George Phineous HATCH on his 75th birthday, with wife Dora PALMER outside their longtime home at 515 E. Portland in Phoenix.

Essentials
Born: 1 May 1891; Taylor, Navajo, Arizona
Son of: John HATCH and Mary Jane STANDIFIRD
Baptized: 29 May 1899
Married: Dora Palmer, 2 October 1914
Died: 26 January 1980, Phoenix, Arizona

Page contents
One-minute history
Book of Mormon testimony
Birth to marriage
Patriarchal blessing
60th wedding anniversary

BY DARYL JAMES
FROM 'JAMES/HATCH ONE MINUTE HISTORIES' (1994)
     George Phineous Hatch was born May Day 1891 in Taylor, Ariz., to John Hatch and Mary Jane Standifird. He was the third of nine children.
     He attended school in a log house on the church square in Taylor until the house burned down. After that he attended school in a brick house. He learned the poem "Hiawatha" in the third grade and later memorized it. His children occasionally heard him recite it as an adult. In later elementary school George began playing baseball. His best position was first base.
     He also enjoyed horse riding, duck hunting, swimming, skating, and playing marbles. He kept himself supplied with pencils and paper for school through his marble winnings. He would sell 10 chalkies or five glassies to his friends for a nickel, or one flint for a dime. When George was 7 his father went on a two-year mission for the Church to Nebraska. Although his father left more than a year's supply of wood and flour, George and the rest of the family had to do odd chores and other things to get by while he was gone.

1974 image printed in the "The Winslow (Ariz.) Mail." Accompanying article reprinted below.

     In 1902 George's family moved to Hubbard, Ariz., near Thatcher. Train tracks ran up a hill near their land, and sometimes George and his brothers would sneak out and rub homemade soap on the tracks. This had the same effect as snow and ice in the winter. Trains would often stall and workers would have to get out and spread sand on the tracks to continue. Despite this fun, things in Hubbard never went smoothly. Soon the Hatches returned to their old property in Taylor.
     In 1905 when George was 14, his family acquired a herd of 2,000 goats. George had to miss school from April to the middle of fall after this to help tend the herd. He once missed 18 consecutive months to work at the goat camp full time. During this period he had to study by himself to keep up with his class. He was often alone with the goats for long stretches of time, and it was during this period he read The Book of Mormon the first time and gained a testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
     Despite his time away from school, George managed to graduate from Snowflake High School. He played first base on the baseball team and forward on the basketball team. He was quiet and a great reader. Because he liked to read, his father let him go to business college in Los Angeles after graduation. He delivered newspapers, washed dishes and worked behind a steam table in Los Angeles to put himself through the school. After graduation he worked as a bookkeeper and then as a court reporter; however, neither of these jobs lasted long. The year before his marriage, he also played catcher on a baseball team in Clardale for $3 per game. He married Dora Palmer in the Salt Lake Temple Oct. 2, 1914. They lived in Los Angeles a short while but returned to Arizona in 1917 after George was unable to find work in the secretarial field. He owned three nice business suits in Los Angeles, which he hoped to wear at his first job--but the only job he found was knocking cement sidewalks out with a sledgehammer. He had no money to buy overalls and had to wear one of these nice suits at this job.
     Together George and Dora had 11 children. They lived in many places in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah but finally ended up at a home in Phoenix. George held many jobs during his life. After years of poor health, he died Jan. 26, 1980, at 88. Dora lived seven more years. Both remained active in Church all their lives.
-- Sources: 1. Firsthand knowledge of the author, Daryl Heber JAMES, a grandson; 2. 1992 telephone interview with Quola Mae HATCH James (youngest child); 3. Typed history by Afton HATCH Flake (printed below).

