23 minute read
Talented Locals: The
Best of State in North Ogden: Music Champions Among the
Hales Family
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BY JENNY GOLDSBERRY
THales Family Music is North Ogden’s
own local band that is undoubtedly
the “Best in State.” However, they also have national awards to boot. We have the scoop on how the family came to win so many musical competitions. First, the band would not be where it is today without their matriarch, Grandma Linda Child. She started what we now know to be the Utah Old Time Fiddlers. Linda and Jim Shupe were founders of their Pioneer Chapter in the Ogden area.Today, it’s a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion, perpetuation, and enjoyment of Old Time music. “Our purpose is to encourage musicians of all ages and to provide them with opportunities to improve their skills by performing in public,” their website reads. “If you live in Utah and enjoy the music of the fiddle tradition, then this is the place for you.” Now, it is a group of people in the area who get together about twice a month to rehearse and twice a month to perform. In Linda’s time, she played the violin and raised her daughter, Cindy, to do the same. Cindy teaches from the fiddle books and CDs Linda made as teaching resources. Her family even produced a CD together. Her dad played the harmonica, and some of her siblings played the fiddle, guitar, and bass. Her mother’s teaching would help her win many state fiddle contests. She would go on to learn to play the banjo, guitar, mandolin, piano, and organ. In fact, she played on her grandmother’s pump organ, which was brought across the plains via train by her pioneer ancestors. The Old Time Fiddlers aren’t the types of performers to play their piece and leave, either. Often, they stick around events to brighten the lives of their audience beyond a song, with a smile and conversation. While Linda has passed, other founding members have been
To accommodate all the instruments, the Hales Family have two music rooms. Some of the older instruments are hung up and displayed as wall art.
known to play with the group into their nineties. Amidst all the Old Time Fiddlers’ jam sessions, Cindy met Brent Hales. He and his family played alongside the fiddlers and were some of the original members. In addition to the violin, Brent plays the piano, tuba, and bass. Brent came from a musical family, and his parents D. Brent and Elaine worked hard to create their own family band called the Hales Family Fiddlers. His family had likewise produced a CD together, and they have been performing at events for over 40 years. All of Brent’s siblings play many instruments such as fiddle, guitar, banjo, bass, mandolin, piano, and are still performing today. Brent and Cindy were excellent matches. But, since they were both members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they decided to serve missions before pursuing a romance together. Cindy was a missionary in San Bernardino, and Brent
served in Paraguay. Before her mission, Cindy got a full-ride music scholarship to Weber State University and studied child and family studies. Brent studied accounting. However, they both agreed their children would study music. The Hales family not only taught their family fiddling music, but also taught them the classical Suzuki Violin Method. Shinichi Suzuki was a violinist-educatorphilosopher-humanitarian born in 1898. He studied the violin in his home country of Japan for some years. Then, he went to Germany in the 1920s for further study. After the end of World War II, Dr. Suzuki devoted his life to the development of his method. Brent and Cindy’s parental involvement was a huge part of their children’s learning. According to the method, just like when a child learns to talk, parents are to be involved in the musical learning of their child. Cindy served as “home teacher” during the week. Since she was musically talented, she understood what her children were expected to do.
Stephen is the youngest of the five children. While they all play the violin and piano, they also explore new instruments on their own. In addition, Stephen plays the banjo, guitar, mandolin, dobro, saxophone, and trumpet. His brass specialty comes from the legacy of his Great-grandma Child, who also played the trumpet. The family still has her trumpet in their possession, although it is too old to play. Stephen is also the percussionist in the family and has his own drum set. He’s a member of the Northern Utah Youth Symphony now, along with the Chamber Choir in high school, which all his brothers and sister were also in. He plays in the jazz band at school, and he is a state champion junior banjo winner.
Jocinda is the Hales’ only daughter. Her additional instruments include the flute and mandolin. In fact, she’s a state junior mandolin champion. She’s a triple treat in her family, having pursued theatre acting and singing. In junior high school, she played Mrs. Pots in the Beauty and the Beast musical. As a result of her performances and lessons, she’s recorded her own singing album. Some say she sings like her Great-grandma Jo, who had a beautiful voice. Today, she’s in Puerto Rico, serving as a missionary, and she took her violin with her. When she returns, she wants to study to be a teacher. This will be an easy task since she received a violin music scholarship from Weber State.
