Page 12 The Ogden Valley News Volume XXVIII Issue XII May 1, 2021 MONASTERY cont. from page 1 thropic donors. “It takes philanthropy on the part of the landowner as well, because what we are paying Mr. White and Mr. Wangsgard is less than half the value of the easement,” said Marlin Jensen, a land trust board member and lifelong Ogden Valley resident. “They are donating a $12 million value as a charitable contribution to the land trust.” Monks, Mormons and Memories - Since its founding 25 years ago, the land trust has accumulated easements on 6,500 acres of agriculture lands [in Ogden Valley], not including the abbey. Saving the monastery farm was always a top priority because of the monks’ legacy of labor and love, and the farm’s importance to wildlife. “The monastery farm has always been viewed as the finest example of agriculture in the valley and the finest example of diligence and faith,” said Jensen, an emeritus general authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “The monks coming here in 1947 was a little bit of a jolt to what was then a Latter-day Saint community. But everyone has had an interest and enjoyed relationships with the monks. The farmers traded livestock, farming ideas and equipment. The monks were wonderful neighbors, very generous. If there’s such a thing as holy envy, we always had that for the monastery and the monks.” The two land conservancies still must raise $287,000 to nudge the deal across the finish line. “It’s about what’s important in our hearts, and the monks embodied that,” said Cheryl Fox, executive director of the Summit Land Conservancy. Though pricey, this transaction is worth every dollar, according to Michael O’Brien, a Salt Lake City attorney and author of the forthcoming memoir “Monastery Mornings: (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The cemetery remains but the historic Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity monastery that housed the Trappist monks in Huntsville, Utah, has been removed. A deal has been reached to preserve most of the 1,800-acre agricultural operation that surrounds the former site in the rapidly subdividing Ogden Valley. My Unusual Boyhood Among the Saints and Monks.” “These men had a tremendous impact on all sorts of lives, not just in Ogden Valley, not just in Utah, but all around the country,” said O’Brien, who has represented The Salt Lake Tribune and blogs at the theboymonk.com. “These men left an imprint of kindness and compassion and love and selflessness. I firmly believe that 70 years of working and chanting and praying has left an imprint on that land and makes it special.” After his parents’ divorce when he was 11, O’Brien spent much of his youth at the monastery, learning from the monks in the absence of a traditional father figure. Last month, O’Brien drove Father Patrick Boyle, who was the public face of the monastery for decades, to the site to bless the fields, each named for a prominent Catholic saint, asking for a productive harvest. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A deal has been reached to preserve most of the 1,800-acre agricultural operation that surrounds the former site of the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity in the rapidly subdividing Ogden Valley. Landowner Bill White has agreed to donate much of the development rights to the land so that it remains as agricultural open space. White has invested heavily in the land’s agricultural operations so that it would qualify for the $8.8 million in federal grants that are funding most of the deal. Danny Graves 801-857-1567 @DJFencingLLC -Permanent Continuous Fencing -Arenas -Round Pens -Livestock Corrals -Custom Gates -Roping Boxes & Hitching Posts We work hard to guarantee low maintenance, high quality products that will last a lifetime. At 93, Boyle couldn’t get around like he million more to replace two aging pipelines. once could, O’Brien “The problem is the recounted in his blog, so farm was losing a ton of he did all the blessing money in part because from one spot. of the dilapidated equip“O God, by whose ment, so we have investhelp we cultivate the earth ed to modernize it and and all that will grow by make it more efficient the effect of your power, so we can at least break grant that what we know even,” he added. “That’s to be lacking in our labors our goal. We are not trymay be supplied abuning to make money on dantly by you,” the robed agriculture. We just want Cistercian monk intoned to break even so, in the while sprinkling holy future, this thing can stay water in each of the four as a farm.” cardinal directions. A lessee grows alfalfa While he was at it, on the irrigated fields, Boyle blessed Huntsville which yield about 2,000 Mayor Jim Truett’s medal tons a year, and a rancher of St. Hubert, the patron runs 150 cattle on the saint to hunters. With land during the summer. a wink, he told Truett, It Remains Hallowed the town’s first Catholic Ground - The abbey mayor, he prayed that all