Savior

A bit of mud.

 Shawn Trauntvein

I'm a person of little consequence,

a beggar before my Savior King,

appealing to Him of Gethsemane,

to ransom me, a lowly thing.

My broken heart, contrite soul, distressed mind

have been in storm and dark fury tossed,

Silently, I pled to Him, Jesus save

me...and the fear and noise were lost.

Often, as an unhealed Leper I pray,                                                                              

Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean,

with hope to hear our Eternal Father

say to me, "I will, be thou clean".

Still when misfortune cast me off the path,

bruised of spirit, wounded and worn down,

my Shepherd, yes, the babe of Bethlehem,

sent another to lift and bound.

I was known a beggar, at one time blind,

'til He mixed dirt and spit to make clay,

still not sure why, He would anoint my eyes,

but praise Christ's name, I see today.

Although I, still less than the dust of ground,

hope to serve and love, as He, my friend

You may wonder why? For the Prince of Peace

may use me too, to serve His end.

Please, Redeemer, stir in me, a burning heart,

an undried tear, true charity, a will to serve,

and witness of Thee.

Myrna wrote: Thank you! I think this is wonderful and very helpful.  I too "am a person of little consequence. . ."

This is very beautiful. Do you have more?

Trauntvein History and Mine Disasters

Please keep this someplace because I can't remember from time to time. I sat LHT down and this is what I learned.

His Uncle Neldon Trauntvein, Henry's next to the youngest brother, was killed in a mine cave-in in Castle Gate. He was the only one killed in the accident.

Tom Grundy, husband to Crystal Trauntvein Grundy, Henry's sister, was seriously injured in an accidental cave-in at Castle Gate. Broke his hip and leg and he had to have a pin placed in the hip and down the leg which made him crippled.

Gilmer Nielsen, Delma Rostron Nielsen, sister of Gladys, was killed in an explosion in Kenilworth mine. He was one of seven killed. He was badly burned.

Bert Llewellyn, Bulah Rostron Llewellyn, sister of Gladys, was crushed by a loading machine. He was found dead beneath the machine where he was either working on it or had gone to get warm while his load went out.

Henry was injured when his foot was caved-on. He broke his ankle and foot. They were going to use TNT on a blocking. They could not get beneath it. So paddled into the water and placed the dynamite and paddled back. Got just to the edge of the water. Something told him to get off the raft. Walked away back, the water disappeared after the blast but the raft he had been on was smashed against the ceiling. Then he was in the mine and went into an entry. He had blocked the door over but someone accidentally removed it and he could have been gassed. He was walking into the mine and was using his lantern to test for air. He found his lamp went out so he turned and ran away from the black damp. He hit into a timber and passed out. There was air at the level of the floor and he revived and was able to get out. He dislocated his shoulder. He went to a chiropractor, Dr. Munk, and he put it back in place.

He started mining when he was 13-years old. His dad expected him to mine as much coal each day as he did. They had to blast their own coal, pick it out, load the cart and pull it out using a horse. They were paid by the load. That was the Clear Creek Mine.

Wattis

Julie tells me that she didn't know that I had ever lived in Wattis. In the above photo, I am shown with my Great-Grandmother Mina Pritchett in Wattis.

After my mom died, I went to stay with Grandma Smith. She was the principal of the Wattis school. She had left the Emery County School District because the Carbon County School District was paying better and, also I think, because she was pretty much on her own after Grandpa Smith had died and the girls were away from home. Aunt Renee had been working in Salt Lake City, as I understand. Then she and Uncle Max married and she was in Price. 

Great-Grandma Pritchett came to Wattis to help care for me. 