Richard is the middle child. He plays fiddle, piano, guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro, trumpet, and trombone. A dobro is a sort of acoustic guitar that lays flat on the lap. However, instead of a sound hole, it has a metal resonator built into its body. This resonator serves as an amplifier. It’s the typical instrument heard in bluegrass music. Josh Graves of Flatt & Scruggs introduced it in the 1950s, and now, Richard records bluegrass albums with his family on it. He has also recorded banjo and guitar on his family’s albums. In his free time, he fixes up antique cars, a hobby shared with his younger brother, Stephen, and his older brother, Jon. Richard has mastered flat and finger picking on his grandma’s guitar as well. He has recorded his own CD on the mandolin, guitar, and banjo. He brought his guitar on his mission that began in the Dominican Republic and finished in Missouri on account of the pandemic. He made spiritual guitar songs and videos on his mission too. In the state competition, he won first place in banjo and guitar and second place in mandolin. The only time his eldest brother, Brent Ray, won state in banjo was the year that Richard was off on his mission. Most recently, both Richard and Brent performed the Star Spangled Banner on the guitar and violin, respectively, during the Ogden Raptors game commemorating the twentieth anniversary of September 11th.
Brent (Dad): Violin, piano, tuba and bass Cindy (Mom): Violin, teaches music instrument role call
YOUNGEST
Stephen
Violin, piano,banjo, guitar, mandolin, dobro, saxaphone & trumpet
Jocinda
Violin, piano, flute, mandolin
Richard
Jon
Brent Ray
Violin, piano,banjo, guitar and mandolin
*Plays drums on his own drum set. Member of the Northern Utah Youth Symphony *State junior mandolin champion, loves to sing, has plans to be a teacher. *Fixes up antique cars in his free time, has won first place in banjo in state competition. *Has played bagpipes in many places and carries on tradition of playing in the marching band. *His fiddling was featured on TV with Future Farmers of America, won first place in state at 8 years old.
OLDEST
All Hales children have received full-ride violin scholarships at Weber State University, just like their mother did.
Listen to them!
Check out Hales Family Music on this website: brenthales25. wixsite.com/halesfamilymusic OR on social media @Hales Family Music
Jon is the second oldest child, and he plays the banjo and guitar as well, plus the bagpipes. He went on a mission to Mexico and played some violin on his mission too. He has also played bagpipes in several places, including Fort Buenaventura, Parades, Memorials, for funerals, etc. He also played saxophone in the marching band, carrying on the Hales family tradition of ancestors who played in the Nauvoo brass band.
As the oldest child, Brent Ray has blazed the trail for his siblings. He won 1st place in state on the fiddle for the first time at eight years old. Then, he went on to win first place in the State of Utah five times. They always did The Northern Utah Symphony, who he played with for six years. When he was about 12 years old, he started branching out to the banjo, guitar, and mandolin with his mother’s guidance. Yet again, he played on his Grandma Linda’s violin. When he graduated from high school, his mom gave him a guitar as a gift. Richard got a mandolin when he graduated. He took his violin with him on his mission to Guatemala, where they loved to hear American fiddling. His fiddling was even featured on TV, when he and Richard won the National Talent contest for Future Farmers of America in Indianapolis, Indiana. Today, he teaches music, just like his mother has done for over 40 years. They have also received full-ride violin scholarships at Weber State University, just like their mother did. All the kids have played in the bands at school, and trumpet was Brent Ray’s choice. The kids have won many school talent first-place awards fiddling, doing banjo, and playing bagpipes. They are all Eagle Scouts and have participated in ballroom and Celtic dancing teams in Northern Utah.
The Hales Family has enjoyed playing music for many people and in many places. Performing has brought this family closer together as they serve other people through music. In turn, it has brought many people joy to hear them. Many Hales family members have performed and danced American Folk music in many countries, which include the following: Greece, Austria, Switzerland, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Mexico, representing the U.S.A while playing for cloggers and dancers. They’ve performed fiddle, Celtic, bluegrass, swing, blues, folk, tango, Cajun, Spanish, Broadway, religious, and more styles of songs. Locally, we’ve been lucky enough to see them perform at North Ogden Cherry Days, the Weber County Fair, the Pleasant View Salmon Bake, the Virginia Reel dance, and the Grantsville Honey Festival. However, they also perform for family events, dances, weddings, churches, and nursing homes, following the legacy of their family’s traditions. They have recorded seven CDs of different themes of their family’s music. Some are titled Celtic, Variety, Fiddling, Blues, and so on. Brent Ray and Richard have both written some of their own songs. If you don’t want to leave your home to hear them, you can find them on Instagram and Facebook at Hales Family Music or follow their YouTube channel under the Brent Hales Channel/Hales Family Music.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Do you know of any other accomplishments out of North Ogden? Please reach out so we can recognize our fellow community members in all that they’re doing! Email jenny@connectionpub.com or call 801-624-9652.
