Passing of Arnold Friberg an American Treasure

It is only fitting that American artist Arnold Friberg, who passed away on July 1, is remembered during weekend of the 4th of July.  Probably his greatest and most widely distributed work of art was that of George Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge in behalf of our fledgling nation in a time of desperation.  I took the following from Deseret News:

The painting "Prayer at Valley Forge" is based (as per Arnold Friberg) on the following story by Isaac Potts a resident of Valley Forge:

"What was that?" I inquired. "Do you see that woods, and that plain?" It was about a quarter of a mile from the place we were riding. "There," said he, "laid the army of Washington. It was a most distressing time of ye war, and all were for giving up the ship but that one good man. In that woods," pointing to a close in view, "I heard a plaintive sound, as of a man at prayer. I tied my horse to a sapling and went quietly into the woods and to my astonishment I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis and the cause of the country, of humanity, and of the world."

Both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush had this painting and took inspiration from it.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will best remember Arnold Friberg for his series of Book of Mormon paintings.  They illustrate the significant events in the Book of Mormon.  There is a very good chance that anyone possessing a copy of the Book of Mormon with illustrations, is familiar with Mr. Friberg's work.

Arnold Friberg was commissioned by Cecil B. DeMille to make a series of conceptual paintings in the development of the "Ten Commandments."  His work influenced the costuming of the actors and development of the sets used in the "Ten Commandments."  Cecil B. DeMille had developed a close friendship with Bro. Friberg and with President David O. McKay in the course of the production of his epic film. At the invitation of Pres. McKay, DeMille spoke at BYU in May 1957, where he rather surprised the student body by delivering a masterful address on the purpose of God’s laws.  It was at this forum that DeMille declared,“We cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them.”

A list of some of Friberg's better known works can be found at Wikipedia.

A Sunday in the New Orleans Garden District

On Sunday, I was invited to speak in the New Orleans 1st Branch. As background information, when a congregation is too small to fully function as a ward, then a branch is formed. The ecclesiastical leader of a Branch is referred to as a Branch President, rather than a Bishop. So we are talking about a small unit. The members worshipping in the New Orleans 1st Branch live in the uptown New Orleans area. They include students and teachers attending Tulane and Loyola Universities nearby. The chapel (also referred to as the uptown chapel) is located in the famed Garden District of New Orleans at 3616 St. Charles Avenue. You can actually see what the chapel looks like on Google Maps Street View. At or near the above address, it's the red brick building with the plain steeple as you point north .

On my speaking assignment, I invited Bro. DiMaggio to come with me. Bro. DiMaggio is an older member who has a wonderful self-effacing sense of humor, and is a delight to be with as a travelling companion. We spoke on the 6th Article of Faith having to do with church organization (similarity to the church that Christ organized while He was on the earth), and discussed the priesthood offices in the church including apostles and prophets, all the way down to the young deacons (12-13) and teachers (14-15) who passed the sacrament to the congregation. I was not too surprised to learn that about half of the congregation was made up of out-of-town visitors. Apparently, this is not too uncommon. It reminded me of our first church experience in Hawaii in the Waikiki Ward, and our experience attending the Hyde Park Ward in London. The vast majority of church members who live in the New Orleans area, are in the suburbs, especially Metairie, Kenner, and the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Within the New Orleans Stake, our Thibodaux Ward is the furthest away from New Orleans, and the more affluent Covington Ward on the North Shore of Lake Ponchartrain is the largest, certainly in active priesthood attendance.

While many associate New Orleans with Mardi Gras and the French Quarter, New Orleans has so much more to offer. Whenever we take visitors to New Orleans, we try to make a special point of taking them on St. Charles Avenue so that they get some exposure to the architecturally delightful Garden District, especially at the end of St. Charles Avenue where Audubon Park and Zoo are located. The French Quarter is a whole different experience, and has much to offer. It is like a city within a city, sort of like some of the old European cities that have a old fortified city area that is surrounded by the modern city. The best part of the French Quarter, in my view, is NOT Bourbon Street, which way too commercialized for my taste. I much prefer walking from Jackson Square down some of the other French Quarter streets like down Chartres St., returning on Royal St., taking in a few perpendicular avenues, and avoiding Bourbon Street altogether. I guess you have to do a little bit of Bourbon Street, just so you can say that you did.

After the three-hour church block, we couldn't get onto St. Charles Avenue because of a Mardi Gras parade. So we ended up taking a back street to get out. Mardi Gras parades will be coming at us fast and furious until Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) next week.

Army of LDS volunteers provide hurricane relief in and around Houma

We had an exciting weekend. Quoting HoumaToday.com, "A yellow-shirted army of faith came to Houma and neighboring communities this weekend, with nearly 1,400- volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveling to the area to lend a hand with hurricane-relief cleanup projects." Anyone driving along Hwy 311 may have seen tents on the grounds of the LDS Church near Savanne Road or at the Living Word Church still under construction near Interstate 30. Staging site for the event was at the Living Word Church. Prior to the launching of the work, volunteers got to hear from Elder John Anderson (a high-ranking representative of the LDS church), Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet, Louisiana Senate President Joel Chaisson II, and Martin Luther King III (eldest son of MLK Jr.). Kevin Voisin, VP of Motivatit Seafood, played an active role in organizing the Mormon Helping Hands volunteer event, and in identifying needs. When United Houma Nation Chief Brenda Dardar-Robichaux got involved, the effort took on a whole new dimension. The United Houma Nation is affiliated with King's Realizing the Dream campaign, which seeks to assist and empower disadvantaged communities. Brenda called King, who, in turn, sought help from the LDS Church because of their ability to organize large numbers of volunteers for efforts such as this on short notice, and within days, the large-scale project was organized with volunteers coming from throughout the southeastern U.S. for the weekend. On Saturday morning, I took some photos including the tents surrounding our Church and the activities going on at the Living Word Church staging site. Then it was time to roll away the camera, roll down my sleeves, and jump into the action. Early Sunday morning, there was a brief LDS service held at the Living Word Church, then volunteers continued their work throughout the morning, focusing heavily on areas further down the bayou (Dulac, Dularge, etc.). I was not involved on Sunday.

