Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

I have been pondering lately about relationships, concerned that I fulfill my obligations and act appropriately. Some relationships are covenant relationships involving the Lord and perhaps we have no relationship with another person without involving either the Lord or Satan. I am still pondering that question, but that is another topic. One important relationship is that with our leaders in the Church. Although perhaps it is not a covenant relationship involving the Lord and accompanied by an ordinance in the same sense as a sealing relationship to a spouse, child or parent, it does in some sense involve all of those elements, albeit temporarily. It certainly does involve the Lord and the sustaining vote could be considered an ordinance of sorts. It is without question a vitally important relationship. This applies to local leaders as well as the general authorities. Many have lost their membership in the Church for not correctly understanding and fulfilling the terms of this relationship. My current thoughts on this relationship are summarized in the following.

It is as if the Lord says to us: “I have chosen this man. He is not perfect but I have confidence in him that he will do my will. I will speak through him and I want you to accept what he says as if I had said it. Though his words may not be polished and his grammar may not be perfect, the ideas that he expresses are the ideas that I have revealed to him by my spirit. If you, too, are in tune with that spirit, you will understand what he is trying to say and you will know that it is from me and that it is the truth. Since he is mortal and not perfect and he has his agency, he may fall. If he does, I will remove him from his place so that he will not lead you astray. It is neither your place nor your prerogative to correct him or reject him or try to remove him. I have called him and I will remove him if it becomes necessary or I will release him when he has finished his work. He is a man who is learning and growing like yourself, but I will give him special help while he is in this calling so that he can do what is required of him. It is your duty to follow him and sustain him as long as he remains in this calling.”

Brothers

This is a picture of my Grandfather Wilkinson and two of his brothers, Percy Newton and Harold Herbert.  They are listed on the back in the order of  Stephen Robert Wells, Harold Herbert, and Percy Newton so I am assuming that is in left to right order.  That matches with their relative ages as well.

Letter

For those who are interested, I have re-scanned and re-posted the letter from Delbert L. Stapley. You can now click on it and get a legible image. For those interested in the relationship he descended from the 5th child of Charles Stapley Sr, Thomas Stapley and we descended from the 2nd child Charles Stapley Jr. so he and my Grandmother Wilkinson had a common great grandfather. I guess that makes them 2nd cousins.

Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

I was asked to substitute in the Valiant B class in primary last week. The lesson was on 3 Nephi chapter 17. One of the points brought out in the lesson was that Christ perceived that the Nephites did not understand all that he had told them so he asked them to go home and “ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow” (Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 17:3). The boys were to understand that they should follow the same pattern when they did not understand something in the scriptures. I had to try to explain what ponder meant and that praying without first pondering would not be nearly as effective.

I find it interesting and helpful to explore the etymology of words, especially when it is obvious that the author has carefully chosen them to convey some nuance of meaning or when they are inspired as in this case. As Janet pointed out some years ago in Gospel ‘Doctrine class, ponder comes from the same root as pound as in weight. It has the connotation of assessing the importance or value of something. It involves critically thinking about and weighing the importance of an idea. I think in today’s society we have too little opportunity for pondering. I like to ponder as I am involved in some activity that does not require my full mental concentration. There used to be many more of those activities in the days when there were not so many labor saving appliances. What few opportunities we have today, we tend to fill with other distractions, like i-pods, etc.

I think it is important to make time for pondering. Instead of listening to the i-pod while mowing the lawn or doing the dishes, or cleaning the house, take time to ponder occasionally. Think of a scripture or a gospel topic you do not fully understand or that interests you and mull it over in your mind (mull from M.E. mullyn "grind to powder, pulverize,", divide it up into small pieces and examine it carefully). Then go back and re-read it and pray about it.

Letter

Sorry that letter didn't work out very well. I will try to figure out how to make it legible.

Elder Stapley

Elder Stapley was a member of the Quorum of the 12 from October 1950 till his death in 1978. He was called to the quorum of the 12 by George Albert Smith while in the elevator at the Hotel Utah. He filled the vacancy left by George F. Richards. The vacancy left when he died was filled by Elder James E. Faust. I remember when he came to preside over our stake conference in Grand Junction one time when I was a young kid, and my Dad took me up to meet him after one of the sessions. The following is a letter he wrote to my Grandmother responding to a question she had about genealogy. This is a link to a short biographical sketch which gives the story of his call.

