Lee R. Christensen Writes Utah National Guard Headquarters

Lt Col L R Christensen

Ernest G. Brunger

Chesley P. Seely

Matson Brothers:
Joseph in the rear
Rex C. in front
Joseph did not return from the war.

222 Field Artillery Officers Party

Here is a photo of Brunger in uniform.  Too bad he is not facing the camera.   Photo Shop  you can probably turn him around?  He is on the right just inside the door.  Bonny Fuller the x coach from North Sanpete is on Brunger's left against the wall.  Photo early San luis Obispo summer 1941.  

Both Rex and Joe Matson in the 1929 Lions club photo.   Does Photo Shop have an aging app>?    Rex bottom step extreme  left, Joe extreme right   against rail about third up.  .    lee 

El Monte.

 The Oak is about where we stood to watch the climb

The Pyramid
90 W. Main
Mt. Pleasant, UT

January 20, 1993

Dear Editor:

February 24 is the 47th anniversary of the El Monte Oak Park Rocky Mountain climb. As
mountain climbs go, it was certainly not comparable to the Everest climb, nor even Mt.
Timpanogas. But for the climbers and the spectators from Mt. Pleasant’s Battery A, 204
Field Artillery, it was an afternoon’s respite from the tedious Army life at isolated El Monte
Oak Park in eastern San Diego County.

I don’t recall who issued the challenge. It was probably Sgt. Wilbur Rasmussen wondering
out loud how long it would take someone to climb Rocky Mountain. And then, Cpl. Shirley
Madsen responding that he would climb it in under two hours. Others joined in with yeas
and nays. After a week or two of contention, sides chosen, bets made, Shirley and his partner
Pfc. Jay Larson scheduled their climb.

With the men of the Battery at their chosen viewing stations, all binoculars and B.C.
scopes uncased, Shirley and Jay took off. They had about a quarter of a mile to go before
they started the serious climb. This they covered at a fast walk - a warm up. Then, up the
mountain they climbed, rock by rock, steep slope by steep slope. They moved too slow for
the “can dos” and too fast for the “can’t dos.” Three quarters up the mountain they disappeared
onto the back side. The tension built. Just as some of the can’t dos were asking
for their money, they reappeared. First it was Jay, and then Shirley on the summit. Total
elapsed time was one hour and 17 minutes .

Now, 47 years after the event, I’ve heard some of the observers state the climbing time as
35-40 minutes. But my notes, recorded 15 minutes after the event, clearly read: one hour
17 minutes. Still well under two hours.

This climb confirmed an old Utah truism - it is foolhardy to doubt the climbing ability of a
North Sanpete sheepherder.

Lee Christensen

        

 S SG Jay R. Larsen 

     ID: 20925444 

         Branch of Service: U.S. Army 

        Hometown: Sanpete County, UT

            Status: KIA 

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry/wardept/pframe.asp?HonoreeID=1152048&po

The Physical and Psychic Wounding of Lee R. Christensen

Taken from Lee R. Christensen's book "You Knew Me As Buddy"

1ST LIEUTENANT 229TH FA BATTALION

28TH INFANTRY DIVISION, WWII

I reported for active military duty 3 March 1941. I separated from service 26 December

1945 after 4 years, 9 months, 24 days of service.

Three years five months after reporting for active duty I was on a foreign field face to

face and within artillery range of the enemy. During those 3 years 5 months I trained in the mountains, the desert, the swamps, off landing crafts, with the Navy, against pillboxes; was jumped on by paratroopers, rolled over by tanks.  My primary unit, the 229th FA Bn spent 9 months in combat. I was with them two different times totaling 4 1/2 months.

When the 28th Division crossed Omaha beach 22 July 1944, I was battery executive,

C Battery 229th FA Bn, in charge of the four howitzer crews and their 105 mm howitzers.

C Battery moved into firing position prepared to fire on the enemy for the first time at dusk 30 July. We fired our first combat mission 0700 1 August according to the battalion history.  I had not remembered we fired from this position. Our fire was in direct support of the 112th Infantry Regiment who were to take Hill 210 on the outskirts of Percy, France.  At 1130 I was told to report to Bn Headquarters, prepared to go forward as liaison officer, 1st Bn 112th Infantry.