itself, fashioned from a his shots would miss. large military-surplus ‘Entranced’ By Its Quonset hut, could not Beauty - White, who be salvaged, at least in a was there that day, also way that made financial built a close bond with sense. Razing it was a the monks, whom he and heart-rending decision for his wife, Alane, hosted for Wangsgard and White, regular barbecues before who explored numerous the coronavirus pandemic options for saving the confined the priests to the iconic building. senior center. The owners tried to An attorney who donate the abbey and moved to Huntsville in the five acres it sat on 2009, White served on the to large public instituPlanning Commission and tions, starting with the worked with the monasCatholic Church. None tery to safeguard a spring was interested in taking (Steve Griffin | Salt Lake Tribune file photo) on the property that supon a project that would plied the town with water. Monks sing chants as they watch vigil over cost $12 million just to Saving the land had the body of 93-year-old Brother Felix at bring the 58,000-squarebeen worth the effort and the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity foot, three-story structure financial risk, he said dur- near Huntsville in 2010. Brother Felix, to code. ing a recent tour of the who came to Huntsville in 1947, was one The ground where the spot where the monastery of the founding members of the monastery. abbey once stood is now stood, recounting all the His body was returned to the monastery, a covered in lawn, but its steps he took acquiring where he was buried March 16. He died in presence can still be felt and rescuing the property. an assisted living center in Salt Lake City. A when walking among the The process started years deal has been reached to preserve many of trees that stand in what before, when he befriend- the farm fields that remain at the monastery. used to be the quadrangle ed the monks and bought and courtyards. their jam every time he and his family visited, The spot remains consecrated ground, servusually by bike. ing as the final resting place for the monastery’s “Every time I would ride by here, I was just deceased inhabitants. Thirty-four identical entranced by the beauty of this place,” White white metal crosses, crooked and misaligned, said. “We’ve got a lot of jam because I came up remain in the churchyard that is more frequently here a lot. I just wanted to be here. Everybody visited by elk, judging from the droppings in the wanted to be here because it has a special feel- grass, than humans these days. The five surviving.” ing monks can count on joining their brothers in While saving the abbey itself was beyond that peaceful spot someday. the new landowners’ means, they spent heavElk aren’t the only wild creatures that use ily updating the agricultural operations on the these lands, which are part of migration cor1,080 acres now subject to the conservation ridor. Deer, foxes and coyotes also roam here, easement. along with hundreds of sandhill cranes, turkeys, The monks had donated virtually all the owls and eagles. farm’s income—from selling bread, honey, jam, White is not sure how the land will be used books and clocks—to charity, spending little in the coming decades, but he is certain it has to on themselves or the property. Consequently, be for more than growing hay. the operations were run-down and out of date. “I hope someone who has more brainpower Barns weren’t exactly perpendicular to the than Winston or I will have a vision we can ground, pipes were corroding, roads falling adopt here. I just don’t know what exactly that apart. is,” White said. “For now, it’s just going to be “We’ve spent close to a couple million dol- a beautiful farm, but someday when we are old, lars in infrastructure improvements, and we we hope that we have a vision that will outlast have a lot more to go,” White said. “This place us. There are enough interested people in the is so huge; these improvements cost a fortune.” valley to get something going.” They bought six irrigation pivots, each costing $150,000, shored up some buildings and Note: This article was first printed by The razed others, cleaned up dump sites and repaved Salt Lake Tribune on April 17, 2021 and is the entrance road. being reprinted, along with the photographs of “These are things we need to do or this place the monastery, in The Ogden Valley News by would turn into a giant weed patch,” White said. permission. To make a donation for the preservation “In its heyday, this place was run like a Swiss of the Huntsville Monastery through the purchase clock. That was the standard the community of its development rights, please visit Ogden Valley loves to see happen again, but it’s sort of hard Land Trust’s website at ogdenvalleylandtrust.org. when you don’t have 85 young men work for The community has to raise almost $300,000 to protect the monastery through a permanent free.” White anticipates having to spend up to $4 conservation easement.