She fell down the inside steps at the school (it had two levels) and broke her hip. I vividly remember being told to sit still at her side. I still remember that the stairway was painted dark gray on the bottom and light gray on the top and that there was an arrow pointing to the restrooms which were down the stairs. (We had our own little apartment, since the position was a live-in one.) I remember sitting on the steps and patting Great-Grandma Pritchett's hand while Grandma Smith went to get the doctor. Great-grandma was very brave. She must have been in a lot of pain but she just moaned a little from time to time. Then I would pat her hand and she would tell me that everything would be fine and just to sit still on the step and wait. The doctor came and so did some other men. They loaded her onto a stretcher and took her to the hospital. She ended up in Salt Lake with Aunt Jessie and her husband while she healed. Uncle Frank had a pharmacy in Salt Lake which he and Aunt Menetta ran so he was also close by. Great-grandma had a very serious break and it never did really heal well. She did come back to help with me after the hip was somewhat better. By then, we had all moved to Price. I called her Grandma With the Cane. It was OK. It was after she broke her leg that we moved, Grandma and I, into Uncle Max and Aunt Renee's apartment in Price. Then Aunt Renee could watch me while Grandma taught school. 

Later Great-Grandma came back to Price and we moved into a small house. While we lived there, she sent me out to catch birds. She gave me a salt shaker and told me that if I could sprinkle the salt on the bird's tails, I could catch them. I sneaked around for many hours but I never could get close enough to catch one. When Grandma Smith came home, she was a bit peeved with Great-grandma. She said, "Myrna, if you can get close enough to a bird to catch it, you don't need to sprinkle salt on its tail." Great-Grandma just laughed and laughed. 

Incidentally, when I was a teen, I told Grandma Smith and Aunt Renee that I remembered Great-grandma falling downstairs. When I described the paint and the patting, they were amazed. I had never been back there and I could describe the school right down to the arrow on the wall. I told them that I also remembered being on a bed with a yellow bedspread in the school. I had been taking a nap and woke up. I remember Aunt Renee coming to get me as you do when I child wakes up from a nap. Garth is three years younger than I am and so he wasn't part of my life yet.

Oddly, I remember Aunt Renee coming to that little house after we had moved out of her apartment. It was wartime and treats were few and far between. She had managed to get a can of shrimp. Those were my favorite and so she brought them to me. Good and loving people were always part of my life. I am so grateful for that.

David Childs About Health Scare

Hi Myrna and Tim,
I started to put this on Facebook, but apparently it is too many words for the comments, and I'm not sure how to use it anyway.  I didn't know what I was getting into with  Facebook,  but I'm pretty sure I don't want to spend most of my days on  it! :)  Anyway, I'll put the short version there, and this can be the longer version.
My doctor was treating me for  high blood pressure, and  had told me a couple of visits ago that my Creatinine levels (Creatinine levels are used to indicate how well the kidneys are functioning) were getting somewhat  high, and if they continued to rise, we would need to check it out.  It continued to rise, so I had an appointment at the end of July with a Nephrologist, who told me that my kidneys were functioning at 30%  of normal.  I also complained of being  dizzy (as opposed to ditzy, which  is my normal state), and weak and short of breath.  At this  point I  expected a future of hoping the kidneys didn't fail too fast, so that I could delay the start of dialysis and possible need for a transplant.  I thought, based on what I could find on the web, that there would not be any recovery of the damage already done to the kidneys.  The Nephrologist reduced my blood pressure  meds and ordered a sonogram of my kidneys about a month later.  We went back near the  end of August and the  doctor gave us the good news!  My Creatinine levels were back down near to the levels it should be and my sonogram showed that there was nothing  wrong with my kidneys. Apparently, the problem has been that I have been taking too much medication for the high blood pressure for quite some time now, and my blood pressure was too low!  Because of the low BP there was inadequate blood flow to all parts of the body that needed  it.  (the medical term is "Perfusion").  He further reduced the BP medicine, and noted that I was "slightly anemic" and suggested that I take a vitamin D supplement for awhile.  Kim thinks I look better and have more color (I was too pale...), and I certainly feel better.  I am able to work outside in the yard without feeling like I am about to pass out, or habing to rest ever two or three minutes to catch my breath.  More importantly, I purchased a float tube and chest waders and have been out on the lakes and streams paddling about trying  to catch fish!  (I'm a lousy fisherman, I would hate to try to live on what I can catch ;) )  
I have another appointment on the 29th, and hopefully, it will continue to be good news.  This all happened because apparently, I have what is called the "white coat syndrome".  When I take my blood pressure at home, it is significantly lower than when I have  it taken at the doctor's office.  So, every time I went to the doctor, he felt that because my BP was still too high, and he should increase the medication.
All in all, it's been a time of nervousness and trepidation, but I feel like I've a second chance - It's a great feeling!