I shaved, ate lunch, collected my gear, told my howitzer crews to shoot straight and fast and I would have them in Paris in a week. Then I reported to Bn ready and eager to move forward.

At battalion I was told I was replacing Captain Miers who had been wounded. His jeep

was waiting to take me to 1st Bn Headquarters. On the way forward I saw Lieutenant Colonel Huff, 229th FA Bn commander, and Major Hall sitting in the Colonel’s command car and I waved to them. As I drove by 112th Infantry Regimental Headquarters, I saw Captain Ferguson.

Waved but did not speak with him. He was Bn liaison to Regiment. My jeep, it was now my jeep, dropped me off on a sunken, tree lined lane between two hedge rows. I walked the 150 yards to where Murtaugh and Hensley - I knew them from my service in A Battery - were waiting with the radio. I was near the Infantry Bn Headquarters and with either the reserve rifle company or the Heavy Weapons company. There was a single widely spaced column of riflemen moving through a break in the hedge row and up the hill.

On joining my radio crew they told me they had no communications. They had laid

no wire and the radio was not working. I told them that unless we can talk to our Fire Direction Center we’re wasting our time here, I told the radio operator to get the jeep, go back to battalion and get a radio that worked. I also discussed laying wire to Regiment.

About then I heard an incoming shell. I hit the ground face down. I do not recall the

explosion. I do remember the sharp stabbing in my lower left rib cage. I knew I had been hit. I was terrified. I knew I had been hit and remember thinking “I’ve been hit but I’m still alive.”

I got to my feet. In a manner, less than heroic, I asked someone to look at my back.

The commander of the Heavy Weapons Company, I knew him by sight but not by name, said, “I’ll look at you Lee.” He sprinkled sulfur powder on the wound and put my compress bandage over it.

Murtaugh said he would get our jeep and take me to the aid station. I walked part way

down the lane, then stretched out in a foxhole along side a dead German while Murtaugh went for the jeep.

At the aid station I stretched out in the grass - it was in an open pasture - was given

morphine and waited. I recall being moved 2-3 times during the evening. At one point

Lieutenant Colonel Huff came by and saw me. I asked him not to end the war until I got

back. At another stop, probably the Division aid station, a chaplain I knew talked with me.

 By now it was dark. Then there was an ambulance ride, four of us. No one said a word. I do not know who my wounded companions were or of what army. By daylight I was in a field hospital.

At the hospital I was ambulatory. Even ate a few slices of canned peaches.

During the early evening, about 24 hours after I had been hit, I was taken into the

operating tent. As I recall it was a brightly lit tent interior with white sheets along the walls and ceiling making it even brighter. There were 12 or 14 operating tables.

It was daylight when I regained consciousness, back on a stretcher in a ward tent,

fully bandaged from hips to nipples, an IV bottle on its staff above my head, a tube in my left arm. But my most vivid memory on awakening was wondering why my right hand was bandaged. I could not recall being hit in the hand.

It was not until 3-4 weeks later when a nurse decided to replace what by then was a

dirty bandage that I saw the shell fragment that hit me. It was the size of the first two joint of my little finger, ragged, sharp and by now rusting. A keepsake from a thoughtful surgeon.

My field hospital stay is mostly a memory of long days, long nights confined to a narrow stretcher. Occasionally a patient around me would die; then a flurry of activity. 

Nightly a ward nurse would give me a rectal sleeping pill. I don’t recall any meals. Every other day a doctor would punch a long hollow needle between my ribs and suck out the bloody fluid. At one point I was transferred to a second field hospital as my first one packed up to follow Patton.

This transfer caused the most painful incident of my wounding experience. The second

hospital failed to pick-up on my removal and re-bandaging schedule. When at last they

removed the bandage the tape was fused to my skin. As they peeled off the tape it pulled skin and flesh with it.

After three to four weeks I was flown to a base hospital in England, near Perham

Down Salisbury. I remember clearly the pilot who flew me across the channel. He was

dressed for a night on the town except for house-slippers. Had on dress blouse, pinks, visor cap and house slippers. I remember thinking this man is fighting a different war than the one I left. On our arrival in England I forgot to notice if his lady friend met the plane.

My stay in the base hospital was mostly card playing, reading and ping-pong as my

mending accelerated. I was now ambulatory. An indication of my returning health was my first bowel movement in nearly five weeks.

