Monthly Archives: February 2008

Delon Smith’s Obituary and Remembrance

General

Delon’s obituary was published today in the Las Cruces Sun-News. The link to the obituary (and the online guest book) is http://www.legacy.com/LCsun-news/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=103222315. Since the link will only work for a short time, the obituary reads as follows:
DeLon Smith
1945-2008
DeLon Smith beloved brother, father and grandfather passed away Friday, February 8, 2008 at the age of 62. He was born to Nathan LeRoy Smith and Mary Burton Smith on June 26, 1945 in Preston, ID. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Southwest Indian Mission from 1964 to 1966. He married Nelma Jean Powell on June 30, 1973 in Price, UT. He is survived by his wife, brothers: Roland, Nate, Ross, sister: LaRella (Larsen), children: Cheryl (Anaya), Kenny, and Curtis, step-children: David Nuttall, Mike Nuttall, Gail Peak, and Karen Nuttall. He also survived by three grandsons, nine step-grandchildren and one great-grandson. The viewing will be on Wednesday, February 13 at 10:00 am. in the LDS chapel at 3210 Venus St. with services to follow at 11:00am. Burial Cleveland, ID.

Services have been entrusted to the care of La Paz-Graham’s Funeral Home 555 West Amador Las Cruces New Mexico (575) 526-689.

Delon was the relative I was closest to as I was growing up. We spent a lot of time together at Grandfather Smith’s (Delon’s father) calcite operation in Treasureton, Idaho. We got our amateur radio licenses together when we were about 13 (my call sign was KN7OJL … I don’t remember Delon’s callsign) and had a great time working together on electronics. Delon’s interests went from there to music which has played an important role in the rest of his life. He was an accomplished pianist and loved to play the small grand piano in his living room … perhaps his most prized material possession.

Photography was another of Delon’s passions and he made many photographic excursions into the back country of northern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. The last time we were together, we spent one very delightful afternoon together in old town Las Cruces photographing. He had a very good eye for the composition of a scene.

It doesn’t seem possible that we won’t be doing anything else together in this life. Rest in peace, Delon. I miss you.

Making A Sad Funeral Trip

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After some discussion, mother and dad and I will drive down to Las Cruces, NM for Delon’s funeral. It is very strange to me that of all dad’s siblings, the youngest was the first to die. All the rest of the siblings are in poor health as well and this may well be the last time for dad to see his sister. So, we’ll make the drive down.

Mapquest says it’s a thousand miles and fifteen hours by way of Salt Lake, Price, Moab, Monticello, Cortez, Gallup, and Albuquerque. We’ll do the trip down in two days and take two days to make the trip back. We’ll leave on Monday morning, February 11th and get back home on Friday, February 15th.

The plan is to drive on Monday to Gallup, New Mexico where we’ll stay in the Hampton Inn there (505-726-0900). We’ll arrive in Las Cruces sometime on Tuesday afternoon. We’ll be staying at the Hampton Inn in Las Cruces (755 Avenida De Mesilla 505-526-8311) on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. We’ll leave on Thursday morning and plan to drive to Monticello, Utah where we’ll stay Thursday night at the Best Western in Monticello (435-587-2261).

Delon’s funeral is at 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The current plan is that he’ll be buried at the Cleveland Cemetery in Cleveland, Idaho but according to Delon’s daughter Cheryl, those arrangements haven’t been finalized yet. It is a sad day.

My Uncle Delon Died This Morning

General

I just heard from Mother that my Uncle Delon Smith in Las Cruces, New Mexico, died this morning from an apparent heart attack. No other information is available, including anything about arrangements.

Delon was three months younger than me. More information as it becomes available.

Update 1:

Delon was born on June 26, 1945 in Preston, Idaho. He married Nelma Jean Powell on June 30, 1973. Delon had been living in Las Cruces, New Mexico for the past twenty years or more.

