OLD OVERLAND HOTEL

 

Gordon Richard Staker Obituary

 1938 – 2021

Gordon Richard (Dick) Staker passed away at home in Cedar City, Utah May 18, 2021, at the age of 82. Gordon was born September 12, 1938, in Mt. Pleasant, Utah to Gordon LaVell Staker and Glenda Celestia Rigby. He and his sister Glendona (Charles) Hermansen were the pre-WWII children and his brothers Robert W. (Sheila) Staker, Charles R. Staker, and J. Edward (Sara) Staker were post-war children. He is preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Charles Staker, a grandson, Ryan Vincent Staker, and a nephew, Marc Hermansen.

Gordon and his wife, Beverly Graham, were married in the Manti, Utah temple, September 13, 1957. They recently celebrated their 63rd Wedding Anniversary. They are the parents of five children: Laura Ann (Alan) Bluemel of West Valley City, Utah; Debra (Dean) Brown of Antioch, California; Richard Todd Staker, of Meridian, Idaho; Vicki Lynn (Joseph) Bradley of Taylorville, Utah; and Eric Howard (Kristy) Staker of Harrisville, Utah.

Gordon had a deep love and respect for each member of his family and desired that each visit with grandchildren resulted in fond memories that could be recalled throughout life. He also developed an appreciation of his ancestry, gathering family history records and doing work for them in the temple.

His life was busy with little time wasted. His extra activities included: North Sanpete Jr. High student body president, North Sanpete Seminary president, and Snow College student body president. Gordon was a talented musician, playing the trumpet throughout high school and college. He played in three dance bands in the 1950s as well as more solemn occasions such as military funerals and Memorial Day services.

As a young man, he grew up with a love of the outdoors hunting and fishing and sought his life’s work in an occupation that would keep him close to nature. Gordon graduated from Snow College and Utah State University in the field of Natural Resource Management. He was also a graduate of both Snow College and Utah State University LDS Institutes of Religion and the University Of Montana School Of Administrative Leadership.

Gordon retired from the Bureau of Land Management in 1995 following 37 years of Federal Employment. Early in his career with the BLM, he served as the area manager of the Cedar City and Escalante Resource Areas. In 1974 Gordon was selected to participate in the Department of Interior Managerial Training Program in Washington D.C. and worked in the Legislation and Registration office in Washington D.C. He later served as district manager of the Baker, Oregon, and Cedar City, Utah Districts, and as the Chief of Resources in the Oregon-Washington State Office. He received the Department of Interior Meritorious Award in 1988.

The eldest son of a military man, Gordon grew up taking much responsibility for his parent’s family while his father was serving his country during World War II and the Korean War.

Following a Staker family tradition, Gordon was seventeen when he enlisted in the Utah National Guard where he served for eight years. During the Cuban Missile Crisis Gordon’s unit was activated through 1961-62 as an attachment to the U.S. Army.

Gordon was always found serving Heavenly Father whom he loved. He served as a bishop in Cedar City, Utah, Escalante, Utah, and Baker, Oregon, as Branch President in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, and on the High Council of the Annandale, Virginia Stake, the Beaverton, Oregon, Stake, and the Cedar City, Utah Stake.

After retirement, he and his wife, Beverly, served five missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Russia Moscow Mission, the Hawaii Honolulu Mission, the New York Rochester Mission at the Hill Cumorah Historic Sites, the Ohio Cleveland Mission at the Kirtland Historic Sites, and the California Fresno Mission.

Gordon and his wife, Beverly, served for over five years as Temple Ordinance workers in St. George Temple.

Gordon was a fearless warrior for 23 years battling Parkinson's Disease.

The family expresses gratitude to Suntree Hospice, Ethan Bunker, and Adri for their tender care of their husband and father.

Funeral services were held at the Red Church, 50 State St., Mt. Pleasant, Utah Saturday, May 22, 2021, at 12:30 pm under the direction of Rasmussen Mortuary  Interment at the Fairview City Cemetery with military rights. Online condolences may be sent at www.rasmussenmortuary.com/obituaries/. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Utah Food Bank.

Linda Madsen Cowart

Linda Madsen Cowart, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, passed away peacefully at her home in her sleep on April 28, 2021. Her battle with heart issues in the last few years showed her courage in facing challenges with a smile. Despite the pain, Linda remained resolute until the end.

