Great Grampa Jones

I found this old photo of Great Grampa Jones. He was a sheep rancher down in Panguich. As you can see he lived to a ripe old age of 92. He was a sweet guy with a voice like velvet. And he played a mean fiddle at the dances in Glendale.

I think he looks like Steve Martin.

BYU Envelope 1938

When I was putting away the letter below I found the envelope that it came in and thought it might be interesting to some of you as well. I can picture my dad carefully opening the end of the envelope to see what it said. Gotta love the 3-cent stamp! SH

BYU 1938

Thought you might be interested in this letter to my dad when he was 19 years old. He had attended BYU the previous year and got diptheria and had to go home. Family legend has it that Leroy Robertson visited him in the hospital and brought ice cream and treats to cheer him. As you can see, he greatly valued Dad's musical talent and hoped to continue to mentor him. (According to Mom, he was first chair on string bass his freshman year.) At some point Dad was offered a position with the Utah Symphony but he declined in favor of his interest the popular music of the time.

Another Smoker in the Family

Ok, I've told you about my cigar smokings days, and the cowboys who smoked the Book of Mormon.

Now, as promised, I'll tell you about another of your ancestors who took up the habit.

From the book Life Sketches: "It was quite common in those days for old people to smoke, and my grandmother indulged in this habit; she would often ask me to light her pipe for her.

In doing so I learned to smoke and liked it so much that whenever I saw anyone smoking, I had a craving desire to take a few whiffs myself. This was innocently indulged in at intervals, for a number of years, until at length I was awakened to a sense of the danger of the habit.

"There was a monitor within that told me it was wrong, and what it would lead to if persisted in; I should be, if I lived, an old lady smoker. This thought disgusted me, for I never did like to see a woman smoke, or men either as for that matter, so the habit was broken off entirely, although it was hard for me to drop it."

Who is she? Aurelia Spencer Rogers, founder of the Primary.

Heaton Men

Jon wanted to know about Jonathan Heaton and the founding of Alton Utah. Here's Jonathan and his boys.As the caption shows (or doesn't show) the number of heads doesn't equal the number of names. My grandfather is Junius, the fifth son. I'm not sure where he is in the picture.

Here's Junuis and Mabel, my grandmother, taken in 1906.

Henry Webster Esplin

Henry Webster Esplin was my great-grandfather. He was born October 20, 1854 in Nephi and died September 22, 1943 in Orderville. He was always on the move and multi-tasking. Here's a little snippet from The History of Kane County: "He was never idle. People said of him that he never walked; he always ran or moved with such swiftness that he seemed to be running. He made his time count in little ways most people neglect. When he came into one of his homes for a meal or for some other reason he carried an armful of wood or some vegetables."

He was Bishop of Orderville from 1884 to 1910.

And here's a funny story you don't hear every day. "Bishop Esplin worked at the Canaan Ranch with a group of men who were not Mormons, or at least not devout ones. The bishop found a Book of Mormon on a shelf in the bunk house and began to read it. The other men smoked and ran out of paper to roll their tobacco in. They started to tear leaves from the Book of Mormon. He insisted that they tear no leaves he had not read. He remarked, 'I read the Book of Mormon that winter while the other fellows smoked it.'" (ibid. pg. 386)

~Dad H

Self-reliance

...an excerpt from The Majesty of Calmness by William George Jordan

The man who is self-reliant seeks ever to discover and conquer the weakness within him that keeps him from the attainment of what he holds dearest; he seeks within himself the power to battle against all outside influences. He realizes that all the greatest men in history, in every phase of human effort, have been those who have had to fight against the odds of sickness, suffering, sorrow. To him, defeat is no more than passing through a tunnel is to a traveller,--he knows he must emerge again into the sunlight.

The nation that is strongest is the one that is most self-reliant, the one that contains within its boundaries all that its people need. If, with its ports all blockaded it has not within itself the necessities of life and the elements of its continual progress then,--it is weak,
held by the enemy, and it is but a question of time till it must surrender. Its independence is in proportion to its self-reliance, to its power to sustain itself from within.

