Was a Sergent in the Civil War.
Aunt Kate & Uncle Clark lived downstream of Hideaway Lodge on the banks of the Jocko River. My Uncle was a serious farmer. His brother, Earl, was a business man in Wisconsin. During summers, Uncle Earl and Aunt Bess would vacation in a cabin on Uncle Clark's farm and I had good connections with Uncle Earl & Aunt Bess. They would invite me to stay with them overnight. They had no children so Aunt Bess had a much loved and highly pampered terrier named Bob.
I recall that Aunt Bess had lamb chops scheduled for one breakfast when I was with them. The chops got burned badly, except for 2 hunks. ( Not enough escaped scorching to feed the breakfasters so Bob got the chops and people ate some other food, corn on the cob. Bob used some poor judgment one day when Earl & Bess visited Hideaway Lodge. He barked at my father while both were in the kitchen. Dad never let animals get away with disrespect especially on home turf so, he booted Bob over the rail that led down to the steps to milk separator room. There was a definite air of coolness between Dad and Aunt Bess from that moment. Kicking the only "child" of a loving mother is bound to generate some serious reflection. Did this bother Dad? Not a bit! I don't think Buck, the pride & joy of CL, would ever venture to get on Dad's list. As far as I know Dad never sat in Buck's saddle.
Uncle Earl had a first wife. He married a girl from an Adventist family. The name has faded but that union produced a son of great stature in Adventist circles.
Richard Rentfro always came to Montana with Uncle Earl so he may have lived in Uncle Earl's Wisconsin home. Richard was a boy with all the electric switches dialed to the max. Since he appeared in Montana at July 4 time, he had many exhibits of fireworks to show. I recall him being busy igniting rockets. fire crackers, and Roman candles, plus fountains on the fences at Uncle Clark's farm.
An other memory is from what Mom told me. Since his mother was an Adventist, Dick had some church attendance experience. Among other things, he was known to have ridden his bicycle up & down the aisles of an Adventist church near Glendale The name, also, is lost, but I have been in that sanctuary. Dick did become a minister and I visited his place of worship in Palm Springs one Sabbath. His congregation met in a theatre. When I accessed it, I had to pass through the projection room hallway. Pastor Rentfro was called to serve in the Washington SDA Conference. His picture even appeared on an edition of the Review a few years back. He was not small in SDA circles. He is well-respected even today by old timers
Before I turned left at Uncle Clark's farm, I intended to tell you history has been kind to the Rentfro name. James Rentfro, now residing in Missoula, contacts me via e-mail and has forwarded the picture showing a street marker of the present Arlee area below the modernized town. It announces "Rentfro Lane" to travelers headed to Ravalli
Aunt Kate & Uncle Clark lived downstream of Hideaway Lodge on the banks of the Jocko River. My Uncle was a serious farmer. His brother, Earl, was a business man in Wisconsin. During summers, Uncle Earl and Aunt Bess would vacation in a cabin on Uncle Clark's farm and I had good connections with Uncle Earl & Aunt Bess. They would invite me to stay with them overnight. They had no children so Aunt Bess had a much loved and highly pampered terrier named Bob.
I recall that Aunt Bess had lamb chops scheduled for one breakfast when I was with them. The chops got burned badly, except for 2 hunks. ( Not enough escaped scorching to feed the breakfasters so Bob got the chops and people ate some other food, corn on the cob. Bob used some poor judgment one day when Earl & Bess visited Hideaway Lodge. He barked at my father while both were in the kitchen. Dad never let animals get away with disrespect especially on home turf so, he booted Bob over the rail that led down to the steps to milk separator room. There was a definite air of coolness between Dad and Aunt Bess from that moment. Kicking the only "child" of a loving mother is bound to generate some serious reflection. Did this bother Dad? Not a bit! I don't think Buck, the pride & joy of CL, would ever venture to get on Dad's list. As far as I know Dad never sat in Buck's saddle.
Uncle Earl had a first wife. He married a girl from an Adventist family. The name has faded but that union produced a son of great stature in Adventist circles.
