The Cousin Connection

September 17, 2011

It was good to see so many (approximately 80) at the Cousin Connection this year. All looked wonderful and happy! Spencer Cannon was in charge along with Katie and their spouses, with help from Kay & Ned. 

We met at Grandma & Grandpa Hinckley’s grave and listened to a tape recording of Grandpa reciting the poem “The Builder” by Longfellow*. (It was so good to hear Father Hinckley’s voice again!) Harold then talked to us about Grandpa’s life as a “builder” and challenged each of us to be “builders” as well.

The Builders*

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All are architects of Fate,

Working in these walls of Time;

Some with massive deeds and great,

 Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;

Each thing in its place is best;

And what seems but idle show

Strengthens and supports the rest.

For the structure that we raise,

Time is with materials filled;

Our to-days and yesterdays

Are the blocks with which we build.

Truly shape and fashion these;

Leave no yawning gaps between;

Think not, because no man sees,

Such things will remain unseen.

In the elder days of Art,

Builders wrought with greatest care

Each minute and unseen part;

For the Gods see everywhere.

Let us do our work as well,

Both the unseen and the seen;

Make the house, where Gods may dwell,

Beautiful, entire, and clean.

Else our lives are incomplete,

Standing in these walls of Time,

Broken stairways, where the feet

Stumble as they seek to climb.

Build to-day, then, strong and sure,

With a firm and ample base;

And ascending and secure

Shall to-morrow find its place.

Thus alone can we attain

To those turrets, where the eye

Sees the world as one vast plain,

And one boundless reach of sky.

Then we went to Ralph Johnson’s grave, and the rest of the program was centered around him. Ralph was our hired hand on the farm, and an integral part of our family for over 20 years. Wish you all could have been there for Sue and Lon’s presentations. They were incredible. Ralph was incredible. (Hopefully all of you have received your copy of his story as written by Mother Hinckley, to which have been added photographs etc. and have enjoyed reading it, and sharing it with your children.) We hope you all will remember him as if he were a beloved ancestor, for we are the only “descendents” he has, and the only ones on earth we know of who can keep his memory alive.

As you know, our Cousin Connections are held every other year. In his opening remarks Spencer noted that even though it had been 2 years since our last “Connection”, we have been united as a family in our faith and prayers for those individuals in the family who have experienced serious challenges in the interim. Janiel Howell Pyper,  Laura Howell Perry, Tiffany Howell, Jonathan Hinckley, Aunt Diane, and Aunt Jessie & Uncle Don.........what wonderful examples they all are of accepting with faith and growing through adversity.

It was a very special evening. It is a very special family!

*If interested you may contact  Aunt Louise for a transcript
of the stories shared at Ralph’s grave.