Arthritis, Mother Agnes, Books and the Manti Temple

Last Monday I went to see an orthopedic specialist for the first time. I had been experiencing some stiffness and discomfort in my knee for a long time, but recently the pain has been keeping me awake or waking me up and so Paul encouraged me to go and see a specialist. I made the appointment and had my visit. I don’t have to have a knee replacement, at least not yet, but I do have osteoarthritis in both my knees. The progression is about the same in both knees, I fortunately only have pain in one. The doctor assured me that this might change and that arthritic pain is very capricious. The pain may move from one knee to the other or settle in both. My arthritis would be considered mild at this point—I still have some cartilage between the bones, it is just getting narrower and more compressed. The fortunate thing is that when I am actually walking I don’t feel much pain. When my knee is limbered up/loosened up, I can use it without any trouble. It is more when I am static for a while and then try to use it again, like first thing in the morning and after sitting for a while or after a car ride—stuff like that. I guess the worst of the situation is admitting that I am getting old. In addition to my doctor’s appointment, Paul and I attended a really interesting event on Monday evening. One of Paul’s responsibilities in his work environment is that he is part of a really special and exclusive committee that deals with the Middle East. This committee deals with lots of different dimensions of work in the Middle East, and is directly under the jurisdiction of the Twelve. Paul has been very involved in the projects that this committee addresses. Last week we were invited to a dinner that was being held hosting Mother Agnes, a mother superior from Syria that has been heavily involved in relief efforts. She was accompanied by another nun, Sister Carmel. Mother Agnes, as it turns out is a rather controversial figure. She has been an advocate for the underdog and very involved in humanitarian work and also has been an arbitrator for peace in Syria—this year she is one of the nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is touring the United States sharing her perspective of the situation in the Middle East and particularly Syria. And Paul and I were invited to dinner with them, kind of impressive. We had a very nice dinner in the Lion House and then Mother Agnes gave us a presentation, including a power point and slide presentation about what is going on in Syria and some of the negotiations and activities that she has been involved with. The information she shared with us was very sobering. Afterwards, Sister Carmel and Mother Agnes sang to us and then all the people present, about fifteen of us sang God Be With You to Sister Carmel and Mother Agnes. It was quite an evening. Tuesday night was my meeting with one of my bookclubs, Bibliobabes. The book that we read this month was The Last Runaway. This was written by Tracy Chevalier, who is most well known for her book titled The Girl with the Pearl Earring, which is fiction based on the Vermeer painting by the same name, where she creates a story which explains why a servant girl is wearing a pearl earring. The Last Runaway is another book of historical fiction. It is set in Ohio in 1850. The novel delves into the difference between a theory of belief and its practice. The story is about a young Quaker woman from England, named Honor Bright, whose fiancé breaks off the relationship to marry outside the faith. Honor goes to America with her sister, Grace. Grace is engaged to marry Adam Cox, a young man from their hometown who followed his brother to Faithwell, Ohio. Unfortunately, Grace dies en route, and Honor arrives in Ohio to find Adam sharing a house with Abigail, his sister-in-law, made a widow by the death of Adam’s brother. Honor moves into the house, but feels unwelcome. Honor ends up marrying a local man and Quaker and she is drawn into helping the Underground Railroad. She is forced to choose between living her beliefs and merely speaking them. The birth of her own child raises the stakes. Honor’s quiet determination provides a contrast to the slave issue, the abolitionist fight; the way this book is written, there are sympathies enough to go around, both sides of the story are expressed in a way that gives them credence. We had a lively discussion about this book and a nice time visiting, too. I really enjoy these women and it is nice to have this a recurring activity. Thursday night was also a kind of book club evening, only with Back Country Horseman. Paul has arranged for speakers and presenters to enrich the monthly meetings. I have attended many of these meetings because the presentations are really interesting. This month the presenter was LeAnn Bednar, an author who wrote a book entitled My Final Ride. It is the true-life story of her father, Chuck Christensen’s epic mule-back Canada-to-Mexico journey while battling stage-three bone marrow cancer/multiple myeloma. Given eighteen months to three years to live and told he’ll never ride again, he gets back on his mule and vows to trek as far as he