The Aussies

 

Our Stapley ancestors came to Utah via Australia.  They emigrated from the area around Rolvenden, Kent, England to Australia in search of better opportunities.  While there, they were converted through the efforts of William Hyde and other missionaries and eventually emigrated to southern Utah through southern California.  Members of the family married into both the Lawrence and Bringhurst families.  Mary Janet Stapley was the wife of William Augustus Bringhurst and they are the parents of my grandmother Wilkinson.  These top two pictures are of  Charles Stapley Jr. and Sarah Parkinson, parents of Mary Janet Stapley and the bottom two are of Charles Stapley Sr. and Sarah Bryant, parents of Charles Stapley Jr.   One of their descendents, Delbert L. Stapley,  was a member of the Quorum of the 12 in the 50s when I was growing up.  

Blue Norther

For those of you wondering what a blue norther is, it's a Texas term. This link is to the weather notebook with a definition. Maybe this one didn't fully qualify technically but it was close.

White Christmas?

This is about as close as we're likely to get.
Since Suzanne won't get her own blog started or post on mine, I am posting these on her behalf. These pictures were taken in front of the Distribution Center at about noon today. We had a record high for the date yesterday and then a "blue norther" blew in over night and brought snow to the Hill Country and sleet to far north San Antonio. We got thunderstorms at our house.

Children of SRW & Veda Wilkinson

  

These are the children of S.R. and Veda Wilkinson as young adults.  Top Wells and Sibyl; Bottom Willard and Winifred

Goodbye glasses

After nearly 54 years its time to say goodbye to glasses and contacts. It seems rather strange not to be wearing them. Yesterday I had the lens in my right eye replaced with a "restore" lens that is supposed to allow me to focus at all distances without external corrective lenses like the left eye that was done in August. 18 hours later the doctor pronounced it good. The lens is properly positioned and my vision is good for that soon after surgery. Now 2 or 3 weeks of regular eye drops and a week of wearing the shield at night and it will be done. So far the vision at long distances is good but still lacking somewhat at intermediate and short distances. That will improve over time according to their experience with these lenses.

Pioneer ancestors

Following is a poem written by Eliza R. Snow to Mrs. Eleanor Bietler Bringhurst, wife of Samuel Bringhurst. The poem was recorded in a pioneer diary of Eliza R. Snow Sunday, March 19, 1848.

My heart is full of friendship -- but for thee
It has a holier feeling than that name
Identifies. The recollection of
Thy countenance from the first time
My eyes beheld thee -- whispers something to
My thought and feeling which I never can
Describe. 'Tis undefinable so long
As mind or understanding shall remain
As circumscribed as now. But when I think
Of thee, a thrill of near affinity
O'er spreads my senses and I truly feel
Within my bosom a strong kindred tie
As tho' we'd been associated in
Existence, ere we condescended to
Our present state of being. Lady, yes,
When our small understandings shall expand
And with the recollection of the past
Some knowledge of the future be inspired
We'll find a thousand kindred ties that form
Amalgamation's wreath, and which are twined
And intertwined, combining and combined
Connecting noble spirits here and there
And still extending on from world to world
Unto creation's undefined extent.

Thus let our hearts expand and let our minds
And acts approximate towards the point
Of true perfection, that we may attain
To an association glorified
On planets more exalted and refined --
Among intelligences long since dear,
And let us cultivate the sacred ties
Of love and friendship here that will abide
Time's rugged changes and eternally
Endure.

gg-grandparents

These are my great-great grandparents,  Father and Mother of William Augustus Bringhurst who was the father of my Grandmother Wilkinson.  They were the first in their line to join the Church along with his brother William.  They were Quakers living near Philadelphia when they joined the Church.  They later moved to Nauvoo and then across the plains to Utah. They traveled in the company of  John Taylor, with Elvin Hunter as Captain of the hundred, Joseph Horn of the fifty, and Erick C. Bowers of the ten.  They arrived in Salt Lake Valley about 6 October 1847.  His brother William was later called by Brigham Young to head the company which settled what now is Las Vegas, Nevada.

Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

I don’t remember where I first heard it, but someone said in essence Salvation is an individual matter but Exaltation requires a group effort. Personal righteousness is essential but not sufficient for exaltation. We have to take people with us if we are going to be exalted. We can be saved, even in the Celestial Kingdom, individually, but we can be exalted only when sealed to a spouse and to ancestors and descendants. There are other blessings that are only available if we can persuade others to join us or if we can join an appropriate group. As we were talking in Sunday School class today about the end of the Nephite civilization, I thought about those who were yet righteous, including Mormon and Moroni and no doubt some others judging from Mormon’s letter to Moroni about infant baptism. There were apparently a few righteous saints left who were trying to keep the church going and do the right thing. That was not sufficient to preserve the Nephites, however, or to save themselves from being exterminated in mortality. Not that I think Mormon and Moroni and the others who were righteous were responsible for the sins of all their contemporaries. They did all they could. We cannot enjoy the blessings of a Zion society without the society. We have to do our part in brining others along.

Many of the teachings of the gospel are related to our interaction with others. Learning to relate to others is more than half of the battle. We are all interdependent, like it or not. This is difficult for me as I am not a very social being and I don’t enjoy trying to persuade others or explaining my beliefs to them. I’m somewhat of a loner and socially inept. I usually prefer a good book to a good conversation. The ultimate example of our dependence is, of course, the Atonement. Without Christ and his sacrifice we would all be lost. I have committed to try to be more outgoing and more social at church and elsewhere, to try to do my part in promoting the unity necessary to achieve the desired result. Maybe that’s why I was prompted and more or less forced into teaching. Something I need to work on.

Students

This is a picture of my Grandfather Wilkinson and two of his friends when he was a student at the Branch Normal School in Cedar. Grandpa is on the right, Jed Fawcett is seated and Fred Fawcett is on the left.

Am I irrelevant or just ancient?

Did you ever feel irrelevant? The other day I gave my students a quiz over element names and symbols. It was a clever story, that I got a copy of from another teacher, about an old western bandit named the gold dust kid. It had references to things like a platinum blond, filling the bad guy full of lead, a plugged nickel, a tin badge, "Hi Ho Silver!", cobalt steel jail bars, etc in which the elements were given as the symbols and they had to fill in the names, 

 

(Remember this guy?  If you do you are probably close to my age.)  

 

 

I thought it would be easier for them because of the context.  Of course most of them had never heard of the Lone Ranger but they also had no idea about any of the other references.  They had no concept of the old west or the Western movie genre.  It was all totally lost on them.   A culturally and generationally biased  test in the extreme.

Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

Our opening hymn in Sacrament Meeting today was number 89, “The Lord is My Light.” As we came to the words “My weakness in mercy He covers with power”, I felt an overwhelming witness of the Spirit that that has been true and will continue to be true in my life as long as I acknowledge Him. If I have accomplished anything worthwhile, it is because He has made up for my limitations and inadequacies, filled in the gaps, so to speak. As the scriptures tell us, “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 25:23). I think many times we fail to recognize the influence of the Lord in our lives like the Lamanites who were converted that Jesus talked about when He visited them “even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not” (Book of Mormon | 3 Nephi 9:20).

This is also brought out in the story of the servant of Elisha the prophet when he saw the army of the King of Syria that came to take Elisha who was accused of being a spy and surrounded the whole city with horses and chariots so that Elisha would not escape. “And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (Old Testament | 2 Kings 6:15 - 17).

Joseph Smith recorded similar visions that he had of the apostles in the early days of the Church. "I saw the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, who are now upon the earth, who hold the keys of this last ministry, in foreign lands, standing together in a circle, much fatigued, with their clothes tattered and feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold Him. The Savior looked upon them and wept. ......Also, I saw Elder Brigham Young standing in a strange land, in the far south and west, in a desert place, upon a rock in the midst of about a dozen men of color (Indians), who appeared hostile. He was preaching to them in their own tongue, and the angel of God standing above his head, with a drawn sword in his hand, protecting him, but he did not see it." (History of the Church Vol. II, p. 381.

And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments. (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 59:21)

Sorry, I couldn't resist

Do you feel a bit overloaded sometimes?