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Testimony to the truth of The Book of Mormon

BY GEORGE PHINEOUS HATCH
DATE OF TESTIMONY UNKNOWN
     About the latter part of August 1909, I was herding goats west of Taylor, Arizona. As a neighbor, I had an Indian who was herding sheep for Lige Thomas. He was a convert of Lig’s and for three or four days we had been in the habit of ... visiting. Our topic was generally the Book of Mormon and Indian Lore, which he would tell.
     One day after we had separated, I was reading the last chapter of Moroni, (Chapt. 10:4) where he says, “And when ye shall receive those things I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”
     After reading this I had a desire or prompting to know for myself. I was on a hillside with a slope to the West, and the sun was shining just as bright as it ever did; but after I had finished praying for one of the three Nephites to come and tell me if it was a correct record (for that is what I asked for) I saw a bright spot appear away off, and then a man was in the light walking toward me. It was as a spot light on the stage, picking up a certain actor.
     The light was so bright and he came close enough to me so that I could see his face. He was stocky build, perhaps five feet seven or eight inches tall; wore a black suit, black hat, white shirt and black tie, clean shaven. As he was almost close enough to converse he went behind a cedar tree and disappeared.
     I don’t believe the Book of Mormon is true: I know it is what it purports to be: The gospel as taught to the people on this continent, by the Savior. It is also a true record of what happened to those nations when they forgot the God of this land who is Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Birth to marriage

BY AFTON HATCH FLAKE
DATE OF ARTICLE UNKNOWN
     Born on May Day in 1891 in an old house on the east end of the place. The house was a log room with lumber rooms built on. The doctor that delivered him was Grandma Handcock. She was set apart by Brigham Young before leaving Salt Lake for this kind of work; and she always seemed to know what to do.
     He lived a normal life and the first he remembers was when he was three years old. One day he wanted to go with his dad (John HATCH) to the field. Now what boy wouldn’t want to go? But his mother (Mary Jane STANDIFIRD) said “no.”
     After Grandpa got out of sight and his mother wasn’t looking he put on his bonnet, covering the long curls and followed him. He was careful to keep out of sight of his Dad but he kept him in sight so he wouldn’t get lost or feel alone. It was a mile to the field, and when he got to the fence he didn’t dare go on up and let his Dad see him, and he didn’t want to go home. He looked back--there was his mother coming.
     Oh! Oh! Better hide! No use--she saw him and took him home. Funny, but he didn’t get spanked.
     One day his mother decided to get rid of some kittens. The old cat had had quite a few of them. There was an old well that had been nearly filled up with dirt. It made a nice little pond and the middle wasn’t more than four feet deep. Grandma tied the kittens to some rocks and told Dad and Uncle Ez (George's older brother, Ezra Roscoe HATCH) to float them on the water. The kittens sank and the boys ran into the house crying.
     Grandma always did see that the entire family were at Sunday School and Church, and that they didn’t miss Primary or MIA (Mutual Improvement Association) if they were supposed to be there. And she always did her best to have things nice for them. One Sunday morning Grandma was hurrying them up to get ready to go to Sunday School. At last she rushed them off exclaiming they would have to hurry or they would be late. They had about 3 blocks to go and no doubt took their time, for when they arrived at the old log church house, Sunday School had commenced. But they went in and took their seats as usual.
     Grandma worried about it, and when they got home she asked Dad if he was late. He was 4. He said no, but Grandma still thought they were so she asked, “George, did you get there in time for the Sacrament?” He said, “Well, no. But I didn’t care, I wasn’t hungry anyway!” (Uncle Mark told this one on Dad)
     Dad started school in the old log house that was on the church square. It later burned up. Then they held school upstairs in the old brick home until Dad was 8. Ella Carden was the teacher when he started. He remembers the second day of school. He got tired and sleepy and after fighting it for awhile he put his head down in his arms and rested them on his desk. The teacher woke him up and told him to go over and lay on a long bench where he could stretch out--that might have been all right but here she came with her coat to cover him up. Embarrassed and fully awake now he didn’t get tired and sleepy again that day or ever.
     When he was in the third grade Aunt Lulu Smith was the teacher. This was before she was married. They had spelling out loud and she would give them three chances on each word to get it right. If they missed they had to stay in at recess. Who wants to stay in at recess?! One day she asked him to spell “Cake”. He did “k-a-k-e.” Wrong. Again! “K-a-k-e.” Wrong again. Then he noticed Maggie Bates over in the corner and her mouth was spelling the word. He watched and the third time he spelled the word right.