About mid-October I was transferred to a rehab hospital - the Country Club we called

it - to begin the physical conditioning that would prepare me to fight again. We took short hikes, 3-5 miles, did calisthenics, played volleyball, and took cultural trips - one to Stratford- on-Avon. I continued to mend.

One reason for my rapid mending was my desire to rejoin my unit at the front. I was

then and I am to this day embarrassed by my short - measured in minutes - first combat

action. After three years five months of training, I’ve always felt I should have lasted more than 15 to 20 minutes. I owed both my Country and the enemy more than that.

I’ve titled this autobiographical drama, The Physical and Psychic Wounding of Lee

R. Christensen. I’ve described the physical wounding, the psychic is more difficult to define. But if you grew-up, as I did, reading Hubbard’s Message to Garcia, exalting in Lord Nelson’s “England expects every man to do his duty,” heroically fighting to the last man with the Spartans at Thermopylae, then, when your combat time comes you move forward into battle ready to close with the enemy and prevail for Flag and Country.

I was ready. I went forward with anxieties but not fearful. I was as the cliché goes

- gung ho, I lasted 20 minutes.

From the Battalion History

Early in the morning of 30th July the 229^th FA Battalion moved forward to occupy our first combat positions...  At 0700 on the morning of 1 Aug ‘44 the battalion fired its first combat mission, battalion 60 rounds, in support of the 112 Infantry Regiment’s attack on hill 210 northwest of Percy, France. 

Additional Note:  Mt Pleasant’s Battery A 204^th FA Bn was in the neighborhood and had been on the line for about a week. When the 3rd Army was activated at high noon 1st Aug the Bn was transferred to the 3^rd Army and in combat frequently fired in support of the 5^th Inf Div.

Photo of Eight Hamilton Grade Schoolers class of 1934

KATHY: With the help of my son in law I have statistically defined the eight ninety year olds from Hamilton’s grade school class of 1934.

•      In the 2010 census 90 plus year olds made up a bit more than one half of one percent of the population (308 million to 1.5 million).   From another source, twenty percent (20%) of those born in 1922 lived to age 90.  At the time of their birth only about two percent (2%) were predicted to do so
•      Statically Hamilton’s class of ’34 is at the National norm for their birth year of 1922 and each of them is a one in two hundred of our National population.
•      And Kathy, I notice that most of us in the photo are smiling.  Remembering back this photo taken three weeks after Roosevelt became President (3 March 1933) and he and Congress in those three week have made three two (3.2) beer legal. No more home brew!  As good as Joe Lund’s  home brew was, it was not as good as legal Becker’s Best.    

 If I’m contacted by a Public Health media type and asked “how” I’ll tell them good home brew.  But I’ll also be sure to let them know I’m speaking just for me.      Lee   

Photo courtesy of wikipedia

Federal (USA)

Major General

Jesse Lee Reno

(1823 - 1862)

Home State: Pennsylvania

Command Billet: Army Corps Commander 

Branch of Service: Infantry 

Unit: Ninth (IX) Army Corps

Kathy: Posting fine.  My mother was a Parke.  We trace that line back to NW New Jersey to Micajah Parke.  General Reno’s maternal grandmother was Achsah Parke Quinby.  Achsah was Micajah’s sister. Their father was Joseph Parke a tavern owner and farmer in what is now Asbury, Warren county,, New Jersey.  The General and I have Joseph Parke (abt 1730-1815) in common -  his great  grandfather and my 5^th great grandfather.  There is a great deal of info on the General on the  Net including photos  of him and monuments related to him.  I’ve visited South  Mountain where he died and his grave at Oak Hill Cemetery Washington D C.   My story on the General has been published by the Parke Society and now that you’ve prompted me to review his story I’ll post a reference to its publication to the General’s Wikipedia entry on the Net.  And I’ll try and write a paragraph or two on some other American history related to the General.   lee

Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_L._Reno

 Major General Jesse Lee Reno
1823-1862
•••
Lee R. Christensen

“Up from the meadows rich with corn,

clear in the cool September morn,

The clustered spires of Frederick stand

Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.”

