Frozen Sensation

Some of the finest brush strokes in the creation took place in Swan Valley, Idaho. Summer scenes of vibrant color and authentic rural life are among the most picturesque your eyes will ever behold.

I'm told that winter is glorious there as well; I'll have to trust the testimony of others on that count - too cold for my blood.

The most popular sight in this locale, however, is of a very cold variety, and is on a much, much smaller scale - the size of ice cream cones sold in the corner country store. 

Back in the day, summer excursions to Grandma and Grandpa Beard's home often included a side trip to Swam Valley for a cone filled with  square scoops of delectable ice cream. Leon seemed to suggest this outing on a regular basis. No wonder he was everyone's favorite uncle.

I'm told that this phenomenon started quite by accident clear back in 1946 when the owners of the store, Harry and Grace Traver, decided to sell Farr's Ice Cream from Salt Lake City to attract tourists. Grace mail ordered an ice cream scoop from the east coast and much to her surprise when the package arrived she discovered that the scoop looked very different from what she thought she had ordered. 

Indeed, it was square! She didn't like it, not at all. It was crazy! But Harry decided that the novelty might be just what they were looking for, so they gave it a try.  

The square ice cream cones became an instant attraction and the popularity continues today, although the store has undergone significant renovations that have diminished the rustic charm from the days of my youth.

During the summer months, especially on the Fourth of July, the lines extend clear out into the roadway. In fact, even though I am not an ice cream connoisseur, I had bragged about the cones so much to Dean that we stopped there on our first time in Swan Valley together. The line was sooooo long, that he decided it wasn't worth the wait. He's sampled the treat since, but still mourns that first fateful day. 

The most popular choice is "Huckleberries and Cream" and keeping up with the demand for that flavor requires thirty tubs per week during the summer months.

The moral of this story is that if you are traveling through Swan Valley, you really should carry on the family tradition of ordering the frozen sensation from 1946, the square ice cream cone. And enjoy the other scenery while standing in line.

Chase Women in Nauvoo Relief Society

The Chase's were well represented in the Nauvoo Relief Society. Listed among the membership were the following that I have been able to link to my family line:

These good women are mentioned several times in the minutes of the Nauvoo Relief Society as preserved in the Joseph Smith Papers. Your guess is as good as mine which of the above deserves credit for the following (original spelling maintained):

"Mrs. Chase then spoke in a very animated strain, by way of  encouragement to the sisters, saying the angels are rejoicing over you."

"Sister Chase then rose and spoke on the necessity of prayer and faith  - exhorted the sisters to faithfulness to be much in prayer - said she stood a living witness for Jesus of Nazareth - knew he had pourd his spirit upon her -  inasmuch as we visit the sick we shall be blesst -  I mean to do all that I can - to releave their necessities we must be humble and overcome the powers of darkness and live by faith.

"Mrs. Chase prophesied that henceforth, if the sisters are faithful, the gifts of the gospel shall be with us, especially the gift of healin."

Words of Love More Powerful Than the Rod

Meet Joseph William Goodworth, my Great, Great Uncle. 

One cannot tell from this solemn adult portrait pose that Joe was mischievous as a youth in his classroom and, by his own description, a discipline problem. His school met in a one room structure that housed all eight grades. Since graduation from the eighth grade was comparable to a high school diploma today, one can envision grades K through 12 in one setting. That wide span in age and ability presented a myriad of challenges to the teacher and students alike.  

School paddle

His teachers were mostly men who enforced discipline with a rod. This was standard and accepted in schools in the late 1800's. This method of teaching did little to squelch Joe's naughty behavior.

It had been reported that the school in Kamas, Utah, that Joe attended was inadequate. It was said that students were not learning as they should and the community was nearly illiterate. A change was made in the school administration with a new teacher sent to reverse the problem. The teacher determined that the situation was not as serious as reported and left after a season, but she was there long enough to make an impression on Joseph. 

One day this wonderful teacher sat Joe down and told him what a nice boy he was and how much she loved him. He said that he "never had such a beating in his life by words with love". I like to think that she helped him realize his name - Goodworth, teaching him that he was Good and had Worth. He desired to please this teacher who saw the good in him and even after her departure from the school, self discipline replaced the rod. 

Although due to family circumstances Joe's formal education ended after grade six, he always enjoyed reading and was a good mathematician. The self discipline he learned served him well throughout his lifetime.

