Friday, June 30, 2017

Richard Brotherson ~ Life-long Friend Passes Away




Richard Ray “Blub” Brotherson, age 70, beloved father, brother, and friend, passed away peacefully after suffering with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases on June 29, 2017, surrounded by his family. Richard was born on May 31, 1947, in Mount Pleasant, Utah, to Ray Christian and Rhoda Havana Nielson Brotherson. He lived his entire life in Mount Pleasant, living near his wonderful family and friends. He married Shauna Marie Wilcox on March 12, 1967. Together they raised their four children. Richard spent most of his life in public service, serving in the police and public works departments of Mount Pleasant City. He also served others as a volunteer in the Mount Pleasant Fire Department and for over 45 years on the Sanpete County Search and Rescue. Richard and Shauna also owned the City Lunch CafĂ© for fifteen years. Richard loved to camp and spend time in the mountains. He and Shauna would frequently take their grandchildren camping on the east mountain. Richard is survived by his children Rich (Molly) Brotherson, Mount Pleasant; Kody (Christine) Brotherson, Nephi; Kaci (Stephen) Hardy, Mount Pleasant; and Kassie (Russell) Christensen, Orem; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; sisters Ellen (Steven) Goble and LuDean (Don) Parish. Funeral services will be held Friday, July 7, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. at the Mount Pleasant North Stake Center (461 N. 300 W.). A viewing will be held prior to services from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with a viewing Thursday, July 6th at Rasmussen Mortuary from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Interment will be in the Mount Pleasant City Cemetery.

Linen, Lace and Poetry









Monday, June 26, 2017

Jesse the Chicken Plucker ~~~ Don Knotts ~~~ Shared by Larry Staker


 As a boy, Jesse was a chicken plucker. That's right.

He stood on a line in a chicken factory and spent his days
Pulling the feathers off dead chickens so the rest of us
Wouldn't have to.
It wasn't much of a job. But at the time,
Jesse didn't think he was much of a person.
His father was a brute of a man.
His dad was actually thought to be mentally ill
And treated Jesse rough all of his life.

Jesse's older brother wasn't much better.
He was always picking on Jesse and beating him up.
Yes, Jesse grew up in a very rough home in
West Virginia.  Life was anything but easy.
And he thought life didn't hold much hope for him.
That's why he was standing in this chicken line,
Doing a job that darn few people wanted.

In addition to all the rough treatment at home, it seems
That Jesse was always sick.
Sometimes it was real physical illness,
But way too often it was all in his head.
He was a small child, skinny and meek.
That sure didn't help the situation any.

When he started to school, he was the object of every
Bully on the playground.
He was a hypochondriac of the first order.
For Jesse, tomorrow was not always something he
Looked forward to.

But, he had dreams. He wanted to be a ventriloquist.
He found books on ventriloquism. He practiced with
Sock puppets and saved his hard earned dollars until
He could get a real ventriloquist dummy.

When he got old enough, he joined the military.
And even though many of his hypochondriac symptoms
Persisted, the military did recognize his talents and
Put him in the entertainment corp.
That was when his world changed.
He gained confidence.

He found that he had a talent for making people laugh,
And laugh so hard they often had tears in their eyes.
Yes, little Jesse had found himself.

You know, folks, the history books are full of people
Who overcame a handicap to go on and make a success
Of themselves, but Jesse is one of the few I know of
Who didn't overcome it. Instead he used his paranoia
To make a million dollars, and become one of
The best-loved characters of all time in doing it!

Yes, that little paranoid hypochondriac, who transferred
His nervousness into a successful career, still holds the
Record for the most Emmy's given in a single category.

The wonderful, gifted, talented, and nervous comedian
Who brought us

Barney Fife (The Andy Griffith Show)
Was
Jesse Don Knotts.


NOW YOU KNOW, "THE REST OF THE STORY"
Jesse Donald 'Don' Knotts
(July 21, 1924 - February 24, 2006)
There is a street named for him and his statue in
Morgantown, West Virginia, his place of birth.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Indian Mary by Eleanor P. Madsen

“Her edifice of strength still calms our fears. She left a lamp to shine through all our years.”1 Mary Thompson, affectionately known as “Indian Mary,” did, indeed, leave a light to shine for those who knew and loved her in the community of Ephraim where she lived for seventy years.

At the time when Mary was six months old, she and her mother had been captured by a band of Indians who took them to Spring City. Here they placed the mother and her baby in a wickiup with a guard stationed to watch them so they wouldn’t escape. During the night the guard fell asleep and Mary’s mother left her on the ground and escaped. No doubt the mother knew if she stayed that both she and the baby would be massacred. No one knows if the mother was able to return to her Navajo people in Arizona. When the Indians discovered that the mother had escaped, they wondered what to do with the baby. It looked as if they would kill her. It was then that Caroline Thompson Black’s husband, Joseph, 12 offered the Indian a hundred pounds of wheat for the baby. The trade was made and the baby was taken to Caroline’s father, Peter Peterson Thompson, in Ephraim where she lived until she was grown.

