“Get
up and yankee doodle dandy”
Written
by Gale J. Brimhall 1997
Compiled
by Richard Logan Brimhall 2005
A Father of Nations
1892-1982
PERSONAL RECORD
FATHER’S NAME: Norman
Andrew Brimhall
MOTHER’S NAME: Mary
Agnes Willis
BORN:
12 October 1892
Lehi (now
Logan
Brimhall’s life spanned the time from covered wagons to space travel. One
month after his birth in Lehi (now West Mesa) his parents took him and three
other children to
He
grew up in 
Most of his next
seven summers were spent there. For the most part, he lived alone, cooked
and ate alone and rode the range alone, and to quote him, “As a consequence, my
soul was deeply stirred by the relentless silence of the forest and it’s song
of patience, wait and see.
In
the fall of 1907, while he was in his 15th year, he began high school in
“What
did I get out of High School? To put it in a few lines, it looks like
this;
1.
If you want to be happy, consider the other fellow’s opinion, and be not
disgruntled if your own is not adopted as a procedure;
2.
Playing with one’s associates teaches one balance, poise, good will,
power to do, and courtesy in getting things done;
3.
It pays to do the best, most essential things, and leave negative
activities alone. Is this proposal right? ” If not, I will have none of
it!
4.
Do your best and be happy in the doing. It may be far superior to
what some may do who carry away honors;
5.
I’ve learned the formula for water, H20, and have never developed a taste
for any liquid that is so satisfying:
6.
Somehow, there came a turn of mind to histories, current problems,
biographies, social problems, and fundamentals of religion; and
7.
All along the line, my mind was impressed with the idea that women are
sacred vessels of the God who created them, and that men were most fortunate to
see their faces, hear their voices, and on occasion, let a little smile of
approval. To hold one’s hand was the honor of him who had been captured
for better or worse. Smooching, necking, mothering and cuddling are only
things I’ve read about, and since there are no explanations, I know not what
they mean. Ah, poor, lucky me. Too busy with athletics to go to H.
- for cuddling.”
Together they raised thirteen children. They
worked their way through college, farming, working in coal mines in
Tragedy struck soon after their second child was born. He was working in the farm blacksmith shop with some of the tools.
A piece of steel
about 6” long was being hammered into shape for a punch. A wrong blow on
the steel at the right moment sent it flying into his head.
As
he was rushed to the doctor, he suddenly came to the realization that he was
stone blind. The doctor determined the iron had hit both eyes outside the
lids. One eye might be saved, but never with any vision. Then
followed six weeks of night-time, wherein medicine was dropped into the eyes
every 30 minutes. He was confined to a dark room and was not to see any
light for the duration. Sight slowly returned to the good eye. The
other eye was carried for years through pain, torture and dust. Finally,
when cancer threatened, it was removed and substituted with a lovely eye made
of glass. When his health returned they went back to school by taking
correspondence courses at four universities while at the same time working in a
coal mine repair shop in
“Each
night, after much writing of answers to questions in the assignments, I would
read the next assignment. On the morrow, I carried the questions, 20 of
them more or less, to my work and pinned them on the wall near my work. The
questions were read and studied, and answers formulated as I went about the
work of repairing mining cars. When I came to the writing table, soon
after the evening meal, I merely set down the answers formulated during the
day.
The
Master Mechanic said one day when he saw the questions, “What goes on here? Know
ye not this institution is paying you for your time here?” The answer was an
explanation of hopes, desires and efforts to become educated to the point of
securing a teacher’s certificate, and an invitation to compare my output with
other help in the shop.
About
a week later, Mr. Murphy, the Big Boss, came to the shop and watched around for
an hour or more and before leaving said to me, “Come to the office tonight at
seven bells.: I went to the office to get my time. Mr. Murphy was
alone and said to me, “” Mr. Brimhall, we have never had a case just like yours
before. You are selling to Spring Canyon Coal Company eight hours of
physical labor and the same eight hours to educational institutions. We
have here a report of our output for a week. You did not take time off to
enter into idle talk of the crew and you did 10% more finished output than the
next highest man. Congratulations my boy, your wages have been raised to
$1.50 per hour. Keep to your lessons and your work son, and you will come
out on top. Good night and good luck!”” We stuck to our guns and have
never been sorry of the effort.””
He
finally graduated from
SHOW LOW SILVERCREEK
WATER CONSERVATION AND POWER DISTRICT
During
In addition to
his public service with the Water Conservation and Power District and the
Snowflake and Taylor Irrigation company, he served in the Church and the local
community. He was the Bishop of the Taylor Ward in The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints for many years. He assisted in the
agricultural development of the area, helped build chapels, performed many
marriages, assisted the sick, helped settle family feuds, assisted in building
a rodeo grounds and other public facilities, and gave over 80 funeral
addresses.
THE LDS BUREAU OF
INFORMATION AND GENEALOGICAL LIBRARY
January
1, 1952, 
He
organized a corps of teachers and librarians at the genealogical Library to
teach the fundamentals of genealogical research. 