Linda was born on April 17, 1942, in Mt. Pleasant, UT, to Royal Andrew Madsen and Zella Mower Madsen — their youngest daughter. She was raised in Mt. Pleasant, attended BYU for a while, and eventually settled down in West Valley City, UT.

Linda had a long and successful career in the mortgage business. She was a trailblazer in the industry for women, sitting on the local and national board of APMW, the Association of Professional Mortgage Women.

Linda loved the Utah Jazz, had season tickets for many years, and rarely missed a televised game. She also was an avid reader. In every city she lived in, the first thing Linda did was get her library card.

Linda loved to travel, adventuring across the United States and Europe with family. One of her sayings was, "Might as well do it because you never know when you'll be back."

Friends and family will always remember this in future travels and endeavors. Live your life with abandon and be grateful for every single day you have.

Linda is survived by her daughter Shelley C. Preece, son Kevin E. Cowart, grandson Cole L. Preece, her sister Marilyn M. Johnson, many nieces, nephews and extended family. She was preceded in death by her father Royal, mother Zella, and sister Charlotte Madsen Koski.

Graveside services were held on Saturday, May 15, 2021, at 12 pm in the Mt. Pleasant City Cemetery followed by a 1pm Lunch at The Red Church, 49 S. State St, Mt. Pleasant, UT.  

Rest in Peace Linda Madsen Cowart. Your memory will be greatly cherished.

Mr. Little Fifth Grade (Tudy Barentsen Standlee Collection)

 

Home of Leo Quaintance Barnett and his wife Hannah Christena Osterlin (Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee)

 

Sergeant Charles Rutishauser

 

Earthquake - November 13, 1901 News Accounts

 

AT MT. PLEASANT
There Were Two Perceptible Shocks But No Damage

Mt. Pleasant, Nov. 14--This city was given a severe jolting last evening by the earthquake. No damage was done, but many citizens were badly scared as it is the first one to visit this section in many years. The tremor lasted fully ten seconds and was so severe that upper stories of buildings rocked and swayed very perceptibly. About ten minutes after the first shock a second one of a more lengthy, shivering nature, passed over the town, lasting for about twenty seconds. There was no distinct shock to this one, but the trembling was very plainly felt.



ELECTRICAL DISPLAY IN SANPETE
Weather Director L. H. Murdoch Tells Of Phenomena Witnessed During The Recent Earthquake In Southern Utah--
Rocks On Mountains Shattered By Electricity Or Seismic Disturbance


Weather Director L. H. Murdoch of the local weather office returned Saturday afternoon, from his trip to Manti where he inspected the local voluntary observation station. He brought back with him news of features connected with the late earthquake in Piute and Sevier counties, particularly, which are highly sensational and out of the usual run of seismic disturbances in this section. Mr. Murdoch learned that during the occurrence of the earthquake there were electrical displays all along the ridges and crests of the mountains, in the shape of flashes of light suggestive of aurora borealis displays, the phenomenon continuing while the terrestrial disturbances were in operation. The electricity shot up into the air in great sheets, which though not very vivid, were bright enough to attract attention.
Moreover, Mr. Murdoch learned that rocks along the tops of the ridges and crests of the mountains had been not only dislodged, but torn and shattered either by the force of the earthquake, or by electricity, or both. He found the people of Sanpete, Sevier and Piute counties still very much frightened over the recent occurrence and scarcely knowing what was to come next.
[Deseret Evening News; November 18, 1901]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EPHRAIM VISITED
Tremors Made Bottle Dance and Terrified Citizens

Ephraim, Nov. 14--A very severe earthquake shock was felt in this city last night. The shock commenced at just 9:40, and lasted about thirty seconds, but some of the scared citizens thought it lasted that many minutes. At H. P. Larsen's drug store and at the saloons it made the bottles on the shelves dance a jig. People in the drug store were afraid the house was coming down and ran for the street for safety. No damage resulted from the shock.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
POKER PLAYERS PRAYED
Earthquake In Southern Utah Scared Them
Threw Hands Into the Deck and Sent Up Earnest Supplication--Then Resumed the Game


