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Show E 3900 SSte 100 alt Lake City UT 84124-1550 AN E D I T I O N O F PRIDE & P The Spanish Fork News 1 1 O C A L L Y O W N E D A VOL. 3 / NO. 44 N D O P E R A T E D WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008 50j* SPANISH FORK, UTAH Homecoming and Home Finnegan ±i hows different \*t teps in the process creating a coin. Pictured, left, is the finished product. Lindsay B. Wolsey / Spanish Fork News WORK IN PROGRESS: Sarah and Kendall Redmond stand in their hundred-year-old home, currently undergoing a home makeover. New stairs are pictured below. CoiTirnunity corncs ^o^—";^-r in Iraq at the time serving in the military. After an STAFF WRITER accident resulting in mane step inside jor neurological trauma, Kendall and Sar- he faced major medical ah Redmonds procedures and was in no 1800s Spanish condition to fix the furnace Fork home and it's obvi- himself. When Kendall came 1 ous that they are in need of j a remodel. Only one bed- home from Iraq in July, l room had a closet. Rooms he was prepared for doc| rarely had more than one tor visits and uncertainty. \_ power outlet. Some rooms He was not prepared for n^d light switches on the the outpouring of gratitude other side of the wall. from the community. Sortie pipes didn't work, "I never had the opincluding the ones to the portunity to say thank you bathroom sink, forcing the to the community," Redfamily to rig up a temporary mond said. "It's incredibly sink in the hallway. After humbling what's going on, the boiler broke down last and we have several years February and Sarah and the ahead of us to give back." kids had to huddle in one In addition to the paroom around a space heat- rade down Main Street and er to keep warm, a friend the police escort to their nominated the family for home, the Redmonds were the remodel with Ameri- nominated, and selected to canHomeToday.com. receive a $50,000 remodel Kendall was stationed from AmericaHomeToday. Marilyn Nielson STAFF WRITER Lindsay B. Wolsey com. "We had over 135 nominations," said Zak Nugent, president of AmericaHomeToday .com. "But right from the beginning there was something compelling about the Redmonds' story." After meeting the Redmonds, it's easy to see why they received so many votes for the remodel. Despite Kendall's injury and the condition of their 100plus-year-old home, they have not lost their sense of humor. When asked about his injury, Kendall merely said, "It hurt." After beginning demolition of the remodel, it was easy for AmericaHomeToday .com to see that the $50,000 allocated for the remodel wouldn't begin to cover the necessary work on the house. "Our original goals were to replace the roof and take care of the furnace," Nugent said. "But once we toured See REDMONDS • A8 SF teacher named Teacher of the Year' Clair Jones STAFF WRITER On Oct. 22, Canyon Elementary teacher Angelyn Perkins was named Sam's Club teacher of the year for Utah County. During an assembly to kick off the Road to Success reading program, Angie was surprised with a $1,000 grant for Canyon Elementary, a $100 gift card to spend on supplies for her class and a personalized certificate to commemorate her achievement. The award was given by Provo Sam's Club Manager Dustin Willmore, and while the students of Canyon Elementary were excited that their teacher received an award (and probably about the free cookies they were promised,) Perkins, who teaches 4th grade, was overjoyed to have her efforts recognized. "I'm totally shocked!" Perkins said. "There are so many tremendous teachers in Utah County, so to be chosen is an honor. I'm so happy!" Clair Jones / Spanish Fork News GOOD WORK: Sam's Club representatives present Canyon Principal Jeanne Baadsgaard and teacher Angie Perkins with a check for $1,000. The award was given as part of Wal-Mart's 13th annual Teacher of the Year program, which will honor more than 4,000 teachers nationally this month. Local teachers were nominated by community mem- SF man knows the fun - and danger- of coins bers via a nomination box in early August. These nominations were then reviewed by a committee of Sam's Club associates, who, after careful consideration, chose Perkins for the award. "The teachers in our area are superb," said Willmore. "The selection process was not an easy one, but we are happy to recognize Angie Perkins and share this great news with our community." From the time he was eight years old until today, an interest in coins has shaped Spanish Fork resident Kelly Finnegan's life. Simply a coin collector at first, Finnegan now actually mints his own coins with his local business, Penny Press Mint. Finnegan's first creations with Penny Press Mint were made in 2000, and were small, penny-sized medals featuring pictures of LDS temples. After doing 75-80 of the temples on coins, he expanded to begin minting custom tokens for high school reunions, coin clubs, family reunions and so forth. In 2005, Finnegan also began to make encased coins — the only mint in the country that was doing so. "An encased coin is a coin that actually has a little ring around it, with words on it, maybe for advertising, or a slogan," said Finnegan. "They were popular in the 1920s as little mementos, made for the World's Fair or events like that. The last mint that made encased coins died out in 2005, and I wanted to see if I could revive the practice and figure out how to do it myself." After some experimentation, Finnegan designed and modified his press so that it could make encased coins. Before he ever got into the coin-making business, though, Finnegan was a collector. He started collecting coins at the age of eight, and his interest only grew as he got older. However, as an adult, after he opened his own coin shop, unexpected tragedy struck. "A guy came into my shop several days in a row, talking to me, telling me about his family, things like that," recalls Finnegan. "One evening just before closing time, he came in, and while I had my back turned, he pulled out a gun and shot." At the same time, Finnegan turned around, and the bullet hit him in the forehead, knocking him down. "I was conscious, but I lay there on the ground and pretended to be dead while the guy cleaned the valuables out of the safe," Finnegan said. 'Then he disappeared and although we had a good description of him, the police couldn't track him down." Later that year, the robber, whose name was Charles Sinclair, was caught after he killed two people in Washington . It was later discovered that Sinclair, dubbed "the coin shop killer," had murdered over a dozen people. While awaiting extradition for trial from Alaska, Sinclair died of a heart attack. After his own narrow escape from death, Finnegan decided to go back to school. He got his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Westminster College. But his interest in coins had not left him. "I had some friends who had a 50-ton press, and I thought that was so cool," said Finnegan. "I tried to talk them into going into business with it, but they weren't interested. But I just couldn't let go of the idea." One day Finnegan was talking to his brother-in-law about his ideas for making coins with LDS temples on them. "He said to me, 'How much would it take?' So I named a figure, and he said, T can do that,'" said Finnegan. "He and my wife and I all got together to start Penny Press Mint, and gradually it started growing and becoming more profitable." Once Finnegan's mint began making encased coins, even the Denver Mint got interested. "The gift shop at the Denver Mint wanted us to do an encased coin for their Centennial in 2006," Finnegan said. "Their artists designed that, and we minted it for them to sell at their gift shop, and they sold those completely out." Next, Finnegan worked with the Denver Mint Gift Shop to encase some of the new president dollars for collectors. These were reSee FINNEGAN • A8 |