Update 2 (February 12, 2008):

Delon got up early in the morning unable to breathe. He went into the bathroom and collapsed. When the paramedics arrived, he had stopped breathing and had died.

An Open Plea To Mitt Romney

Politics

Dear Mitt,

Yesterday’s SuperTuesday primary elections were a definite downer for your campaign. I’m frustrated because I haven’t even been able to vote for you yet (Idaho’s Republican Primary isn’t until May), and by the time I can, if you keep going like this, my vote will make no difference at all.

Mitt, it’s time to start running a real campaign … a 21st century campaign … one that would put you in the White House. Please do the following:

  1. Start standing for something. Pick a three-phrase slogan and then stick with it. I propose something like “Real Jobs … Real Growth … Real Leadership”. This slogan should be the foundation upon which everything else in the campaign is built. Stop parroting “change”. Even if nothing is done, things will change anyway. Start telling the American People what you will Do when you are elected. Start outlining what you will do the first month, the second month, and the third month. Then make a commitment that every three months you’ll go in front of the American People and report. As a businessman, you understand the “plan, execute, and report” process. So do the American People.
  2. Stop responding to the stupid questions and assertions. Start answering the questions that should have been asked. Today’s pundits and candidates ask strange questions in hopes of tripping people up and consequently the real questions don’t get asked. Listen to the question, decide what the Real Question is behind the question, and then answer the Real Question. Let everyone else wallow around in the muck and mire. The American People know these are stupid questions and they are looking for someone to stand above the stupidity and speak directly to them. Appoint someone to do the “responding to stupid stuff” work once a week. This would be a great use for a blog.
  3. Start talking to the people who will make a difference in the next 50 years. That means you need to move out of the 20th century and into the 21st century and do it Now and In A Big Way.

For instance:

  • Go get a Seesmic account. Loic Lemeur, Seesmic’s founder, is the easiest person in California to reach. Ask him for an account. Set it up, and three times a week, using a plain old webcam and a laptop computer, record a two minute video of Mitt Romney talking to the American People. Within minutes the video will be seen across the country and around the world. And. It. Will. Cost. You. Nothing. The format is simple: sit down in front of the camera which is getting a head and shoulder’s view and press record. Say hello, repeat a question that a Real Person asked yesterday, answer it, ask for their vote, and say goodbye. In less than a half hour each week you will directly reach millions of people. You’ll change some minds, educate others, and enlighten quite a few. It will do more for your campaign than anything else I can think of. BUT the questions have to be real. The response has to be real … rehearsed but not scripted … just Mitt talking to the world.
  • Start using Facebook. Get an account and start letting people setup Facebook events. They’re already doing it, so make it official! Facebook is better than anything the John Dean people tried to do. Using your laptop computer and videocamera, record short 5 minute head-and-shoulders shots of you talking directly into the camera about what you stand for and what you want to do. Send these short videos to the organizers of the Facebook events. They’ll set up a laptop and a video projector and you’ll be able to attend every one of the events vicariously. The American People get it and they will remember.
  • Have your key staff start using Twitter. Let them microblog about what you’re doing, who you’re meeting with, what’s on your mind. It has to be a no-holds-barred, absolutely open conversation, though. No vetting ahead of time what might be tweeted…. If you let it happen, thousands of potential voters will be hearing something from or about you several times a day, directly from your staff, with no pundits or media or anyone else inserting their spin. And. It. Will. Cost. You. Nothing!

Mitt, I’m just a guy in rural Idaho who wants a real choice for the next President of the United States. Stop screwing up your opportunity to be part of that real choice! Start being a real person with a real agenda and a real voice. I’m still hoping for that chance to vote for you in May.

Regards,
Roland Smith
Pocatello, Idaho

p.s.: If you don’t know what Seesmic, Facebook, Twitter, or blogging are, ASK ME!

There’s A Sled In There!

