Can you spare a happy memory? It’s for a birthday celebration.
I was recently invited to be the guest editor for a project we’re calling American Fork Memories. It’s part of American Fork’s official celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday.
From May 1 through August 31, we’re gathering and publishing 250 short, positive memories of life and work in American Fork. You can read them as we post them at afmemories.substack.com. When you go there, Substack will ask you to join and subscribe—both are free and require only an e-mail address—but you can bypass that and just read. If you do join Substack and subscribe to American Fork Memories, we’ll send you digests of memories by e-mail from time to time.
Just remembering is an act of civic and moral consequence, but please consider writing and submitting one of your memories. It should be 200–300 words long, roughly one-third the length of this column. We’ll publish one memory per person. Details and instructions for submitting your memory are at our Substack.
I already wrote mine. I chose one about the American Fork High School Marching Band. I connected it to two tragic memories, but the editor (cough) found it positive enough to qualify.
I’ve lived in six states and studied in Russia for a while. I’ve found good people in all those places. Some of my memories could have happened anywhere, I suppose, but they happened in American Fork. I’ll mention a few among many.
We moved from upstate New York in 1998. We hadn’t been in American Fork very long when I went on a routine church visit to the home of a stranger who quickly became one of the closest friends I’ve ever had. He’s gone now, but every member of my family cherishes him and our time with him and his family.
I wrote a poem several years ago. I rarely do that. My wife saw it, loved it, and asked if she could set it to music. Her composition became one of my favorite Christmas gifts ever. A few years later, she did it again with another poem I wrote.
I sat in a neighbor’s living room while he recalled trying to join the US Marines when World War II began. They rejected him because one of his fingers was badly bent from a farming accident. They’d have accepted him if it had simply been amputated, so he had it amputated, and before long he was invading islands in the Pacific. He thought he survived Iwo Jima only because he was in a hospital with malaria when his unit hit that beach.
Some of my favorite memories happened at the American Fork Cemetery, in the city’s History and Heritage Pageant (itself now entirely a memory). It always featured several amateur theatrical productions honoring people who are buried there. I wrote some of the scripts. One year, my new script required a real actress for the lead, and there was extra pressure, because the woman we were honoring had died relatively recently. We knew many people who had known her would attend. We finally found our actress, a talented AFHS theater student. The longest scene in our 25-minute drama was essentially a long monologue. But our large audiences weren’t bored. Our local star held them in the palm of her hand.
I enjoyed coaching my son’s city league basketball team for five years with some other parents. I’ve attended more splendid musical performances in American Fork than I can count. I sat in a large room on election night with my laptop, analyzing early returns clearly showing that my wife, though she still trailed, would ultimately win a seat on the city council. When a child was hospitalized for weeks at a time, friends and neighbors flocked to our aid, bringing far more than the reliable and welcome casseroles of compassion.
The hardest part of this might be picking your favorite American Fork memory. But if it’s the writing, don’t be daunted. Besides instructions for submitting your written memory, you’ll find tips for writing it at the Substack. If you’d like some coaching and encouragement, watch for opportunities, including a pair of walk-in workshops to be held at the American Fork Library during the summer.
The traditional gift for a 25th anniversary is silver. For a 50th anniversary it’s gold. For a 60th, diamonds. For a 250th anniversary no mere baubles will do. Let’s agree right now on something better: American Fork memories.
Originally published in May 2026 by the American Fork Citizen. Reprinted with permission.
Photo by David Rodeback.
From the Author
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If you’re interested in my published fiction, check out my two award-winning collections at 60 East Press.