can. Learning of the Great Western Trail, which eventually is to stretch from Canada to Mexico, he excitedly sends letters, makes phone calls, collects maps, and sets out on his daring ride. Along the way he faces multiple challenges and discouragements. Much of the trip he is traveling alone, or with other adventurers who happen to be on the trail at the same time he is. He has some really great experiences with some of these other adventurers. Bednar read a couple of sections from the book, told a lot of the background leading up to the trip, some of the specific events that occurred, she was a very engaging speaker. She had books for sale and I bought one for Paul and me. Of course, we haven’t even started it yet. But it looks like it will be interesting. LeAnn lives in Alta, Wyoming and came from there to visit the meeting. The last big event for this week was a trip to Manti, which Paul and I took on Saturday. I am on a quest to visit all the temples in Utah and the ones that are not an easy distance from Salt Lake City have been a bit more challenging. Paul and I went to St. George in January for a Back Country Horseman State Meeting and I did a session with Marilyn on that trip, and the Vernal and Monticello Temple are still alluding me. But I had a special interest in Manti for a couple of reasons-other than the experience of attending an endowment session in the temple. I have heard of the Minerva Teichert Mural which I wanted to see and Peter had visited that temple last year and told me about the very special staircases in that building that he had had the opportunity of visiting and recommended. So on Saturday morning Paul and I set off for Manti to attended an endowment session in that temple. We left a little before 10:00 and got there in time to make the 12:30 session (but, just). I got to the locker room at 12:25 and by the time I had gotten changed and received a new name, the session had gone from the chapel into the creation room, and Paul arrived about a minute after me. When we were both seated, the doors were closed and the session began. The Manti temple still has patrons move from room to room and the session is performed live, which is interesting in its own right—especially if it has been some time since attending a live session. I was under the misinformation that Minerva Teichert had painted all three of the session rooms that have murals in them. This is untrue. She is only responsible for the murals in the “World Room”. The Creation Room still has the pioneer era murals on its walls, but by the 1940s the plaster in the Garden and World rooms had deteriorated so much that the valiant effort to save the murals, which had been done by Danquart Weggeland and C.C. A. Christensen failed. The rooms were replastered and high quality sail canvas applied to the walls. This was completed in 1946 in the World Room. The Garden room had been completed the year before and Robert L. Shepherd of Salt Lake City had finished the Garden Room murals by then. Back when we had first moved back to Utah, I attended a Minerva Teichert show at the Museum of Art at BYU and had learned more about her and her education and experiences, and so I had been curious about her work in the Manti Temple since then. When I saw the first two rooms, I was struck how much they didn’t look like her style and then when we got home, I looked up some information about her and found out that she was only responsible for the murals in the World Room, other artists did the other murals. And for the record, I found the World Room murals fascinating. From my research, I discovered “several constraints were placed on Teichert’s “great pageant.” It had to enhance the spiritual themes of the world room. It had to wrap under windows and around doors and fit in tight corners. It had to cover almost 4,000 square feet, but be finished quickly. It had to stay true to scripture. Above all, it had to be shaped by prayer and the inspiration gained through temple attendance.” She was assisted by a young man, Frank Stevens who painted the big spaces and helped with the moving of scaffolding. He was an amateur artist living in Green River, Wyoming, who worked with her during the painting process. They worked while the temple was still operating and had to vacate the World Room during the time that a session was in that room. The mural itself is divided into a number of disparate and related vignettes. I didn’t want to be too distracted by the paintings, but there was a great temptation to be absorbed by them and try to figure them out. And the murals in the Garden Room and in the Creation Room were also very interesting. Pictures don’t really do any of the murals justice because the murals are in the round and pictures are flat and only show a portion of the pictures, but they were all very impressive. In addition to the remarkable murals, Paul and I were impressed with the beauty of this building especially given the knowledge that it was a pioneer era building. The temple itself rises out of the countryside like a magnificent palace. The workmanship was exquisite. The woodwork, door frames, wainscoting, window sashing, decorative trim, everything hand