Visitors to Winter Quarters

This past week was a real treat. Jill, Craig, Abby and Jack came for a visit. Besides the church sites of Kanesville and Winter Quarters there are some fascinating places in Omaha that we explored.

Our favorite Omaha site is the pioneer park downtown that is not honoring the LDS pioneers, but all those who went west. Interestingly it was done by a trio of LDS sculptors and is amazing. It is the kind of thing that should be rolling down Main Street in SLC. It would take a handsome endowment however to accomplish it. This was a twelve year project and we understand there is still a Native American addition. The figures are just bigger than normal size but so lifelike.

This one is of the family of the bank president whose bank was the donor. His wife, on the side, died before it was completed.

The next was of the sculptor’s family.

I love this one because it was Iowa personified—slugging through the mud for 111 days to get across Iowa. It also gives you an interesting perspective on the placement in downtown.

This is a delightful one of the trappers. Note the two deer tied to the recalcitrant mule.

The favorite is this one of the little girl running to catch up with the wagon with her basket of flowers she had just picked.

This is a view of the whole scene in back with Jill, and Sister and Elder Hales/

The sculptors also have buffalo running through town and geese flying everywhere.

We also visited the Durham which is the old Union Pacific art deco depot redone as a museum—first class I might add. We loved the displays and the real trains. Reminded us of train trips of the past although our NY to SLC trip was not as glamorous as these trains—more like Murder on the Orient Express!

The Winter Quarters Cemetery is watched over by this wonderful Avard Fairbanks statue that is 75 years old this year. There are no headstones from the pioneer times but the 377 graves have been identified and names known for all but 12. The temple is right behind the cemetery and is the same plan as Palmyra so feels right at home. .

The Visitor Center is a wonderful place to be. The Spirit just permeates the place. John welcomed the Tingeys and they enjoyed the full tour.

Craig’s sister Claire’s husband has a brother who is married into the family of one of our best sister missionaries, Sister Runyon.

Mark and Linda also came last week and we had a lovely visit with them as well. We had a nice look at the Kanesville Tabernacle with statue of Brigham, Heber C. and Willard Richards out front. This is a reconstructed log cabin 60x40 feet built in December of 1847 for the conference to sustain Brigham Young as President. Up until then the Church was run by the Twelve. Mark spent a lot of time in our Family History Library that is full of his kind of first edition histories of the pioneers. It was great to share this area with our history buff, Mark.