Family Resemblance

If you lived in the McCracken home between 1962 and 1971, you watched The Beverly Hillbillies, a sitcom about an impoverished mountaineer, Jed Clampett, who struck gold and moved with his daughter Elly Mae, second cousin Jethro and cantankerous mother-in-law Daisy Mae Moses (Granny) to a mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Granny was a short and scrappy shotgun toting moonshine making fireball who fancied herself as a "dunked" (not "sprinkled") Christian.

Wouldn't you say that she bears a striking resemblance to my Great, Great, Great Grandmother Amy Scott Chase?

I wonder if there were other similarities besides appearance? Family histories describe her a a sturdy and devout Quaker with a character predominated by courage and fortitude. 

Amy was born in Rupert, Vermont, with fourteen siblings. When Amy Scott married Abner Chase in 1808 she was nineteen years old. Within the following nineteen years, Amy bore eleven children. They lived on a Vermont homestead which still goes by the name of "Chase Hollow" and is located at the foot of "Tater Hill". 

Two years after the birth of her youngest, Abner passed away, leaving Amy with nine living children, five boys and four girls.

She sold the farm and moved in with her oldest son, Sisson's family. Amy enlisted the help of family members to help raise the younger children. Her son Solomon, my Great, Great, Great Grandfather lived with his uncles and was introduced to the gospel by them. 

Amy followed her son's spiritual path and laid aside the Quaker religion.

She was very independent and developed the skill of weaving the wire sieves for threshing machines, which enabled her to make "quite a salary". After working and saving for three years she could afford to buy a span of horses, a wagon, and other necessities to immigrate to Iowa, where she joined a group of other settlers on the Pottawattamie Plains for three years.

In 1853, when Amy was sixty-four years old, she started west with many other family members. She lived with Sisson's family for a period of forty years. She was buried in Salt Lake City in 1872.

So, back to the comparison to the Clampett's. Amy's family were mountaineers who struck gold when they heard the gospel message. They headed west and lived in a multi-generational setting for many years. How many other similarities may exist is yet to be known.

Setting the Record Straight

Have you ever attended a funeral and wished that you had known the deceased a little better after hearing them eulogized as "practically perfect in every way"? It's very unpopular to mention the faults of the deceased, or allude to their shortcomings and annoying habits, so life sketches are typically full of superlatives and praise. That's what we want to hear and I certainly hope the trend continues until I make my exit.

Likewise, as time passes, memories tend to gradually evolve from reality to imagination. We are all guilty of this and I like to think of it as a form of forgiveness and love, rather than an intention to deceive or bend the truth.

To be fair, occasionally it becomes necessary to "set the record straight". 

In all honesty, and without any imaginative stretch of memory, my mom, Coila Ethel Speas McCracken, was "practically perfect in every way". It's true.

I was recently asked: 

"Did she really bake 

18 large loaves of bread at a time?" 

Hmmm ... I didn't know the answer, although I did recall the ever present smell of homemade bread, huge thick soft slices with nice chewy crusts, counter tops lined with dough rising in aluminum pans and a chest freezer stacked to the brim with bagged loaves. 

But, since I couldn't be sure and my memory was unreliable on the number question, I contacted a more reliable source who replied: 

• "I'd say 10 loaves when making white bread, 6 loaves when making raisin bread - but sometimes made both in the same day. Throw in a batch of cinnamon rolls and 18 sounds like a fair equivalent."

                                        (Thanks to Sandi for the tally.)

So, to set the record perfectly straight, 18 large loaves of bread  may be a slight enhancement fueled by aromatic memories.

In the interest of making the picture completely accurate - there was no bread maker or Bosch to knead the dough in my mom's kitchen. Her hands 
moved in perfect rhythm 
as she worked 

• Heel, push, fold, turn; heel, push, fold, turn, repeat, repeat, repeat... 

She was not satisfied to grab a handful of dough and smash it into the pan. The dough was carefully rolled into pillows and pinched on the ends to make a nice smooth even loaf without too many big yeast bubbles.

Please don't feel inadequate if I throw in a couple more facts. 

As the bread was pulled from the oven, the tops were lathered with butter which was also homemade. To start the butter making process, the milk from our very own cow was first run through a separator to extract the rich cream. 

I'm elated to have Mom's butter churn on my kitchen shelf, where it is a great decorative conversation piece. It makes its way down from the shelf at least once a year (to be dusted). 

After the butter was churned it was made into a perfect rectangle in a mold very similar to this one. 

Oh, did I mention the homemade freezer jam made from strawberries out of the garden? 

The record is now officially accurate as far as I know, so as you can see, my mom was pretty amazing!

"Here's Father Chase, we are saved!"

