By Marvel Dwain Roper
01/01/01/01:01, 01/01/01/01:02, 01/01/01/01:03, The first seconds, of the first hour, of the first day, of the first year of the so called millennium. A fantastic time to be alive. So many of us owe our heritage to one of the great men of the 20th century.
He was born in 1890, in the Uintah Basin, which at that time was still very primitive. Divorcing parents, made schooling impossible. In later life because of great drive, a desire to excel, prompted by a deep rooted testimony of the Gospel, helped shape the life of a very common man, into one deeply admired.
Most of his remaining descendants never met this man, can only judge him by the way his grand children and great children have accomplished so much in their lives. To those of us who knew him, saw his honesty and integrity. A life of extremely hard and difficult work, with none of the luxuries we have today. One who knew desperate, disabling and painful illness over a period of years.
A man who learned to read after he was married. What a knowledge he had, a farmer, sheep herder, miner, horseman, cattleman, sheep man, fisherman, linguist, conservative in politics, well read in the scriptures, perfect neighbor, one of the best fathers, devoted husband, completely unselfish, blacksmith, veterinarian, accomplished gardener, friend to his in-laws, respectful of all people, great friend of the Ute Indians, self reliant almost to a fault, watchful and caring of his brothers and their children, one who knew what it was to conquer habits and control one’s self, one who never had indoor plumbing his entire life.
I could go on with a complete list of his personal attributes. To those of us remaining at this time, I would only remind us the great debt of gratitude we owe to the sacrifices of this man, and his companion. Who would have wanted to come through any other lineage. In the Eternity’s we will be able to see these two people as crowned, with great blessings because of the examples and the lives they lived.
I commend to you Ross Edwin Roper and Lacy Loviar Jones, as two who knew how to live simply and well and pass that great heritage onto their descendants. Work was reenthroned as the guiding principle in their life, as well as thrift, independence and self reliance. Two who never sullied their lives with anything to be ashamed of or regret.
As the histories of their lives are unfolded to you in this publication and on web sites, all that is written is true and not embellished. They lived their lives as written.
True to their faith in Jesus Christ and His redeeming power.
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