North Star

I grew up in a small town where the stars were visible almost every night, where neon and bright lights weren’t plentiful or bright enough to block them out. Sometimes I sat beside my father in the dark looking up at the stars. He taught me how to locate the ever changing big and little dipper and directed me from the pointers on the big dipper to find the ever-constant North Star.

It was a special time in my life to have my father’s complete attention. I was number three in a family of eight children. My father worked away from home often, so it was a real treat to capture his attention just for me.

My father was the Latter-day Saint Bishop in our ward. He was a singer. He had a beautiful tenor voice and he was in constant demand to sing a solo at almost every funeral and special gathering we had. My father had been on an LDS mission. He knew the scriptures of the Bible and the Book of Mormon very well. He could recite from memory many verses from those special books.

Dad was a theatrical man. He acted in many stage plays, going from town to town to take part in the entertainment. He was a good looking man, always the hero of the play. I was always amazed at the many things he knew and did. To have him take time to sit on the back porch with me in his lap and talk about the stars was a real thrill.

Living in a small town where the stars were bright, where each constellation seemed to be a special light, and with my Dad explaining each one to me, is a memory that has lived with me for over 80 years. I have stargazed in many other places throughout my life, but I never look at the sky without searching for the big and little dipper and then following the pointers of the big dipper directly to the North Star. The North Star is the guiding light for those who use it to let them know where they are, like my father was to me.

“Celebrities come and go, flashing across the sky like an occasional comet; but true heroes are as consistent as the rising sun and as timeless as the sparkling stars.” ~ Lloyd D. Newell