Love,
Dave

The U.S. Navy Hymn

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked'st on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Graduation Invitation

Stena (Said Sty-na)

Lars Ericksen was a flour miller in Denmark. Soon after his first marriage, he and his first wife, Bertha Marie, were baptized as members of the LDS Church. Lars then served as a missionary among his fellow-Danes. The family moved quite a bit as a result of this work. Stena Hansen, her brothers and mother, were all converted. Stena was told that she could travel to Salt Lake with Lars and his wife as their hired girl. She was also a friend. 

Stena, Lars and Bertha walked almost all the way to Salt Lake Valley. The old couple traveling with them rode in a wagon and the little girls also rode. There were eight with the one wagon, Lars, Bertha, Stena, the little girls, Emma and Camilla, Rasmus Rasmussen and the old couple. The old couple had purchased a cow, they were somewhat wealthy, and the cow gave them good milk, butter and buttermilk, until near the end of the journey. At that point, one of the oxen died and the cow was needed for pulling which meant she did not give much milk.

The women would hang the cream in a bucket under the wagon. On the bucket was a tight lid. The constant swinging of the bucket churned the butter. The buttermilk, left after the cream turned to butter, was used to make pancakes. May of the pioneers traveling with them would come to them for the buttermilk. They arrived in Salt Lake City in October of 1861.

One day, on their way to the valley, the women found a big, black iron kettle, which had been abandoned by a previous party. They decided it might come in handy when the got to their final home. So between them they carried it the remainder of the journey. There was no place for it in the wagon. That big black kettle was used over and over again in Mt. Pleasant. Soap was made in it and water boiled in it for hog killing days. It was passed from family to family for various uses.

Stena was very pretty and was also a good worker and quite smart. Many men wanted her to marry them. One sent a church leader to ask her to become a polygamist wife. She and Bertha were both upset by this. They decided they would ask Lars if he would marry her instead. Stena said she would rather have him for a husband than any of the others. That way, all of them could still be together. He agreed. Bertha, Lars and Stena all received their endowments at the endowment house in Salt Lake City. Bertha and Lars were sealed and then Stena was sealed to Lars, as well. 

They traveled to Mt. Pleasant in the spring of 1861 where they purchased a lot from Harvey Tidwell and immediately began to build a cellar for the family. The cellar was about 25-feet long and about 16-feet wide. To the east was a window with of four lights, which opened up and down, and to the north and south was one window of two lights which was set in the logs. There were no curtains because of the dim light and no blinds. It was two-roomed and was about six-feet deep in the earth. There were four logs above. The dirt floor was washed and water left standing to make it hard. Then it was sprinkled with clean white sand. There were partitions of adobe brick and a chimney of adobe with a fireplace and mantle. In front of the fireplace stood a step-stove.


Stena was the mother of Ferdinand, Amasa, Christena, Annie Marie, Mina and Lena (whose twin sister died shortly after birth). Another son, Alma, died during infancy. 


Bertha and Stena were always good friends. Up until their deaths, they loved each other dearly. They divided the chores of the household and the garden and farm and the children all loved them both. One was Mommy and the other Mama. 


The family had a wonderful vegetable garden with potatoes, carrots, onions, parsley, cabbage, peas and currant and gooseberries. They also had apple and plum trees.

This is a Great Site!

From: Melanie
 Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:42:48 +0000

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/

 This link allows you to scroll across any part of the world and you can see that day's paper. Try it out. I checked out Omaha, Salt Lake and Newcastle. Kind of fun. 

From Myrna: Thanks, so much, Melanie. This is a great site. Love, M