REMEMBER WHEN FROM THE PAST--MERRY CHRISTMAS PAST

REMEMBER WHEN
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Kenna Holm - Nebo Reporter

MERRY CHRISTMAS' PAST

MERRY CHRISTMAS! What a beautiful time of year. I just wish we could keep this wonderful
feeling all year long. It seems Christmas brings out the best in most of us. (I think there are probably still some Scrooges). I Love Christmas. I love the music, the lights, the merriment it brings and of course the
parties and food.
Since this issue falls on Christmas, I wanted to title it "Merry Christmas' Past". I remember when
you didn't start really thinking of Christmas until Thanksgiving was over. And then the stores would start decorating the windows and the gifts got displayed and of course Santa.
    When I was little, I remember we would get so excited for Santa to come to town. He would come in on the old Fire Engine with the lights and sirens going. There would be hundreds of people crowded around to see him. I remember my dad putting me up on his shoulders so I could see Santa.
They always had a big tree right in the street on Utah Avenue and Main street. It set back to the
East of Main between the old Library and City Drug on the corner. We loved the lights and ornaments on
the tree. I don't remember any lights and decoration on the streets but who needed them--we had the tree.
    It seemed each year someone in town had a big old pine tree that they donated to the city for the Christmas Tree. (what an honor to have YOUR tree used)
Santa would give out littlebrown papersacks with goodies in it to each child. In those days, I don't  remember seeing a Santa in every store and on every corner.
    A few days ago, I even saw a Santa on a Harley. I just wished I could have gotten my camera out
sooner and got a picture of him.
    As bad as I hate snow, it is pretty to have it for Christmas. We used to love the snow when we
were kids. (I guess we were normal) We'd go out and build snowmen and play fox and geese and other
games in the snow and come in half frozen but we didn't seem to mind it a bit.. Now I'd rather watch it
from the warm house than be out in it.
Remember when we had the ski lift and a fun hill to ski down up the canyon? The ski lift was run
by an old Ferguson tractor motor with a shed built over it. The rope was fixed someway around the wheel
and had little T bars so many feet apart that you could grab on to and be pulled to the top of the hill. They
also had a little snack shack that the Jr. Chamber of Commerce built you could buy coffee or cocoa at. I'm not sure how long it was there but it was fun while it lasted. The trees that they cleared off that hill was hauled down to Dr. L.D. Pfouts and he built his barn with it. His son Jim also told me they had
competitions at the slopes and even Alf Engen, the skier,  had a hand in it. Now I didn't know who that was
but apparently he has quite a name with skiing. He's the one that got Alta Ski Resort started.
I'm sure that shocks a lot of people to know we had a ski area up Payson canyon but we did. The
cement base the lift motor sat on is still up there but the ski run has filled in with foliage. They even put
a little park in at the bottom of the hill. Dale Barnett, Dix Grace and a few others helped put the picnic
tables in. That was in the early 50's. They were part of the Jr. Chamber of Commerce.
    We all  loved Forsey's Variety Store because at Christmas time they had all the Christmas mix candy in a big display as you came in the door. It had chocolates, ribbon hard tack, gum drops, filled hard tack and a lot of different kinds all in together.  You can't find that mix anymore.  I loved that store to.
Isn't it fun to see all the excitement with the little kids. The Christmas I remember best was when
I was just about 4 or 5 and my two older brothers, DeLynn and LaVell gave me a little white fur coat and muff. Boy did I think I was something. That was so special to me and I had that coat for a long time. (I have some great brothers). They always spoiled me because I was the babyand the onlygirland theywere
10 and 12 years older than me.
Years ago Bill Williams wrote a song that our trio sang a lot at Christmas time. It always brought
a tear to my eye. I wanted to close my column today (and actually the last column for this year) with the
words to that song. It goes:
I remember Christmas' past around a Christmas tree. Funny how those memories last
--they come back to me. Old familiar carols, snowy Christmas Eve. I can still hear Santa's
reindeer when we all believed.

    Wish I could return once more where the stockings hung.
    Got a Christmas yearning for days when we were young.
    Why do little children have to grow so fast.
    ‘Cause come December, I remember Christmas past.
    Never can return somehow, memories have to do.
    Younger hearts are learning now, Christmas joys we knew.
    All the little children seem to grow so fast.
    But come December, they'll remember, Merry Christmas Past.

Doesn't it touch your heart to remember when....