James Long, superintendent of the June Bug group of mining properties in the Gold mountain country, is in Salt Lake. Mr. Long was at Kimberley a few days ago when the earthquake occurred. "That was the real center of the disturbance," said he yesterday, and it was no laughing matter, either. The first and severest shock was at 9:30 in the evening, and there were a number of smaller ones during the night. It was a regular upheaval, and had the houses been of brick they could not have stood. I was playing hearts with two others in the backroom of a saloon at the time. The game was adjourned and we all ran out. I admit I ran, and I ran hard. I would have run farther, but I did not know where to run to. I am told on good authority that four men were engaged in a poker game at the time at Monroe, and that the meeting was at once resolved into the most enthusiastic prayer meeting ever held in southern Utah. Later they resumed the game."
[Salt Lake Tribune; November 18, 1901]

To read all accounts:
http://www.seis.utah.edu/lqthreat/nehrp_htm/1901sout/n1901so1.shtml#rs

Mt. Pleasant Flagpole ~~~ Long gone. The Draw Knife was donated to the Relic Home by the Gunderson Family

We don't have the flagpole, but we do have the flag at the Relic Home. 

 

Russell Stansfield Poem (written in 1940 while working in Washington D.C.)

\

 

Home of George Farnworth and his wife Susannah Coates ~~~ Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

 

Erma Bushman Shelley

 

 

Erma Shelly

1/12/1926 ~ 1/29/2015

Erma B. Shelley, our loving mother, grandmother, neighbor and friend, “retired from service” and moved on to be with her beloved husband, Dale, early Wednesday, January 29, 2015. She was born January 12, 1926 in Fairview, UT to Jacob Denzil &; Emily Billings Bushman. Erma married Dale Worth Shelley November 24, 1944 in Fairview, UT solemnized in the Manti LDS Temple June 13, 1945. She loved her home; she loved her gardens; she loved her family; and she loved her temple service. This love flowed from God through her. Family and church service were of utmost importance to Erma. Service to those she loved and cared for, was interwoven in the “fabric” of the life she lived. After losing her beloved Dale way too soon on Father’s Day, June 19, 1977. She went to nursing school and touched many lives as a nurse in the Sanpete Valley Hospital. Prior to working as a nurse she cooked at the Mt. Pleasant LDS Hospital for many years. People would schedule their surgeries to align with her work schedule to enjoy her cooking. Continuous church service – a mission to Holbrook, AZ; Election Board service – her handwriting and memory was so exacting; humanitarian service – every Wednesday; Daughters of the Utah Pioneers – every month; and right to the finish, her many church callings. Survived by her children, Carolyn Jane (Dan) Anderson, Mt. Pleasant, UT; Kathryn (Dave) Lister, Fairview, UT; Devon Scott (Debbi) Shelley, Walla Walla, WA; LouAnna (Ted) Haynes, Eureka, UT; David Mark (Pamella) Shelley; Mattawan, MI; Don Ray (Jana) Shelley, Mesa, AZ; son-in-law, Bruce Whiting, Orem, UT; daughter-in-law, Ruth Ann Milner, Cedar City, UT; 33 grandchildren; 73 great-grandchildren & 1 great-great-grandchild; siblings, Donna Thorpe, Salt Lake City, UT; Boyd (Carla) Bushman, Chow Chilla, CA; Carma (Art) Humphries, Bountiful, UT; Jean Johnson, Fairview, UT; Lynn Merth (Camille) Bushman, Salt Lake City, UT; Therald (Lorna) Bushman, Salt Lake City, UT. Preceded in death by her parents, husband, son, Dale Lynn Shelley; daughter, Gayle Whiting; sister, Helen Bushman; grandchildren, David Lister; Lucus Mark Lister; great-grandchild, Ryder Wolfe; brothers-in-law, Glen Johnson & Bert Thorpe; sister-in-law, Elaine Bushman. Funeral service Tuesday, February 3, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. in the Mt. Pleasant 5th Ward Chapel (55 S State). Friends may call Monday from 6-8 p.m. at Rasmussen Mortuary (96 N 100 W Mt. Pleasant), and Tuesday from 9:30-10:30 a.m. at the church prior to services. Interment in the Mt. Pleasant City Cemetery. Online condolence at www.rasmussenmortuary.com

WOW ~~~~Submitted by Larry Staker

 

Israel ~~~ submitted by Larry Staker

 

Memorial Service ~ 1922 for the Service Star Legion~~~ Honoring Merville Zabriskie, Ralph Braby, and Jacob Hafen

 

Edith Bolletta Madsen Mower

 

Home of Bent Richard Hansen and his wife Mary Ellen Allen ~~~ Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

This home history may need to be updated.