Funny Picture

Sometimes I wonder why I can't seem to get anywhere in life.

Letter from Pa and Ma

I thought I would try posting a letter instead of a picture this time. If you click on it to enlarge it, it becomes legible. This one is from Joseph Thomas Wilkinson to his son SRW Wilkinson, my grandfather dated August 13, 1909.

We have arrived

O.K. its official now. Gas is under $2.00 a gallon. Of course this is not a pay-at-the-pump store so you have to walk in to pay for your gas, but hopefully it is a harbinger of things to come. Suzanne snapped this one on her way out and about today. Looks like you can't actually see the sign without clicking on the picture to enlarge it.

Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

Some people say they cannot believe in a God because if there was a God and he was good, he wouldn’t allow all the pain and suffering and hardships to happen to all of us. You have all seen the weights that joggers and walkers attach to their ankles and wrists to give them extra resistance. They are in good enough physical condition that they can’t get enough resistance in the time they have by walking or jogging without them to develop the desired strength and stamina. I think of handicaps and trials that we have in life in somewhat the same terms. The Lord knows our strengths and weaknesses and some of us are too far advanced to be able to develop sufficient spirituality, humility, or whatever other virtues we need without the extra resistance in this life.

The point is we have to have faith that God knows us and loves us enough that he will tailor our mortal experience to our needs so that we have the opportunity for the maximum possible development according to our progress thus far. It is this eternal perspective that the gospel provides that allows us to bear our trials and infirmities with patience and even, as some are able to do, with grace and cheerfulness. I always admire those who, like the sister in our ward who was paralyzed at a young age in an accident, can go through life with a cheerful, upbeat attitude in spite of handicaps and hardships. I wish I was more like that.

Great Grandparents

This is a wedding picture of my great grandparents (parents of SRW Wilkinson) Joseph Thomas Wilkinson and Jane Sarah Wells in 1881. She was his second wife. The first wife was Elizabeth Emily Wells, her half sister if I remember correctly, but may have been a cousin.

These are pictures of them in their later years.

Good news and bad

I was at the Wal-Mart on Military Dr. and I-410 yesterday and the gas price was $2.36 per gal. With the 3 cent discount that is $2.33 a gallon, almost reasonable again. I was going to get a picture but I didn't get a chance. Unfortunately the lines were so long waiting to get to the gas pumps that I decided it wasn't worth the wait. Maybe they will still be low on my way to work tomorrow at 7:00 AM and the lines will not be so long.

I know it's necessary but it is still annoying. They cut the access road down from 3 lanes to 1 lane for the construction where we get on I-410 at Bandera. There was such a long line we decided to take another route yesterday. Unfortunately, that is the way I drive to work every day. I can just imagine what it will be like after Thanksgiving when all the Christmas shoppers are trying to get to Ingram Mall.

SRW Wilkinson basketball team

This is the team my grandfather played on at the Branch Normal School in Cedar City. Harold Herbert Wilkinson #3, his brother who was 6 years older than him, was the coach. The guy in the center, J.W. Barton, was the faculty adviser.

Here is another picture of the team. Don't know which years these were.

Blessed Relief

O.K. so its not a very good photo but it is nice to see the prices coming down finally. This is the Wal Mart in our area where we generally shop. With the Wal Mart card the price is 3 cents less making it $2.78 a gallon. Just thought you might like to see one of the advantages of living in Texas.

There are disadvantages, of course, like the neighbors that come uninvited and eat up all your groceries. (If you click on the photo below to enlarge it, you can see them more clearly.) This is the parsley in our patio herb garden.

Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren

Some of the conference talks today alluded to the fact that one of the reasons the early church members could not establish Zion in Jackson County was that they were not united and could not live the law of consecration. I think that is one of the major stumbling blocks in the Church today. I will call it elitism, the attitude that one is somehow better than others, among the elite. There are various flavors of elitism – intellectual elitism, social elitism, financial elitism, fashion elitism, racial elitism, gender elitism, born-in-the-church vs. convert elitism, ancestry elitism, national elitism, and on and on. This is a difficult issue for me and I suspect many others. I find myself criticizing others for various traits that they have that I think are odd, annoying or unpleasant instead of recognizing that they are just people trying to do the best they can with what life has dealt them. We do not know what other people have to deal with. Until we can learn to truly have charity for others and adopt an attitude of caring and helping rather than criticizing and belittling, we will not be able to develop the type of unity that is necessary for a Zion society.

