Local News
Heritage Day: Couples honored for their service to Lehi (Part Two)
The Lehi Historical Society and Archives has elected 11 couples to honor for their significant contributions to Lehi at Heritage Day on September 4, Labor Day, at 2 p.m. Each couple will be honored for their service with their own brick in the Walk of Fame Garden in front of the Legacy Center at 123 Center St., and then at 3 p.m., will be showcased in a city parade from the northwest corner of Wine’s Park down 600 N., and up 300 W., past Bandwagon Park to the LDS Church at 1149 N. 300 West. The public is encouraged to come out and help celebrate the lives of these good people. Check out the Lehi Historical Society and Archives Events on Facebook or call 801-768-1570 for more information.
Learn more about the second half of the honorees below!
David P. and Rhonda Southwick Nerdin
Anyone who knows Dave and Rhonda Nerdin can’t help but like them. Both exude a love for family, friends, Lehi and their community.
Rhonda can easily be found at the Legacy Center during volleyball season running the program she helped create. It’s been 19 years now, and what started out as a three-team program now hosts 60.
“It’s just wonderful,” said Rhonda. “That’s where I’ve grown to know the girls and their parents and the coaches. It couldn’t have been done without the help of all of them.”
Dave, on the other hand, is highly involved with the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo. He has served on that committee for 36 years. For the last eight years, the couple has been in charge of concessions.
“My desire to serve on the rodeo committee has been twofold,” said Dave, “to serve the community, to keep the rodeo a family event, and it’s kind of fun. You get to meet a lot of people.
“So I guess it’s threefold, really,” he chuckled.
Besides working for Bank of American Fork for 37 years, Rhonda has participated in the Lehi High School Booster Club for 15 years, Miss Lehi program for five, two of which were as director, several years as treasurer for Miss Utah and several years on the Round-Up Parade committee. She’s been a PTA president as well as a LHS Community Council member. She is currently a ward Young Women president and has been awarded the LHS Hall of Fame Award for her years on the Booster Club board and the service she has given to Lehi.
Dave has served most recently as a Stake Executive Secretary in the Lehi Young Single Adult Stake as well as in a bishopric and as a high councilor. Over the years, he has been the bishop of the Sego Lily Ward, Young Men president, Stake Young Men president, Lehi Scouting District commissioner, Wood Badge Course director, Wood Badge Utah National Parks Council committee member and Lehi Community Council member to name a few.
The daughter of Mike and Shirley Southwick, Rhonda grew up in Lehi, where she enjoyed participating in clubs, sports and many other activities. In her senior year, she was the Student Body Secretary. She served on the Women’s Activities Association while attending both Ricks College and BYU. She graduated with a bachelor’s in social work.
Dave grew up in American Fork and earned 10 varsity letters in high school. His senior year he was a member of the American Fork state championship basketball team and was awarded the Hap Holmstead Award for the most outstanding athlete. The son of Paul and LaVerne Nerdin, he served an LDS mission to Venezuela. He graduated from the University of Pheonix with a bachelor’s in business administration, works for Navitaire/Accenture and is a registered representative with Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc.
The couple married on June 12, 1980, in the LDS Salt Lake City Temple. They have four children and seven grandchildren.
Steven and Gail Holbrook
Whether you know Steve and Gail Holbrook or not, their efforts in the community have probably touched your life.
From 2002 to 2013, Steve served on the Lehi City Council, a time in which he says, “Gail was my biggest supporter.” This means for 12 years Steve was over the Lehi City Celebration – all activities during Lehi Round-Up Week except the rodeo. This included the parades, movie nights, city barbecue, Saturday’s activities, the family picnic and entertainment at the park, baby contest and more.
Another assignment Steve enjoyed was working with veterans. Years ago, veteran Carl Moore along with the Lehi veterans started putting up flags around town on patriotic holidays, but soon the job became too big. Steve worked to make the project more manageable by procuring funds to buy flags, having the city drill holes in the cement for easy installation, supplying manpower and securing a place to store the flags. Today, the project is so massive it belongs to the Parks and Recreation Department.
Steve also oversaw the Rippy Literacy Center from its humble beginnings to the thriving program it is today. He worked with Lehi Arts and oversaw the remodeling of the current building on Center Street. At the John Hutchings Museum, he assisted in improving the displays and making the museum more educational. He also encouraged the city to purchase the Mary Ann Judd collection of 250 paintings of historical Lehi sites, which are now on display throughout the city’s buildings. And while serving on the Library Board, he helped start fundraising activities that go on still today.