General

Buried SledWe have gotten a delightful amount of snow this year. Last Saturday the newspaper said that so far this year we had snow on 29 days, compared to 26 days last year. The total snowfall measured at the airport was a bit over 16 inches so far this year compared to a total of 22 inches last year. All of that was before this weekend when the weather systems coming in from the Oregon coast added another ten to twelve inches of snow. For the first time this school year, school was called off on Monday. On Sunday at Church our neighbor behind us (the house on the other side of our fence in the picture) told me that somehow her kids had tossed their sled into our yard and that sometime next spring we might see it emerge from the snow. Well, there’s definitely enough snow out there to bury a sled — more than three feet on average! The snow goes up close to the fence but not up to the fence because of the prevailing southerly wind that circles down along the fence blowing the snow back. I think it’s pretty cool.

Today is an election day across a number of states in the U.S. The press is calling it Super Tuesday. Sunday was the Big Football Game, the Super Bowl, so that day is called Super Sunday. In between we also had a Super Monday as the new First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was announced. As expected, the new president is President Thomas S. Monson. His counselors are Elder Henry B. Eyring and Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. For the first time in LDS history, a member of the First Presidency comes from outside the United States. It was indeed a Super Monday!

We’ll go vote in just a few minutes. Our voting will be about whether or not the city should use bond money for the renovation of the Holt Auditorium. It’ll raise our property taxes slightly, but well worth it. I’m certain, however, that the project will go down in defeat. The citizens of the City of Pocatello do not know what it means to have a viable and vibrant city infrastructure. The auditorium was originally built by Idaho State University, but the upkeep was the responsibility of the local citizens. The bill has come due and the prevelant letters to the editor say, “The State built it, let the State pay for it!” as though the State of Idaho has some source of magical money. Nevertheless, we’ll go vote YES. The democrats are having a caucus today to allocate the State of Idaho delegates to the Democratic National Convention. The republican primary will be held in May when we’ll go vote once again.

President Gordon B. Hinckley

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Viewing Line

Yesterday Nina and I drove down to Salt Lake City, met up with Heather and a couple of her kids, and went to the Conference Center for President Hinckley’s viewing. We joined the end of one of the lines going into the Center at 3:10 p.m. Heather had talked to some people who had been to the viewing earlier on Friday who said they got through the line in about an hour. An hour later, we were somewhat closer. We’d been ushered into the main auditorium to wait there for our turn to go upstairs to the Hall of the Prophets where the viewing was being held. Because the day was cold and windy, Guest Services were trying to get as many people as possible inside rather than standing outside in the wind. They filled up the balcony and took people upstairs section at a time while they filled the main floor. At 6:30 p.m. we made our way into the Hall of the Prophets to walk by his casket and out the doors back to the car. Everyone in our group agreed that it was worth it to show our respect to this great man.

The news later last night said that more than 60,000 people had attended the viewing and as of 10 p.m. people were still waiting for their turn. While Guest Services were well prepared, I’m certain they were overwhelmed with how many people wished to pay their respects. But, they didn’t turn anyone away and some of Guest Services people had a very, very long day yesterday, which didn’t end until well after midnight and then started again this morning well before 7 a.m.

The funeral is this morning at 11 a.m. and he’ll be buried in City Cemetery in a private ceremony. We do not make any kind of a fuss over the graves of past Presidents of the Church. The focus by tomorrow will have shifted to the new President who takes the helm at a time when the Church is more in the public eye than it has been in it’s entire previous history. There will be little time for mourning on his part. Fortunately, the next President will be a seasoned General Authority with decades of preparation for this position and the entire Church will immediately sustain him as he takes on the mantle of his office.

President Hinckly was a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. I had the opportunity to spend some personal time with him a number of years ago in Kirtland, Ohio. He was a kind, insightful, delightful person. He had a choice sense of humor. He knew that the Church was the True Church and was tireless in his service to the Lord and to the Church. He’s now united with his dear wife and continues his service on our behalf in the unseen world. I won’t say “Rest In Peace” because he certainly isn’t resting! Carry On, President Hinckley!