The times that we know about in the scriptures when a Zion society was achieved have been possible because the people achieved a unity and equality that extended to all people and all aspects of their lives. “And the Lord called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.” (Pearl of Great Price | Moses 7:18).

“And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. And there were no envyings, nor strifes, . . . . .neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of –ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. (Book of Mormon | 4 Nephi 1:15 - 17)

New Thread

I have decided to start a new thread that I will call "Things I hope you will teach my grandchildren". I have delayed doing this because I don't want to sound too preachy or too heavy but today's conference talks tipped me over the edge. I will post on an irregular basis my thoughts that I feel are worthwhile passing on to future generations. You can ignore them if you please.

Dad and Mom

These are not very good pictures but they are among the few that I have of dad and mom when they were young.

Veda and her Father

This is a picture of my grandmother Veda Bringhurst Wilkinson in her later years, as I remember her, and her father William Augustus Bringhurst.

Michael Ballam

Last weekend we attended a benefit concert by Michael Ballam on Friday night and a Fireside by him on Sunday night. I know our children are not Michael Ballam fans but maybe some of the other readers will be interested.

This is a picture at one of his son's weddings.

On Friday night it was a benefit for the Opera by Children program that he is involved in and some local people are trying to get going in the schools here. It was a rather intimate setting at the home of our Stake President with about 25-35 people. They had food before and a meet and greet afterward. He mostly told of how he wanted to be an opera singer when he was a child and how he became one, interspersed with some of his favorite show tunes and why he liked them.

On Sunday night the highlight for me was the story he told about an old Jewish Rabi he met while doing a study abroad in Israel. He was one of the few who still know how to chant the Torah the way it used to be done. The Torah was never read but sung and the older versions have the musical accompaniment written along with the text. He sang a couple of the opening lines for us and said that on the occasion mentioned in the scriptures when Jesus read from the scriptures it was not actually reading but singing. He said that this old Rabi once visited the US and chanted some of the Torah in a meeting out in the west somewhere near a Navajo Indian reservation. There were some Navajos present who immediately recognized the tune and got very excited. They asked him where he got that music. It was the same tune as that handed down through their culture for centuries.

He also told the story of how he was approached by President Hinckley, then an apostle, about his role in the temple film. He was told he would have to take 6 months off to do it and could not tell anyone, even his wife, what he was doing. At the end he bore his testimony including his testimony of how real Satan is strengthed by his experience playing that role.

Veda and Friends

Since I didn't post a picture last week, I'll put another one in this week. This my grandmother Veda Bringhurst and two of her friends Belle Hammond and Anna Laura Klienman (L to R). Don't Know what ages but appears to be late teens to early 20s.

Sisters

All of these are daughters of W.A. Bringhurst listed from left to right:
Anna Augusta Bringhurst Naegle daughter of Susan A.S. Bringhurst 2nd wife
Lara Selinda Bringhurst daughter of Susan A.S. Bringhurst
Elleanor (Ella) Bringhurst daughter of Susan A.S. Bringhurst
Veda (with sore eyes) Bringhurst daughter of Mary J.S. Bringhurst 3rd wife
Vera (center) Bringhurst, daughter of Mary J.S. Bringhurst
Mary Eleanor (Nellie) Bringhurst daughter of Selinda D.P. Bringhurst, 1st wife

It appears to have been a strain to hold still long enough for the picture to be taken. I'm told that is why people are seldom smiling in these old pictures. They didn't have fast film in those days.

Changing times

O.K. for those of you who get squeamish or just plain bored looking at the inside of an automobile, you can skip this one. I had made a commitment to myself to get the oil changed in our new Hyundai Sonata yesterday since it had been driven to Utah and back this past summer, about 3000 miles, and I had not changed the oil since then. I was debating whether to do it myself, or pay $29.95 at a local garage we have been patronizing, since I was busy and not looking forward with anticipation to crawling under a car. I decided to go out a see how hard it would be to get the oil filter off. I could not find the oil filter anywhere, so I figured it wasn't going to be easy and just drove to the garage. After they got my car in the bay, the repairman came in to the waiting area to inform me that it would be about $6 extra since my vehicle has an internal oil filter. I decided to to go out to see what an internal oil filter is. I found this picture on line but it doesn't show how it goes in and I don't want to go out and have to replace the O rings to take one so I will attempt a description.