done, everything fitting perfectly and looking lovely. This building is such a treasure. There was so much to admire. After the session, Paul and I were able to poke our heads into one of the sealing rooms which is off the celestial room. There are actually eight sealing rooms at the Manti temple and I’m told that this one is no longer being used for sealings. It doesn’t have the big mirrors on both sides like the standard sealing rooms although there are smaller mirrors and is asymmetrical with alter at one end and seating at the other end. The room is beautiful with an arched ceiling and intricate gold patterns and detailed woodwork. The door is left open, but roped off so you can see into it but not go all the way in now. It is small and maybe room for ten or so guest at a sealing. The other sealing rooms which are accessible without dressing in white are also very beautiful. I was impressed by one which had upholstered chairs which had a needlepoint floral design on the back of each chair, very impressive. After Paul and I had finished the session and had gone down toward the dressing rooms, I asked a matron if it was possible to see the staircases which Peter had described to us. She told us to change into our street clothing and then she would see that we got a chance to see them. We did and a kind brother escorted us to the area where we were able to see not only one, but both the staircases. These are two of the most unique spiral staircases in the world. In the two west corner towers there are freestanding spiral staircases without central supports. They have incredible workmanship, hundreds of hand turned balusters, and the seams between pieces of wood on the railings are also extremely difficult to find. Peter reported that there are only three free standing spiral staircases that lack central supports in the world and two of them are in Manti, Utah. So these staircases are really special. (Peter and Kortney have been to see the third one, which is in New Mexico at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe.) One of the staircases goes up clockwise and the other counterclockwise. They really are an impressive sight and a great asset of the temple. We were happy to see them. Paul and I had lunch in the temple cafeteria, which by the way is lined on two sides with stained glass windows and then we headed outside. We had two additional missions for the day. Across the street from the temple is the Manti Cemetery, where some of my Gates line ancestors are buried. William Fowler who is my great, great Grandfather is buried there and so is his wife, Ellen Bradshaw Fowler. William Fowler is best known for having written the lyrics to the well-used hymn, We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet. He emigrated from Sheffield, England, but his health was broken during the crossing of the plains and he died at age 35 as a school teacher in Manti. His family was impoverished and his children very young. His wife only lived a few years after him. She remarried in polygamy and died in complications of childbirth. My grandmother was 13 when she was orphaned. She and her siblings didn’t erect either tombstone, I don’t believe in their lifetimes, but now there is an impressive marker on William Fowler’s grave which gives him credit for that famous LDS hymn. The new marker was paid for with a subscription made in 1920 and was erected in a ceremony with no relatives present at the Manti Cemetery. We headed north for our return to Salt Lake City, but made one final detour along the way. Paul wanted to drive through Spring City. He had read an article about Spring City a few years back and it sounded very appealing. He thought he would like to see what the talk was all about. Apparently it has become an Artist Community, with a number of Utah based artists living there. Here is what the internet says about Spring City: Spring City is a city in Sanpete County, Utah, United States. The population was 956 at the 2000 census. Although it is still largely a farming town, Spring City is becoming increasingly known as an artist community. Many excellent examples of Mormon pioneer architecture exist throughout the town. In 2010, Forbes Magazine identified Spring City as one of the prettiest towns in America. One notable historical point, Orson Hyde, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is buried in the Spring City Cemetery. It is the geographical center of Utah. It is a quaint place off the main highway between Ephriam and Mt. Pleasant. As we looked at the dry land in this part of Utah, we are happy that we have chosen Cache County as a retirement area for us. The land in Northern Utah is just a bit more favored than the land in the south—at least with respect to water. This week there was an article about Spring City in the Deseret News. I thought you might enjoy it. I do have to give the pioneers much credit for the mature trees that garnish all the little communities of central Utah. Without the contribution of these valiant saints who settled these spaces, juniper would be the biggest trees in most areas. All the same, Paul and I had a nice time on our jaunt and it was a Mother’s Day treat for me.