 

HILDA MADSEN LONGSDORF

 

Hilda Madsen Longsdorf, author of the Mt. Pleasant History published in 1939 was born 28 November 1877 in Mt. Pleasant Utah.  She was the daughter of Anders (Andrew) Madsen and Johanne Elizabeth Widergreen Anderson.  She married Shoman Doyle Longsdorff  of  Hogestown, Cumberland, Pa. on 7 October 1919.  They had no children.

 

We, the old-fashioned long-haired, long-skirted women of the modestly dressed school must confess there are times when we do admire and envy our beautifully marcelled, well-trimmed, brilliantine sisters of the bobbed hair and knee-length skirt, and we do fight the temptation to "go and do likewise." And become one of the great masses. We assure you it does take a great deal of willpower to say, "Get thou behind me Satan".

***

You will acknowledge it takes a more than ordinary strength to come before so many bobbed heads to tell you of your mistake and sins and to defend your long hair and skirts. But thanks to the teachings of our early innocent childhood when we were taught in school and in Sunday School a verse something like this, "Sin is a monster to be hated, needs to be seen, but seen too often, we first endure, then pity, then embrace.

***

Friends, we may well compare that sin, to the sins of the world, to the sins of the short skirt and the bobbed hair today, and are we not advised from the pulpit to "keep ourselves unspotted from the sins of the world?"

***

We have often heard the bobbed hairdo epidemic defended with the illusion that it makes one look younger. are we not taught to honor and respect old age? Is it honest to look like something you are not? Is it honest to deliberately act out a lie?

***

Only a short time ago, a certain Mt. Pleasant man; (you all know to whom I refer, but we shall call him Bob) was taken to a hospital in Salt Lake City, all on account of something that wasn't. He saw at a distance what he thought was a young chicken. He hopped into his automobile and when he overtook the object, he found that it was an old hen and that she was his mother-in-law at that. The result of the meeting was his trip to the hospital. One day while there, there was a knock at the door.

***

The lady sitting by his bedside, who by the way had her hair, bobbed the day before, stepped into the hall and there she saw a sweet young creature with a boyish bob and a short pantalooned skirt that asked to see Bob. Said the first lady to the younger, "May I ask who you are as we do not allow all visitors." "I am his sister." "Oh, said the other, I am glad to know you, I am his mother." Think of that, mother and daughter not knowing each other, not knowing the members of their own family, all on account of looking like what you are not, with bobbed hair and short skirts.

***

The bobbed hair is robbing the women of today of motherly love, of that sacrificing spirit that has made motherhood so hallowed. Compare the long hairdo mother of yesterday with the short hairdo mother of today, for instance. A few days ago a schoolboy asked his patient, red-faced, perspiring father, who was busy preparing the midday meal, for some money with which to buy a belt. The poor father sadly replied: "Son, never before have I refused you any of the necessities of life, but since Ma bobbed her hair, it is all I can do to keep her on speaking terms with the barber and the Marcellus and attend to the housework. And friends, that poor boy, that son and heir, that representative of the future generation, say perhaps the future mayor of Mt. Pleasant, was forced to go without a belt. And we all know how necessary a belt is to a pair of trousers. Think what might have happened.

***

Now there is an example of following the styles. There was a time when men were blessed with gallowses, then fashion said suspenders. Soon they discarded them and left only a belt. And, Oh what agony the men's belt has caused.

***

We ladies used to have petticoats, underwear, and hose supporters. Gone are the petticoats, fast going is the underwear and we roll our hose. We used to wear sweeping long skirts, sometimes with a graceful train. Then they gave us the ankle-length, then the eight-inch from the ground, then knees and above. Ah, can you not see the immodesty, the brazenness, and the trickery of it. I warn you. Stop your sinful style-following ways, or who, like the men, will only have a belt left.

