish little. Our Families have to be made to feel our sincere intentions for their welfare, not that we have a monthly visit to make in order to fill our home teaching assignment.
If we find this joy and happiness in our calling, and install it in the hearts of our home teachers then they will in turn take it into the homes of the families they visit. So our spiritual preparedness for oral evaluation is our greatest need. You are the yeast that leavens the whole loaf.
Another part of oral evaluation should be an expression of appreciation and recognition for the efforts our home teachers have made. There is great motivating power in unfeigned appreciation. All of us are working for that expression of appreciation and approval from the Lord, "Well done thou good and faithful servant." When we become aware that others are sincerely interested enough in our labors to compliment us and express appreciation for our efforts, we will become buoyed up in the spirit of our calling. We get the desire to prove that this recognition was not a mistake, that we really are what our leaders think we are. And if they really think we are doing that good, we would not disappoint them for anything in the world.
You will find that sometime in the life of everyone who fails there were those whose only advice was criticism and discouragement. Likewise, all successful people have been complimented and encouraged and given confidence by someone who told then how good they did. Compliments help build confidence. Tell a man he can do the job enough times and he will do it. Tell a man he cannot do the job enough times and he cannot. From the springs of success flows the life-giving streams of motivation. If you want to motivate a man to succeed, tell him a success story or give him a success example. We all like to hear success stories they usually show the results of work well done, and that there are rewards being experienced by their fellow servants. If one is never shown the fruits of home teaching it's hard to keep his enthusiasm up.
Can you see that our calling is more than just an assignment to check on home teaching and making reports. If we are to do a good job, we must take time for meaningful oral evaluation. The oral evaluation yields more dividends per hour invested in achieving our goal of quality home teaching than any other teaching effort.
May you experience the joy of your calling.
JANUARY 1970
To: All Bishops, Quorum Presidents, and Group Leaders
Dear Brethren:
Some words about goals. We should know where we are going or at least where we want to go. Just as a captain of a sea going vessel knows his destination before he leaves, so we should have foremost in our minds our ultimate goal. The captain must chart his course to circumnavigate the shoals and reefs in order to reach his final destination. And as his trip includes stops at ports of call along the way so likewise we must set short goals, but not forgetting the ultimate objective or destination.
By turning to the scriptures maybe we can get a clearer picture of what our long term goals should be. First the Lord has told us what His goal is. "This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." If this is His work and glory, could we find a more noble goal than this?
In June 1829 Brother John Whitmer was given a revelation from the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith by means of the Urim and Thummim found in Section 15 of the D. and C. the Lord in answer to Brother Whitmer's desire to know that which would be of most worth unto him said this, "And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me that you may rest with them in the Kingdom of My Father." And again in Section 18 the Lord speaking to Oliver Cowdry and David Whitmer, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, and how great is His joy in the soul of repenteth, and if it be so that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people and bring save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the Kingdom of My Father. And now if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the Kingdom of My Father how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto Me."
Just as it is with the sea captain our setting a goal and getting there are two different things. This is where short term goals come in. Each reef and shoal takes special care and correct action to pass by, so we must work with special care and correct action with each individual we are assigned to work with. As no two seas have the same obstacles, so no two of our Fathers children have identical needs. So we must continually plot our course of action. We must probe first with one plan, then another route must be taken always with the long term objective in mind. Remember Brethren you have been called of the Lord to help in achieving His great goal, and having been called of Him, you are not left alone. "Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you knock it shall be opened unto you." D. and C. 14-5. You will receive revelation pertaining to your calling if you will put "your own house" in order, then humbly seek guidance from our Father in Heaven.
Brethren, use the church and all its opportunities for activity. The Lord in his wisdom knew it would be a lot easier for His children to over come their weaknesses if they could lose their selves in the service of others. We all need to become involved in church service. Just to live the Word of Wisdom for reasons of health will reform but few, but if the spiritual aspect is injected the chances for change is greatly enhanced. If we have problems, and a desire to overcome them, how much better our chances are if our associates are found in the church where correct principles are being taught and good examples being set. How much harder if our associates are found in the house of wickedness, where bad examples are everywhere, and there is no one to give righteous instruction or encouragement. How must harder without the spirit of the Holy Ghost to lead us, how much easier if we are where prayers are uttered instead of vile language and unclean conversation is used. Yes, we all need to have a job. We all need to become involved in God's great goal, to bring happiness into the lives of as many of our brothers and sisters as possible. Happiness can only come through righteous living. Alma tells us "wickedness never was happiness."
How important it is brethren that we understand, and have a testimony of these things. Our job is to "lift up the hands which hang down and strengthen the feeble knees" of our brethren. We must love our calling, our brethren, and our God. We must be long suffering, We must continually encourage, remind, check, invite and use all the initiative God has blessed us with. We are all children in many ways and as children we like praise, we need to be reminded and encouraged. Brethren, we are our brothers keeper.
When we were in the Army, we were taught the buddy system (where you looked after me and I looked after you). It is still a good system. You remind me of my duties and I will invite you to Priesthood Meetings. You encourage me to do my Home teaching and I will