PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Accidents, Deaths, and Heaton Family Matters

Accidents

On Monday, March 12, 1951, Heaton joined a rescue party searching for a downed F-80 jet plane from Las Vegas that crashed and burned two miles northwest of Moccasin. Heaton and some of his children witnessed the event. The pilot bailed out, was unhurt, and walked into the monument about 10:00 a.m. while the search party looked for him on the top of the hills back of the monument. Mrs. Heaton and daughter Maxine were home when the pilot arrived. Heaton said that with all the excitement, "it was impossible to hold school in [the] afternoon so the teacher, Mr. Piper, had a school hike to the scene of the wreck." [1625] A few days later, Air Force inspectors completed the investigation of the wrecked jet, determining the cause of wreck was a cut fuel line near the starter.

In earlier years, Leonard and Edna Heaton's daughter Olive had been hurt in several minor mishaps. By far the worst accident involving Olive occurred in June 1951. Then, at age 8, Olive's right foot was accidentally run over by a mowing machine driven by her father. In a recent interview, Leonard's brother Grant Heaton recalled the incident. [1626] Grant said that Leonard Heaton and Olive were riding together on a power mower cutting hay (in Moccasin, he thought). Olive got down and ran off. Her father thought she had gone off to a relative's. In fact, she had laid down in some hay and fallen asleep, Grant Heaton recalled. This is how Leonard Heaton ran over her foot with the power mower. She was taken to Kanab Hospital and treated by the family physician, Dr. George R. Aiken. The injury was so severe, Leonard Heaton later reported, "that the doctor had to take the front half of the foot off just in front of the ankle. She will have use of the heel." [1627] (This unfortunate incident happened less than one month prior to the fire that destroyed the combination barn/garage, described earlier.) In February 1953 Heaton took Olive to what he called the "crippled children's clinic" in Kanab. The following April he took her to Salt Lake City for an artificial foot. [1628]

One other injury accident occurred in 1951. While Heaton was attending a big barbecue in Fredonia to celebrate the opening of Whiting Brothers Sawmill on October 27, 1951, Edna Heaton slipped while chasing a calf that had escaped from the corral. She was "hooked" and "trampled" by the old brown cow, Heaton reported, breaking some ribs. Upon his return from Fredonia, Heaton took her to the hospital where she remained for several days. [1629] In February 1954 Heaton cut his thumb with a power saw and required several stitches.

Deaths

Heaton reported three area deaths in the early 1950s. On July 5, 1951, he attended funeral services for Levi John, a Kaibab Paiute man, and was asked to take part in the program by John's family. He reported in March 1952 the death of Z. Knapp Judd, an "old pioneer of 1870 and dispatch rider from Kanab, Pipe Spring, St. George in the 1870s." [1630] In June 1955 Heaton took annual leave to attend the funeral of Alvin Black, "an old man whose father settled here in the 1870s." [1631]

Heaton Family Matters

The early 1950s was a time a number Leonard and Edna Heaton's children "left the nest" and Pipe Spring National Monument. In May 1951 Heaton's daughter, Maxine, left for training at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, atomic plant. Soon after, she was sent to the Arco atomic plant in Idaho to work, presumably for the Atomic Energy Commission. [1632] On September 17, 1952, Maxine married a native of Idaho and moved to that state. [1633] In January 1952 Heaton's son Dean left on a mission for the Church. In April 1952 his son Clawson returned from a two-year Church mission in Canada. The following September, Heaton reported Clawson was inducted into the military. In April 1953 son Lowell received a call for his physical examination for military service. He entered the Army on June 24 and served two years overseas, just after an uneasy truce was declared at Korea's 38th parallel. Clawson also spent two years in the service, including a one-year tour of duty in Japan. On May 31, 1954, Heaton's son Leonard P. left for his two-year Church mission. In May 1955, shortly after Lowell's discharge from the Army, Heaton's son Dean was called up by the military for his physical.