Of his accomplishments, he said, “I was just in the trenches and kept it going.” Steve said of his wife of 47 years, “Gail is my right-hand man. She doesn’t want to be in the limelight, but she is always there working in the background. She is a quiet volunteer. She is always there and supporting.”
Early in their lives, the couple became involved in the Utah Young Farmers and Ranchers and Utah Young Homemakers, where Steve served as state president. They also volunteered in the Utah County Farm Bureau for 20 years.
The mother of 11 children, Gail has spent countless hours cutting pompoms and making children’s costumes for the Round-Up Miniature Parade. The Miniature Parade is made up of miniature floats created by area congregations from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this parade is a time-honored tradition in Lehi and one Steve is proud of.
“Our Miniature Parade is one of only two left in Utah,” he said. “It is good because it keeps the community involved. As people are asked to build floats or cook hamburgers at the rodeo, they feel a sense of community.”
At church, Steve and Gail are Sunbeam teachers, and Steve manages the LDS Church farm at Cedar Fork. Along with his brother, Scott, Steve makes his living farming the same land his father and grandfather did.
Married January 30, 1970, in the Salt Lake City Temple, Steve and Gail have 34 grandchildren.
Guy and Mary Ellen Cash
In the spring of 1972, Guy Cash had moved the headquarters of his business to Salt Lake City, and the family was looking for a new home. After a search throughout Salt Lake, they headed south to see what the possibilities were. When the family reached Lehi, the children, like LDS President Brigham Young, declared, “This is the place!”
For the next 23 years, Guy and Mary Ellen Cash made Lehi their home.
In the mid 1970s, their wholesale food company, Sterling and Keeley’s Inc., was sold to Sysco Foods. Guy served as president of Sysco Intermountain for a few years, after which his independent spirit got the best of him. He resigned and purchased Western Auto at Center and Main (now a parking lot near Porter’s Place).
After two years with Western Auto, the Cashes built the building that sits adjacent to Kohler’s, (which is currently RAGE Fitness) added True Value to their lines of goods and operated the business for some 12 years. At the time, the store was considered quite spacious, offering everything from hardware, paint and lawnmowers to appliances, televisions and toys.
Guy and Mary Ellen worked side-by-side in the store and enjoyed associations with long-time employees and Lehi residents including Sandy Smith, Kurt Anderson and Dick Smith, among others. The Cashs’ love for people and for Lehi brought them a lot of joy in this business where they were known for their generosity in allowing credit for those down on their luck and accepting payment on very reasonable terms. Back then lay-away was a regular practice, especially around Christmas time, and the store was always involved in the city’s Christmas Gift-O-Rama activities.
With an interested buyer and potential for retirement, Guy and Mary Ellen Cash sold the store in the late 1980s and semi-retired…at least that was the plan. Unfortunately, the business soon failed, and the Cash’s were forced to find a new profession to recover their losses. Both went to real estate school and became licensed realtors. For the next six years they were successful in this venture, selling many homes and properties currently resided in by longtime Lehi residents.
“I still encounter people in Lehi who say, ‘I know your parents, they sold me my home,’” said their son, Bob Cash, “or ‘I remember your parents, I used to go into Cash’s Western Auto all the time.’”
In their 23 years in Lehi, the family was active in church and civic affairs. Guy served as bishop of the LDS Sixth Ward as well as on the City Planning Committee, the City Council and as Mayor.
Mary Ellen was also involved, supporting Guy’s efforts, but also active in her own interests. She was instrumental in establishing the Lehi Arts Council.
The couple served two missions for the LDS Church, one in the Tennessee Nashville Mission and the other in Salt Lake City as well as in the presidency of the St. George Temple.
Guy and Mary Ellen Cash are the parents of seven children, 25 grandchildren and 65 great-grandchildren.
Bill and Betty Broadbent Anderson
By virtue of the name, one could easily see why Bill and Betty Broadbent Anderson have been chosen to be honored at Heritage Day. They have worked tirelessly to carry on an important Lehi legacy—the Broadbent’s Store, which will close its doors today after 135 years of business.
Betty was born to John and Alice Broadbent in 1944 at the Lehi Hospital. She lived above the store until she was five, and her father built their home on 200 North. She attended Lehi Primary School for kindergarten and was among the first students to be assigned to the then new Lehi Elementary on Center Street.