Richard Rentfro always came to Montana with Uncle Earl so he may have lived in Uncle Earl's Wisconsin home. Richard was a boy with all the electric switches dialed to the max. Since he appeared in Montana at July 4 time, he had many exhibits of fireworks to show. I recall him being busy igniting rockets. fire crackers, and Roman candles, plus fountains on the fences at Uncle Clark's farm.
An other memory is from what Mom told me. Since his mother was an Adventist, Dick had some church attendance experience. Among other things, he was known to have ridden his bicycle up & down the aisles of an Adventist church near Glendale The name, also, is lost, but I have been in that sanctuary. Dick did become a minister and I visited his place of worship in Palm Springs one Sabbath. His congregation met in a theatre. When I accessed it, I had to pass through the projection room hallway. Pastor Rentfro was called to serve in the Washington SDA Conference. His picture even appeared on an edition of the Review a few years back. He was not small in SDA circles. He is well-respected even today by old timers
Before I turned left at Uncle Clark's farm, I intended to tell you history has been kind to the Rentfro name. James Rentfro, now residing in Missoula, contacts me via e-mail and has forwarded the picture showing a street marker of the present Arlee area below the modernized town. It announces "Rentfro Lane" to travelers headed to Ravalli
Date: December 11, 2011 10:51:01 PM HST
Subject: Back to Montana HAPPY SABBATH TalesBonita May Rentfro, born May 3, !892. The Millerite Rentfro family were baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1878. I learned this from Jim Rentfro, the son of my cousin. My cousins, Mary Eleanor Rentfro Wheeler and her brother, Jim, were the children of Aunt Kate & Uncle Clark.
Uncle Clark was the son of James Allen Rentfro & Aurilla Rentfro. T'was Aurilla who homesteaded in Montana following the passing of the Civil War, Sgt. James Allen Rentfro. Uncle Clark may have been involved with my Grandmother, Aurilla, in homesteading clear up to the ribbon in her hair. This is a deduction from facts I have. I really have no documented evidence. There are many things about my Montana family that are a mystery today.
Aunt Kate & Uncle Clark lived downstream of Hideaway Lodge on the banks of the Jocko River. My Uncle was a serious farmer. His brother, Earl, was a business man in Wisconsin. During summers, Uncle Earl and Aunt Bess would vacation in a cabin on Uncle Clark's farm and I had good connections with with Uncle Earl & Aunt Bess. They would invite me to stay with them overnight. They had no children so Aunt Bess had a much loved and highly pampered terrier named Bob.
I recall that Aunt Bess had lamb chops scheduled for one breakfast when I was with them. The chops got burned badly, except for 2 hunks. ( Not enough escaped scorching to feed the breakfasters so Bob got the chops and people ate some other food, corn on the cob. Bob used some poor judgment one day when Earl & Bess visited Hideaway Lodge. He barked at my father while both were in the kitchen. Dad never let animals get away with disrespect especially on home turf so, he booted Bob over the rail that led down to the steps to milk separator room. There was a definite air of coolness between Dad and Aunt Bess from that moment. Kicking the only "child" of a loving mother is bound to generate some serious reflection. Did this bother Dad? Not a bit! I don't think Buck, the pride & joy of CL, would ever venture to get on Dad's list. As far as I know Dad never sat in Buck's saddle.
Uncle Earl had a first wife. He married a girl from an Adventist family. The name has faded but that union produced a son of great stature in Adventist circles.
Richard Rentfro always came to Montana with Uncle Earl so he may have lived in Uncle Earl's Wisconsin home. Richard was a boy with all the electric switches dialed to the max. Since he appeared in Montana at July 4 time, he had many exhibits of fireworks to show. I recall him being busy igniting rockets. fire crackers, and Roman candles, plus fountains on the fences at Uncle Clark's farm.