What is true of nations is true of individuals. The history of nations is but the biography of individuals magnified, intensified, multiplied, and projected on the screen of the past. History is the biography of a nation; biography is the history of an individual. So it must be that the individual who is most strong in any trial, sorrow or need is he who can live from his inherent strength, who needs no scaffolding of commonplace sympathy to uphold him. He must ever be self-reliant.

The wealth and prosperity of ancient Rome, relying on her slaves to do the real work of the nation, proved the nation's downfall. The constant dependence on the captives of war to do the thousand details of life for them, killed self-reliance in the nation and in the individual. Then, through weakened self-reliance and the increased opportunity for idle, luxurious ease that came with it, Rome, a nation of fighters, became,--a nation of men more effeminate than women. As we depend on others to do those things we should do for ourselves, our self-reliance weakens and our powers and our control of them becomes continuously less.

Man to be great must be self-reliant. Though he may not be so in all things, he must be self-reliant in the one in which he would be great. This self-reliance is not the self-sufficiency of conceit. It is daring to stand alone. Be an oak, not a vine. Be ready to give support, but do not crave it; do not be dependent on it. To develop your true self- reliance, you must see from the very beginning that life is a battle you must fight for yourself,--you must be your own soldier. You cannot buy a substitute, you cannot win a reprieve, you can never be placed on the retired list. The retired list of life is,--death. The world is busy with its own cares, sorrows and joys, and pays little heed to you. There is but one great password to success,--self-reliance.

Anniversary gift

She's a beauty, huh?

An anniversary gift from Susan.

When you push the button the faces change.

First Date Too

In all fairness I should add my two bits to the First Date post. Let's go back a couple of weeks, though. There I was, my hairnet in place, my food-laden industrial apron securely tied, my splattered once-white nurse shoes on my feet, hunched over the big sink near the giant dishwashing machine, when suddenly Young Doug saunters over and asks me for a date. Romantic! Well, his industrial apron was also securely tied though I wasn't sure if his head was on tight enough at that point, but I think I looked up from my sudsy cooking pot and said I would like to go.

When he arrived at 219 Crusader Drive in the Red Flash wearing a black suit and his flowered tie, he created quite a sensation at the Gregersen household. Mom and Dad appeared, all smiles, and visited with Doug for a few minutes while my brother Hal peeked around the corner grinning and smirking to beat the band.

We did, indeed, go to dinner at the Balsam Embers, my very first fancy-schmancy restaurant experience. I had no clue what to do, so I carefully watched Doug and the others and tried not to look too awkward. I remember ordering pork chops since they sounded familiar. (It's not really that easy to look cool and still dig around pork bones to get the meat off.) Doug ordered beef burgundy and his friend Wayne ordered frog legs, so that created some interesting conversation.

The Capitol Rotunda was beautiful and everyone looked so great. Doug introduced me to a bunch of people and we did actually dance a couple of dances but mostly walked around. He remembers the sheep; I remember the racecar that had broken some kind of record at the Salt Flats. We were very comfortable together and did have a great time.

I suppose I was hooked by Halloween, too. Maybe Doug's courage in the face of frightening ghouls on our date at the haunted house/Old Mill that really clinched it...

Anyway, here is a copy of the homecoming dance ticket from that first date for your viewing pleasure. He has carried it in his wallet for hmmm, 37-odd years (with emphasis on the "odd"? As I often say to myself in the words of the famous actor, "You picked a good one!"

OXOXMOM

The first date

It all started on October 1, 1971. I asked Susan to go to Homecoming with me and she said YES! We double dated with Wayne and Kathy. Susan wore a long, yellow formal with elegant white gloves.

We ate at a restaurant called Balsam Embers. It was a nice place located on Foothill Drive overlooking the city until they built a K Mart in the lot right below it. You could ignore the air conditioning units on the gravel roof below and still see the glittering lights of the city in the distance.

After dinner we went to the dance, held in the rotunda of the state capitol. We danced a little and wandered around looking at the displays of sheep and state parks. And we sat in the shoeshine chairs and talked.

It was a wonderful date. We had lots to talk about and felt at-ease together.

There was a second date and a third...by Halloween I was hooked.

And here we are 37 years after that first date and we still like each other. And we love each other, too!

I am blessed with a wonderful companion.

Dad