So begins Whittier’s Civil War poem, Barbara Frietchie. A Parke descendent, Major

General Jesse Lee Reno, IX Corp Commander, Army of the Potomac is intimately associated

with Barbara, her flag, and by extension, though not mentioned, the poem. The General’s

maternal grandmother was a Parke.

General Reno, on a September morn one week after the September morn of Whinier’s

poem, was in Frederick, Maryland. There, he met Barbara Frietchie.

After their meeting, perhaps after sipping tea or her homemade currant wine, he is reported

to have asked his brother, Colonel Benjamin Franklin Reno, “who does she put you

in mind of, Frank?” Frank replied, “Mother.” He might very well have said, “Grandmother

Achsah.”

Grandmother Achsah was Achsah Parke Quinby, native of Sussex (now Warren) County,

New Jersey. She was a Northwest New Jersey Parke.

The Parkes had been in New Jersey since 1682 when Roger Parke, a Quaker from Hexham,

Northumberland came to West Jersey to claim and settle on acreage he had purchased

while still in England. He is thought by most of us who descend from Northwest New

Jersey Parkes to be our immigrant ancestor. But the only line that has definitive documentation

of this relationship is John’s. Achsah is not known to be on John’s line.

Achsah’s father was Joseph Parke; her mother, Sarah. In all likelihood, Joseph’s father

was also a Joseph Parke; his mother, Margaret. The antecedents for Sarah and Margaret are

unknown. They are in fact so unknown that no one has ventured an educated guess.

Joseph Parke, Achsah’s father, was a tavern owner, blacksmith and farmer. His tavern

and smithy were a short walk up the hill from Musconetcong River. This section of Sussex

County had earlier been part of Hunterdon County, then Morris County and now Warren

County.

When Achsah was baptized on Christmas day 1768 with her two brothers, Micajah and

Charles and her sister Theodosia, the family was living in a very isolated and sparsely

settled section of New Jersey without a nearby church or village. The Reverend William

Frazer, Church of England, visited the area every third Sunday. On the Christmas Day he

baptized the four Parke children, he also baptized two other children from Mansfield Woodhouse

township. The Reverend found the area troublesome to serve; the Muskenetcunk (his

spelling) - after heavy rains-almost impassable. The residents “appear serious enough but

totally ignorant with regard to the prayers of the Church” he wrote. Services were held in

“barns and dwelling houses.” It is not recorded where the Parke children were baptized. I

would guess the icy Musconetcong.

Achsah married Samuel Quinby, a Revolutionary War veteran and a New Jersey native,

in 1784 or 1786. There is bureaucratic wrangling about the date in his pension file but

no primary evidence. Soon after the marriage, the couple moved to Washington County,

Pennsylvania where Samuel may have been living prior to their wedding. Living near them

in 1790 was her brother Micajah and his wife, the former Mary Beemer.

The Quinbys had twelve children, one of whom they named Rebecca, born in 1795,

Washington County. By 1810, the Quinbys were living in Mercer county, Pennsylvania,

Shenango Township. Living nearby was the Charles Reno family, whose oldest son, Lewis

Thomas Reno, would marry Rebecca Quinby.

Prior to 1820, Louis T. and Rebecca moved to what is now Wheeling, West Virginia,

where their third son, Jesse Lee Reno was born 20 June 1823. By 1840, the family was living

at French Creek Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania.

At age 18, still living in Venango County, Congressional district 25, Jesse Lee Reno, “a

youth of great promise,” was nominated by his congressman to be a “Cadet in the service

of the United States.” The Secretary of War notified Jesse Lee of his conditional appointment

in April. In June, he reported to West Point for his entrance examinations.

The Academy, then as now, had exacting standards for physical fitness and academic

preparation. As many as 122 conditional appointees may have reported June of 1842 for

their examinations. When the exams were over the class had 92 survivors. Four years later,

the class of 1846 graduated 59, including Jesse Lee Reno, Thomas Jackson, George Mc-

Clellan and George Picket, all of whom would be generals North or South in the Civil War.

Cadet Reno finished eighth in his class, six files behind George McClellan; nine files

ahead of Thomas Jackson. George Derby, who became a celebrated American humorist,

was seventh. Jesse Reno’s best subject was Mineralogy/Geology, where he finished sixth.

McClellan was first. Thomas Jackson’s best subject was Ethics.