BY JENNY GOLDSBERRY
Among the earliest recorded weddings in North Ogden was that of Celestia Bailey and William Ward on January 7, 1891. We know this, thanks to a newspaper printed on January 13th that year. However, the historic nature of the event was overshadowed by the couple’s names being misspelled in print. “The weather in this beautiful little settlement has been very fine for the past few days and the health of the citizens is good,” the article reads. “Last Friday a quiet wedding took place where the bride being Miss Cilesta (sic) Bailey, daughter of W. Bailey, and the bridegroom, William Wards (sic), son of bishop’s councilor (sic), James Wards. About one hundred guests were present, including Bishop Thomas Wallace and wife. The tables fairly groaned with their weight of dainties, and the presents were numerous and beautiful, everything a young housekeeper would want. In the evening the young folks enjoyed themselves in the dance and the older people looked on and had much pleasure watching their sons and daughters have a good time.” Together, William and Celestia had three children, Florence, Ivan, and Raymond. The family liked to spend their Sunday afternoon riding through North Ogden Canyon in a horse and buggy to Liberty, visiting family. Namely, they saw other Baileys from their mother’s side. Their happy marriage was short-lived. Their matriarch, Celestia, only lived to the age of 32. The Ogden Daily Standard recorded her unexpected death in their June 16, 1904 issue. This time, they corrected the record and spelled all names correctly. “Our community was shocked yesterday by the sudden death of Mrs. Celestia Bailey Ward, daughter of William Bailey and Mary Montgomery Bailey, and beloved wife of William Ward,” the article read. “Mrs. Ward was a highly respected member of the community, an affectionate mother, and idolized by
all who knew her as a perfect type of pure and noble womanhood. She was born in North Ogden, January 18, 1872, and was baptized May 6th, by John Brown and confirmed by Richard Jones, Sr. She identified herself with the different societies and organizations of the ward and formed friendships thus beyond the powers of time or eternity to sever. She was doing her own work and assisting in house cleaning the day before her summons came, and it is thought that in a reaching attitude hurt herself, which started internal hemorrhage, the immediate cause of her death. She will be greatly missed William and Celestia were married by the community and especially by January 7, 1891 for 13 years after the her husband and loving little children.” sudden death of Celestia in 1904. William died three years later. According to her eldest daughter Florence’s autobiography, it was speculated that her injury was caused by a complication following a miscarriage. Her funeral services were held in the North Ogden meeting house. Despite her troubled childhood, Florence was very proud of the hometown her parents chose for her. “If I could have chosen my own birth place, I’m sure it would have been North Ogden, which to me is a sacred spot and will always be ‘home,’” Florence wrote in her life story. Only three years later, William died. As a result, Florence ran the household, and her Uncle Hyrum Bailey and her younger brothers took care of the farm and water well their father had started. Then, a man named Parley Spackman took over the property. Florence married They had three children: and raised her brothers with Florence, Ivan and Raymond her husband Emil Chatelain. (not pictured).
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Do you know of a marriage that happened even earlier in North Ogden? We want to know about it! Email jenny@connectionpub.com or call 801-624-9652.
Letter from the Publisher
An update on our printing process
IF YOU ARE ANYTHING LIKE ME, you are sick of hearing about COVID and its continued impact on our lives, but I hope you will indulge me on this letter. I want to explain why so many of our magazines have been late lately.
Unfortunately, there are a couple of issues right now that are impacting the magazine
business. Paper shortages are very problematic due to the pandemic and economic factors. Magazines used to be that paper orders were filled within a day or two; now, it is weeks or months before paper can be delivered to commercial printers to use for projects like our magazines, among many others. There are also times when, even though paper is ordered, it doesn’t show up on time, and, therefore, there is not enough paper to complete the job, so it just has to wait till the paper arrives. This has caused some printers to stockpile paper, making the supply even tighter. Does this remind anyone of the great toilet paper shortage of 2020?