Mary was a “dear member” of the Thompson family and did much to help them in their declining years. When Mr. Thompson was stricken with cancer she helped care for him in those days, cloth was very scarce and Mary “patently washed all the bandages that were used in the care of the cruel sores.” After Peter died, Mary stayed in the home and cared for his wife, Mary Hansen Thompson, exhibiting the same tenderness she had in caring for Mr. Thompson. A son, Peter Thompson, also lived in the home at the time his first son was born, his wife died. Mary took care of the little boy. “Became his slave,” until he, too, died at the age of six with diphtheria. Mary mourned stoically. For weeks and weeks she kept little food in her stomach, although no one could tell from outside appearances that she was mourning.

As Peter married again, this time to Marie Peterson, Mary decided to leave and for a time made her home with the Canute Peterson family and was “much loved” by them. Later, Mary moved into a small, one room home at 150 East Center Street in Ephraim. Although the room was crowded with many things, it was always neat and clean. A small, coal stove with four lids stood on one side of the room. The stove and pipe were always so shiny you could see yourself in them. A bed, a table, a book case and two chests completed the furnishings. A rack on the back of the door was her clothes closet. During the early years Mary lived in this home, often Indians would come around begging. She was very sensitive about this and would pull the shades down and not answer the door when the Indians knocked.

 Mary was extremely independent and would carry water in a bucket from an outside tap and coal from the pile at the back of her house while walking with crutches. Sometimes, she would let the little boys, Neal and Knute Peterson and LaVor Taylor, help carry the buckets. Mary had her one leg amputated at the knee when she was young.

There are several conflicting stories regarding how this happened. One story states that she was born with a bad leg and developed tuberculosis in it, which caused the need for amputation. Another tells that she was exploring an unfinished house as a child in Ephraim and fell the height of the room, splintering the bones so that they did not heal and had to be removed. A history of Mary says that when Professor Anthony C. Lund, a grandson of Canute Peterson, went to Provo to study music, Mary was sent to care for him. He rented the upstairs of a house. There was no railing around the landing. One night Mary stepped off the landing and fell to the ground, breaking her leg. It was set but would not heal. Finally it had to be amputated.

Even though Mary walked with crutches, she was able to make a living for herself. She became a dressmaker. She was an excellent seamstress and tailoress. She went to the homes where her services were needed, charging 50 cents a day. Many homes in Ephraim were blessed with the skill of her hands as she designed beautiful coats, suits and dresses. May sewed often in the home of P. C. Peterson for the six children in the family. She made suits and coats for the three boys from clothing the father had worn. The boys were always proud to wear anything Mary made for them. The clothes never looked “made over” but were preferred to the boughten suits and coats. At one time she made baseball suits for Neal and Knute who were about nine and ten years of age. They had professional photographs taken wearing the suits.

In addition to her sewing ability, Mary was also an excellent cook. Her dumpling soup was unexcelled. Friends remember that she made the “most delicious divinity they had ever tasted.”  Whether it was cooking, sewing or playing, Mary was enthusiastic. She was one of the College’s strongest “boosters.” There was nothing she enjoyed more than attending basketball games at the college. She had a reserved seat on the front row and was number one in her own private, cheering section. If the opposing team didn’t behave just right, she would shake the umbrella she carried at them.

Her favorite phrase was, “O you big fool!” Evan Ericksen and Rulon Peterson were two players on the Snow College team. She was very fond of Rulon and became extremely jealous when he courted and married Maxine Justesen. As the couple invited Mary to their home for dinners, she grew to love Maxine as much as she did Rulon. They became dear friends. Mary liked baseball and all types of sports. She enjoyed pictures shows. On Saturday afternoon, she and Knute Peterson, a son of P.C. Peterson, “whom she loved as though he were her own,” went to the afternoon matinees at the local theater. The films were mostly Western with many incidents concerning Indians. Mary asked Knute’s mother not to tell him she was an Indian until after her death. When Mary died, Knute was about 12 years of age and did not know, until she was lying in her casket at the home of Jennie Johnson, that Mary was an Indian. This made no difference in his love for her and he would go often to the cemetery and care for her grave.