In the Spring of ‘46, while the cadets were cramming for final exams, the United States

declared war on Mexico. On graduation the newly commissioned second lieutenants would

have an early opportunity to test their book learning on the battlefield. Reno was first assigned

as Assistant Ordnance officer to the Watervliet Arsenal, N.Y. By Fall of ‘46 he was

with General Winfield Scott’s forces headed for Mexico.

His war record is impressive. He earned five battle stars, was wounded once; breveted

twice, becoming) a BVT Captain, 13 September, 1847. At the battle of Chapultepec, both

he and Jackson were breveted for “Gallant and Meritorious” conduct. Both were artillery

officers.

In the peacetime years following the war with Mexico, Lt. Reno had artillery and ordnance

assignments commensurate with his high class ranking at graduation. Some were:

Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Military Academy; Secretary of the Board for preparing

a “System of Instruction for Heavy Artillery”; and Ass’t Ordnance Officer, Frankford

Arsenal, Pa.

Another assignment took him west to the Mexican war-won country as Chief of Ordnance

on the Albert Sidney Johnston led Utah Expedition, July 1857-June 1859. On this

visit to Utah Territory he might have met his mother’s cousin, Thomas Harris Parke, who

had come to Utah with the Mormons in 1849. Thomas Harris, however, had accepted

Brigham Young’s invitation to colonize Western Nevada and was ranching in Carson Valley,

just south of the Truckee river watering stop that would be named after Jesse Lee Reno

and grow to be the “Biggest Little City in the World.”

In the Fall of’59, Captain Reno was assigned to the Mt. Vernon Arsenal, near Mobile,

Alabama, as commanding officer. In normal times this would have been a plush post, but

times were not normal. After Lincoln was elected president and the cry of secession spread

across the South the State of Alabama felt justified in seizing the Mt. Vernon Arsenal. This

they did, attacking at dawn 4 Jan 1861 with four companies of militia. They overwhelmed

its garrison of 18 men and Captain Reno.

Without prejudice over the loss of Mt. Vernon, the Army assigned Reno to command the

Leavenworth Arsenal, Kansas. This assignment would be a short one. Our national crisis

was now in full flame and the Army was looking for command leadership. In November,

Reno was promoted to Brig-General Volunteers to command a Brigade in General Burnside’s

invasion of North Carolina. By April 1862 he was commanding a division. In July,

he was promoted to Major General commanding IX Corp, Army of the Potomac.

While Jesse Lee Reno was winning rapid promotion and earning recognition as a battlefield

commander the war was not going well for Union forces. His classmate General

McClellan’s Peninsula campaign to capture Richmond had failed. General Pope’s Army of

Virginia had been outmaneuvered and defeated at the Second Battle of Bull Run.

On 4 September following up his summer successes Confederate General Robert E.

Lee invaded Maryland. He crossed the Potomac north of Washington enroute to Frederick,

Maryland and points beyond. By 6 September, his troops, including Thomas Jackson, now

called Stonewall, were in Frederick. The Barbara Frietchie legend was about to begin.

The Army of the Potomac, staying between Lee’s Army and Washington, began its

march against the Confederate forces 7 September with Reno’s 1x Corp leading. By 12

September they were in Frederick which the Confederates did not seriously defend. General

Reno and his staff spent the night there.

On the morning of the 13th while riding past Barbara Frietschies, General Reno was

drawn to a crowd in front of her house. He listened to the stories of her confrontation with

Confederate troops. He dismounted and at her invitation stepped inside while she served

him a glass of her homemade currant wine. On leaving he offered to buy one of her flags.

She declined but did give him her large bunting flag. With her flag in CoL B.F. Reno’s pistol

case he rode off to face Stonewall Jackson’s Corp at South Mountain.

By mid morning 14 September the forces of General’s Reno and Jackson were engaged

at South Mountain, Fox’s Gap. By mid afternoon Reno’s entire Corp had arrived on the

battleline.

He was at Fox’s Gap personally leading his command. In the early evening, he rode forward

to see what was delaying the right flank’s progress. While in front of his troops in an

exposed position he was hit by musket fife. He was carried off the mountain and died about

an hour later. Barbara Frietchie’s flag would cover General Reno’s casket at his funeral.

