The Year Was 1940...

The year was 1940 and a pretty lady named Phyllis Ann Worden was named one of the Queens for the 24th of July celebration in Utah... that pretty lady was my beautiful mama... some of you may have seen some of these photos before, as each year I do a special post dedicated to my sweet mama who is my guardian angel... left us much too young 30 years ago to go to Heaven... and I miss her so much every single day... but today, I shall celebrate this most extraordinary lady who I love so much!...
The celebration has been called many things... "Pioneer Days", "Handcart Days", "Days of '47" or simply the 24th of July... but, in July 1940 it was called "Covered Wagon Days"... in addition to riding on floats throughout the state, the ladies also rode horses in all of the rodeos as well... don't you love just those darling cowgirl outfits and boots!... my mama is on the right in the photo above and the photo below...

Mama on the left in this photo below...

The 40's is my favorite era of all... the ladies dressed so feminine and beautifully... love those cute ankle strap open~toed shoes!... (mama on the right in photo below)... and those teeny little waists!...

I Googled Pioneer Days and here is what I found: "Pioneer Days is an official Utah State holiday celebrated in the US State of Utah with some celebrations in regions of surrounding states originally settled by mormon pioneers. It commemorates the entry of the first group of mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake valley in July of 1847, where they settled after being forced from Nauvoo, Illinois and other locations in the eastern US". That saddened me that it only mentioned mormons, as it was originally intended to celebrate ALL Utah pioneers. Our family is not mormon, and nowadays to be considered for royalty in the celebration, one must be a direct descendant of a mormon pioneer. But in 1940, that rule did not apply. I did some more research on Google and was happy to find this additional description: "Many Utahns also celebrate the day by remembering other pioneers such as Bishop Daniel Tuttle, who was responsible for Utah's first non~mormon schools, Rowland Halls St. Marks, and first public hospital, St. Marks in the 1800's. The Intertribal Pow~Wow in Liberty Park in Salt Lake City honors the rich cultural heritage and contributions of the areas American Indians, helping Utahns gain a deeper understanding of the regions history."...


So, this week, I shall celebrate ALL of Utah's pioneers... just like my mama did in July 0f 1940. (on left in photo above)...and I shall think about a pretty lady, a Queen, who presided over that celebration... and who just happened to be (and always will be) my mama... this post is for you mama, I love you so much... xoxo...