If we are smart, we learn from history.  I spent last Wednesday morning with Malad Elementary’s third graders at the Oneida Pioneer Museum.  Energetic kids who were happy to be out and about, but they came to the rug and listened intently as I shared a few stories about our history and what it has taught me.

First of all, the kids did some thinking when I shared the Boyd Thomas story of running into cans of Big C Flour while on KP duty in Italy during WWII.  “It was like getting a postcard from home,” according to Boyd.  Lesson learned: This valley serves.  Our people value our freedom, and we support our soldiers with products from home.

Next, who knew The Church of the Seven Gables once sat right on the spot where Draylyn Jones now eats her dinner?  The real lesson learned from this stately building is that you finish what you start.  The church was built in the late 1800s, except they never got a proper roof on it.  When they were able to finish the structure years later in 1898, materials were damaged from extended exposure and the building was only used until 1927 when it was declared unsafe and had to be torn down.  

Gerald’s Fish is the best example I know of getting strength by being in nature.  Kadean, Gerald’s wife, had passed away at the end of July in 1991.  Gerald went fishing at Daniels Reservoir on September 10, 1991, and came home with the catch of a lifetime.  I remember when he pulled into Sandy’s house next door and called us all over to see what he had landed.  “Kadee sent that fish to my hook,” was all Gerald could say.  It had been a good day on the lake.  That taxidermized fish hangs on the west wall of the museum and reminds us all that when we are down, outside is a good place to go.

Frank Clark and Old Eph, a smart 10-foot bear, take the cake for adventure and doing hard things.  Frank was a sheepherder from Malad who pastured his flock in Logan Canyon where Old Eph became his sworn enemy because of the havoc the bear raised on the sheep camps.  Yet on August 23, 1923, when Frank finally got the best of the bear with his last bullet to Eph’s head he said, “I think I felt sorry I had to do it.”  About 90% of Malad kids think the big bear skin on the west wall is Old Eph…it is not, but an oil painting depicting Frank and Eph’s final battle hangs next to the skin.  Eph’s skull, after resting in the Smithsonian for years was returned to Utah and is currently in the basement of the USU library, another reminder of the majesty of nature and the decisions we sometimes must make.

So, history adds to our Good Life if we take the time to learn.  Mark your calendars for May 26, the Saturday before Memorial Day and the Museum’s Annual Bake Sale and Opening. Come see Gerald’s Fish, Big C Flour cans, a replica of the Church of the Seven Gables and Frank Clark fighting Old Eph.  There are lots of other treasures as well.  Along with taking home some baked goods you just might learn something.