REMEMBER WHEN FROM THE PAST--MEMORIES OF YESTERYEAR

REMEMBER WHEN Thursday, January 15, 2009 Kenna Holm MEMORIES OF YESTERYEAR I've been thinking back of all the fun we used to have snow sledding, swimming, ice and roller skating and dances. I'm sure kids now days still have those things but have better facilities . When we were young, we used to swim at Spring Lake. I remember my brothers taking me as a little girl and they would toss me back and forth and me giggling all the time, but one day one of them tossed me to the other one and he caught me by my legs and my head went down in the water. It about scared the heck out of me. I guess I can now blame them for me not liking water. No--I knew they would always save me but I can remember it frightened me. I hated the feel of the slime and vines down on the bottom of the pond. It was eerie. We also swam at Salem Pond. After the old Orem train system was shut down, they rerouted the highway and straightened it out over the Salem Pond. There is now a bit of pond on the North side of the highway. When we were in highschool, I remember one kid from Spanish Fork by the name of Butch Clayson that dove off the side and hit one of the pilings that was just under the water (that had been part of the railroad track) and broke his neck. He was lucky to survive that. There was always places to swim. There was Warm Springs out in Genola that was fun to go to. The water was so nice and warm but I think that has been closed off now and no one can go there because of gang problems or some kind of trouble. It was fun though. We also had Arrowhead Swimming Pool in Benjamin and Park RoShae in Springville that we could go to. They were both inside pools and they kept open longer than Payson Park Swimming Pool. Park RoShae also had a roller skating rink in a building by the swimming pool. We loved to roller skate. We would take parties over there. We could choose to skate, swim or just picnic. I never was any good ad either one but it was fun to go anyway. My husband excelled in all sports so it made me look like an amateur dummy when I went with him. He could do all kinds of fancy dives in swimming and at skating he was great. Me, I just blundered along. We roller skated a lot onthe sidewalks.Remember the old clip onroller skateswe would have to undo a screw to lengthen themout to fit our shoes and tighten that screw and then we had a skate key that we could tighten the clamps on to our soles of our shoes and then off we would go. We loved to skate on the roads or sidewalks. When we went to Park RoShae, they had shoe skates and they were easier to skate it. But then I still fell a lot. I never was any good at any sport but it was fun to go anyway. My husband excelled in all sports so it made me look like an amateur dummy when I went with him. He could do all kinds of fancy dives in swimming and at skating he was great. Me, I just blundered along. In the winter, we loved to ice skate and go sledding. We had Peteetneet hill that has always been and still is the best to sleigh ride on. We would also sled at the old Payson Jr. High. (that they just tore down). We would get a piece of plastic and slide down the hill, laughing all the way. We also would go out to Tote Gote Hill out on the West Mountain. We loved to tube out there. One time, (which my kids will never let me forget) there was two or three families of us all with tubes and things to slide down the hill on, went out there for an outing. My hair hadn't been done so I put on my wig so I would look at least somewhat presentable. We climbed to the top of the hill and each got on our tubes to take turns sliding down and as I got about half way down, my wig flew off one way while I was going the other and we all cracked up laughing and like I say, my kids will never let me forget it. It was fun though even if I was the butt of all jokes. We would take wieners to roast or just hot chocolate to drink and totally enjoy the outing. I'm not sure some would even know what tote gotes are now. They are a thing of the past but we would even sometimes pull the kids on their sleds or tubes behind the tote gote and have a ball. Whenwe were first married, we had anold 1938 Chevy car that we used to go up the canyon in. There were 3 couples ofusnewlyweds, Jerryand Lorraine JonesMortensen (Jim's brother), Cliff and Beth Cartwright (Dona Cartwrights's brother) and Frank and I. We would get our sleds and line them all up behind that old car and be pulled everywhere. The end one would swing back and forth across the road. We couldn't do that now days. To much traffic. We would go down through the fields or up in the river bottoms in Spanish Fork. It's a wonder we didn't get hurt but you know, at that age you're invincible. Remember when we had the irrigation ditches and each home had an alloted time to water their yards. We loved to put our swimming suits on and wade in the water and sit in the ditch so it damed the water up. Sprinklers were fun to. Oh the water fights we had. When we went ice skating, it wasn't always the smoothest places but as kids we didn't care. The city flooded an area down on 8th West just off Utah Ave. (the Freeway is across it now). We would skate there and we would go out to Spring Lake. That always frightened me because I was afraid the Ice would crack and we would drop in . And as I remember there were a few ponds down in the fields we even skated on. At one time the American Legion sponsored dances for the teens and we could go there on one night (I think it was Thursdays) and we could dance or play games. They had ping pong tables and they would have bottles soft drinks and goodies we could buy. I remember Andy Andress was always there to over see it. He was a fun guy. That was always so fun to go to those. We could play tennis in the summer at the Payson Park Tennis Court. They also had Horseshoe Pits to play at also. And of course there were always the night games. We had no TV's so we made our own fun. We played hide and seek, run sheepy run, red rover, and I could go on and on. We always had so much fun and it didn't cost money, just our imaginations. Isn't it fun to remember back when......

