Character Gets Us Through Hard Times

Are we going to fall of the fiscal cliff? Are we going down with a fiscal avalanche? In difficult economic times it becomes easy to view personal finances through a negative lens. It is easy to fall into the trap of depression and negative thinking. I have to stop and remember that those who came before me, the family members that came down first to pave the way, suffered through similar hard times, if not more adverse conditions. If we take the time to ponder our place in the long chain of our family here on earth, we will have the hopeful experience of sensing our "historical continuity, the sense of belonging to a succession of generations originating in the past and stretching into the future" (Clark).

A business leader, Timothy R. Clark, writes that "to live for the moment, is the prevailing passion - to live for your self, not for your predecessors or posterity." He questions whether we of the 21st Century have the moral fortitude to learn from the lessons of the great recession just as our ancestors learned those of the great depression. We need to internalize those lessons before we can teach them to our posterity. Clark goes on to list four pillars of a WWII communications campaign mounted to help citizens survive the austerities of that war: 1. Don't waste anything, 2. Buy only what is necessary, 3. Salvage what you don't need. 4. Share what you have.

In reading through the Thomas Bingham Foy Book of Remembrance, I see many evidences of those lessons learned in the lives of our ancestors and a few additional ones as well: 5. Work hard, and 6. Don't give up. They were a hardy lot who were able to endure much. That is not to say that they never resorted to negative thinking or pessimism, but especially during the month of new resolutions, it is important to realize that they kept picking themselves back up, re-making themselves, and I'm sure at times had to even start over.

Grandpa Leslie fortified himself in times of difficulty with self-reliance and the ability to stick to difficult assignments. From one history of Leslie Thomas Foy by Florence Foy we find that he learned to work hard,  from his father, Thomas Bingham Foy. "When just a small boy they moved to Cane Springs, about half way between Monticello and Moab, Utah. Here his father operated a Pony Express Station, while the cattle were out on the range" (Foy). I can easily imagine the pony express rider and cowboys as they made do with little. Thomas's grandchildren often related grandpa's ability to make delightful biscuits with no bowls or utensils, just rolling down the top of the flour sack and mixing the ingredients on top.

Leslie on the right of his sister Edna May

Leslie once wrote: "Ever since my Grandfather William Bosley Foy trailed upwards of five hundred head of cattle and some horses into Southeastern Utah from the settlements in the central part of the state, swimming them across the silvery Colorado River at Dandy Crossing, my people have been linked with the livestock industry here and I - in my time - with them. The drive was more than forty years ago and at a time when Grand and San Juan counties were in the pink of condition from the range viewpoint. My father was an older son and was given active management of the cattle while grandfather strove to build up a ranch and a home for his family. Naturally, cattle and sheep formed the principal topics of conversation for the family and as soon as I was large enough I forked a pony and joined my father. I learned the business from the ground up and rode the range while it was yet in its virgin state" (Foy).

Thomas Bingham Foy is located top right in the picture with his family. Notice that the older boys all have sunburned cheeks where the sun beat down on them as they herded cattle and pale foreheads which had been shaded by the cowboy hat. These are, sure enough, tootin'-tootin' cowboy tans resulting from a hard day's work. William Bosley Foy and Lucinda Bingham Foy are seated center row left and center.

William taught Tommy to work, then Tommy taught Leslie to work, and the mothers taught the girls and younger boys. Leslie's history continues: "By living on the frontier he knew all about pioneer life even to the making of candles. There is a story told by a friend of the family to the effect that one time Leslie's mother was driving a team and wagon to Arizona to see her parents who were living there at the time. This one girl, Mag Taylor, and Leslie both wanted to drive. The mother in order to keep peace let one take one line and the other one the other line" (Foy).

Leslie was called on a church mission soon after his mother died. When he returned home he taught school for a half a year and then enlisted in the army. He served as a medical corp orderly in World War I in an evacuation hospital in France. Leslie's history records that "He was the only Mormon in his corps and very often he would have to take the place of Chaplin." Later he was a reporter for the Fourth Corps Flare, the first American Army newspaper published in Germany, contributed to the Stars and Stripes and was on the staff of the Amerioc, the official Army of Occupation newspaper in Coblenz, Germany.

Preparing for burial the body of soldier who died from battle wounds. Leslie experienced many of the horrors of war while working in Evac Hospital 8 in France.

Unlike many citizens who businessman Clark decries as living for self alone and "not predecessors or posterity," Leslie expended untold energy in serving his fellowman. He volunteered his time, talents and efforts to his church, his country, and community. According to his wife, Florence, "Leslie worked just as hard in civic affairs as he did in Scouting and his church. He was a member of the Rotary Club, the American Legion, the Lions Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Clubs of Southern Utah" (Foy). He offered his skills as an officer in many of those groups and volunteered to help erect historical monuments for the Idaho State Historical Society. It is not surprising that he served as chairman of the Idaho Anti-Tuberculosis Association of Malad since this is the disease that took his own mother's life.

Our grandfather carried the psychological trauma of war then known as shell shock and now classified as post-traumatic stress syndrome throughout his life and may have also have suffered the after effects of nerve gas. Despite the scars of war, he picked himself up and kept striving for a better life. A few of the jobs for which Leslie was employed throughout his life include the following.

Principal of the school in Bluff, Utah
Several years of service in the U. S. Army
Several years of ranching and stock raising
Editor of the San Juan Record
Manager of the Foy-Lester Garage (carried the U.S. Mail)
Advertising Manager of the Twin Falls Times
Owner of three small papers in Nevada and Idaho
Owner of the Cache Valley Herald
Managing Editor of the Idaho Enterprise
Manager of the National Re-employment Office of Grand and San Juan counties

For those of us struggling with tight streams of money due to a variety of causes, Grandpa Leslie would identify. He once wrote, "Of course, the real thing that caused me to cast my lot with you newspaper fellers was the need of a little occasional spending money. As a sideline at school I used to hand peg a few sticks of ink up to the old Franklin on press day for our home town papers. I guess I got the smell of the printer's ink then and it sorta lingers on" (Foy). What I hope lingers on in our minds and hearts is the sacrifices our ancestors endured. If we can accept that in our genetic memory and personality is embedded the ability to work hard, be frugal, pick ourselves up and try again.

Happy New Year, loved ones!


Clark, Timothy R. "WWII offers many lessons on finances." On Leadership. Deseret News: 8 Jan. 2013.     Print.

Foy, Florence T. "Leslie Thomas Foy." n.d. Print.

Foy, Florence T. "History of Leslie T. Foy." n.d. Print