Sugarbeets and Sugarcane played important roles in LDS Church History

Sugarbeets and sugarcane were both surprisingly integral to the economic history of the LDS Church in Utah and Hawaii. Leonard J. Arrington, LDS Church Historian for several years, provided a brief synopsis of the beet sugar industry in Utah, in which he cited two of his own works, namely the widely acclaimed Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 (1958), and Beet Sugar in the West: A History of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1891-1966 (1966). While visiting Salt Lake City, Utah some 30 years ago, I happened to spot a hardback copy of the latter book at a Deseret Bookstore. I got the urge to buy it, because, at the time, I was doing sugar research in Hawaii, and I knew that my father had worked in the beet sugar factory that was located in Spanish Fork, Utah, and that he had much experience with sugar beets. There was a connection. My brother, John, was visiting Utah at the same time. On a whim, I convinced John to join me in visiting Dr. Arrington at his residence in Salt Lake City. It was a very pleasant visit, considering that Dr. Arrington didn’t know either of us, and he agreed to sign the book. Sorry to say, when we left Hawaii in a rush in 1993, I believe that this book was one of the many casualties that never made it back to the mainland with us.

In Hawaii, the early Latter-day Saints settled in Laie, where they established a sugar plantation. It was later absorbed by the Kahuku plantation a few miles further northwest of Laie, which remained active until 1975, just two years shy of when Judy and I arrived in Hawaii. The history of sugarcane in Laie is woven into the outlined history of the town online. The most compelling picture at this website, related to sugarcane was taken around 1928 (see above), where one can easily see that the LDS Hawaii Temple grounds are practically surrounded by sugarcane. We lived on the windward side of Oahu in the town of Kahaluu, about 20 miles (30 minutes) from Laie. There was (and as far as I know still is) some abandoned sugarcane that can be observed from the road between Punaluu and Laie.

While sugarcane and sugarbeets played a significant role in the history of the Church, the role has long since diminished into insignificance…just nostalgic memories now.

BYU-Idaho Symphony Band performing in Louisiana

Tomorrow night on the 14th, the BYU-Idaho Symphony Band will be performing in our back yard, at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, about 30 minutes drive north of Houma. They will also be performing in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, during their tour. How did they end up coming to Thibodaux? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that their director, Diane Soelberg, was a former member of our ward in the 1980's. I was told at church today that she was sorely missed when she left, because of her piano playing skills. It so happens that Thibodaux Ward's annual crawfish boil will be this coming Saturday, the same day that the band members are scheduled to perform in New Orleans. They have accepted our invitation to participate, so we will have approximately 50 additional people at our crawfish boil this year. I can't wait to see them rolling up their sleeves and tackling a heaping plate of crawfish (generic link to get the idea). I'll be sure to send some pictures of the experience. A cajun band will be providing live music for all to enjoy, so the symphony members will get the whole cajun experience. It should be fun!

Another connection

The name, Tew, originates from England. My great grandfather, Thomas Tew, Jr., was the first of my direct Tew line to arrive in the U.S. The family of Thomas Tew, Sr. investigated the LDS (Mormon) Church. As teenagers and now converts to a new religion, both Thomas Tew, Jr. and his close friend Walter Bird, were sent to Utah ahead of their respective families. They were given enough money to buy steerage passage on a ship from England that arrived at the Port of New Orleans in 1850. From there, they went up the Mississippi River to St. Louis. They got work driving ox teams to the west. At the time, they knew nothing about oxen, or how to set ox bows on them to team them up to pull wagons. Obviously, over the next several weeks, they became well acquainted with oxen. They fared pretty well until they got into mountainous country, where Thomas came down with Rocky Mountain spotted fever. He became completely helpless. The wagon master told the group to leave Thomas behind for dead, but Walter sneaked his lifeless-looking body into a wagon, covering him up, and he eventually revived. Thomas owed his life to Walter. Shortly after their arrival in Salt Lake City, they were sent 50 miles south into the Utah Valley where they settled in what is now the Springville-Mapleton area. Their respective families soon followed. Thomas eventually married Walter’s sister, Rebecca Bird. As the best of friends for life, it is fitting that Walter and Thomas were buried next to each other in the Evergreen Cemetery that borders Springville and Mapleton. And now, 140 years later, the name, Thomas Tew, has come full circle, with myself returning to within an hour’s drive of the New Orleans and the Mississippi River. Every time I fly from N.O. to S.L.C., I can’t help but think about the stark contrast between my short flight and the arduous journey taken by my great grandfather. Picture taken in the late 1800's, is of Thomas Tew, Jr. (sitting, 1833-1904), with his sons, John Henry (center, 1868-1948) and my grandfather William Thomas (right, 1859-1933).