Opinion
Opinion: Let’s carry on as those we honored at Lehi Heritage Day
By Lara M. Bangerter | The Lehi Historical Society and Archives
As I listened to the accomplishments of each of the Lehi Heritage Day honorees on Monday, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for their fruitful lives. Each of them had chosen to live life to the fullest, taking daily opportunities to serve and live life beyond their own homes.
What we saw in the end was countless hours of selfless servicethat have impacted our community in phenomenal ways.
We saw beautiful sets from Lehi High School plays; years and years of teaching and nurturing our youth in area schools;careers in the police force; a lot of military service—sometimes seeing action; and a woman who worked on a committee to successfully save the Lehi Outdoor Pool in 2004. We learned about a couple who petitioned for 500 East to become “Pioneer Drive,” after a stellar Lehi High School basketball season and then paid for the new signs.
We celebrated the chairman of the committee to establish Bandwagon Park; the 20-year principal of LHS; the LJHS principal who organized and coordinated weekly afternoon movies in the junior high auditorium during the summers; and a couple who for years have donated their classic cars to carry Lehi Heritage Day honorees.
We honored the women who headed up the annual Lehi City Easter Egg Hunt and the bakery owners who used their facility to boil the thousands of eggs required; coaches for flag football and Jr. Jazz; and a couple who spent their lives involved in scouting, obtaining its highest honors.
And we paid tribute to members of all kinds of community service clubs, committees and councils, including the Miss Lehi Committee, Lehi City Council, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Lion’s Club, the Civic Improvement Assoc., LHS Booster Club, the PTA and more.
In their simple, selfless acts over a lifetime, they accomplished big things that affect the way we enjoy our community today. I’m sure many had no idea of their influence in the moment, but now it is easy to see.
I think there is a lesson in that—one each of us should keep in mind as we have opportunities to give of our talents or maybe even stretch beyond what we think we can do. President James E. Faust of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once said of the disciples whom Jesus asked to feed the thousands, “Many nameless people with gifts equal only to five loaves and two small fishes magnify their callings and serve without attention or recognition, feeding literally thousands.”
On Monday, we basked in the presence of individuals who,through their daily efforts of a lifetime, truly fed thousands. It is our hope at the Lehi Historical Society and Archives that everyone in Lehi will look to the examples of those who have gone before and strive to carry on in their footsteps.
You never know, one day when you look back, your effortsmight have had as big of an impact as those we honored this week.