They printed a “KNOW
HOW BOOK in Genealogy,” and a book entitled “PRACTICAL RESEARCH In Genealogy.”
THE
Plans
for removal of the orchard, landscaping the area, and placing a new Bureau of
Information north of the
“At
the end of twenty minutes, President McKay said, “”Though you haven’t said it
as yet, I know all of this is leading to your asking the Church to remove the orchard
and build a new Bureau of Information north of the Temple and use the present
building for a Genealogical Library only.”” That stopped further efforts on our
part, for we knew he had the picture as well, if not better than we. He
finished our effort by saying, “Leave your plans, pictures and application and
we shall see what my favorable recommendation to the Brethren will bring
forth.”
When
we arose to go he said, “Please be seated, we have two good minutes yet, and
often many great things happen in less than two minutes.” He asked very
understanding questions about the Library and smiled happily when we told of
its’ success and the great service it renders to the people.
At
age 80
Of
special note is
Logan
Brimhall influenced the lives of thousands for good. Perhaps one can know
him better by reading quotes from his writings:
“When
I die, if there are only two places for me to choose from - hell or the dark
dungeon - I’ll take hell; for the heat eventually creates some light.”
“Travel,
like reading, is an education in and of itself, provided the right choices are
made and the right perspective is present. There must be open-eyed
interest and a well planned itinerary.”
“We
have learned, the better educated people are, the easier it is to make
acquaintance and strike up conversation, namely; Ask them about their children
or dad or mom, and you have generally “pulled the plug out of the dam.”
“In
our teaching job of the present, we leave off all frills and bring their
attention to the fundamentals of the most happy life. These include
health, loyalty to home and country, the necessity of God here and hereafter.”
“Where
we haven’t traveled, we have gone by “proxy” (literature, pictures lectures and
music). What little we have traveled, we have taken our family with us.”
“The
writer has looked in vain for written statements of men about the two most
important women in the universe, WIFE and MOTHER.
We have spent long
hours wondering just what sort of woman was grandmother, whom we have never
seen, great grandmother, and so on back to mother EVE. I should like to
have found in writing just what Dad thought of my mother, MARY AGNES WILLIS. I
know he loved her, for I have seen and heard him tell her so. He said
words to the children about her, but we forgot. Why not put a few items
on paper for the grandchildren to read about grandmother as grandpa saw her?”
“Graduated,
patrons of the school, and colleagues; When I have finished the effort, I shall
not be disappointed if you say,“The theme lends itself readily applicable to
people, communities and nations. Sooner or later, every human soul comes
under its broadening influence. Just to repeat the words, brings a state
of calmness to wearied bodies and burdened minds. Peace be still,
peace-peace to the soul.”
“What
people do when they don’t have anything to do become avocations. What did
“The
completely mortal character I most admire and search for new stories about is
my distant cousin, Abraham Lincoln. I’d rather hear an Abe Lincoln story,
than wear a RED hat to a ball game.”
“The
people I like to hear speak in public are anyone who will get to the point
without stuttering, rattling papers, carrying to the stand an armload of books
- the fellow who “pulls the trigger” and lets his hear
ers know how he
feels about anything. I like to hear the fellow speak who has something
he thinks is important enough for him to know what he is talking about. The
fellow who can do this and tells it and when he has finished, shuts his mouth
and takes it to his chair with him.”
“Some
said, “A fellow of the professions has no business.” We make no point of the
issues involved in that statement, but hastened to record: Professional men’s
business is to keep and make people well and healthy, groomed, educated and
satisfied.”
“My
business has been to educate the youth of the land, rear a large family, keep
true to my companion, and lift and pull, push and lead.”
“We
have owned several good farms on which we produced onions, cotton, hay, seed,
grain, silage, cattle, hogs, turkeys, and cucumbers. We owned and
operated the first radio, combine, and bathtub in our end of the country. We
constructed and lived in five new homes, sold our gravity-flow irrigated farm,
sunk a well and developed, by pump irrigation, the “Valley of the Moon.”
“As
to our two main business ventures, teaching and rearing a family, the record
speaks louder than can our pens. Suffice it to say that fathering and
mothering thirteen children, educating and otherwise caring for them is
somewhat of an American BUSINESS. They are all paid for, no doctor,
hospital or other institution sends us “due bills.” Dollars were scarce so we
had to make them go farther and do more things. Mary developed the
ability to turn pennies into dollars and kid energy into helpful ways.”
In
the latter part of 1979, 
One of
his grandsons, Ricky Brimhall, sitting with him said, “I leaned my ear close to
his mouth and with great difficulty he said the following: “”I pray to God
Almighty that I might endure this until I am taken home. I am trapped in
this old, broken-down body. My mind, my intellect, my soul, my very being
is more alert, knowledgeable and alive than it ever has been and yet, I am
imprisoned.”
He
died in 1982, just weeks before his 90th birthday.