The morning of April 22, 2011 found a hoard of scrambling children descending into the barrow pits along Arbon Valley Highway. This industrious crew picked up liter located between the school and the U.S. Post Office on both sides of the highway. Even the dumpster site was spruced up of all debris. Thanks go out to Robin Claunch, Debbie Curry, and Cheri Evans for a great lesson in Civics given to the Arbon Valley students. Students participating were:Katie Ward, Shaylyn Ward, Mariah Christensen, Ethan Ward, Lawrence Campbell, Kooper Ward, Troy Kendal, Garret Williams, Cooper Evens, Mattie Ward, Lilly Weston, Makenna Hart, Grayson Williams, and Emma Kendal.

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opefully, as we all prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, with are minds on Christmas, may we all pause and peruse the last year and think about the small things we take for granted.

Be grateful you’re stuck in the snow – we need the moisture. On Thursday and several days after give thanks to the farmers and ranchers who keep our nation and many others well fed. Think about what it takes to get food from the field to the shelf in the store. No farms – no food.

Don’t always complain about the government. Step up and run for office. Your corner of the city, county, or state isn’t the only fishbowl in the world and your the biggest barracuda that should be listened to. Consider others.

Contemplate what you presently enjoy. We have good roads, – not just potholes. They could be dirt. Watch out and slow down for road construction. I know its been two years of trying to exit into town and get into Wal Mart. I’ve been one of the chief complainers. However, it sure is great now that its almost finished.

Send a thank you out to the military. I’m proud of my 21 year old nephew who has the courage and patriotism to protect our country and fight for freedom, while many only want to give lip service to the cause.

Show gratitude to a teacher and be their partner in education. They’re not all bad. Parents are the first teachers and models for their children. Be a good one. Do your part.

Applaud your neighbors. I appreciate the ones of the next generation who can help us old folks lift machinery, move furniture, and save me (a novice) from trying to catch horses and cows. It’s good to know somebody cares enough to give my strange relatives the third degree about hanging out in my yard, when I’m not at home. When traveling on the roads, we all need to thank our neighbors for taking time to save us from snow drifts, breakdowns, and the big bill of calling a wrecker. I appreciate knowing someone will always be coming along to save me from the side of the road and go out of their way to deliver me home.

Happy Thanksgiving from Standing on the Eastep

Ready for a little Trick or Treating? Beware! Goblins and beasties will be roaming the valley Saturday or Sunday, prowling on your doorsteps, begging for a sweet treat to take back and devour in the warmth of their abodes. Not a Halloween passes that we all don’t get a little nostalgic and hark back to years past and remember all that candy and the best costume ever.

Speaking of costumes, did you actually get to wear it on that creepy night of terror? Somehow, every year Halloween is the coldest, bone chilling night of the fall season. Most of us roamed the streets in snowsuits and often boots. A few of Arbon’s senior citizens gave me their versions of how Halloween was observed in the distant past. I (yes, I qualify and will claim senior citizenship) remember going all over the entire town of Malad, including the businesses. The new Star Theater gave out big candy bars. One particular year a bunch of teenage boys ran by and stole my friend’s pillowcase of candy and scared a week’s growth out of us. Some houses, my Grandma Lusk’s, you had to always sing and perform to get any treats. Waxing windows was about all of the mischief we accomplished.

One black night in Arbon three unnamed teenage boys had a paper sack full of manure. They placed it on Geina Newport’s doorstep, lit it afire, rapped on the door, and preceded to run. An accomplice to the crime was an unaware aunt who had given them a ride to the Newport residence (Anyone want to fess up?).

Eileen Estep remembers going trick or treating in Malad, but no one had specific candy for trick or treaters. You might get an apple from their tree or maybe a stick of gum.

Lamond “Buck” Bailey recalls in the 1930’s they didn’t go trick or treating but outhouse tipping. There was none of that sissysoaping windows. They would get a bunch of guys in a car and go around pushing over outhouses. Outhouses were usually just placed over a hole with some dirt shoveled up around the outside, so it wasn’t difficult to overturn the stinker. Buck told me outhouses also had a little birdhouse nailed to the roof or the sides. Bluebirds were the main occupants. The outhouses at the schools were prime targets: Highland in the south end, Arbon Central by Newports, Valleyview close to the LDS Church, and the Pauline School in its present location landed face down yearly. Buck’s father finally bolted two cedar posts on each side of their outhouse, because he was tired of taking time out to upright the hut. This yearly practice became almost impossible after the WPA program of the 1930’s gave out outhouses with cement bases making them very hard to push over.

Since I live in “downtown” Arbon, I get lots of trick or treaters. For many years I was getting 50 kids. Now that is counting a few 18 year olds who were unwilling to give up the yearly practice. I suppose they still might be out there somewhere in the blackness of the night. Now take heed, “ the goblins will get you if you don’t watch out”!

Forgotten Cemetery

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n Memorial Day 2010, one small purple iris was all that was paying tribute to past loved ones in this forgotten cemetery in Arbon. The flower, much like the homesteaders who came into the Arbon Valley, is unbreakable and determined that Arbon is worth the biting cold, the fierce winds, and the  hard work it takes to survive here. It is planted over the grave of a little girl, Lucille Danken Fredrickson, who was laid to rest November 19, 1914. Incredibly, this plant has survived on its own for nearly one hundred years.

This is not the main cemetery located off Bailey Road but a small acre of ground about a mile west of the Arbon School. The hallowed ground lies surrounded by CRP fields, belonging to the Estep and Adams families and has no public access road. It is a lonely hill seldom visited by anything other than gophers, rabbits, and an occasional coyote.

Many of the grave markers have rotted away, disappearing into the ground. One partial wooden grave marker still stands while another lies next to it in the grass. Both are washed clean by sun and weather. The last burial here was in 1939. Other markers and headstones, still in existence, date back to the 1920’s, and many belong to babies who succumbed in 1915 and 1916. A hand drawn map exists of others buried in the graveyard. According to the map 24 known people are buried on this hill. This cemetery is listed as an official cemetery in Power County, set aside for burying the dead and is not privately owned.

In the fall of 2009, Braden Campbell fenced, mowed the area, and installed a gate for his Eagle Scout project. He received help from adults, Ken Campbell, Stu Adams, and David Lusk. Members of his Scout troop, Eric Ward and Hank Fitch also helped in this endeavor. Many thanks go out to this group for repairing this memorial to the dead.

Spring found the cemetery looking as if it had green mown grass. Once again those family members who have loved ones resting here can be assured they are well-cared for and honored in their final resting place.