'Hiawatha' by heart

     Maggie Bates was the smartest kid in school and Dad had a hard time keeping up with her,and in some instances wasn’t quite as good. This time, for instance. She was the only one in school that learned the poem “Hiawatha” word perfect. She just rattled it off without thinking. They learned this poem later when Thomas Greer was the teacher. Dad learned it too--have you heard him say it? Mr. Greer did not miss a poem in any book. They learned them all and the longer the better. Mr. Greer was always a good friend of Dad’s, close as a teacher and a pupil can be.
     While in grade school Dad was the baseball boy and played first base. Aunt Mary Gibbons said that many a time she caught that hard baseball for him while he was practicing at home. She said her hand was bruised, fingers were knocked out of place, or broken catching his swift curves or flies. It was all right, though, for she loved the game and him. She was a close companion of his while in grade school.
     Aunt Mary (George's younger sister, Mary Jane HATCH Gardner) remembers how she loved to play with him and their cousin Dick Shumway. One day Grandma Standifird and Aunt Mariah brought their girls to their place after church. She saw the girls but went on out to play with the boys. They went up through the orchard and up to the cottonwood trees, got some stick horses and some stick guns and some small round sticks for cigarettes; just ready to play when here comes Grandma. (Dad tried a real cigarette once but it made him so sick he never tried another.)
     Grandma had a pair of Dad’s pants and his old cap for Mary and said if she was going to be a tomboy she was going to dress like one. She cried and Dad told his mother to let her stay and play, they liked her to play with them. But she wouldn’t put on the pants so had to go to the house and play with the girls. After they left she came back and played with the boys.
     Another time Dick was staying at their house all night and after everyone had gone to sleep but them, they got to talking about horses and which one could run the fastest; they all picked a different one. So they went to the stable and got their horses and went up on the hill where the old red school house used to stand and ran a race. Aunt Mary’s horse was the oldest and the slowest so the boys beat her and Old Molly back. By the time she got to the stable the boys had put their horses up and gone on to bed. After that she parted company with them for good--that wasn’t a very nice way to treat a girl!

Marbles champion

     Now marbles was the game! George was the champion marble player. The rest of his brothers were good, too; and he got a lot of practice. But he kept himself in pencils and paper at school with his marble winnings. They had to buy their own supplies in those days; he sold the marbles back to the kids he would win them from for: 10 chaulkies for a nickel, 5 glasses for a nickel, and would get 10 cents for a flint marble. Aunt Mary thought they had buckets of marbles around the house but Dad wishes he had as many then as he does now!
     In June of 1898, when Dad was 7, Grandpa went on a mission to Nebraska. Before he left he had more than a year’s supply of wood and more than enough flour to last a year so they made out fine with all working together. Katy (Catherine Lavora HATCH) was born 6 months after he left, so as soon as she was old enough to have her picture taken Grandma fixed the family up for it. Dad had on knee pants and a striped blouse with a ruffle on each side of the band that went down the front. He looked quite girlish with his ruffles and his hair in a mass of curls. They also had him stand sideways because he had a sore on the other side of his face.
     The upstairs of the brick house was rented to the school and they got $8 a month for that. Grandma did the janitor work for $4 a month. Grandpa had left the farm in charge of Uncle Lee Shumway, but he wasn’t much of a farmer, so that didn’t give them much. The boys shucked corn and other farm things for different ones to get money, they liked to shuck for Hank Clawson for he gave them every 5th tub full of corn. Uncle Jack (George's oldest brother, Lorenzo John HATCH) and Uncle Ez were the main hunters of the family and helped that way. All the boys did some and they hunted and fished for food. They fished in pools that were in the river. To buy their shells they would sell a nice cottontail rabbit for 10cents. To get 50 .22 shells cost 20 cents, so that was easy money.
     Dad remembers going duck hunting with Uncle Jack. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and the wind was blowing. They went to the reservoir for the ducks. The last 100 yards they lay down in the snow and crawled up on the ducks. They shot into the flock of ducks and got five of them. Jack was the oldest so he had to get the ducks. The ice wouldn’t hold him up so he waded in. The water came to his arm pits. He got the ducks and home they went--about a mile and it was cold in wet clothes. But he never caught cold or had any ill effects from it.
     The second year that Grandpa was on his mission Jim Flake gave them a job. He had 300 head of sheep and they herded them between Snowflake and Taylor and at night corralled them at “Bellybutton.” They got $25 a month store credit for it. One day the wind blew. Remember the wind? It got so dusty and it seemed so long that when the sheep started huddling and not eating and they had a hard time seeing and it got dark they corralled the sheep and went home. It was only 3 o’clock, so Grandma made them go right back and take them out again.

