WHAT IN THE WORLD WOULD TEENAGERS DO FOR FUN IN THE 1930'S

Without TV or a handheld Gig-a-phone, what on earth did the young people of Rural Nephi do when the three Elementary schools were not in session. For boys, their was always playing marbles; grabbing a two by four and whittle it down in the shape of a Bat and play baseball, then go down Depot Street and watch the Adult Men play real baseball against other teams round about. And their always was a skit or play, especially more than a hundred written by Walter Ben Hare called "A Little Clodhopper".  He started to print them in 1918 and the actors only had one handbook to learn their lines. Then in 1933 a handbook titled "Humorous Monologues For Women" was passed around town. The adult men would join Service oriented clubs like the Jaycees; Lions; Rotary International and the Kiwanis club. If the ladies weren't working, then many of those clubs were like the Booklore Club; Federation of Women's Clubs and League of Women Voters. And many of those clubs were self assigned to prune the Rose Garden next to the National Guard Armory, at least not when the youngins were in the armory shooting their 22 rifles under the watchful care of Wally Fackrell. And in those days, most boys had paper routes to deliver the Daily Herald(at $1.60 a month); Deseret News or Tribune.When the Forrest Hotel shut down on the corner of 1st North and Main, it became a Nursing Home called the Colonial Manor, and I recall helping my father stucco some of the walls and visiting with some of the patients including my Uncle Ren Harris. In the 1930's my mother-LaVon Harris was in charge of a Recreation Club that was put into action by the US Department of Labor and one of the favorite pastime's was hiking Mt. Nebo, and we have one of the letters that was sent to LaVon after loosing her father after cutting down the logs at his sawmill to be used to build the DUP cabin at Nephi Pioneer Park. She was a secretary for A. E. Smith, and then went on to be the only Secretary for the Juab School District with four different Superintendents. Before the world changed, a lot of the service clubs ended including doing away with one of the great groups called the Boy Scouts of America.When Nephi and other cities were rural, we all had our duties to pitch and haul hay; clean the ditches and water crops. We were not given real money, but it was done in shares, so we would get a bucket of milk for milking the cows. When LaVon Harris Jones retired from the schools, she would read to the folks at the Nursing home and place the dates she read on the page and should be listed below. She then married Alma Jones of Upper Northenville, and the last photo will show what the Jones parents had to put up with!

                                                                                     

                                                                                 

                                                                                         

WHAT IS THE "MORMON" SECURITY PROGRAM?

If one was to guess what the Mormon Security Program is or was, their would be different views about it. One of the questions may be why we are still calling it "Mormon" when the LDS hi-archy now refer to that church as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" and explains that it is called after He who's church it is. We bring it up today, as last week, we stumbled across a pamphlet with the title of What is the "Mormon" Security Program? The title didn't persuade me to question it, but looking at the color of the pages did. On the inside it shows the 12 page document was printed by the "Press of Zion's Printing and Publishing Company of Independence, Jackson County, Missouri and Printed in the U.S. A". I was intrigued with that, so had to do a little research. When the LDS restored their Apostolic Gospel, it was initially referred to as the "Church of Christ". That occurred on April 6, 1830 in New York and the Book of Mormon contains a record of the ancient inhabitants of this the American Continent. Back in the early days of that Church, their was a lot of hate mongers wanting to kill and burn the "Mormons" out of where they were. And even though America was founded on Religious Liberty and Freedom of Speech, their was brutal assaults against that church, and eventually they were driven out of various States and with the mob killings of Joseph Smith and his brother, their was little that the peace loving Church Members could do other than go west and they thought it was safe in Independence Missouri, as that was on the edge of America. But it wasn't long before the hatred and ire for the Mormons in that area wanted to defy what the American Constitution provided, and Missouri Governor Boggs, said Mormons were the enemies and gave an Expulsion order to leave that state or be killed by the Militia. So, once again, Mormons or the LDS people were killed; homes and houses of worship were burned. And it only took 138 years for Missouri to override the expulsion order saying the previous order was "Unconstitutional". Needless to say, the Zions Printing and Publishing Company was out of business. In the mid 1960's, this wanna be writer visited Independence, Missouri, while on a FFA trip to Kansas City, Missouri. Back then, I didn't know very much about the LDS church, but I found the people friendly, especially when our bus stopped at a red light. Walking along the sidewalk was Harry S. Truman, so I pulled the window down and yelled "Hello President Truman". The whole bus was happy when President Truman yelled back "Hello Kids" and waved to us. The former Presidents Security detail didn't even check to see if he had his gun loaded! If we check various places where the LDS church planted their roots, we find various city names or places that have similar names from the Bible or Book of Mormon. Such places are Enoch of Iron County; Nephi, Lehi, Benjamin in Utah County and they even had a store ran by the church called ZCMI, which stood for Zions Co-Coperative Mercantile Institution. Church official's sold their stores and it is now owned by Macy's. If we study what some of the LDS leaders have said, including a Conference talk by then Apostle Gordon B. Hinckley in Oct. 1968, who explains the "pure in heart" constitute Zion. So if history repeats itself and we live in one of those places settled by Mormon Pioneers, be careful as we may be Expulsed by our own so called leaders, who just may be as "Unrighteous as Hell". The Independence Press of Zions was re-opened in 1907 to print LDS Pamphlets and books for Missionaries' but stopped in 1951, as the LDS Church had their own press in Salt Lake and we checked phone books, and can't see any Boggs here. My thought is the "Mormon Security Plan" was replaced with the Church Welfare program, and not only taking care of their own, the LDS Church is known world wide for helping other nations and people when help is needed. The End.