They had removed the top cover off the engine and there was about a 7" round cylinder molded into the engine block on the top side near the fuel injectors. He had removed the cover of that cylinder with an oil filter wrench. Attached to the top was a long cylindrical projection with large rectangular openings in the sides all around. Over that slides a filter element similar to an air filter element. There is a large O ring at the top where the cover contacts the engine block and a small one at the bottom where the end of the thing seals. Both O rings have to be replaced each time the filter is changed. It's a good thing I decided to be lazy and have someone else do it. I would have searched forever for that oil filter, probably after having drained the oil. Maybe I will try it next time.

Still a Prophet

After Church today a young mother came up to me and asked if her son, about 2 years old, had been making eyes at me during Sacrament Meeting. They were sitting across the aisle and about 3 rows ahead of us. I said yes he was. She said that he had told them that he saw our Prophet sitting just over there. This is not the first time I have been mistaken for a Prophet. Several other children have also said the same thing. We thought it was because of some slight resemblance to President Hinckley - both bald, both gray fringe, both wearing glasses, etc. This one is too young to remember President Hinckley, however. It's nice to be thought of in such illustrious company, but a bit daunting to make sure I don't damage their reputation in some child's estimation.

Mary Janet Stapley Bringhurst

My great grandmother (mother's mother's mother) at 3 different ages. The top one on the left is 19 years old, the others unknown. The hair style at 19 is quite unique.

38 Years

Perhaps its appropriate that we have a hurricane threat as we celebrate our 38th anniversary. I remember being awakened by an earthquake in LA on our wedding day. We marked the occasion by going out to Pericos (a popular Mexican restaurant in town) for dinner and taking a break from the diet, then coming home and falling asleep watching a movie. Well, Suzanne fell asleep anyway. We have seen our share of bumps along the way but all in all its been a good journey. In 2 years we will be celebrating 40. Any ideas on what to do to celebrate? If it's anything like this year, a trip to the coast is probably out.

Hurricane!

It's ironic that our relatives in Indiana and New York will probably see much more effect from Ike than we will. We are on the dry side and so far have seen a little breeze and nothing else. It's forecast path takes it up through Indiana and NY. There is not much accurate information about the damage in the Houston and Galveston area yet as the hurricane is still passing and still a category 2 hours after making landfall.

Wedding picture

My mother's wedding picture (8 Sept 1943)

Social Event

I am assuming this is some sort of party or social gathering. The list of names is cut off at the top unfortunately so the first 2 on the left are unidentified. The rest from left to right are:
Lawrence Kleinman
Rhea Higbee
William Bringhurst (brother of Veda)
Lavine (?) Sylvester
Walter Bringhurst (nephew of Veda)
Veda Bringhurst

Team Picture

One of the basket ball teams coached by my Grandfather Wilkinson.

Grandpa Wilkinson is standing at the rear. The players are:
Front row - unidentified, Wood Urie, Vernon Lunt
Back row - Tom Thornley, Darwin Nelson, unidentified, Dan Webster

For those of you who know Ned Lunt, Vernon Lunt was an uncle of his, if I remember correctly what he told me. I don't know which school this was. Grandpa was a school teacher before he decided that it didn't pay enough and went into other things. I think he coached some at the BAC in Cedar City also. The school was established in 1897 as a branch of the state teacher training school, then became the following

1897-1913	Branch Normal School
1913-1953	Branch Agricultural College
1953-1969	College of Southern Utah
1969-1990	Southern Utah State College
1991-present	Southern Utah University

Grandpa Wilkinson and I believe Grandma Lawrence both graduated from there before becoming teachers. An interesting side note for our immediate family, our bishop in the Madison 1st Ward in Wisconsin, Steven D. Bennion, was president there from 1997-2006

Joseph Thomas Wilkinson Family

This is the Joseph Thomas Wilkinson family

Unfortunately, not all the people are identified. The only label is
Standing Elisabeth Emily Wells Wilkinson
Seated in center: Joseph Thomas Wilkinson

The picture has a stamp on the back with the following
Jim Booth,
Photographer
St. George,
Southern Utah
North America

Labor Day Weekend

Holidays are always times to get things done that were put off during the press of daily life. I finally got the ice maker fixed in our refrigerator, just in time for fall and winter. Oh well, hopefully it will still be working for next summer. Now for Monday I have to work on finishing touches for the bathroom, cleaning up the construction mess, and miscellaneous errands.