***

Already a man who often occupies the pulpit, and whose wife is a Relief Society worker has written this verse: Mary had a little skirt, 'twas the latest styles no doubt. But every time Mary got outside, she was more than halfway out."

***

Recently I noticed an ad in a journal to the effect that with the short skirts now in vogue, the hose must match the complexion of the jewelry. And after reading that I stepped into J.C. Penney to see the effect it had had. And there, my friends, I saw old women, young women, grandmothers, and stepmothers if you please, clambering to be waited on. One dear old lady was in tears because they had told her the freckled hose had not arrived. A grandmother rushed in to match some purple beads. Had their skirts been long and modest, like mine, they could have worn any kind of hose and avoided that grief and worry.

***

A few days ago, I saw a North Ward Relief Society Teacher in tears. I asked her the cause and she replied, "Lost, yesterday, somewhere between Bart's and Slim's Barber Shops, two golden braids, each set with sixty golden hairs, now reward is offered for they are gone forever." She like so many poor bobbed hairdo women here today was forced to wear her hat or stay at home. Oh, could they only have had a 10-day free trial, could they only have seen the effects of before and after?

***

The bible tells us, that in bible days, men wore long hair and flowing beards. What have they done? They have cut it off. They have shaved them off, until what do we have now? In Mt. Pleasant alone there are so many bald or almost bald-headed men.

***

Oh, what is the world coming to when women, whose doting mothers gave them saint-like names will brazenly parade the streets with bobbed hair and short skirts and unblushingly show their shapely or unshapely calves, I mean limbs?

***

In last week's Pyramid there was the following verse; Henry Smith is dead, we loved him so, just what caused it, we did not know, until they cut him open, and there they found, short marcelled hairs, floating round and round. Reason tells us, had they been long hairs, they never would have gotten there, for Henry would have seen them, and taken them out of his gravy, pudding, or pie and saved his life before he died.

***

A short time ago, as I was walking through the cemetery, I saw a mound all heaped up with Job's Tears, Love in the mists, Bleeding hearts, and For-get-me-knots. And I thought there has been a great loss. I stepped nearer and read the inscription. "Here lies Randy Lee, the wife of Gus. She bobbed her hair and it ended thus." now think of it. She might have lived forever had she listened to the dictates or that still small voice and the advice of her husband. On a little father in the same cemetery, I heard a man weeping. I went near him to console him, he turned to me with a knowing light in his eye and said, and "Here lies the body of my bobbed-haired wife. Tears cannot bring her back to life. Therefore, I weep."

***

I was told that a husband, who had not kissed his wife for more than twenty years, did so after she was bobbed. The examiners for mental trouble pronounced him incurable.

***

One could go on and on and tell of the sins and sorrows that bobbed hair and the short skirts have caused on the earth. Hee the warning, we are all preparing to be angels by and bye. Have you ever seen an angel or the picture of an angel with bobbed hair and short skirts? No, they all have flowing robes. Let me plead with you as you are as you shall be. As you sow, so shall you reap. With all the proofs we have offered, with all the sadness that has been caused and all the calamities now existing, how can you unblushingly accept the bobbed hair and the economical short skirt?

***

H.E.L.

Hilda Madsen Longsdorf 

Hamilton Elementary 1922 (from our archives)

 

If you double click the picture it will enlarge itself. However, to read the names, you will have to stay in the smaller window.

