HAPPY DISNEY HALLOWEEN

 

HOME OF ROBERT KENNER and wife ANNE MARGARET RASMUSSEN ~~~Researched, compiled and updated by Tudy Brentsen Standlee

 

HOME OF LEVI FRANKLIN PRITCHETT and WIFE SARAH ELLEN THOMPSON (From our archives)

 

 

 

MT. PLEASANT GRAVE MARKERS 2005 (From Our Archives)

 

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

Clark Truscott, a lifelong friend of Peter Hafen

Mrs. Clitheroe ~ A friend of My Mother's

Alice and Niel Hafen  (Peter and "our kids")

Oscar Anderson

Jack and Parline Shepherd
Peter puts an arrow this grave site in memory of many bow hunting trips. 

Orlin and Veone Simons, Our Daughter-in-law's relatives 

Annie Lizzie Buchanan

Annie Theresa Peel

Peter Madsen Peel and wife Christine Folkman Peel
Peter memorializes with a blacksmith crafted cattail.
Peter M. Peel, First Mt. Pleasant Blacksmith 

Hilda Madsen Longsdorf
Author of Mt. Pleasant History

JANET JEAN SEELY ~~~ Truly Missed

 

Janet Jean Seely

March 22, 1958 — October 17, 2025

Mount Pleasant

Listen to Obituary

Janet Jean Olson Seely was born on March 22, 1958, to Glade Larry Olson and Rhea Jean Livingston in Mount Pleasant, Utah. She peacefully passed away at home surrounded by her family on October 17, 2025, after a long, courageous battle with COPD.

Janet grew up in Moroni with her parents and her younger brothers. She was a bright, friendly child. She had many friends growing up, a trait that defined Janet’s life. Janet was a good sister who loved and looked after her brothers. Janet enjoyed spending time with her grandma Livingston and was often at her house.

Janet and her former husband, Richard Kent Olson, married on November 15, 1975. They had two daughters, Aimee and Misty, who they adored.

Janet married her late husband, Stanton C. Seely, on December 6, 1999. They lived a wonderful life together full of love, joy, and laughter in Mount Pleasant, where they renovated and moved into their dream home. Their family was a true blended family, Stanton and his family loved Janet’s children and grandchildren like they were his own and Janet’s family loved Stanton deeply. Stanton later passed on January 23, 2011.

After Stanton’s passing, Janet found an amazing companion, David Clancy Johnson. They went on many adventures together and had a lot of fun. Clancy was a dedicated partner who took Janet to her many medical appointments and never left her side. They went to the bar almost everyday until her passing for a root “beer”, potstickers, and Peanut M&Ms.

Janet was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2019. She fought it and won. After her bout with Cancer, she took up riding a Harley. She loved it. Her kids, not so much. She loved the feeling of the wind on her face, and the freedom riding gave her.

Janet loved a lot in life. She loved gardening and flowers. She loved going fishing and riding in the boat. She loved her dogs. She loved shopping for anything, literally… anything. She especially loved shopping for Christmas decorations, primitive home décor, and antiques. She was always bringing something new home. She would call her daughters and ask, “Where can I put this?” and they’d simply ask what she wanted to take out. The answer was nothing, so they made room for all. She has so many trinkets and intricate things, her family is pretty sure she had more butter molds and coffee grinders than an antique museum. She loved old quilts, hutches, and teacups and had many for decoration in her home. Janet’s daughters called it “mom stuff” and she loved all of it.

Janet loved her family, especially her beautiful grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was proud of each one of them and loved seeing them more than anything.

Janet was a 30-year fixture at the Triangle Lounge. She loved working there with Stanton until his passing. In 2012, Janet purchased the bar, and it became Stanley’s Triangle Lounge. Janet was a pillar in the community and served many people their first legal drink. She is very much loved by her bar family and will be sorely missed.

