Utah Heritage Foundation

2/23/2010 7:00 PM

Over the past century, Utah has produced a number of skiers who excelled at the highest levels of national and international skiing competition. Two of those highlighted in Utah's skiing history are Jim Gaddis and Alan Engen. Both began skiing together in the early 1950s as junior racers and were stand-outs in local and Intermountain competition, winning most of the junior Alpine and Nordic competition during the mid 1950s. As co-captains of the University of Utah ski team during the late 50s-early 60s, they both were recognized as collegiate All-Americans. In national competition, both either won or placed on the podium in several alpine events in the 1960s and were ranked among America's finest skiing athletes and strong contenders for Olympic births. In later years both excelled in masters competition at the national and international level. Both Jim and Alan have been named Utah skiing legends and have been inducted into several hall of fame organizations including the University of Utah athletes Crimson Club Hall of Fame; the Utah Sports Hall of Fame; the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame; and the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. 
Alan and Jim have remained close friends throughout their lives and have shared a number of experiences that they will comment on during this unique Fireside Chat. This never before offered presentation will be based on their shared memories from the past, many focused on experiences at Alta during the 1950s and 60s. Expectations are that this is a special event that you will not wish to miss. 
This evening's presentation is sponsored by the Alta Historical Society and Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation as part of their Fireside Chats program.

• Location:REI- Salt Lake City, 3285 East 3300 South
• Contact:Ceppler@rei.com
• Cost:Free

The Hunter House restoration has been taken over by a SWATC team.  High school students enrolled in the Southwest Applied Technology College (SWATC) building construction class are repairing plaster, restoring a fireplace, and stripping and refinishing wood trim as part of the second phase of work on the historic home.  Other contractors began the restoration with repair of the foundation and re-roofing after the house was moved to the Frontier Homestead State Park Museum (formerly Iron Mission State Park) in 2005 to prevent its demolition.  Utah Heritage Foundation was instrumental in the advocacy process that led to arrangements for saving it.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History has announced that Tim Bailey, a fifth grade teacher at Escalante Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the recipient of the 2009 Preserve America National History Teacher of the Year award. The award is co-sponsored by The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Preserve America and HISTORY™. Bailey will receive the $10,000 award on December 16, 2009 at the School Without Walls in Washington, D.C. United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will be on hand to congratulate Bailey and speak about the importance of American history education.

Tim Bailey began his teaching career in 1989. He has written three American history workbooks focused on primary sources for elementary classrooms in the Easy Simulations series, published in 2008 by Scholastic. He has also served as a teacher mentor for the past eight years. A Fulbright Scholar in 2003, Bailey has earned several awards from the state of Utah, the Salt Lake City school district, and others.

Read the full press release

Kick-off Reception for Preservation in Dixie

 

Wednesday, December 9

(St. George, UT --- November 5, 2009)      Southern and Central Utah have a new preservation advocate whose major responsibility is to provide technical assistance to property owners and communities in historic preservation.  Susan Crook has joined Utah Heritage Foundation (UHF) as the first Field Representative, according to UHF Executive Director Kirk Huffaker.

Through the program, Crook will provide assistance in determining the economic value of historic buildings, identify potential projects, conduct assessments of needs across the region, and promote programs that are currently in place. Huffaker said there are excellent examples throughout Utah where historic buildings have been saved and are now serving as economic and tourism stimulators.

He points to the Grafton Heritage Partnership Project where 20 partners solved zoning issues and raised funds to restore the adobe church/school and Russell House, along with protecting hundreds of acres along the Virgin River. Today this is the focal point of the Butch Cassidy 10K Race.  Huffaker also mentions the Shafer House in Moab where the historic home was relocated and became part of the city's Youth Garden project.  In Salina, Utah Heritage Foundation became a catalyst for local activists saving the Presbyterian Church (below). "Susan will be in a position to provide additional assistance throughout southern and central Utah to help local constituencies build leadership on preservation issues," he said.

Crook is a St. George resident, planner, historic landscape architect, and cultural historian with diverse experience in public and private sectors.  She also has experience in facilitating projects with all types and sizes of groups.  Huffaker said the new program brings more historic preservation services to the area, a region that is rich with history and fabulous architecture from every era.

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On the passing of Donald M. Stromquist last week, we should recognize the outstanding contribution he, and his late wife Jane, made to us in Utah.  First of all, let me say what great people they were, raising a successful, smart, and grounded group of three people.  And how they did that when they were balancing family life with great architectural sensibility is beyond most of our knowledge and comprehension.  As most of you know, the Stromquists hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design their house in Bountiful's North Canyon.  When they ran out of funds, Donald finished the house with his own hands and practical experience as he had built things since he was 14 years old.

For many years, Jane led vocal campaigns for practical planning, good design, and better public process.  Donald, the tall, dashing presence was right there to back her up.  Sometimes without many words, but  just the right words and his appearance would set the tone.

But Donald's life was filled with purpose, which meant making something.  After many years in Pittsburgh, the Stromquists returned to Salt Lake City and purchased the Culmer House on C Street, a grand Victorian era house near Cathedral of the Madeleine.  They proceeded over the next decade to restore the entire property by their own hands, much of it by Donald, including his rebuilding of all the intricate wood bookcases and removing and restoring every wood window in the entire house.  It was truly a labor of love.

In the late 1990s, their beloved Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house was offered for sale again and they bought it back.  After another restoration project, this time to the property they originally built, they moved back in.  Donald hosted Utah Heritage Foundation at the Stromquist House at our first Preservation Council event in 2000, and his great charisma was as much a part of the event as the house.

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You may not know how much historic preservation supports local economies.  Even your shopping at a store in a historic building supports historic preservation.  Here are a few ways you can help support historic preservation and local economy at the same time:

-          Shop at a locally owned store, especially one in a business district like on a Main Street;

-          Buy locally made products or ask if before buying if products were made within a regional radius;

Charles Phoenix on a flying pig on the historic 1893 carousel at Lagoon.

 

Wallace Stegner was one of Utah's most prolific writers about our physical landscape and environment.  Tomorrow is the centennial of Stegner's birth and during February and March there has been an ongoing celebration of his contribution to our collective memory about why places matters.  There's no more perfect occasion to remind ourselves through the great writing of Stegner about why we are all passionate and involved in this movement.

The author Wendell Berry said, "Wallace Stegner was perhaps his region's greatest teacher: its greatest storyteller, historian, critic, conservator, and loyal citizen." And I recently discovered that Stegner spent a minor stint between 1930-1933 teaching at my alma mater Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.  Unfortunately, the college and Stegner were not on the same religious wavelength at the time, which allowed him to easily return to teach at the University of Utah in 1934.

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