An other memory is from what Mom told me. Since his mother was an Adventist, Dick had some church attendance experience. Among other things, he was known to have ridden his bicycle up & down the aisles of an Adventist church near Glendale The name, also, is lost, but I have been in that sanctuary. Dick did become a minister and I visited his place of worship in Palm Springs one Sabbath. His congregation met in a theatre. When I accessed it, I had to pass through the projection room hallway. Pastor Rentfro was called to serve in the Washington SDA Conference. His picture even appeared on an edition of the Review a few years back. He was not small in SDA circles. He is well-respected even today by old tmers
Before I turned left at Uncle Clark's farm, I intended to tell you history has been kind to the Rentfro name. James Rentfro, now residing in Missoula, contacts me via e-mail and has forwarded the picture showing a street marker of the present Arlee area below the modernized town. It announces "Rentfro Lane" to travelers headed to Ravalli
I was on my way to telling my readers, not only tales of the family, but also, of the keen sense of humor my mom had. I told you about Mom's interest in US history, when she announced that the US had so generously given Japan the bottom half of the Pacific. She also met me at our Boyle Street rented house with another question about a dime with "destroyer" on it. If you are a Democrat, you may turn down the volume here. My parents were active in Arlee politics. They served on election boards. Millerites tended to favor Abe Lincoln's brand of politics and, as I look at Quaker views, I find they favored the GOP
My parents were highly suspicious of FDR's affinity for "good ol' Joe Stalin" of the Soviet Union. On the battery-driven radio a Hideaway Lodge I got to share my parents' radio time. I was well-informed about the ILWU and Harry Bridges control in labor at the Honolulu and San Francisco water fronts and the slaying of millions of kulaks that owned land that the communist rulers of the USSR wanted the state to own. The big word in politics those days was "isolationism" and examples of the chief exponents of this " Stay out of foreign involvement" were Janette Rankin, Montana representative and Burton K. Wheeler, Montana's senator. Both were Democrats
When Senator Wheeler visited Arlee for campaigning, he used to get stewed so successfully Dad would have to see that the Senator got back to the hotel and safely tucked in bed.
Well, Mom asked me the day I came home from Lynwood, " Have you seen the dime with the destroyer on it?" Again I was breathless and without much to say. "You mean a US coin with a warship pictured.?" I was used to Indian head pennies because Dad gave me many which I traded for penny candy. Sometimes I caught a glimpse of a buffalo nickel or an older nickel with a V on it. I even saw Mercury head dimes. I rarely spent dimes. That was getting into real money in the Depression days. I was out of breath when Mom showed me a ten cent piece. Coinage in the US had gotten to the place that the Mercury head dime was giving way to a new strike. The new series displayed the head of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Since I knew how my parents felt about his leanings toward socialism and FDR, it was clear that Mom was talking politics to me, jokingly, of course. FDR represented the destruction of the American way of life as we knew it. My parents have been spared the vision of politics we see today. If you ever hear of a shifting sound at Pleasant View cemetery near the National Bison Range of St. Ignatius, it could well be my parents trying to find a spot of comfort.
Mom was related to people who represented conservatism..... VP Charles Curtis of the Herbert Hoover era and "Uncle Billy" Herndon of the Lincoln years. She also was a lady that enjoyed humor. By the way, Happy Sabbath.
Hi, let's try this.....
Aurilla Rentfro- wife of the Civll War Sgt. from Sigourney, IA , my maternal grand mother, wife of James Allen Rentfro
Aunt Kate Rentfro- wife of my Uncle Clark, resident of Arlee, MT, mother of James & Mary Eleanor, my cousins .
Uncle Clark Rentfro- farmer in Arlee, MT, brother of Bonita, sometimes called Clarkson, son of Aurilla, involved with a
Homesteading effort in Montana by Aurilla.
All these names are memorialized at St. Ignatius cemetery.
The only relative that may have an interest is my nephew, Lyle Curtis Miller. He is a "snow bird" and heads south for relief of Oregon winters. He will contact you when he finishing winterizing.Vernon Ross Hiatt, 12 Jan 2012
Memorial marker for my cousin Mary Eleanor Rentfro Wheeler, sister of James memorialized nearby. Just below the marker for Uncle Clark and Aunt Kate.
Uncle Earl had a first wife. He married a girl from an Adventist family. The name has faded but that union produced a son of great stature in Adventist circles.