Isaac Chase

Meet Isaac Chase, my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Uncle, brother of Abner Chase, friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Prophet Brigham Young, born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, December 12, 1791. 

Phebe Ogden Ross Chase

He met and married his wife, Phebe Ogden Ross, in New York in 1818. Phebe was a young twenty-three year old widow with three young children. Isaac and Phebe added 7 more children to the family for a total of two sons and eight daughters.

The family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1840, the year after the saints inhabited the swampy town of Commerce on the Mississippi River and renamed it.

The saints were in very poor circumstances and the Prophet Joseph Smith needed monetary help.

In order to assist the Prophet, Isaac returned to New York to dispose of his property. He disposed of all he could

for cash and when he returned to Nauvoo he found the Prophet in court. Isaac went to the court house, and when he opened the door the Prophet raised to his feet and said: "Here's Father Chase, we are saved." Whereupon, Isaac Chase gave the cash that helped the Prophet to pay the fine that had been imposed upon him by his enemies.

Shortly afterwards the Prophet asked Isaac to go back to New York to sell the remainder of his property to secure goods to help stock the Nauvoo Store. This he did. When he returned the Prophet gave him a slip of paper with his signature showing he had received the goods and the money. I am told that family members still possess this note, but I have not seen it.

Isaac's wife Phebe's baptism is not recorded as happening until 1844, however daughter Desdemona was baptized in March, 1840, and Sylvia in 1841.  It is unknown when Isaac was baptized, but there is no doubt of his conversion and dedication to the restored gospel. 

We do know that he received his greatest birthday gift at age 54 when he received his temple ordinances December 13, 1845, in the Nauvoo Temple. The following month Isaac and Phebe's marriage was solemnized in the Nauvoo Temple for time and all eternity.

Milk and Ice Cream Binges

There is great nobility in the forgiveness and 

human kindness exhibited by my

Kenneth R. Speas.

Uncle Kenneth and his comrades when they were freed from German prison camps at the end of World War II.  After their arrival in New York, the liberated prisoners took time out from milk and ice cream "binges" to urge that... 

• "Nazi prisoners in this country be treated humanely despite the harsh treatment Yanks endured while interred in the crumbling Reich."

Kenneth was quoted as saying that the short rations during his captivity were his most gruesome memory. He deserved to "binge" on milk and ice cream. 

Freedom

Three sons and a daughter

Veda May Speas

Recruiting Poster

The Speas family was completely devoted to the American cause during World War II. Veda joined her brothers Kenneth, Rex and Quentin in the service of our country by joining the Navy in August, 1944.

She joined the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).

Military Awards - Kenneth Speas

Uncle Kenneth Rector Speas devoted a great portion of his lifetime to military service. The Idaho Falls Post Register reported on December 27, 1945, that Kenneth had received his Purple Heart "for wounds received on or about December, 1944, in the European area." 

Purple Heart

The Purple Heart award has a long history that dates back to George Washington. Originally called the Badge of Military Merit, it was awarded to those who shed blood for America. George Washington stated that:

"Those who receive the award should be looked upon with reverence."

The Badge of Military Merit ceased to be issued until after World War II when it became known as the Purple Heart. Reminiscent of the award's origin, it features a bust of George Washington and his coat of arms.

The Post Register article further notes that Grandma and Grandpa had two other sons serving in the military - Rex in the Third Amphibious Force in Japan and Quentin in the Army Air Forces in Manila.

These brave men followed the example of the dedicated military service of their father, Rector Speas, in World War I.

Rex, Quentin, and Kenneth

I can well remember the military portraits of these three uncles proudly displayed on a wall of honor at Grandma's house in Woodville.

Major Kenneth R. Speas

A brilliant student and scholar, my Uncle Kenneth Speas studied languages at the Army Language School in Monterey, California, to prepare him for work in the Army Corps' Interrogation Prisoner of War Department during the Korean Conflict.

His advanced training and skills qualified him for the rank of Major.

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center was established just prior to America’s entry into World War II. With a goal to teach Japanese, the school was located in the Presidio of San Franciosco in an abandoned airplane hanger at Crissy Field. Classes began November 1,  1941, with four instructors and 60 students. In 1946 the school moved to the Presidio of Monterey and was renamed the Army Language School. During 1947 and 1948, the curriculum expanded rapidly, teaching more than thirty languages and dialects. Russian was the largest language program, followed by Chinese, Korean, and German.

While Kenneth studied languages and interrogated prisoners, his wife Ruby was on the home front with their three children, Diane, Jerry, and Kenny.