In February 1948 people who lived in Arbon Valley, or had once lived there, met in Pocatello for a reunion that began in the afternoon and went on to a dinner, a program and a dance. The Pocatello papers followed the gathering for three winters, and the notices and reports show who organized it and who came.
1948: the first reunion
On February 8, 1948, the Pocatello Tribune gave notice of the gathering. Every present and former valley resident was welcome, and the gathering at the Bannock County Memorial building was to open at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 14. The plan for the evening was a meal at six and then entertainment and dancing. Roy Lindley was chairman of the reunion committee and Don Jensen vice chairman. The secretary, printed as "Mrs. J. D. Arbon," said about 500 were expected. The initials are almost certainly a slip for J. G.: Mrs. J. G. Arbon took the reservations in each of the next two years. She was almost certainly Edna Bailey Arbon, the wife of Joseph George Arbon, a grandson of George Arbon.
The Tribune's Around Town column of February 15 gave it only a line or two: the reunion had happened on Saturday and lasted from the afternoon into the night, and the hours after the meal were given over to dancing. Two fuller reports ran on February 17, but only fragments of them could be read for this post. They name the reunion association's officers, among them Edna Arbon as secretary-treasurer, J. G. Arbon as chairman of the finance committee and J. N. Arbon heading a recreation committee. Roy Lindley was toastmaster at the banquet, Connie Evans had charge of the program and Mrs. Catherine Cox the refreshments. A year later Lindley said that more than 500 people had come.
Roy Lindley was probably the Arbon rancher and hunter who in 1937 took on the state game warden over the golden eagle. Don Jensen was very probably Don Jenson, who grew up near Summit, moved to Pocatello in 1940 and was married to Constance "Connie" Evans, a daughter of the Arbon homesteaders Thomas B. and Susannah Evans.
1949: the winter intervenes
The second reunion was set for Tuesday, February 15, 1949, again at the Memorial building, with a banquet at six and dancing after. A short notice in the Tribune the day before told readers that bad weather had forced a delay. That was the winter of 1948–49, when the valley was snowed in from the day after Christmas into March and, in mid-February, Crystal's families were cut off by a blizzard.
On March 8 Lindley, now called president, announced the new date: Friday, March 11, in Memorial hall. Because the first reunion had drawn upwards of 500 people, he told anyone planning to come to book a place without delay. About 200 came that Friday evening. Willard Anderson gave the welcome, and in it he suggested making the yearly gathering a tribute to the valley's founders and early homesteaders. He was probably Willard Andersen, who was bishop of the Arbon ward in the 1940s.
Don Jensen directed the program. Gerald Neal gave the opening prayer, there were readings, novelty dances by several performers and the Pinkerton School of Dancing, an accordion solo by Bob Nunnelly and a piano solo by Margaret Gardner. The Lindleys had lately been to Alaska to hunt bear, and the films they brought back were the part of the evening the Tribune singled out. The Tribune photographed some of the guests. Among those named were Mr. and Mrs. Ed England, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Wheatley, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Arbon, Mr. and Mrs. John Anderson and Otto Anderson, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Swim, Mr. and Mrs. John Bolingbroke, Heber Woods, John Bowen, Mrs. Ed Davis and Mrs. Tom Evans. Tom Evans had died in 1942, so Mrs. Tom Evans was probably his widow, Susannah. The report names the secretary-treasurer as Mrs. J. N. Arbon, probably another slip for J. G.
1950: the Grange hall
In 1950 the reunion moved to the Grange hall on North Seventh Avenue. It was set for Tuesday, February 14, from five in the afternoon, with the banquet at seven at $2 a plate; reservations again went through Mrs. J. G. Arbon. About 175 came. Roy Lindley was on holiday in Mexico, so Don Jenson ran the evening, and Mrs. Constance Jenson directed the program. The prize for the longest residence in the valley went to Jack Price, very probably the Jack Price who had married Stella Bowen in the earliest wedding known to have been held in the valley, in 1913; a Mrs. Stella Price, probably his wife, won the door prize. Mrs. Ed Davis took the prize for bringing the most family. She was probably Esther Arbon Davis, George Arbon's daughter and the widow of Edward H. Davis, though her daughter-in-law would also have been called Mrs. Ed Davis.
The papers do not say who first proposed the reunions, and the full 1948 reports could not be read. They also do not say how long the gatherings stayed in Pocatello. By 1967 the Arbon Valley reunion was held in summer at the Arbon chapel, and an Arbon Reunion was still being held in 2010.
On this site: the Arbon family, the Evans family and the Jenson family.
The story as reported
Idaho State Journal, February 19, 1950, page 24. The original article is under copyright; this is our own report of what it said.
Roughly 175 people turned out on Tuesday, February 14, when the Arbon Valley reunion met at the Grange hall in Pocatello. With Roy Lindley, the organization's president, on vacation in Mexico, its vice president, Don Jenson, ran the evening. Lindley and Jenson had planned it with the secretary-treasurers, Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Arbon, and with committees chosen back in 1948.
Guests had an hour to visit before the banquet, and the program and dancing came after it. Gerald Neal presided over the dinner as toastmaster and later did the announcing for the program.
Prizes went to several guests. Tom Stott and his wife had come the farthest, from Coeur d'Alene. John Bishoff was recognized as the eldest guest; his 86th birthday was coming in August. Jack Price was rewarded for having the longest residence in Arbon Valley of anyone there. Mrs. Ed Davis won for the biggest family turnout of any parent, with her two daughters, three sons and their own families on hand. The door prize was Mrs. Stella Price's.
Planning the after-dinner entertainment fell to Mrs. Constance Jenson, whose committee was Mrs. Anna Ouson, Mrs. Margaret Waters, Mr. and Mrs. Willard Andersen and Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Neal. The Rhythmaires, a group of four women, Gladys Trimming, Ina Wilson, Mona Call and Lola Schiess, sang for the crowd. Dionne Bailey and Roberta Putnam each sang too, Putnam with Vito Petrone accompanying her. Banjo music came from Con Millward, and Bruce McCormick's turn was a set of Al Jolson impersonations. For the dance that closed the evening, Oakley Myler's orchestra played.
Sources
- Idaho State Journal, February 19, 1950, page 24
- Pocatello Tribune, February 8, 1948, page 18
- Pocatello Tribune, February 13, 1948, page 1
- Pocatello Tribune, February 15, 1948, page 2
- Pocatello Tribune, February 17, 1948, page 5
- Pocatello Tribune, February 17, 1948, page 6
- Pocatello Tribune, February 13, 1949, page 16
- Pocatello Tribune, February 14, 1949, page 10
- Pocatello Tribune, March 8, 1949, page 7
- Pocatello Tribune, March 13, 1949, page 9
- Idaho State Journal, February 5, 1950, page 14
- Idaho State Journal, February 6, 1950, page 8
- Idaho State Journal, February 7, 1950, page 8