And just as Grandmother Achsah was part of Major General Jesse Lee Reno’s inheritance,

so is Barbara’s legend part of his legacy.

Notes, Comments and Major Sources
William F. McConnell’s Remember Reno, A Biography of Major General Jesse Lee
Reno, White Mane Publishing Co., Inc. 1996 has been used for both background and detail
without identifying specific citations.
Roger Reno, Rockford, Illinois, Reno Family Historian provided me with the family
sketches he has written on Charles Reno and Lewis Thomas Reno.
Rev. William Frazer’s Three Parishes-St. Thomas’s. St. Andrew’s and Musconetcong,
N.J.-1768-70 by Henry Race, as printed in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and
Biography, Vol XII, 1888, pages 212-233 has Achsah’s baptism as well as the Reverend’s
description of his parish problems.
Samuel Quinby’s Revolutionary War Pension file is on LDS film #0971992.
I have made full use of Census records following the moves of the Parkes, Quinbys and
Renos from Washington County, Pa 1790, to Nevada 1860 and back to Iowa 1870. The last
census Achsah appears on is Mercer County, Pa, 1850. She is living with her son Charles
Quinby and appears as “Acey” age 83, born New Jersey. The General’s last census is 1860,
Mobile, Alabama with his wife and two children.
Barbara Frietschie, the woman, the poem, the myth, the flag, is examined in two articles.
The first by Conrad Reno, the General’s son, written in 1900 and republished by Broadfoot
Publishing Company, 1993. My copy, sent to me by the Curator, Civil War Library, Philadelphia.
The second record, by Dorothy and William Quynn, published in the Maryland
Historical Magazine, September 1942. A copy was sent to me by The Historical Society of
Frederick County, Frederick, Maryland.
The life of West Point cadets in 1846 is described in John C. Waugh’s Class of 1846.
Warner Books, 1994. He also covers the entrance examination procedures of that year.
The Archives Curator, United States Military Academy furnished me with photocopies
of data relevant to General Reno from Official Register, Officers and Cadets, US Military
Academy, June 1846, and Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates, U.S. Military
Academy from 1802-1890.
The Quinbys and the Renos are a family historian’s delight. They make full use of family
names from generation to generation. Additionally, the Renos seem to have adopted the
use of two given names frequently reduced to initials very early.
.

Lee and Beth Reminisce

The following is taken from Lee R. Christensen's Book: "You Knew Me As Buddy"; a collection of letters he wrote to friends who grew up in Mt. Pleasant. Beth is Beth Lund.

August 7, 1998
Dear Beth,
A daughter of El’s would be a niece of Mary Margaret. If she lives in Delaware, she lives in
Mary Margaret’s backyard. Did she mention her? How is she?

El, Wasatch class of 1925—about 1 5 years older that we are. I do not remember her dentist
husband. If he practiced in Mt. Pleasant it was probably not for long. We had two other dentists.
Dr. Phillips married to an aunt of Mary Hafen. Lived down Jane Britton’s way. And Dr.
Peterson, the one the Christensen kids went to. He was a Fairview contemporary of Rosses.

At one time, Holman the doctor, Peterson, the dentist, and Christensen, the lawyer shared the
top floor of a building midway in the OM Aldrich block.
Dr. Peterson had a brother who was also a dentist—Glendale, California. Keith, his son and
a classmate of Ruths, also a dentist, LA area. All three grads of University of Southern California.
Saw Keith at Ruth’s North Sanpete 50th.

I have to guess that our Mt. Pleasant dentists had helpers, but if so, who were they? Holman
had Carrie Hafen as his nurse. Christensen had so little work as a lawyer that he mostly did
his own typing. Olea may have worked for him some. Patsy Hones mother, or maybe it was
her sister, typed some. He would occasionally have one of the high schools send a typist
over. Carol Reemtsma worked for him. I’ll have to ask her what he paid. Twenty-five cents
an hour would have been tops. Then again, maybe the high schoolers did if for the experience.

Carol worked at Wasatch for her board, room and tuition. I’m sure she was always short
spending money. She told me once that until she got to college she had never had a dress that
did not come from the Church’s charity box.

Carol’s mother was from a prominent Purdue University faculty family. Her maternal grandfather
had a Liberty ship named after him in WW II. Carol’s father, a Presbyterian minister
in the American Indian service. While all church mice are poor, church mice on Navaho
Indian reservations are poor poor. Kathryn Goudberg’s father also minister on Indian reservation.


