Our Tribute to Nancy Reagan; Don Gowers and Gary Howarth.

Nancy and Ronald Reagan were not from Juab County, but they could have been. This computer photo shows them riding high in their saddles like they were just coming back from the Ute Stampede. Their absolute devotion to each other helped buoy Americans and the world to be better people. Like Dale Evans and Roy Rogers, they can now ride  together again, where pillow clouds float; the gentle breeze is constant and where the rolling hills never end. They are true hero's and the same devotion was present with Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. FDR had the name and the money; she had the intellectual capacity of a scholar and yet the wisdom of a matriarchal genius. Harry S. Truman could not have made the major war ending decision he did without his devoted sidekick-Bess. One day while with the FFA in Independence, Missouri, myself and Ed Newton of Mona had  a chance to yell at President Truman and before his Secret Service agent got too nervous, Truman gleefully smiled and yelled back at us in the school bus. As I reflect on Nancy Regan as a national hero, I examined The Times News and found two local hero's had just passed away too. As a neighbor, little did I know that mild manner Don Gowers was a World War Two hero that most of us would never have guessed. Don was a Naval Officer deployed to the South Pacific, assigned to an underwater demolition and reconnaissance unit, the precursor to today's elite Navy Seals. Maybe that is why he permitted his son Clyde and I to take a ride in his Willy's Jeep for a spin around the J hill, to give us a taste of real fear. I also read of Nephi hero Gary Howarth, who not only was in the Korean War, but was in the National Guard and a devoted Nephi City employee for 38 years. To top that off, this country boy was called up to the big league, playing for the Cincinnati Reds in 1962. He then spent his extra innings helping local kids as a coach. I call them real sports hero's and it reminded me of the time when the big boys came to Nephi to watch Gordon Kelson show off his baseball skills. Another American and living hero is my little brother G.B. Jones, a former Army Ranger who is now the mentor for Iditarod Racer Charley Bejna, who at this entry is resting with his dogs on the trail at Rohn on the thousand mile sled dog race in Alaska.