After graduating high school, she had the opportunity to go to New York to participate in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint’s Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra in 1964. She completed college in 1966 with a degree in drafting and design from the Utah Trade Technical Institute and began working at GATX drafting for $4 an hour.
Betty worked at Broadbent’s from the time she could walk. As a child, she was tasked with jobs that fit her size and abilities. John gave his children a vigorous work ethic, and Betty is a wonderful legacy of that. Her children and many of her grandchildren have learned from her and have worked at the store.
Broadbent’s Store survived on the principles of honest dealings, hard work, fair prices and community support. Betty strives daily to honor these principles. The store has long been a financial supporter of BYU, Primary Children’s Hospital, the Lehi Fire Department and many other local fundraisers and charities.
The long history of the store has produced many historical artifacts and photos, which Betty has worked tirelessly to preserve and offer to the Hutchings Museum to ensure the items stay in Lehi for future generations to appreciate.
Bill Anderson was born in 1945 to Myrtle and Deleal Anderson in Pleasant Grove. He joined the National Guard in 1962. After graduating high school, he became a sergeant and attended medic school in Texas and then paratrooper, “Jump School,” in Fort Benning, Ga.
At age 21, he served in the LDS Virginia/North Carolina Mission. When he returned, he was a Green Beret in the 19th Special Forces. He attended BYU in the evenings and worked as an x-ray technician at Utah Valley Hospital before being hired as a chemist in the chemistry laboratory at Geneva Steel. He became the senior staff chemist and “chem lab” supervisor. He worked at Geneva Steel for 32 years.
Bill and Betty met at a high school state basketball game in Provo in 1961. Betty was a student at Lehi while Bill was at Pleasant Grove High School. They graduated in 1963 and were married in 1968.
Betty has served in countless callings in her LDS ward. She has participated and supported Lehi Round-Up Days and the Lehi parade for more than 50 years.
The Andersons have three children and nine grandchildren.
Arnie and DeAnn Cardon
For many years if you wanted to find Arnie Cardon, you had no further to look than the ball field or gym.
Arnie coached Bronco baseball, basketball and area Little League football for 25 years. “He did more than just coach them,” said DeAnn Cardon, his wife. “He taught them. He taught them to work hard and be disciplined. He took them under his wing.”
He was also president of the baseball league during the development of Lehi baseball.
None of this should be surprising considering his background. Born in Oak City but raised in Lehi, Arnie lettered in all five sports offered at Lehi High School. He was co-captain of the 1955 Championship Basketball Team that went 10-0 in Region play and was selected by The Daily Herald for the All-State Tea
Arnie played with the Championship Hercules Powder Co. team, the Third Ward championship fast pitch softball team and the championship Third Ward basketball team as well as was awarded all-star status. He served 9 years in the Lehi National Guard and played on the Guard’s championship basketball team as well as on the Lehi Pelicans semi-pro baseball team, where he was an all-star. His love of golf got him a “hole in one” at Fox Hollow Golf Course.
DeAnn Schiess Cardon was born in Provo but moved to Lehi in the sixth grade. She graduated in 1960, with the first class to graduate from the present Lehi High School. Afterward, she attended cosmetology college and managed her own shop in Lehi for many years.
DeAnn served on the Lehi Area Chamber of Commerce, was the chair of a Job Fair during Lehi Round-Up Week while working at the Department of Workforce Services, assisted in an open house to honor local veterans, helped with the annual Lehi Easter Egg hunts at Wines Park and presently volunteers with the RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program), where she presents monthly to seniors information pertaining to senior safety.
Arnie has enjoyed being president of the Junior and Senior Chambers as well as president of the Lehi United Way, working in the community on special projects. Formerly a stringer for The Daily Herald, he used to cover Lehi sporting events. A member of the Lehi riding club for 15 years, Arnie participated in a variety of local and state competitions as well as rode his horse every year possible in the Lehi Stock Parade.
Together, the couple has enjoyed building floats for the Lehi miniature parades, helped many times with rodeo concessions, volunteered at the 2002 Olympics and assisted in local Olympic activities.
Both are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have held a variety of leadership callings, including a three-year service mission at the Utah State Correctional Facility in the Woman’s Family History Center and presently serving as stake coordinators for the Abbington Memory Center on 1500 North.
The Cardons have been married for more than 56 years and have four children, 12 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