Life in Thatcher

     When Dad was 11 years old, Uncle Lee and Frank Butler and Grandpa decided to move to Thatcher (Arizona). They had heard stories about how nice it was in the valley and how easy to make a living. They took their families and went over the mountain by White River and Black River. Dad remembers camping in the pines and seeing Dick Shumway swinging from the top of a small pine, bending it first one way and then the other.
     The last night before they got there they camped in a big corral. There was a watering trough in it and the gate was just wide enough for a wagon to get through. The hubs rubbed on both sides of the gate and it took good driving to get them through. The next morning Aunt Minervie was driving for the men had gone on out on horses. The horses she had either balked at first or took off on a run. This morning they took off on a run and she headed for the gate. Dad still can’t understand how she went through that gate without touching the hubs on either side.
     They lived in Hubbard, which is just across the river from Thatcher. Dave Heywood’s father was the school teacher there and he lived in Thatcher. Each morning on his way across the river he picked a bunch of willows and he used them during the day for switches. The rest of the kids in the school picked on his boys, Dave and Leland, and would throw rocks at them whenever they saw them. It got so the boys couldn’t come out of the schoolhouse without their Dad with them.
     After Christmas Grandpa decided to go to Nacko to haul ore out of a mine. He took Dad out of school to drive the team down and that was all the school he got that year. On the way out of Thatcher the road went between the fence and railroad track. Grandpa had four horses on a wagon and Dad had two. The lead horses slowed down and the others came on and would up in the traces or harnesses and the team behind ran into that. They had a mess for awhile.
     After they got to Nacko, Jack Zundell wouldn’t give them a job so they came back. On the way back they traveled late one night. It was raining and it was dark. Dad couldn’t see anything but the horses were supposed to be following the team in front. Suddenly they came to a stop. Dad was back in the wagon out of the rain (he couldn’t see to guide them, anyway.) He got out and tried to make them go but couldn’t get them to move. He got out in the mud and felt around and found out that the horse that was tied to the side of the wagon had gone on the other side of the telephone pole. He couldn’t get the horse to back up, and the rope was so tight that he couldn’t untie it. The other horses couldn’t back the wagon up (must have been muddy). He didn’t know what to do but after trying and getting wet Grandpa came back and they finally got things right, and when they got up with the rest of the wagons they decided to camp for the night. Grandpa decided to move back to Taylor, so they came back before school was out, for he wanted to get back to Taylor in time to plant the farm.
     One thing also that happened to them in Thatcher: the train went around the outside of Uncle Jerry Hatch’s field. It was an uphill rise for the train and it was hard in the winter time for it to get up when the tracks were icy so they always carried sand to put on the tracks. The boys used to get some home made soap and put it on the tracks, up and down, and the train couldn’t pull it and would have to stop and put sand on the rails.
     Back in Taylor things went on as usual. They had chores to do each morning and night. One of them was to water the horses each morning. Sometimes in the winter it was a little difficult. The ditch came down the hill and that was fine unless it froze over. Sometimes they had to cut steps in the ice to get the horses up the ditch to where they could get some water. It would freeze as much a 3 inches of ice each night. Dad remembers the reservoir freezing deep enough that a wagon loaded with wood could cross it.