Janet is survived by her companion, David Clancy Johnson, Fairview, Utah; her children Aimee (Kyle) Jensen and Misty (Russell) Hill, Mount Pleasant, Utah; her grandchildren Garrett (Reagan) Pyper, Kyden Johnson, and Ava Jensen; and her great-grandchildren Hudson, Paisley, and Grayson Pyper; her brother Larry (Robin) Olson, Kaysville, Utah; her loving furry friend Zero; and many in-laws, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

Janet was preceded in death by her husband Stanton C. Seely, her parents Glade and Jean Olson, her brother Kirk L Olson, and many in-laws, friends & extended family members.

The family wishes to thank Clancy for being Clancy and all he has done for our mom for so many years. We love him. We also wish to thank Dr. David Bennion and IHC Home Health and Hospice for their kindness and care.

Janet wanted everyone to know she loved them… all of them! She wanted to say thank you to all her loyal customers over the years. She is going to miss all of you!

After opening a cupboard in Mom’s home after she passed, we directly blame her for the coin shortage of 2020. We think it’s hilarious, the bank probably not so much! We apologize in advance.

Janet was truly a bad ass! We will miss her.

MARIAN EVA LAY SCHOONOVER ~~~ Daughter of Howard and Eva Beck Lay ~~~ Together Again With Her Husband

 

Marian Eva Schoonover

March 3, 1941 — September 26, 2025

Fairview

Listen to Obituary

Together Again 

The Heavenly choir just received an amazing addition. Marian is now singing and playing beautiful music again!

Marian Eva Lay Schoonover was born on March 3, 1941 in Mt. Pleasant Utah to Howard K. and Eva Beck Lay. She was born with an ear for music, and she amazed everyone with her talent. Marian could play any song that she had ever heard, by ear. She never had piano lessons, but you wouldn’t believe it if you ever heard her play. If she didn’t know a song, you could just hum a few bars, and she would play it as if she had always known it. She could transpose to any key, on the fly, to make the singer sound their best. She filled our home with beautiful music every day. Our fondest memories are sitting around her at the piano and singing Christmas carols together as a family. She was such a cool mom, playing in a band, and entertaining at parties. She truly blessed so many lives with her music.

After graduating from North Sanpete High School (with her dad as her principal), she attended Snow College, where she was a cheerleader. While at Snow, she was entertaining at an event in Maple Canyon, playing the guitar and singing, when she caught the eye of her sweetheart, Lee Schoonover. They were married on December 12, 1961, in the Manti Temple. There was a huge snowstorm that day and it took them three attempts to get up the hill to the temple. Marian and Lee had great years at Snow and Westminster College. She supported him as he played basketball, and she helped him finish school. She was so supportive as he started his career, and they were such a great team. Together, they had four children: Marilee (Rick) Poulson, Gary Schoonover, John (Sidnie) Schoonover, and Paula (Matt) Evans. Marian was involved in all of our activities, volunteering at the school, playing for talent shows and plays and singing groups, playing catch in the backyard, and cheering loudly from the stands. She was an entertainer. She would host great parties, and it never failed that someone would ask her to play the piano. Lee was always so proud of her and loved to show off her talent.

Marian was a great friend. She had the opportunity to move around the country with Lee’s job, and she was able to develop great friendships in every place that they lived. She had a little red phone book full of numbers and addresses. and she kept in touch with all of her cherished friends over the years. In Fountain Valley, she would get on her little 10-speed bike and ride all over the neighborhood, going to check on her friends and stop for visits. She really was such a great friend and loved to laugh and to serve.

 Marian loved her family fiercely. She would do anything for us. After settling in Fairview, following retirement, she loved being close to family. Her health struggles in recent years made it difficult to attend all of the various family events, but she never missed her early morning birthday phone calls to sing to us. She called very very early, so she could be the first one to wish us a happy birthday. She truly loved her family.

