On Pioneer Day, July 24, my wife, Tammy, my daughter, Rebekah, and I participated in the Pioneer Day Raft and Run down Provo Canyon, sponsored by Paragon Wealth Management, and the Live Your Dream Foundation.
We rafted down the Provo River starting just below the Deer Creek Dam and then at Vivian Park got back out on dry ground and walked and ran a 5K down the river trail to Canyon Glen. There were about 220 participants including
our State Attorney General, Sean Reyes.
It was a great experience on a beautiful warm Pioneer Day. It is a worthy cause to help raise money to provide scholarships for single mothers of $2,000 each to help them attend college and further their education. I believe that enough was raised to provide for 10 scholarships this year.
As we floated down the river and looked up at the rugged mountains and beautiful pine trees, it made me think of a former Pioneer, Mary Fielding Smith, the wife of slain Hyrum Smith. She with her son and daughter walked to Utah in 1848.
The captain of her company, Peter Lott, complained that she was ill equipped and would be a burden to the company and that she should stay behind in Winter Quarters. To this comment Mary remarked that she would beat Captain Lott to the Salt Lake Valley and would do so without his help. She in fact did just that and arrived one day before him.
As I think of the strength of such Pioneer Women, I also think of the strength of widowed and single mothers of today. I know of two women whose husbands left them while they still had large families of children at home to raise.
One of these mothers had 14 children and had only a high school degree, when her husband walked out on her. Also he provided no child support or alimony to her. So she took it upon herself to get a job, have her children get jobs who were of age,
and together they made their way.
She also began her college education. She graduated with a teaching degree, took a job at an elementary school and raised her family. Her children later got their degrees as well. Two of her sons were so appreciative of her that later they bought and paid for a new home for her.
I wish to honor these past and present day Pioneer women who withstand the hardships and difficulties and are able to be
the Pioneers for their families and care for and raise their children alone. It is a very tough circumstance for them and I admire and appreciate them.
They are truly the unsung heroes that give their all to bless their families and lead them in the way of strength and courage.
I thank the Live Your Dream Foundation and for their encouragement and assistance to those women who desire to put forth the effort and attain an education to help support their families. I appreciate and honor our Pioneer women of the past and present who have done and do what it takes to provide for their families under difficult circumstances.
May we all help each other as we make our way through sometimes trying times in our families' lives and honor those who go ahead making the way better for us all.