At my last follow-up for cataract surgery, we talked about scheduling the other eye. For some reason the insurance will now pay for the other eye. Friday the 8th is available, but i don't want to take time off from school so soon after the start of the year, so I will probably schedule it during Thanksgiving break. He is doing surgery that Monday and Tuesday is available for the 24 hr follow-up visit.

Family Pictures V

This is the home of William Augustus Bringhurst, my Great Grandfather, and his wife Mary Janet Stapely. He was the bishop of the Toquerville ward for over 30 years until his death. The people in the picture (listed by Veda Bringhurst Wilkinson, his daughter) are, from left to right:
1. my brother Samuel Bringhurst
2. my brother Charlie Bringhurst
3. My sister Arvilla Bringhurst
4. My sister Vera Bringhurst
5. my cousin Velma Stapley
6. my cousin Vivian Stapley
7. my brother Will Bringhurst
8. my brother Leo Bringhurst

The picture was taken in 1903

Stake Conference

This weekend was our Stake Conference. Elders Nelson of the 12 and Pearson of the 70 were the visiting authorities. It is unusual to have a member of the 12, even for reorganization of the stake presidency, and to have a member of the 70 also is even more unusual. Elder Pearson is a new general authority and this was part of his training. I was impressed by his talks. He is fresh from 3 years as a mission president and in his early 40's. He is a member of the 1st quorum and one to watch for the future. It was interesting to see the choosing of a new presidency from the perspective of Stake Clerk.

Elder Nelson told about his experiences in Czechoslovakia and trying to get the Church recognized under the old communist regime. He also spent about an hour on the Abrahamic Covenant in the Priesthood Leadership Session.

Family Pictures IV

Mother and Daughter:
Mary Janet Stapley Bringhurst and her daughter Veda Bringhurst, taken 1905. Mary Janet was 40 and Veda was 16. Veda is my grandmother, wife of SRW Wilkinson in the previous post

Family Pictures III

Left to Right: Sibyl, Wells, Winifred, Willard

Family Pictures II

S.R.W. Wilkinson Family

Left to right Willard, Winifred, Veda, Wells, S.R., Sibyl, (date unknown, estimated about 1928). Sibyl is my mother. S.R. is the son of Jane Sarah Wells Wilkinson in the previous post.

Correction

I did some more research on Mary E. Wells Whitehead, the fourth woman in the picture. In the New Family Search, she is listed as an older sister of the other three. I did not have a record of her or two of the other children in my PAF file. She was the oldest of a family of 11 according to one source. Another source lists her as a half sister, from another wife, Mary Ann Lowe. Most sources list 8 children, so she is probably a half sister. There were 6 sisters but two of them died young. Interestingly, my great grandmother, Jane Sarah Wells died the year before I was born.

Family pictures I

I decided to use this blog to post pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Wilkinson's books of remembrance for those who would like to download them. You can click on the image to view it in a bigger format and right click on it if you want to save it.


This one is of Anna Eliza Wells McAllister and Stephney Wells Davies on the back row left to right and Jane Sarah Wells Wilkinson and Mary Wells Whitehead on the front row left to right. Anna or Annie Eliza, Stephney, and Jane Sarah are sisters, daughters of Stephen Robert Wells and Annie Thorne. Jane Sarah is my great grandmother, wife of Joseph Thomas Wilkinson. Anna Eliza was married to John D.T. McAllister, a person of some prominence in the early church. I am not quite sure who Mary is. There was another sister named Edith Ann Wells, but I don't see how that translates to Mary, unless my grandmother labeled it wrong.

I will try to post at least 1 picture per week.