In her later years, Marian’s health struggles increased. Lee took such tender care of her for many years, until it became too difficult. She moved into an assisted living facility and Lee would make the long drive to visit her multiple times a week, where they would play cards and just be together. They were such a great team and their love story has been such a wonderful thing to witness. The love and service that they have shown each other over nearly 64 years, is such a great example of what true love is. Their love and devotion was obvious this week, as we know that they still longed to be together. Our sweet mom went to go be with dad, only 16 short days after his passing. We find comfort in knowing that they are together and that their love story lives on.

Marian is survived by her children Gary, John, and Paula, and son-in-law Rick Poulson, 12 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, and her sister, Paula Bright.  She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Sandra and brother Ron, her daughter, Marilee Poulson, and her grandson, Kyle Poulson.

We would like to thank First Choice Home Health for the wonderful care that they have provided over the last few years.

Graveside services for Marian will be held Monday October 6, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. in the Mt. Pleasant City Cemetery. 

To Watch Recorded Graveside Service, Click Here.

Recordings will be available for 60 days from date of service. 

THE GREAT SALT LAKE MERIDIAN (From ourarchives)

 

With permission of David R. Gunderson, we include the following book to our blog.   I will do a few increments at a time, as I have done with the Andrew Madsen and James Monsen histories.  I will also paste the pages over to David's own blog page: http://davidrgunderson.blogspot.com/

This book will be of interest to not only the Gunderson Family but also to the Brotherson, Ericksen, Peel,   Madsen, Larsen and more.

RECIPES: DANISH PICKLES, BRAN BEER and STARCH CAKE

 

HOME OF MATHIAS JURGENSEN and wife (STINE ) MARY THOMPSON ~~~ Researched, Compiled and Updated by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

 

PIONEER ANCESTORS OF PRESIDENT DALLIN HARRIS OAKS AND JUNE DIXON OAKS ~~~ (From our archives)

 

Dallin H. Oaks has strong ties to the Seely and Wilcox Families of Mt. Pleasant.

OLD NORTH SANPETE HIGH SCHOOL DEIMOLITION BID ~~~ JANUARY 31, 1990

 

History of Peter Madsen Peel and wife Christine Folkman Peel

 

 

Peter Madsen Peel

The beautiful Peter Madsen Peel home was located on First West and Main Street where the Triangle Lounge now sits. It was torn down to accommodate the Seely Hinkley Garage in later years.

Peter Madsen and Christine Folkman Peel History

(excerpts taken from research by Madeline Merrill Mills a great-granddaughter) Peder Madsen Peel (Pihl, Piil) was born on the 24th of August 1820 in the town of Aaker, Bornholm, Denmark. His father, Henning was a farmer and he had a small farm just outside the town of Aaker.

Peder and his father had a wonderful feeling for each other and were very close. Both of them were small in stature and they worked well together. Peder was very apt in the mechanical things and would fix anything. He learned the blacksmith trade. He may have worked for his future father-in-law because Jergen Folkman, too, was a blacksmith. This ability to know how to do things certainly stood him in good stead in his later life.

On November 27, 1846, he married Christine Folkman, a daughter of the blacksmith. They were the same age as they were probably school friends and had known each other all their lives. She was a dark, slender young lady who moved swiftly and was happy and gay. She was the second child and daughter of eight children. They were married in the white Lutheran Church in Aaker and their first little girl, Christiane, was born the following year. She lived about ten days. They had another little girl the next year, July 25, 1848. They named her Christiane, too, but she lived only until the following March and Christiane Pihl was without a baby again.

On the 14th of November, 1850, she had a little boy, Christian Frederick, and they were so happy with him. They lived in a little house just outside of town. They had a big garden - the soil was deep and rich and things grew easily. Both Peder and Christiane had a feeling for growing things. Christiane loved flowers and the spring ones especially. The baby grew into a sturdy healthy boy, and followed his father and mother around their place in Aaker.

The first Mormon missionaries came to Bornholm in June of 1851 and had very limited success, but had baptized four people. They were called back to Copenhagen for a general conference in August of 1851, and at this time it was decided to organize a branch of the church in Bornholm.