Raising cane in Taylor

     They used to raise cain (cane)--literally. The sorghum mill was where Joe Brimhall lived, under the trees. They used a horse to grind the cane, the horse going round and round and the juice running out. They cooked it in a big wooden tub. Nice clean wood lined the sides and the bottom was tin. Around the wood was dirt. The dirt was kept wet so the wood tub wouldn’t burn and they cooked the sorghum in that. They had a big ladle that had holes in it to take the skimming off the sorghum. The skimmings were taken and cooked some more and they had some good candy. Wonderful candy pulls to remember, too.
     All the boys in the family loved to swim, fish, hunt, and skate. Grandpa was always nice about letting them have time off, but he also had plenty for them to do and they did help him a lot though he never gave them a dance or show ticket. The home was always clean and they always had plenty to eat. They were all raised on the farm. They had chicken, pigs, and beef and plenty of wildlife that the boys killed.
     Dad wasn’t afraid of work, but he did like to do the clean work, so he could be dressed up. Grandma used to scold him because he wanted to wear his best all the time. She would say, “George Hatch you will never have anything, you want to wear you very best all the time. The other children only wear theirs on Sunday, but not you.” George would smile and say, “I’ll have much more than the others because I wear them out faster than they do, and I’ll always have to have something to wear, won’t I?”
     Uncle Mark remembers one time when the boys got to having trouble and were quarreling and fighting, and Grandpa heard it. They all three got a good trouncing and Dad thought he was the worst treated and decided to leave home. Dark came and no George. Grandma was quite alarmed but Grandpa was calm and said, “When he gets hungry and sleepy he’ll come back.” It was late when he slipped in, but none the worse off.

Goatherd

     When Dad was 14 years old, they got a goat heard, 2,000 of them. They belonged to Grandpa, Uncle Will, Uncle Ez and their boys and they all took care of them and it took all of them when it was time for “kidding.” That was usually in May, so Dad had to leave school in April and didn’t come in the fall until school had gone on quite some time. The goats were the kind that had long hair on, Angora, and some of them were registered. One spring they sheared about 300 and a blizzard came up and it snowed. The goats were so cold so they built a couple of fires in the cedars for them but they had to put them out for the goats tried to get by the fire and they would push the inside ones into the fire and that burned them to death. They put out the fires and let them freeze--it sounded better and smelled better, too. They lost all 300.
     Aunt Ann (George's younger sister, Nettie Ann HATCH [?]) remembers that Dad was always her “hero.” About the first she remembers is running out to the east gate to meet him when he was coming home from the goat camp. He would always let them ride on one of the burrows. After he had bathed and cleaned up she would take the brush and comb and climb up behind him in his chair and give his head a work-over. His hair was long and curly and she would make pig tails and fancy hair doos. She enjoyed it but would always soak him a nickel for the service.
     When she was 10 he was going to L.A. to attend school. He sent her the most beautiful doll in the world. One time they had a wolf scare when they lived on the ranch. Grandma made Lan (George's younger brother Orlando Wallace HATCH [?]) and Ann go down to the north gate to get the cows. They went quietly just knowing a wolf was lurking behind every bush ready to grab them before they got to the bridge. They heard a noise, and here come what they thought was the biggest four-legged animal right toward them. They turned and let out some blood curdling shrieks and ran toward home, yelping every jump with the varmit pursuing them. By the time they got to the top of the hill Grandpa was there to meet them and here came George (the wolf) all out of wind--he couldn’t catch up with them!
     When Dad was 16, in his second year at high school, he was taken out of school and the next 18 months he stayed in the goat camp. By that time they had 3,000 of them. He had six burros and a tent and his own camp. He had two water kegs that fitted on one of the burros to haul his water in. Most of this time he was alone, except when they kidded in the spring and sheared them. When he was out of supplies he would take the horse, after the goats were bedded down, and go home and get some beans and stuff and come back before the goats got up the next morning. For pin money he did some trapping. If he caught a coyote he could get a $1 for it; if he got a bobcat he got $5.