The second issue is that two large commercial printers closed their doors
recently; one in Salt Lake and the other in Las Vegas. This has put pressure on the existing printers, and, when you mix that with the workforce shortages everyone seems to be dealing with, it has made things very difficult to get the magazines published on time. What used to take 7 business days to print, staple, and trim before taking to the post office so they can deliver within 2 days, now takes 15 days to complete and 3-4 days to deliver. All around, things are more challenging than ever in our business as I am sure they are in your businesses.
We have moved our deadline up 2 times and still seem to struggle to get it to homes
on time. The earlier the deadline, the more challenging it is to get relevant information for our calendar and other events. Advertisers also struggle to know what specials they might be running when we ask for their advertising too far in advance. When you mix that with the two holiday months we just got through, that made things even slower. You can see we have a perfect storm. Our goal remains the same. We want to create connection within the community, connecting you to your city government and the events and stories that are part of living in this community. Thank you for being part of the magazine, and let us know if there is anything we can do to make things better.
Sincerely,
Our goal remains the same. We want to create connection Ryan Spelts within the community. Publisher, Connection Publishing
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS AND THE PRICE OF A STICK HOUSE
By Laura Lewis – Cincinnati Insurance
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Growing up, I loved reading the tale of “The Three Little Pigs,” never thinking much of how the story – credited to James Halliwell-Phillipps in the late 1800s – could ever relate to my adult life. As an occupational hazard, I often think now of the second little pig: “How is he going to rebuild his house of sticks that the wolf blew down?”
In the real world, reconstructing a home after a loss does require a lot of “sticks,” or lumber, and ,recently, the price has risen to concerning levels.
RISING LUMBER PRICES
2020 saw a steep increase in the price of lumber, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The cost of construction materials has risen as much as 330% in the one-, five- and 10-year periods, depending on the commodity. It makes me wonder if that little pig would have had enough insurance coverage to rebuild his stick house. This has been a surreal time for lumber costs, with COVID shutdowns, labor shortages, tariffs, renovation, and building demands all playing a part. People are home more often, looking at how they can make their dining room-turned-home office a more utilitarian and aesthetically pleasing place to spend 8 hours a day. Reconstructing a home demolished by a total loss currently can take between 6 and 18 months, adding more uncertainty to the equation. More common partial losses are also impacted by the rising lumber costs on a smaller scale, as they do not require as much lumber and are not as time-sensitive.
FUTURE MARKET
While this increase in lumber costs will likely carry into 2022, when reconstruction costs are expected to see another 7-8% increase, the costs are expected to peak and start leveling out. As more lumber mills reopen for use, supply will catch up with demand, and costs should begin to steady. Until then, the little pig will have to rely on his insurance agent and insurance company to be certain he has enough coverage on his home. You never know when the big bad wolf will come back and blow his house down.
HEINER’S INSURANCE CENTER 606 Washington Blvd. Ogden, UT 84404 (801) 621-2620 www.heinerins.com VISIT US!
Guessing Jar You could win a prize!
Win Chickfil-A gift cards!
COUNT THE KISSES
Guess how many Hersey Kisses are in this jar and win the jar full of chocolates plus 4 Chick-fil-A gift cards (redeemable only at the 12th Street location).
Make your guess
Email your guess, and what city you’re from to Melissa Spelts at melissa@connectionpub. com by February 28th. Good luck guessing!!!
LIVING PROBATE
By Attorney Garrett T. Smith
In Memory
Many people have heard of probate; however, far fewer have heard of living probate. Probate is required when someone passes away with a will (testate) or without a will (intestate). Probate can be avoided by using a properly funded trust. Living probate differs because it is required when a person is still alive but loses capacity prior to death. The process involves filing with the probate court to be appointed as a conservator (financial agent) or guardian (medical agent) of the incapacitated person. Financial powers of attorney and an advanced health care directive can keep you out of the living probate process and save various court costs and attorney fees. For many people, there comes a time when they lose the capacity to make decisions prior to death. This can cause financial and emotional problems for the remaining family members. For example, some spouses may not have each other listed on all bank accounts. If the spouse listed on the account became incapacitated, the non-incapacitated spouse would not have access to those funds to keep the lights on or pay other bills. Some spouses keep separate bank accounts for various reasons and solve this potential issue by creating a financial power of attorney. This allows the person (while they are still of sound mind) to appoint another person to make financial decisions on their behalf in the case of incapacity. Similarly, an advanced health care directive allows an individual (while they are still of sound mind) to appoint a health care agent to make health care decisions on their behalf in the case of incapacity. Health care documents provide a person with the ability to give directions with regard to medical treatment, nursing homes, organ donation, life support, etc. Many people choose to avoid or postpone these uncomfortable conversations. Having a plan in place and appointing a health care agent to make decisions can alleviate many financial and emotional burdens that would otherwise be placed on the shoulders of loved ones.