Don’t shed any tears for Bill Clinton—unless you feel as I sometimes do in my more tolerant
moments, that he personifies the frailty of man. The Fall of Adam so to speak. He is intelligent,
good looking, energetic, charismatic, caring—and addicted. Lying being one of them.
And don’t shed any tears for Monica. She represents the klieg lights seeking notoriety of a
Hollywood wannabe who is a mean, greedy, scheming, blackmailer.

I wish it were a better world. But bad as it is—and it is very bad, it is better than it has ever
been. It is getting better, but probably not fast enough to save us from some megalomaniac
addicted to power-the ultimate addiction.

LR
P.S. Saga out about 20th In keeping with Utah History it will be delivered by Pony Express.

Be prepared to clean up after the horse.

Lee and Beth Reminisce February 9, 1997

Lee and Beth Reminisce

Lee R. Christensen's Book "You Knew Me As Buddy" ~~~~~~~~~~Preface~~~~~~~~ Letter to Dorothy Jacobs Buchanan ~~~~~~~~~and Her Reply ~~~~~~~and obituary

Dorothy passed away September 18, 1997 in Salt Lake City.

Dorothy Jacobs Buchanan, age 91, beloved teacher, writer and community leader, died peacefully at home in Salt Lake City, on September 18, 1997 after enduring many months of pain and suffering due to myasthenia gravis and Parkinsons Disease. She was born in Raymond, Alberta, Canada on October 27, 1905, to Alberta Larsen and Henry Chariton Jacobs Jr. She was given the name, Dorothy, meaning "Gift from God." Aptly christened, she has lived up to that name, bringing Gods gifts of learning, joy, love and compassion to all those whose lives she touched. She grew up in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, savoring the beauty of the mountains and the choice people who nurtured her mind and soul. She received her B.A. in English from BYU, where she won the coveted Elsie C. Carroll Award for short stories. Dorothy began her teaching career at Richfield High School, where she taught English and journalism and began her love affair with the red hills, the people and the history of the area. She married Robert Dell Buchanan on February 28, 1930 in the Manti LDS Temple. A unique combination the farmer who loved the land and the lady, who loved to teach. Theirs was a union of love and mutual support. He died on July 7, 1979. Dorothy returned to teaching during World War II. She also found time to write. She is a published poet, one of two persons whose poetry is published in all seven volumes of UTAH SINGS. Her articles have appeared in THE UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, SAGA OF THE SANPITCH, and other publications. She organized the Richfield chapter of the League of Utah Writers. She wrote the first history of Richfield and contributed to GOLDEN SHEAVES FROM A RICH FIELD, a 1964 centennial history of Richfield. She served on the Richfield Public Library Board for 27 years; was responsible for the selection of all books purchased for the library during that time. Throughout her 65 years in Richfield, she was active in the Richfield Study Club, DUP Camp Cove and other organizations. She was a member of the BYU Emeriti Board. An active member of the LDS Church, she served in all the auxiliaries. She and her husband were ordinance workers at the Manti Temple.

She was adored by her two daughters, who survive her, Dorothy Kay (Mrs. J. Thomas) Greene and Marianne Buchanan, both of Salt Lake City; six grandchildren and their spouses; eight great-grandchildren; brother, Dr. Briant S. (Barbara) Jacobs of Provo; and many beloved nieces and nephews. Her parents; brothers, James L. Jacobs and Chariton Jacobs, precede her in death.Friends may call to visit with the family, Monday, September 22, from 6-8 p.m. at the Larkin Mortuary, 260 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, September 23, at 1 p.m. in the Neal S. Magleby & Sons Mortuary Chapel, 50 S. 100 W., Richfield, where friends may call prior to services Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Burial will be in the Richfield City Cemetery.

During her illness, Dorothy was helped by more kind doctors, nurses, aides, relatives and friends, than we can possibly name. She loved and appreciated all those who so sweetly attended her. Her family is also deeply appreciative.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggest that donations be made in Dorothy's name to the Richfield Public Library, 83 East Center, Richfield, Utah 84701.