Brothers Anthon Agren and Hans Peter Jensen came to do this. In October they moved into the Aaker section and on October 18th they were holding a meeting at the home of neighbors of Christiane's father and her brothers went over to hear what they had to say. At the meeting, the Elders said that the Lutherans were teaching false doctrine; and this made an impression the young men. Chris wrote in his autobiography that he and his brother, Peter, decided to repent of their sins but didn't want to be Mormons. Christiane's older married brother, Jeppi, was also at the meeting and he invited the missionaries to their home. He also invited his brother and father and several relatives to be there. The Elders spoke and Chris wrote that he wanted to protest what they were saying, but they proved with references of the Bible that what they said was right. Then in November there was another meeting at Jeppi's home and this time Christiane and Peder and Peder's father, Henning and mother, Karen, as well as other relatives and friends attended. It was a very inspirational meeting and right after this meeting, the very same evening, her brother, Jeppi, and his wife and cousin, Anders Ipsen, and wife, and a neighbor, Trana Johnson, decided to be baptized. All of the people from the meeting walked the mile and on-half to the beach and the five were baptized. It was very thrilling to the crowd to see the baptism done in the original way.

A few days later on the tenth of November, Peder's father, Henning, and mother, Karen, and sister Caroline, were baptized by Elder Jensen. About this time, the people of Bornholm, stirred by the Lutheran Church, began to be very unfriendly to the members and to the investigators. They made threats if people joined the Mormon Church and there were some beatings. Brother Jensen had returned to Copenhagen for Conference in November and Brother J. Jorgensen who had been ordained a priest was continuing with the meetings. Christiane's brothers and Peder's father were right in the middle of the persecutions. It was very heavy around Aaker. At one time the Elders were literally carried out of the county and threatened that they would be killed if they came back. The mob was led by the sheriff.

Christiane's brothers, Peter and Christoffer, were baptized on the 29th of November and the next morning they wee told by some customers to the blacksmith shop not to expect any more work from them because no Mormon could ever do work for them. The next day, Jeppi was ordained a Priest and also District President and his cousin, Anders Ipsen was made a Priest and his counselor. A mob with clubs were ever around. The members there in Bornholm were abused and beaten, arrested and their lives made miserable. Their jobs were threatened and some lost them, but through it all only one couple left the Church.

Every day there were more and more baptized. In February, Jeppi was called as a missionary and other missionaries, including one from Zion, Brother John Forsgren, were sent to the island to help. Peder and Christiane knew the church was true. On August 2, 1852, they went to the beach and were baptized by Brother Ole Svendsen. The mobs were relentless in their search for the missionaries and in their harassment of the members but the members continued to hold their meetings.

In the autumn of 1852, the subject of emigrating from Denmark to Utah was brought up. All the Pihls decided to leave. They got their outgoing permits on the sixth of November, 1852. But there just was not enough money for all to go, so it was decided that Peder's father and mother and sister should go. A total of 25 adults and 11 children sailed for Copenhagen to join other Scandinavian converts for the trip. They sailed for England on December 20th, 1852 via Kiel. Brother John Forsgren sailed with them. At the dock, along with a crowd of Saints, was a big crowd of hecklers but no violence occurred.

In the year of 1853, many more people were baptized. There were healings, and faith-promoting events. Violence increased, if anything, but there was much love among the Saints and everyone helped each other.

Peder and Christiane were busy getting the money together and preparing to leave. Her brother, Jeppi, who had spent one and one half years in Norway on a Mission - six months of this in jail and his wife, who had gone to Copenhagen to stay until he got back were leaving, too. The middle of December, 1853, they sailed to Copenhagen. Their brother, Chris, met them there. He had been called to the island of Lolland as a missionary. It was a wonderful reunion. As usual there was a big crowd at the dock and after the ship sailed, one of the missionaries was beaten. The ship "Slesvig" was carrying 301 Saints . President John VanCott accompanied these emigrating Saints by way of Keil, Gluckstadt, and Hull to bid them farewell at Liverpool. They sailed from Liverpool the 26th of January. The ship had been delayed because of sickness of the children. More than a dozen had died. But they sailed on the Benjamin Adams with 179 Scandinavian and six British Saints under the direction of Hans Peder Olsen.

