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Show San Luis Valley only to return, give himself up, and spend six months in a Provo jail. In 1889, with his second wife, Julianna, and four of her children (eventually she had seven), he moved to the small settlement of Littlefield, Arizona, located a few miles south of the Utah border, in the extreme northwest corner of the state. About 1900, after her children were grown, Hans Peter's third wife, Dortea Carolina, joined him on the farm in Littlefield. He spent his remaining years in both Littlefield and Washington, dying at the age of 86. Most of these biographical events are recorded in a poem that Hans Peter composed at the age of 64, one of a handful that remain in existence and presumably one of many that he wrote. His poems are personal narratives that record the experiences he had in his new home in America and often describe the landscape both in terms of its beauty and the hardship it caused him. It seems that for him poetry was a means to preserve both personal and community history while philosophizing about his personal convictions and religious beliefs. Two generations later, Hans Peter's granddaughter and grandson coinci-dentally discovered this same vehicle for expressing their own experiences and world views. Raised on the Arizona strip, children of Julianna's youngest daughter, they grew up in the ranching community of Mt. Trumball, surrounded by cattle and cowhands. Informal family gatherings, holidays and occasional Saturday night dances all featured singing, dancing, playing music and reciting verse. From these early experiences, both grandchildren, Melvin L. "Meb" Whipple and his younger sister, Yula Sue Whipple Hunting, learned to have pride in their own ranching culture. Both eventually began reciting and writing poetry about their western lifestyle-perpetuating a family tradition begun by their immigrant grandfather. •FiCAMKi-ifc' lUKW Ant>c«(soiJ- '»' Cowboy Poetry From Utah 27 |
