Joseph Christian Bolander

Our ward had a Family History day.  Joe was asked to come as one of his ancestors and tell about them as if he were him.  He chose to come as the person he is named after.  His Great Grand Father Joseph Christen Bolander

 

He did a great job.  This is what he said:

My name is Joseph Christian Bolander.  I was born on April 10, 1907, in Orderville, UT.  Orderville was established in 1875 at the Direction of Brigham Young, specifically to live the United Order.

 After graduating high school I went to work herding sheep.   I was a cowboy.  I spent time on the Arizona strip ranching and herding animals. I loved to chase the wild horses.  I caught a few of them and they made for some of the best horses once they were trained.   This job allowed me time to study books. I always loved school especially learning about history.  So  I loved to read and study about the history of Utah, and had a great knowledge of this land.

I married Pearl Batty on April 5^th 1934  After we were married I went to work on the Zion Mt Carmel tunnel in Zion’s national Park  Every night before going home after work I would shake the used cement bags and collect as much of the leftover dust out of them that I could.  I used it to build the foundation of the home I built for my family in Orderville.

. I served my country during the Second World War.  I had known the war was going on, but I was 37 years old and a father of four children so I was pasted the age of those who might have to serve,  So it was quite a shock to everyone when I was drafted and then an even bigger shock that I was deployed out to battle.   Being deployed to the Phillipines.  I remember the lowest point of my life was watching the Golden Gate Bridge recede into the horizon as the troop ship I was on headed out into the Pacific Ocean.  Later on that trip, our battle group was attacked by the Japanese as we neared where we were to land.  I watched a kamikaze pilot fly his plane into the aircraft carrier that was part of our convoy.    We had a warning that it was coming and were told to run down into the ship, but I stayed on deck and saw it happen.  I was not sure I was going to make it back to see my family. .

After the war I returned to my family in Orderville where I began working for a lumber company and went into the chicken business.

At the age of 57 I got a job  as a caretaker at Pipe Springs National Park in Arizona. Later I became a guide.  I loved to tell the stories to the visitors who came.   This is a picture of me telling people about my experiences living and working at Pipe Springs.  This picture appeared in a issue of National Geographic along with a story about Pipe Springs.  Once, a friend of mine and I were working with some of the Piute Indians from the Kiabab Reservation.  We convinced a few of them to be baptized.  My friend went and bought them some new clothes for the baptism.  A few months later they came back and asked to be rebaptized so they could get some more clothes.  I loved this job  "My work of interpreting the Mormon Pioneering of the west was interesting and challenging. I  met people from every state and many foreign countries. And I feel I have enjoyed some measure of success.  

  I served in the Orderville bishopric for eighteen consecutive years the last eleven as the bishop. While I was bishop we built the Orderville chapel. Funds for the church building had to come from the members.  Many members of our ward sacrificed to contribute so we could have a building.    After I was released as bishop I was called to be the stake patriarch

Throughout my life I was blessed to be able to work outdoors.  I loved being in nature.  I was also a gifted orchardist and had an apple orchard behind my house in Orderville, and a few more around town.  People would come from all over southern Utah to buy the apples from my orchard.  Later in life, I served a mission with my wife at temple square.  While I was never a rich man I was happy and loved life.    I died in November of 1993.