Alone on the range

     He had all the milk and butter that he wanted and he made cheese out of goats' milk. He had a big pan to cook it in and a can to press it in, with rocks on top of it. He still likes goat milk and cheese better than that made from cows' milk. It was while here in the goat camp that he read the Book of Mormon and got his testimony of it. It happened when he was camped at Horse prairie east of Taylor.
     Grandpa had the largest mares in town; they were half sisters called Blue and Jewel. Jewel was a roan. Dad and Uncle Ez wanted to see which was the faster and they didn’t agree, so one day when no one was looking they took the work horses off and raced them.. When they came home that night Grandpa wanted to know which horse had won! Of course the one Dad bet on won. The horse races were run along the street by Uncle Jack’s at that time; it went through onto the field and was a good place.
     Dad did a lot of jockeying for people. One time he was riding a mare that was thought to be the fastest, but she was hard to start and when she got started, the one that was running with her decided to balk so when the horse got half way, she saw her place and went into the barn. Dad couldn’t get her back to the race track so didn’t get to run her. Grandpa did a lot of riding for people and Dad learned how and was good at it too. Uncle Will had a race mare but she was gentle and let all the kids in town ride her. They would load up and as many as could get on and start off. Seemed she would stub her toe or something and put her head down and wait for all the kids to slide off her back. She was patient and let them get back on. After awhile she would stub her toe again.

All-Star athlete

     Grandpa was the champion side wrestler around there. Lang Willis challenged him. Lang weighed 200 pounds and Grandpa 135. They got hold of hands and Grandpa said, “Now, when you are ready just say so, I’ll leave it up to you.” He said, “ready” and Lang went over Grandpa’s head and landed on his back on the ground. He tried it again and the same thing happened. Twice he did it, and then he had had enough. Well during high school Dad was champion of the younger ones. The only one that really challenged him was Lorenzo Rogers, but Dad found his weakness and got the falls every time. From then on he was champion.
     Dad and the kids rode to high school in a buggy. He was on the baseball team, always playing first base. He was on the basketball team for three years. Their main forward! He remembers the first time they had their suits. They were in Flagstaff and of course played outside. It started to snow and the ball was soon a chunk of ice, and they were so cold it was hard to play, so was the other team--but at the half the Flagstaff team went in and put on their sweatsuits and played in them. Of course, Dad’s team didn’t have any. Flagstaff got warmed up then and beat them. St. Johns then played Flagstaff and beat them so they figured they could beat Snowflake. That was a game to remember! The forwards were: George Hatch and Charlie Flake. Center was Jim Bates. Guards were: Logan Brimhall and Bar Turley. They all felt good, and Dad was hot that night. He couldn’t miss. The others found it out and fed him. It went in every time and, of course, they nearly skunked St. Johns. That was one time he was really a hero and the kids appreciated it and they took him for a ride on their shoulders and whooped and hollered. What a wonderful time! Dad says that Charlie Flake, the other forward, was his pal and buddy during high school--one of the best friends that he ever had.

Off to college

     Dad was always very quiet, always afraid he would tell something he shouldn’t. Hence he never talked much. He was a great reader. There wasn’t much to read at home, so he borrowed books from some of the other kids in town. Grandpa was proud of him because he like to read and study and that was the reason he got to go to Los Angeles to business college. While going to school he carried newspapers, washed dishes, worked behind the steam table, mopped floors, and was a maid for five women one winter. When he graduated, especially in the bookkeeping department, he got a job with Pixley for one year while his daughter went to the college. When she came back he was out of a job. He had been getting $75 a month and had to pay $25 for board and room. When the girl came back and took his job she got paid $40 a month. Dad came home then. He went to the county and because Thomas R. Greer was there he gave him a job as a court reporter. He didn’t do that too much, though. He lived with Mr. Greer while working for him.
     Once he had to make up some extradition papers on a fellow from California. Mr. Greer took them to California. While he was gone Dad cleaned up his desk. It was just heaped with papers. Dad filed them and made everything neat and nice and when the boss got back he had a fit. He was really put out because he didn’t know where anything was. Before, he knew under what pile was a certain paper. Soon after this Mr. Greer went to California again. This time he didn’t come back and Dad was out of a job.
     Then he came to a fruit farm in Clardale on the Verde River and worked. He played baseball while there. He was the catcher and Ez Shumway was the pitcher. First time he ever got paid for playing baseball, but he got $3 a game. That was the summer before he was married.