Alice has helped me identify these children as it is her class. They are numbered in red in the enlarged view. Some were not identifiable but here is what we have:
Teachers
1.Vern Seely
2. ? Rasmussen
Students:
3. Alice Hafen
4. Sylvia Hutchison
5. Nellie Wilcox
6. Phyllis Matson
7. Fern Olsen
8. Vida Allred
9. Birdella Peterson
10. Ruth Christensen
11. Grace Simpson
12. Ada Wright
13. Mary Trontwine
14. Eleanore Peterson
15. Wanda Matson
16. Iris Rasmussen
17. Wanda Nelson
18. Esther Madsen
19. Arvina Monsen
20. Lizetta Seely
21. Ina Rowe
22. Goldie Coates
23. Brooks Madsen
24. Ray Christensen
25. Harold Beckstrom
26. Warren Nolan
27. Elmer Syndergaard
28. Rex Anderson
29. Morris ?
30. Margaret Jensen
31. Cleo Staker
32. ? ?
33. Margaret Stansfield
34. Louise Fowles
35. Margaret Peterson
36. Ina Seely
37. Eva Monroe
38. Dale Nelson
39. Eva Beck
40. Ila Draper
41. Ila Allred
42. Wanda Smith
43. Rowe Olson
44. Grant Brotherson
45. Ivan Gunderson
46. Ralph Brotherson
47. ? ?
48. Roy Weech
49. Armond Wright
50. LeRoy Moss
51. Ivan Christensen
52. Dick Candland
53. Alan Smith
54. Cheratin Jacobs
55. Morris Olsen
56. ? Allerton
57. ? ?
58. ? ?
59. Asa Reynolds
60. Clarence Anderson
61. ?
62. Grant Larsen
63. ? ?
64. blank
65. Dean Peterson
66. Royal Sorensen
67. Roy Romero
68. ? Marx
69. ? ?
70. ? ?
71. ? ?
Please let us know if you have any corrections or questions.

Flander's Field (From our Archives and Lee R. Christensen)

 

           

Ardennes American Cemetery 

The approach drive at Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium leads to the memorial, a stone structure bearing on its façade a massive American eagle, and other sculptures. Within the memorial is the chapel, three large wall maps composed of inlaid marbles, marble panels depicting combat and supply activities, and other ornamental features.

The Ardennes American Cemetery is the final resting place for 5,317 Americans, with 65 percent of those being fallen airmen of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Their headstones are aligned in straight rows that compose the form of a Greek cross. Along the outside of the memorial, inscribed on granite slabs, are the names of 463 of the missing, whose remains were never recovered. The façade on the far (north) end that overlooks the burial area bears the insignia, in mosaic, of the major U.S. units that operated in northwest Europe in World War II.

The reason poppies have become associated with Armistice Day and with this poem, in particular, is because red poppies began to bloom like crazy in the field in Flanders where men had fallen and been buried–where they hadn’t bloomed like this before.

                 

                              

Charles Rutishauser ID: 39835671  Entered the Service From: Utah  Rank: Technical Sergeant  Service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 526th Bomber Squadron, 379th Bomber Group, Heavy  Died: Sunday, June 18, 1944  Buried at: Ardennes American Cemetery  Location: Neupre (Neuville-en-Condroz), Belgium  Plot: D Row: 16 Grave: 4  Awards: Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters,  Purple Heart T/Sgt Charles E. Rutishauser is also remembered with a marker here in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery

Thanks Kathy .  Your picture added  much to the posting.   I don't think any
of the Rutishausers  still around.  I've looked for James a number of times
over the years and have never found him.  I have the action report on the
mission from which Charles did not return.  He and two  others  went down
with the plane, five others POW's.

 Kathy:    And yes, we have a Mt. Pleasanter buried there, Charles Rutishauser, KIA               June 1944.  And by  comparison, a trivia note,  three versions of the poem, page 152, my  book.

                               lee  

    

Autobiographies and Journals of Christian Nielsen Lund Sr.

 

The McClenahan Mill

 

The following comes from
"THE MCCLENAHANS, Mt. Pleasant, Utah

James Kemp McClenahan

and 

Catherine Kidd McClenahan 

Souvenir for Centennial 1959

Ellice McClenahan Carter

In 1908  we displayed various artifacts gathered over the years from the various mills once located in Mt. Pleasant. This article was found on the internet. It tells of a very important part of Mt. Pleasant History.

THE McClenahan MILL

The McClenahan Mill was built according to certain specifications recommended by the territorial authorities. It was a two-story building with a granary and ample space for wheat and bins for graham, cornmeal, and ground feed, also a 20-foot reel for bolting flour. The mill, which was equipped with two elevators, operated with water power from Pleasant Creek, using a Leffell wheel, a wooden flume, and penstock. The flour was good and found a ready market with quantities being shipped to Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Pioche, Nevada. It was not long until the mill operated on a twenty-four-hour basis and required three extra men on the force. One policy of the McClenahan Mill, while under grandfather's jurisdiction was that no family man was ever to be refused flour or feed, whether he had the money at the time of delivery or not. There was no record that any man extended this kindness ever defaulted in his obligation to grandfather. Furthermore, grandfather never reminded anyone of an obligation by sending them a statement of debt. An excerpt from a "tribute" to James Kemp McClenahan and Catherine Orthelia (Kidd) McClenahan on their wedding anniversary. This tribute was written by Ellice Adelaide (McClenahan) Carter. Source: Information copied by Dorothy H. Erickson from the files of Blanch McClenahan (Mrs. Frank) of Toulon, Stark Co., ILL. Mrs. McClenahan is now deceased. Records in possession of Mrs. John Montgomery, Rockford, ILL.

