Heritage and Horizons

By La Raine Redd

Published in Heritage and Horizons in San Juan 1975

Pioneer stalwarts struggled hard
To find this land where they could rest
And do the biddings of their Lord
Without fear of death or false arrest.

Through Hole-in-the-Rock the small group came;
They crossed deep gorges and sandstone buttes.
Meeting hardships of rough terrain,
They arrived in Bluff to face Navajos and Utes.

Since early times in San Juan's story
The Church has grown and the people prospered.
For a hundred years they've pushed to glory
And made this vineyard bloom, preferred.

What of horizons that before them lay--
The progress, achievements, the promises held?
It's up to us, their burdens fray
And build this land and make it yield.
Our future, as theirs, before us lies--
A responsibility to this heritage--
To grow, to build, to amplify--
Our hearts to praise and give patronage.