Early Mt. Pleasant Politics As Seen by Lee R. Christensen

The following is taken from Lee R. Christensen's Book: "You Knew Me As Buddy"; a collection of letters he wrote to friends who grew up in Mt. Pleasant.

March 19, 1997

Dear Beth,

Joe Lund was probably elected to the City Council fall of 1929 to sit through 1930-31. He

either did not run again or was defeated. It was probably conversation around your dinner

table.

The mayor was Bent Hansen. Ben with a “t”. Recorder CalvinChristensen. I don’t know

if this was elected or appointed. Treasurer Annie B. Syndergaad; E.W. Wall four year counselor;

Paul Monsen, O.M. Oldrich, Joseph Lund, and Ches Seeley two year counselors.

These people were all Republicans.

By the next election the Democrats behind Roosevelt were in charge. Doc Winters was

mayor; Dan Rasmussen was recorder; Ed (drugstore) Johnston four year councilman.

Roosevelt made the Democrats so popular that Mt. Pleasant’s Republican Party died.

They changed their name to Citizens Party. Their first elected mayor was Justus Seeley.

Justus, I think, was mayor from 1936 to 1942 when John Gunderson was elected - after my

father had gone into service.  

1931 was the year both our banks failed. E.W. Wall continues to get elected, but I don’t see

Calvin Christensen again. Both were bank officials. E.W. with the Commercial Bank, Calvin

with the North Sanpete Bank. Wayne’s father, I think, was CEO - as we call them now

- of the North Sanpete Bank. W.D. Candland was the biggest shareholder. I had $71.00 in

the bank when it went broke. Have since kept my money in my mattress.

Tom Jensen, Dan Rasmussen, Doc Winters, and the editor of the Pyramid were all Democrats.

W.D. Candland, most of the Seeley’s, Ross Christensen, and H.C. Jacobs were all Republicans

Tom Jensen’s business was politics. I do not know what else he did. He was our state

senator, but was also a professional lobbyist. He should not have been doing both while

a senator, so I don’t know how he fed his very populous family.

Evelyn Jensen’s maternal grandfather, was he C.W. Sorensen, was a Democrat. I can

remember arguing Hoover vs Al Smith 1928 campaign with her. We were first grade. In

those days, I was a Republican. Inherited from my father.

Was Evelyn related to Elaine and Andra?

I’m just back from taking the winter’s pile of horse droppings and moving them to the

south end of Barbara’s property - downwind. Just as I did at Joe Lund’s. Tracy and I, over

the winter, have been mucking out the horse stalls and piling the muck just outside the

stalls. At Joe’s it was the cow stall. Now with the snow gone, the dandelions due next

week, I’m moving the piles. My question for you - what happened to the piles I had every

spring at Joe’s? Who hauled it? Where? I remember how big the pile was by spring. And

how some wintery days I could hardly get the mucky stuff out of the stable, it was so frozen.

But where did it go. Agusta’s garden! May explain the brilliant color of her flowers.

Speaking of banks - as I was - I was in your backyard playing with polliwogs in the watering

trough when Murry told me the North Sanpete Bank and my $71.00 was gone. I’ve

had nothing to do with polliwogs or banks since.

L.R.

From Lee R. Christensen's book " You Knew Me As Buddy"

courtesy of American Press

Dear Historian, Could you:


1. Furnish me with the unit, Division or Lower that took Coblenz Germany in WW II. Probably mid March 1945, Third Army.


2. And if they have a Division Association, its address.


I’m trying to reach members of this Unit and enlist their help in a gesture of Friendship and Peace. I was never in Coblenz but was stationed at Ehrenbreitstein Fortress on the mountain above and across the Rhine from this city in April 1945. Coblenz had been badly damaged but the detail I remember was of a Horse and Rider statue blown off their granite pedestal. I don’t know who the rider was, a Kaiser or perhaps Frederick the Great. But as they lay there, alone, on their sides, in what had once been a dramatic park where the Moselle River flows into the Rhine, they suggested the eminent surrender of Nazi Germany.


Now, some 45 years after that War, the people of Coblenz are making plans to put the Rider and his Horse back on their pedestal. They have waited, I understand, for a reunited Germany.


I would think the members of the Unit who knocked the rider and his Horse over would want to participate.
I thank you for any help you can furnish me.
Lee R. Christensen