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Patriarchal blessing

GIVEN BY JOHN HATCH (FATHER)
MESA, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA; NOVEMBER 4, 1919
DORA PALMER, SCRIBE
     Beloved son, George P. Hatch, with pleasure as a patriarch, I place my hand upon your head to seal and pronounce upon your head a patriarchal blessing, and it is the authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, and in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, for there is no other name under heaven where a man can receive a blessing--in that name and according to the desire of your heart and with pleasure you shall receive a blessing, that you shall receive a blessing that shall be dictated under the power and influence of truth. The all-watchful eye of the God of Israel, my son, has been upon you from your youth, until the present time. He has watched over you by daytime, he has guided your footsteps, and he has preserved your life for a wise and glorious purpose. Lift up your heart and rejoice, for your prayers and your petitions have been heard. Ye hath sought the God of Israel, where no eye has beheld but his, and your voice has ascended unto his ears. He has consented to listen, and wherein ye have offered unto Him in secret a broken heart and a contrite spirit, He shall reward you one hundred fold openly. His guarding angel will watch over you and shield and protect you.
     If you will continue humble and prayerful, that still small voice that whispers the things of God shall become easy, and shall become plain, and shall recall to you hidden treasures of wisdom and of light and knowledge. If you will listen, he well warn you of dangers both seen and unseen. He will converse with you openly for you shall be an instrument in his hands in doing a mighty work upon the earth. For by the power and influence of His holy spirit, or the guardian angel of your presence you shall be able to command and rebuke the winds and the waves of the sea. You shall be enabled to carry the precious message of truth to the nations of the earth, both far and near.
     Be mindful and obedient to the priesthood of God and magnify your high callings and stations in this life, for the holy priesthood shall be bestowed upon you in its fulness in your Father in Heaven’s own due time. You shall become a great high priest in His church and kingdom, and it truly will become your privilege to become associated with great and noble men, even the apostles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And this further shall be granted and given unto you, that you shall be enabled to rebuke the power of deadly sickness and scourges in administering under the holy priesthood of God.
     You shall be enabled to do a great and good work, even among those that are wayward, for you shall be able to turn them from their waywardness into righteousness in many instances and inasmuch as you shall be humble and prayerful, you shall yet unlock the doors that sit in prison houses at the present time, and be a means of becoming a savior upon Mt. Zion, and to stand as a watchman upon the tower. Thus whispereth the still small voice. The angels of heaven shall administer unto you, whereby you shall be enabled to accomplish the great work that shall yet devolve upon you. Ye shall stand among the redeemed of Israel, for you are a lawful heir unto the priesthood of God with all its fulness. You come through the loins of the most choice seed, even the seed of Ephraim and the blessings that were conferred upon him, for he was the chosen one of the patriarchs of old. Even as his father Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are yours. Remember that the most choice blessings were bestowed upon these men, and the most choice of God’s blessings shall be conferred upon you. The great sacrifice that was made by them shall be required at your hands, even as they offered unto God, so shall you offer. Through your faithfulness your pathway shall be illuminated with the spirit of God, inasmuch as you will importune His high and holy name even as they importuned. Remember these choice blessings shall never fail you--only through the lack of obedience--for they are sealed upon your head by the power and spirit of God, and none shall be able to deprive you from these choice blessings, only through neglect.
     It will be required at your hands a constant labor in order to obey the precepts of God. In obeying those precepts, my beloved, your mind shall be expanded and your understanding inspired, and the hidden treasures and mysteries of God shall be revealed to you. Therefore, seek not the treasures of this life, but life eternal. For you are inspired, and the hidden treasures and mysteries of God shall be revealed to you. Your pathway shall lead through perilous times, for you shall be tried as gold is tried. Through the heat, the dross is purged from the gold--and likewise through your sacrifices you shall be tried and be clean from the sins of this world. You have come up through the paths of youth to the present time pure and clean in His sight and you have not forfeited any right or privilege pertaining to your life upon the earth, for your spirit was held in reserve in the eternal world that you might come forth in this day and age of the world. It was in the eternal world that you chose your parentage, that you might prove to God your Eternal Father, the nobility of your soul, and the integrity of your heart to His great cause--which cause is the gospel of the Son of God, which was revealed by an angel from Heaven.
     Every blessing which has been pronounced upon you by your progenitors shall be fulfilled and your progeny shall become great men and honored women in the church and kingdom of God.
     Now go forth in the journey of this life. Be valiant and true, for in so doing there shall be no power that shall thwart your righteous endeavors. The hidden treasures of God shall be revealed to you, even the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, for by His spirit will they be revealed to you. Even from the days of old to the day and age in which you are living, your testimony shall become bright, and your tongue shall become loosed, and the holy scriptures shall become easy and plain to you. If you will study and perform the labors devolving upon you, you shall not be a whit behind the apostles in explaining the everlasting gospel, for by the same spirit shall you be able to utter the words of life eternal among those whom you will be called to associate with.
     You shall ask humbly and ye shall receive. You shall be blessed abundantly in your home and in your outgoings and in your incomings. In the near future there shall devolve upon you a great labor, and be not fearful, for the Lord will open the windows of heaven and will shower blessings upon you, and the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted shall rejoice through your administrations unto them. Be not fearful to entertain strangers, for ofttimes you will be visited in life’s journey by Heavenly beings unaware to you.
     Many are the choice blessings that you have received, even in your companionship for life. Your table shall always be spread with plenty. Therefore seek diligently to observe the words of this blessing. Read them over and ponder upon them for ofttimes they well reflect in your memory many things that will hedge up the way of the adversary of righteousness, and temptation shall be easily overcome. It will be your privilege beloved son to do many things that will appear unto you to be marvelous, for a great and marvelous work shall be required at your hand. As Joseph of old received this promise, that he should become a fruitful bough by a well, you shall also receive this promise. You shall be very fruitful and shall multiply in word and thought and in deeds. Cherish and nourish the principles of life eternal, for great shall be your reward and eternal shall be your glory.
     I seal upon you the spirit of prophecy and revelation and through this spirit you shall be guided and directed in the path of truth, and in the path of righteousness, and the path of virtue. The spirit of charity shall rest upon you abundantly, which is the pure love of our Savior, the Son of God. I seal this blessing, together with all your former blessings, upon your head and seal you up to come forth in the morning of the first resurrection to inherit a throne of principalities, powers and glories, to come forth clothed upon with immortality and eternal life, to reign in the mansion which is prepared for you as king and a priest unto the most high God. This blessing, together with every good blessing that your heart desires in righteousness shall be granted and given unto you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
     Amen.