I highly respect judges and their ability to gather information and make good judgments; however, they do not always have enough information to make the best decision. I had a client whose brother took advantage of their mother to the mother’s detriment. My client’s brother petitioned the court to be appointed the sole conservator and guardian of their incapacitated mother. My client initially agreed to the brother’s appointment as long as he agreed to follow the terms of a care agreement that would protect their mother and her estate. The brother breached nearly every term of the agreement, put the mother in a retirement home, and depleted the estate for his own benefit. Leaving decisions up to a judge can create problems for your heirs.
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Please reach out if you have any questions about avoiding a living probate!
Military Spotlight: Saluting Our Service Members
By the Major Brent Taylor Foundation and Jenny Goldsberry
Jeremiah Couts
Jeremiah Couts has been active duty in the Air Force for 16 years this year. He joined shortly after marrying his highschool sweetheart Erin. They both agreed enlisting was the best way to get out of their prospective small towns of Oakdell and Modesto California.
As Jeremiah graduated from boot camp in Texas, Erin got the impression that God wanted her to get ready for what the rest of her life would become. He served then and serves now as a military cop in the Security Forces.
Then, after four months Jeremiah deployed to Iraq as the gunner on top of a convoy. A few months passed after he miraculously returned home safely, she found she was miraculously pregnant with triplets. All three have serious chronic disabilities. One son was born with one arm, while the other boy and girl have chronic autism.
As a result, Jeremiah was able to continue serving stateside. About two years ago the Couts moved to North Ogden. Their children are now 12 years old. Jeremiah recently finished a deployment to Jordan. While he was away several anonymous neighbors reached out with gifts and food for their family. The Couts want to thank their North Ogden neighbors for all they’ve done.
Tyler Adams
Tyler Adams spend eight years in the Army as a medic. His training included six additional months in Fort Sam in Houston after boot camp. He’d decided to serve after his experience as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Australia. He was living there during 9/11, and saw hoards of cab drivers parked near the train station with their radios on. Whenever the death toll of the terrorist attack was updated, they all cheered and celebrated. Tyler decided to enlist to understand the conflict better.
He met and married his wife Kelly at church in Colorado, where he was stationed at Fort Carson the entirety of his service. Then he deployed to Mosul, Iraq from 2007 to 2009. There he met and worked alongside the late Brent Taylor. As Tyler was in the middle of a search and seizure, a car bomb exploded wounding him. He returned to southern Iraq afterwards, and retired from the service in North Ogden to find Brent Taylor as his mayor. Today he has two boys and works for Black Rifle Coffee Company. He’s happy to see the extent the community has gone to thank the troops, especially following the passing of Major Brent Taylor.
Dave Havel
Dave’s dad served 28 years in the Marine Corps which inspired him to enlist in the Air Force straight out of high school. He’s been serving for 21 years now and according to his wife Raychel, there’s no one else in the branch that loves his job more than Dave loves his as a weapons troop. He met Raychel while based at Luke Air Force Base after nearly ten years of service. Together they have two kids. They moved to the area in 2019 after starting and raising their family in Arizona. It was the peak snowstorm right before Thanksgiving, yet as soon as they pulled into the snowy driveway, their neighbor across the street got out to help unload their boxes.
Dave spent three deployments to Afghanistan and recently returned from one in Jordan among others. He was welcomed home with a police escort and dozens of American flags waving him in. They are set to move to South Dakota later this year. However, they have found it so welcoming that they’re considering retiring here among their neighbors who have shown them kindness these last two years.
Are you a military member in the North Ogden area? Do you know one?
Submit nominations to be featured in the magazine at www.connectionpub.com/military.html
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