It is not time to get ready for Christmas, but it will arrive and thought we would send this Season's Greeting early or is it late!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat with Ross Garrett, who recently celebrated his 96th birthday. On my return home, I found a Christmas greeting message the Juab Mormon leaders sent to local's in the latter part of December, 1956. In case you didn't get it then, we have made copies of who was in charge of the Sunday going on stuff way back then. Also a shin dig reprint of 1892 Sunday School workers preparing for a hey day of a party, but none were smiling about it.

This is a photo of Nephi, Utah school students of 1921, showing Mr. Warner's 5th grade kids.

It is good to know this writer is in fashion with most of the school boys of 1921, as back then the rage was bib overalls, and that is my main girth covering now a days. Another great thing is that although we have the names of the students, we are not sure which direction the writer was going when the names were listed on the back. The only sure case is the gal standing next to the teacher with the braided hair. Without question, that is LaVon Harris, who later married a Jones. We also know that many of these kids were part of the Nephi High School graduating class of 1928. We also know that Maurice Starr was commonly called "Shine" Starr. Good Luck on the others and try to guess what the girl is looking at who is standing in front of the right column. Perhaps she has her eye on the handsomely dressed boy in front of the left column, or did they do that in the 5th grade! The school was on the west side of what was later called "Central" School on Track Street in the Nephi City of Utah of America.

If you are from Nephi, Utah, you could be a Mormon, and if you are an active one, look out, you may go on a door knocking Mission!

Just in case you missed the "Farewell Testimonial" for these two Nephi, Utah young men, we thought it may be fun to show the programs of those who participated in their LDS church program. If you grew up in Juab County, USA, during the 1960's you just may know some of these participator's. Sadly, many of those good people are now on their own heavenly missions, as is one of the missionaries-Gordon Jones. May none of them be forgotten.

A history book published in 1899 tells the story of America a little bit different than todays school books.

Facts are facts and history is history, or is it! Sometimes, it just may depend on who is recording those facts or what they perceive is accurately happening. During a traumatic incident, various eye witnesses often give different versions of what they think they saw. As a continual student of history, I often don't offer much opinion on present day matters. I like to give it some time for all information to come in and then perhaps have a more keen observation to sustain an opinion as factual history. That sort of thought is not popular in today's media, as people want to know immediately, but often that sort of journalism can be skewed to incite readers and viewers. I bring that up, as I re-discovered a United States history book, and in reading through it, I find that when it was published in 1899, they wrote things as viewed then, with little political correctness or what we may read in todays school history books. That old history book reminds me of the Jack Webb saying of "Just the facts Ma'am". It was interesting to read of how the now famous Columbus was once a street beggar along with his son. E-Bay shows the book worth $75.00 but that will not be our course of action. Following this blog entry, we will ship the book to Vickie Harris Morris of California, in order to keep the Harris family book in the family, which was used by the Nephi, Utah family of Evan Harris(born in 1860) and Eliza Hitesman Harris(born in 1869). We will include photos of the book cover; a couple pages from inside, then a photo of Evan and Eliza Harris with their daughter-LaVon, then a photo of John Evan Harris and his wife-Sarah(Sadie)Maria Tolley Harris and their kids. Happy reading!

Not only did we find the West Desert Sink Holes, but we may have discovered Utah's new version of Area 51.