 In her later years, Mary used to enjoy standing by her curved, wooden picket fence to greet the people who passed by. Whether it was an adult or a child, she enjoyed visiting with him and made many friends through her warm, cheerful personality. A tribute to Mary from Ethelyn Peterson Taylor has this to say of her: “When I read in the Book of Mormon about the Lamanites becoming a white and delightsome people, I think of Mary. She is proof to me. Her skin was no darker than my olive complexion. She was a distinctive looking, aristocratic lady. My recollections of her were that she always wore a long, black skirt with beautiful blouses and a large, elegant, black hat with satin ribbon and hat pins. Although on crutches, she was regal in bearing, always a perfect lady. She was kind, generous and selfless.

Mary was an impressive example of thrift and taking care of one’s self. Through the years she saved enough money to pay for her burial expenses. She never knew she was ‘deprived.’ Mary was a noble, unselfish, intelligent, independent and beautiful character. I shall never forget her.” Mary Thompson was born in 1860 and died in 1930. She is buried in the Ephraim Park Cemetery where many of her friends place flowers on her grave each May time. Indian Mary is a legend of one of Ephraim’s ‘best loved’ citizens. Her life was “one of service and devotion to those who had befriended her.”

Sources:  Saga of the Sanpitch, Maxine R. Jennings, “A Lamp to Shine”. Jennie T. Johnson and Ethel Thompson Lewis history, “Indian Mary”. Personal recollections of: Ethelyn P. Taylor, LaVor Taylor, Lucille Peterson, Grace Johnson, Rulon Peterson, Olive Thorpe, Ruth T. Langston, and Chauncey Thompson. 

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Photos Taken At Mt. Pleasant Cemetery On Memorial Day


Just a random  selection  of photos  ~  Some are friends, some relatives, some very significant to Mt. Pleasant History 

Truscott, Clark
Clark Truscott, a lifelong friend of Peter Hafen
Clitheroe
Mrs. Clitheroe ~ A friend of My Mother's
Hafen
Alice and Niel Hafen  (Peter and "our kids")
Anderson
Oscar Anderson
Shepherd, Jack
Jack and Parline Shepherd
Peter puts an arrow this grave site in memory of many bow hunting trips. 
Simons, Orlin
Orlin and Veone Simons, Our Daughter-in-law's relatives 
Buchanan
Annie Lizzie Buchanan
Peel, J.W.
Annie Theresa Peel
Peel, P.M.
Peter Madsen Peel and wife Christine Folkman Peel
Peter memorializes with a blacksmith crafted cattail.
Peter M. Peel, First Mt. Pleasant Blacksmith 
Hilda
Hilda Madsen Longsdorf
Author of Mt. Pleasant History

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Grace Johnson~~~ Author “Moromon Miracle”


Johnson, Grace

On July 23rd of 1967, a small crowd of about 2,000 people sat quietly chatting together in the early evening in the grandstands of the Sanpete County fairgrounds in Manti, Utah, and listened as rain fell on the metal roof above them. Two angry dark storm centers wheeled together overhead, and occasional flashes of lightning were answered with the sharp cracking and rolling of thunder. In the arena where broncos and bulls were ridden at fair time, the soft earth had been set with transplanted sagebrush, a grove of trees, and a wooden platform which served as a stage. The pioneer movement was represented by one handcart. Two Book of Mormon prophets, Mormon and Moroni, were seen on Temple Hill across the fences to the east, portrayed as a mortal on the west slope by Larry Stable, and as an angel on the temple annex by LeGrand Olson. Doug Barton had hung 100 watt light globes in gallon cans on steel posts to light the hill. Trees east of the fairgrounds had been trimmed to make the temple hill visible to the audience.One lone woman sat apart from the audience, oblivious to threatening storm, but reluctant to take shelter in the grandstand. When encouraged to come up into the protected seats she commented that this first night of the pageant was very crucial. ‘ ‘If it doesn’t go tonight,it will never go.” She chose to sit by herself in the rain.That woman was Grace Johnson. And although she felt that the initial presentation was vitally important, she could never have known the scope and grandeur that would come to the pageant, or the impact that it would have on the lives of people world-wide.

Miss Johnson wrote other books and plays. She had planned to spend her retirement years in writing, but with the request that her Mormon Miracle be prepared to be presented in 1967, she decided to put her writing away for just one year. That year extended into seventeen years, as she gave of her unique talents to help with the pageant.
Grace received dramatic instruction at the University of Utah and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and was a member of the Broadway Dramatists Guild and the International Platform Association for many years. She died in 1984.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

The History Of Flag Day


US Flag Day poster 1917.jpg
The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.
Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as 'Flag Day', and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children's celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."
Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.


 by Duane Streufert,  
Questions or comments welcome!
  Established on 20 November 1994.
Last Updated 10 February 2005.

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Saturday, June 10, 2017

Hyrum and Rozetta Hafen Bramstead


Hyrum and Rozetta Bramstead
Virgil and Katie

The above is taken from the Hafen Family History page 209