It took more than six weeks for the trip to New Orleans. There had been sickness and several deaths on the way. Little Christian Frederick died two days before they docked. Christiane could not stand to have him buried at sea as she had seen others be and she prayed to God that if he would let her keep him until they reached land she would not cry. She carried him off the ship when it docked and Christian Frederick was buried on a knoll in a grove of trees at New Orleans. She was again without child, but at this time was expecting again. The group of Saints went up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and after staying there for awhile, went on to Westport, Missouri, now part of Kansas City, where other Scandinavian people had arrived and gathered.

A company was formed under the direction of Hans Peder Olsen as Captain. The emigrants began their journey on June 15th 1854, but some of their wagons were so heavily laden that a halt was called by Captain Olsen and messengers sent to Leavenworth, Missouri to consult with Orson Pratt of the Council of Twelve, who, that season was the emigration agent for the Church. He advanced the company enough money for 50 more wagons. It was while they were waiting that Christiane gave birth to another little boy. They named him Christian Frederick, too. He grew to manhood. Christiane had a great power of recuperation and she never complained.

One of the happiest times on the trek was when they met Erastus Snow going East on a mission to the States and he spoke to them in their own language. It was like manna from heaven in this strange land.

Peder's father and mother and sister had arrived in Salt Lake the hear before on September 13, 1852, with the john Forsgren Company. The mother was ill and exhausted from the long journey and had died on the 30th of November, just two months after their arrival. She was buried in Salt Lake. Shortly afterwards, his father and Carolyn went to Lehi to live. When Peder and his family arrived, they went on to Lehi and settled there. It was already October and cold and because they could manage nothing better, they lived in an old hut that winter. The roof was poles covered with dirt to keep out the weather. One day in the spring, as the ground got softer from thaw, the walls gave away and the poles fell in almost killing Peder's wife and baby. He immediately began to build them a cabin and they had a garden planted. Soon after this, Peder, Christiane and his father came to Salt Lake to find his mother's grave but it was unmarked and they could not find it, nor to this day do we know where it is.

The Piils lived in Lehi for several years - four in all and Caroline married Hans Yes Simpson, another Danishman. Christiane's father and brother, Peter and family came in a handcart company in the Spring of 1857, and came to Lehi to be with them. Another daughter was born to them on March 1, 1858. She was named Margaret Folkman Peel and blessed in the Lehi Ward. By this time, they had anglicized their name to "Peel".

On Sunday, March 21, 1859, President Young, because of the imminence of the arrival of Johnson's Army, issued an order for all families north of Salt Lake to travel south, and the migration south started. Peder's father and sister and husband went with it and settled at Ephraim. The trouble with Johnson's army was over in a few weeks so Peder and Christiane stayed the winter along with her father and brother, Peder, and family, but early the next spring they packed their belongings and moved to Sanpete County where his father was and they were among the first settlers of Mt. Pleasant.

Peter M. Peel passed away November 17, 1900 as a result of a paralysis of the heart after only a few hours sickness. He was one of Mt. Pleasant's earliest and most prominent pioneers. The Book of Mt. Pleasant by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf names Peter M. Peel as Mt. Pleasant's first Blacksmith. He presided over the Scandinavian Meetings for twenty years.

Christine Folkman Peel passed away November 6, 1899. She was a faithful and kindly lady, beloved by everyone. She was a counselor to the President of the Relief Society. Whenever any of the LDS Church authorites visited Mt. Pleasant, they made the home of Sister Peel their stopping place. She and her husband, Peter M. Peel were husband and wife for fifty three years<> We would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or e-mail us at pandk@cut.net.