My grandmother, Catherine Kidd McClenahan was a true southern lady and to the "manor born." She bore no resemblance to the "Sure 'nough, honey chile," or the "you all" types so often dramatized. She and the well-to-do and aristocratic James Kemp McClenahan were true examples of the Old South. My grandparent's life together was a beautiful one and a "love affair to the end." In referring to the hardships of pioneer life, Grandma always said, ---" Kemp felt we should settle here, and I think Kemp was right."Sometime after 1856, the James Kemp McClenahan family left Provo, Utah, where they had been for a time and located in Mount Pleasant, Utah. Here in 1866 James Kemp McClenahan began the operation of the milling business. In the beginning when the mill was almost ready to operate they were unable to secure any bolting silk which was necessary to complete the process of turning wheat into flour, and what to do was the question. Grandma had the solution. She offered to sacrifice her beautiful (voluminous) white silk wedding dress as a substitute for the silk bolting cloth, which was not available elsewhere. There was no alternative, sentiment must be made to serve a practical need, the wheels of industry must turn that the people might be fed. (Note: The author remembers seeing in the museum at Marietta, Ohio, beautiful old wedding gowns older than the one above, made of bolting silk. First settlers in Marietta 1790)While Grandma gave her lovely white silk dress, her dress of romance, to be used as bolting silk in the mill, she always kept the foundation, a stark naked wireframe, which we called hoops. It remained a sentimental reminder of the man she loved and cherished, It was part of her "wedding dress," a wedding dress that helped in our city settlement. Among the first houses built in Mount Pleasant, Utah after it had been surveyed and platted was Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was a large house made of adobe facing North on Main Street. It was built close to the street with pine trees on either side. While the house is very plain with no verandas, it had an air of distinction. On the back of the lot were a barn, chicken coop, and smokehouse all built of white adobe. The hop arbor was of light lumber. Between these buildings and the house was a garden. My grandmother's home was always rather special with its grandfather clock, its round rosewood center table, and horsehair sofa, which was not too comfortable. One of Grandmother's prized possessions was a walnut cupboard with glass doors that held her best dishes. In the bedrooms were four posters and marble-topped bureaus and washstands. Grandma's room was rather special. It had a walnut four-poster tester bed with canopy and ruffled valances with walnut bureau and washstand. In the dining room, the chairs were arranged geometrically along the wall. Guests were always welcome at my grandparent's home, either for supper of afternoon tea. If a casual caller came in to see the house or wait for her husband to pick up his grist at the mill, she was served tea with a cinnamon toast by Grandma, gracious as always, in a starched white apron, which was the mode in those times. Very humbly and with great appreciation I record the following tribute to my grandparents, which was given at my grandmother's funeral in 1912. In tribute to her and my grandfather's contribution to the success and early settlement here, it was said: If all the flour and milk products that were given to these good people, and all the money given and loaned without security, together with contributions they made to the needy, had instead, been put in the bank at compound interest from the date of settlement of Mt. Pleasant until the present date (1912), the remaining members of the McClenahan family would be the possessors of great wealth. Such kindness and consideration for his fellowmen remind us of these words, "Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth, not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil." I Cor. 13:4 - 5.And thus passed the original family of McClenahan's who helped build Mount Pleasant, Utah. The name has been immortalized on a beautiful monument bearing proof that the McClenahan's were there. Source: Information copied by Dorothy H. Erickson from the files of Blanch McClenahan (Mrs. Frank) of Toulon, Stark Co., ILL. Mrs. McClenahan is now deceased. Records in possession of Mrs. John Montgomery, Rockford, ILL.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

 

My Mama

Helen Olsen Rodgers Rigby