My Father Henry Green
By Jack Green
February 14, 1977
His were the dreams of the self-made rich, the Hearsts, Sinclairs, Fremonts, and others who won riches from the West. He often said that, “New wealth comes from the ground,” and entered into mining and agricultural projects with vigor and determination. Most of this effort resulted in frustration and few funds.
But there was another side to this man, a side that was most practical and successful. This was the visionary. The man who could look at his church, in which to worship in the fullest he left his native England, and its precepts, and see that here his faith would truly be fulfilled. He married twice under its holy covenants and today his numerous descendants attest to the truth of this vision. His examples of hard work, thrift, thoughtfulness, and devotion have endeared him to me and all his children and their descendants.
I must tell one story. While Dad was a Master Plumber, the Master Plumbers were all taken on a tour to Ironton, Utah, to visit the Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company foundry. This company had developed a new pre-inserted lead joint for its pipe that required only caulking on the job. It was to publicize this product that an excursion train ride, lunch, and plant tour, all free, was provided. I was dad’s companion on this trip. The only child, and I was only ten years old! We marveled in unison at the ice-coated willows sparkling in the sunshine and made even more dazzling by the speeding electric train, at the foundry processes, and the hard-working men stripped to the waist in the drafty building, hot as molten iron and cold as ice. It was my Dad, out of perhaps one hundred, who had his son beside him! Yes, I’m proud of him, proud to be one of his sons, and so strive to follow his lead in the visionary life.
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