REMEMBER WHEN FROM THE PAST--THE CANDLE AND CAROL SERVICES

REMEMBER WHEN FROM THE PAST
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Kenna Holm 


JUNIOR HIGH CANDLE AND CAROL SERVICES
                                           
    First of all, I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to call and comment
on my "Remember When" stories. It's been so fun to think back and put my memories down on
paper. Glad you have enjoyed them.

STUDENTS GETTING READY TO MARCH WITH CANDLES INTO THE GYM

 
    This week I was thinking about Christmas and how fast it is creeping (more like running)
up on us and I remember when I was in Jr. High School, the season kind of got kicked off with
the "Annual Candle Services"  Oh I looked forward to those services.
    The Payson Jr. High School at that time was in the building across the street west of the park. (Where the new church stands now).   The seventh, eighth, and ninth grades went there to school. The week before Christmas was when these Candle Services were held.  (Those were the days that they didn't start so early (like before Halloween) to get ready for Christmas.
    We would practice for weeks before and then the night of the "Candle Services" we
would meet up in the home economics room and when it was time to start, we would each be
given a white candle and then form two lines and go down the stairs toward the gym. Just before
we entered the gym, two of the teachers would be standing on each side of the door and would
light out candles. We would then march in and sit on risers there in the gymnasium. The audience would set up in the balcony and look down to watch the show. The lights were off and there were just the candles lit as we walked in. It was a beautiful sight and very touching. We would then snuff out our candles and the lights would come on for us to sing.
    I remember how we were warned to be EXTREMELY careful not to get to close to the one in front of us so as to not catch their hair on fire. (or anything else)  The must was always so beautiful and really got you in the Christmas spirit.    When I was there Rees Olson was the music director and his sister Crista was the accompanist.
    As I did a little research, I found out that the candle services were started in 1932 with
Carl O. Nelson and Al Payne being the music people. The Candle Services continued until the
Christmas of 1966.

THE CANDLE BEARERS LED THE PROCESSION



    During the first few years (Until 1945) an outstanding citizen was honored at the candle
services. They would be presented with a large 2-3 foot candle and a poem was read that went
like this:

“These candles are a symbol true
Of life, and truth, and love Of Him
who shed His shining light On earth
 from heaven above.
Brightly they burn in steady flame
That you may catch their glow,
And give to others of their light That love like His may grow.”

    I was talking to Carl Nelson Jr. and he told me his dad had received one of these candles as the outstanding citizen. He brought it home and placed it in a corner and one night Jr. and his sister Joyce were rough housing and knocked the candle over and broke it. Needless to say his father was not happy with them.

Al Payne and Christa Amos

    Another story that was given to me was one year when Reed Jones was principal, Crista Amos who was the accompanist for the choir, got sick and could not come to the services so Mr. Jones had to hurry and find someone who could step in and play for them. He call Juliene Harding, a high school student, and she did a beautiful job of accompanying the students.
     Crista had an old pump organ she kept in her room at school and they would lug that thing into the gym and she would accompany on that and the piano.  In 1960,  when Stan Wilson was principal, they decided that the candles might be to dangerous (after 28 years), so he had Vernon Finch who was the shop teacher make some wooden candles. Vernon said he took wooden dowels and drilled them out and placed a battery and bulb in them. So now they would not worry about catching something on fire, but they were never as effective and beautiful as the real candles and the flickering light they made.
    I had memories of Huish Moore making big batches of caramels in a large copper kettle in the home economics room when we were rehearsing. I couldn't find anyone who remembered that so I was beginning to think I was pipe dreaming but when I talked to Vernon Finch (who also makes delicious caramels to) he verified that I was right. Huish did make caramels and would treat the faculty with them (he never offered any to the students)
     Kevin Kay’s mom told me he always felt bad because the one year he couldn't sing in the services and had practiced long and hard, he had to miss them because of emergency surgery.
     Vernon Finch went in as principal of the Jr. High for one year and then moved up to the high school and Richard LaMar Wilson came in as principal. Wilson didn't want to do the candle services any more so 1966 was the end of the long tradition of the Candle Services.
Isn't fun to remember when.................