Charlene Freestone

COVID Ends One Chapter and Opens Another

On the day of the Utah earthquake in 2020, Charlene realized parents were not going to bring small children into stores the same way anymore. She folded her boutique quickly, sold her share to co-owners, and stepped away from both retail and nonprofit worlds. She then worked at her children's school as a teacher's aide during COVID, witnessing how everyone banded together to keep things going.

Charlene Freestone

You Have to Make Your Own Community

After moving into a house with a young child in Lehi, Charlene felt deeply lonely and told her mother. Her mother responded directly: community would not simply find her — she needed to create it. Charlene began organizing playgroups, teaching babywearing, and eventually helped form a nonprofit chapter of an international babywearing organization. That advice became the operating philosophy of her life in Lehi.

Mark Johnson

The Vaping Ordinance That Started in Lehi and Moved the Nation

After attending a Utah County Health meeting about youth vaping addiction, Mayor Johnson passed a local ordinance — then personally worked Utah legislators to get 42 House co-sponsors, pass both chambers, and spark national legislative attention.

Mark Johnson

From Losing Two Elections to Winning More Votes Than Anyone in Lehi History

Mark Johnson ran for City Council twice and lost both times. Through persistence and a Planning Commission appointment, he built credibility, eventually joined the Council, served 12+ years, then won the mayor's race by an 18-point swing after finishing second in the primary.

Phil Hanks

'I’m Ready Now': Ephraim Hanks and the Handcart Rescue

On October 6, 1856, Brigham Young issued a call for rescuers for the stranded Martin Handcart Company. Ephraim Hanks was not present. Three weeks later, fishing at Utah Lake and attending a conference in American Fork, he received a prompting that the handcart people needed help. He arrived in Salt Lake City by October 26. When Brigham Young called others to join the rescue and they said they could be ready in a few days, Ephraim said simply: 'I’m ready now.' He prayed one night for food and a buffalo appeared. He shot it with one shot, loaded it on his pack horse, and arrived at the Martin Handcart Company on November 11. He healed the sick, brought a man back to life, and healed a boy whose feet had gangrened so severely that amputation seemed certain. After the blessing, the boy lived a full life.

Paige Albrecht

Trees at Wines Park — Planted for People They'd Never Meet

Reading old issues of the Lehi Free Press, Paige discovered that a hundred years ago, families could sponsor a tree at Wines Park for a dollar or two. Not Christmas trees — the actual trees now standing in the park. Families who didn't have much gave what they could, knowing the trees would outlast them. Many of their descendants still live in Lehi.

Lara Bangerter

William Hadfield's Christmas Package — A Small Kindness That Changed Everything

For twenty years, William Hadfield drove his postal wagon in a figure-eight through Lehi. One Christmas Eve, a package arrived and he felt strongly it shouldn't wait. After dark, he delivered it to a poor family whose son had disappeared. The package was from the son — gifts for his siblings, and proof to his parents that he was alive.

Lara Bangerter

George Goates and the Sugar Beets — A Story About What Lehi Is Made Of

In October 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic, George Goates of Lehi lost four family members in one week. He made multiple trips to Ogden to bring family members home for burial, built the coffins himself, and helped prepare burial clothes. At week's end, he and his surviving son went to the sugar beet field — and found that their neighbors had already harvested every last beet, anonymously, without being asked. It was the first time George cried all week.

Lara Bangerter

The Handcart Rocking Chair — Pioneer Legacy in Physical Form

A community member recently donated to the Lehi Historical Society a rocking chair made from the wood of a pioneer handcart — a physical, touchable connection between the people who crossed the plains and those who live in Lehi today.

Lara Bangerter

The Book Brigade — Lehi Moves a Library by Hand

When Lehi needed to move its library collection from one building to another, the community formed a human chain and passed books hand to hand until every volume had been relocated. No trucks, no professional movers — just neighbors standing together.

Paige Albrecht

Trees Planted for People They'd Never Meet — Wines Park and Generational Sacrifice

Reading old issues of the Lehi Free Press, Paige discovered that a hundred years ago, families could sponsor a tree at Wines Park for a dollar or two — not for themselves, but for the people who would sit under them decades later. Many of their descendants still live in Lehi. Many who enjoy the trees today have no idea a struggling family planted one for them a century ago.

Becky White describes growing up in Lehi during the mid-1980s, a time when the population hovered around 8,000 to 9,000 people. She recalls the lack of stoplights and the local tradition of 'cruising Main'—driving from Western Tack and Togs all the way to American Fork and back for hours. This ritual was a hallmark of the farming community's social life, characterized by a sense of freedom and a lack of heavy police presence.