We thought we should publicly declare what we found just in case a satellite interceptor found us snooping. Three Nephi, Utah Jones boys crossed the line a couple weeks ago. Those Juab County residents crossed over into Millard County. We didn't get security clearance but had to cross the County in order to fulfill our quest to find the Utah Desert Sink Holes. Once we got on the dirt roads on the other side of Delta, it was a guess on which way to turn, but we did find them, and uncluttered and no vandalism- a welcome site. Indications are the sink hole was accidently discovered a hundred years ago during the middle of a moonless night. As a horse had good horse sense, he sensed the danger ahead and started to back up. The cowboy trusted his horse and let up on the reins. After camping the night, he then saw the giant sink hole that would have doomed them both. The hole is dangerous as it has a deep undercut and unable to see the bottom. We took a lunch break and played Pokémon, leaving a hidden treasure under three rocks, and a container of water for a thirst quenched traveler. We then took another road out, and that could have been dangerous if we hadn't had Ron Jones with us. He had 38 years of experience with the Juab County Roads, so he knew how to get us out. We found a snake near Rattlesnake Bench; went near Painter Springs; saw where Jim Pexton landed his plane on the flats of Tulley Valley; stayed clear of Skunk Springs; cinched up near Cowboy Pass, and stopped to see the bodiless grave of the ghost town of Joy. We got in a race with Antelope, but the herd of wild Mustangs didn't seem interested in our trespassing on their feeding grounds. It was a little sad not to chat with No Nose Maggie or the road kicker known as the Hermit, but his cave home is still well hidden and in good shape. Notch Creek is beautiful this time of year, as is the Old Indian Trail; the Overland Trail; Foote's Ranch and amazing to see the contrast at Marjum Pass. We drove up to the Sinbad where we could stand and look straight down off some ledges thousands of  feet below. It was a little scary for Ron, Weston and Kent Jones, whose age averaged 79 years old. So it was for security purposes, the three of us held hands like young kids. That was fine and dandy until a motorcycle gang approached us from the rear. We lucked out, as it was a good motorcycle family, on their way from Illinois to the Salt Flats during speed week, to have the world's fastest motorcycle. He was racing a Harley, but I used the photo of another American brand which did hold the record for some time. We headed back home but got lost as the vehicle GPS showed we were on Mickey Mouse Rd. That was about the time that a billion dollar; three story high set of buildings appeared in the middle of nowhere. It was if we were in Area 51 or near the Wendover Bombing range at the end of World War II. Even the signs gave us the hint we were snooping in an area the taxpayer has not yet been told about. We then saw a double rainbow and headed toward it knowing we would find our pot of gold. We did, as it led us to safety in Nephi, Utah, USA.

We pay respect to Sandra Jackson Mangelson, who fought a fierce fight with an aggressive and deadly enemy.

To help understand the life and times of Sandra Jackson Mangelson, we wanted to write a few notes about her; her father; her grandfather, and her great grandfather. That is out of high respect to Sandra, who recently passed away after a short but intense battle with an aggressive cancer. Sandra is the daughter of Huck Jackson, who was a much admired Nephi City employee-knowing about all there was to know about the water system set up by pioneers. Huck was also a good teacher, showing Roy Tolley how to take his place, and those cousins were both the cream of the crop. When Huck started a family, he was proud to have Jack Ludlow build a high class home north of his parents house on the corner of 200 East and 400 North. Huck's father was Lynn Jackson, who was a truck driver for both the Utah road dept., then Juab County. Lynn's father was Nephi Jackson, but to his relatives, he was known as "Uncle Nep".  He was only ten years old when he and his family arrived in Nephi. That was in 1856, helping to pull a handcart with the ill fated Martin Handcart Company. He became tough, having to watch many people perish at Martins Cove. He survived that trek, then Nephi thrived in Nephi! As of last week, we found evidence he was a great citizen of the Utah Territory, as we discovered a ledger showing he paid $11.30 in taxes for the year 1892, which was a lot of money back then. We know he had at least 80 acres of land north of Nephi, in the area commonly called the "Meryl McPherson feed yard". Sandra married Paul Mangelson, who was tall and tough as nails, but  was smart enough to know he would have to stand even taller to get the consent of Huck to marry Sandra. Huck liked Paul, and the new Mangelson team  became great parents and highly esteemed public servants. As a teenager, Sandra was a tall and pretty blonde, but with graceful class. When things go slow for teenagers attending church in the 4th Ward, Sandra had a knack for keeping us youngins entertained. After loosing an eleven year old son, Abe Lincoln was heart broken, but when questioned about the unfairness of death, he responded by saying "And to the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years". The families and friends of Sandra should feel comfort to know she lived well, and now free of pain. My guesstimation is when she crossed the threshold, there was a herd of people to greet her, among which were Huck, Lynn and Nephi Jackson.