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MR. AND MRS. GEORGE HATCH are shown after their Temple wedding in 1914.

Couple Observes 60th Anniversary

FROM THE WINSLOW (Ariz.) MAIL
ISSUE ?, NUMBER 32 (1974)
     An open house observing the 60th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. George Hatch, will be hosted by the couple's children, and will be held Saturday, Sept. 28 (1974), from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Second Ward Cultural Hall, 47 East Ashland, Phoenix. George and Dora Hatch were married Oct. 2, 1914, at the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City.
     Both graduates of Snowflake High School, they lived in that city until 1936, when they moved to St. Johns. They resided in Winslow during the early 1940's. Their present address is 515 East Portland, Phoenix, 85004.
     They are the parents of 11 children, all living. They are: Mrs. Afton Flake, of Mesa; Mrs. Glena Sherwood, of Burbank, Calif.; Steve Hatch, of Winslow; Keith Hatch, of Joseph City; Chad Hatch, of Parker; Dahl Hatch, of Bellflower, Calif.; Loy Hatch, Parker; Mrs. Jean Feit, Los Angeles; Mrs. Dixie Amberson, Cottonwood; Mrs. Anita Simons, Long Beach; and Mrs. Quola James, of Phoenix.
     They have 63 grandchildren, and 44 great grandchildren.
     The couple's many friends in Northern Arizona are invited to travel to Phoenix, and share with them in this joyous occasion.

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Elizabeth HAIGHT
George Phineous HATCH
Hezekiah HATCH
Jeremiah HATCH Sr.
John HATCH
Lorenzo Hill HATCH
Qualo Mae HATCH (living)

CHILDREN WITH DORA PALMER