IF YOU MISSED THE FUNERAL OF NEPHI'S MIKE CANNELL, WE HAVE THE PROGRAM.

 Mike Cannell was 60 years old in earth years, and his last rites were held yesterday at the LDS Church across the street from Vine Bluff Cemetery. I never met Mike, nor his family, but I had one of those unspoken urges to attend his Funeral. Although his full name is Michael Darwin Cannell, he was a "Mike" to me, and it appeared that is what the speakers called him as well. I was so moved by the Anderson Funeral Home listing on the Internet, I was intrigued to attend. And glad I did, as I felt that I had known both he and his wife from a long ago sphere. The computer showed a photo of Mike from years ago and a recent photo of him. If you stare at the countenance of his smile, you can see this man has an internal love of joy, regardless of health issues. Attending a funeral by chance is not the first time I have done that, as a few years ago, I traveled to Salt Lake to attend the funeral of the mother of "The Piano Boys". I was able to escape the crowd and do a short interview with the father, who told me how he and his family escaped Nazi Germany at the beginning of the war, and the only thing they made sure they escaped to America with, was the Family Piano, and it was the mother holding a grip on the boys to play it daily before they could attend football practice. Now back to Mike. I viewed several photos of Mike and his forever wife(Joye Hahne) and the photos showed the forever love they had for each other and the brother of his wife expressed how much love the Hahne's had for Mike. As the various family members entered the chapel area, Joye may have health issues as she was being pushed in a wheelchair. As she came near where I was standing, our eyes locked on each other, and I felt their was a certain connection that strangers have from ion's ago. Whoever put the funeral program together wrote of J.R.R. Tolkien who wrote the book "Lord of the Rings" and other notable quotes of Gandalf, one of which was "our journey on earth doesn't end at Death, it is just another path, and one in which we all must take." With a variety of hints, I reckoned that Mike's son-Alex was the pen master of putting the program together. Without thinking about it, I started to do a circling on the back of the program of the photo of Mike and Joye, and discovered my doodling kept placing heart shaped circle's around the two of them. I don't think God would permit it, but I would wager that these two lovebirds are one of those matches made in the pre-existence and they will be forever and ever. And if Alex can write quotes of his father and sign it as Mike 12:15 with "Mike is that he might have Joye", then I will put one of mine of "Nothing Lasts Forever, Except Forever, And My Love For You." Kent 21:14, and my headstone already shows "Son of Alma from the land of Nephi". Mike, without knowing you, you are now one of my Hero's, as is your Joye.