Richard Rentfro always came to Montana with Uncle Earl so he may have lived in Uncle Earl's Wisconsin home. Richard was a boy with all the electric switches dialed to the max. Since he appeared in Montana at July 4 time, he had many exhibits of fireworks to show. I recall him being busy igniting rockets. fire crackers, and Roman candles, plus fountains on the fences at Uncle Clark's farm.
Another memory is from what Mom told me. Since his mother was an Adventist, Dick had some church attendance experience. Among other things, he was known to have ridden his bicycle up & down the aisles of an Adventist church near Glendale The name, also, is lost, but I have been in that sanctuary. Dick did become a minister and I visited his place of worship in Palm Springs one Sabbath. His congregation met in a theatre. When I accessed it, I had to pass through the projection room hallway. Pastor Rentfro was called to serve in the Washington SDA Conference. His picture even appeared on an edition of the Review a few years back. He was not small in SDA circles. He is well-respected even today by old timers
Vernon Ross Hiatt
12 Jan 2012The Pacific Union Recorder, the online edition of the membership magazine for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Pacific Southwest.
The Recorder is a monthly magazine that highlights member news for the purpose of informing and inspiring others.
January 2012 Issue #60/23
At RestRentfro, Richard Allen “Pastor Dick” – b. Feb. 4, 1920, Kansas City, Kan.; d. Oct. 21, 2011, Thorp, Wash. Survivors: daughter, Connie Coleman; five grandchildren; one great-granddaughter. Served as evangelist for Washington, Central California and Upper Columbia conferences; pastored in Utah, Nevada, California, British Columbia and Washington; wrote for Adventist publications and newspapers.
Keeping the Faith Lessons in patience and love
Posted: Saturday, October 15, 2011 8:00 am | Updated: 7:50 pm, Fri Oct 21, 2011.
By DICK RENTFRO contributing columnist
Rose, my wife of 52 years had Alzheimer's. She had been such a tower of strength as she lived her dedicated life before her family, church and community. I began to lose her gradually. It wasn't easy and it wasn't easy for her.
I pretty much did it all. I bathed her, dressed her, and did the 101 things she used to do for herself. I clipped her toenails but I had trouble helping her manage her panty hose. I often had to stop and give it another try! Although I knew that she was completely dependent on me, I also knew that I could never repay her for her constant and positive influence in our home through the years; for raising our children, playing the piano and organ for church; for being a friend, mother, sweetheart and minister's wife.
I read the book, "The 36-Hour Day," by Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins (a family guide to caring for people with Alzheimer's disease). I wondered how any spouse, parent, or child could provide all the care needed by their loved one.
Filled with Jesus
One day I heard the song "Filled With Jesus" on my car radio. Since I was near the radio station, I pulled into the parking lot, as if drawn by a magnet. The announcer kindly shared with me the title. I bought the disc and put it in my CD player. It immediately lifted me up into the "third heaven."
And then, when I thought I couldn't go on, God said, "Oh, yes, you can! My grace is sufficient for you." (2 Corinthians 12:9). "I will strengthen your heart." Psalm 27:14
I sometimes felt frightened, sometimes I felt desperate. Sometimes, when I walked by the chair where she sat, I would bend over and say, "I love you very much."
"I hope so," she would say. "I feel so alone."
Then I replied, "Never forget that I love you with all my heart."
"Then she smiled, looked at me, and said, "I won't forget. I love your arms around me. You're my sweetheart."
Sometimes, I would sing to her, "Someone to Watch Over You" and I'd ask her, "Do you like that song?" And, she would say, "Yes." Sometimes we just touched noses!
Years went by. In time, she forgot many things. One day she told our daughter, "I just came out of a dark place and I don't like it there."
But our love and faith in Jesus were two of the things we could both cling to, besides each other. I was the losing the one person most precious to me. Without Rose, I didn't know who I was.
Sometimes she said things to me that I know she didn't mean, but then other times it was almost like there was nothing wrong. From time to time I heard her speak the name of Jesus, her dearest friend on Earth, and that warmed my heart. It was as though she'd never forgotten God's constant love for her and she shared it with me.
It made me happy to know that one day we would both sit at the feet of our Redeemer. I knew that heaven would bring eternal joy to us because we had made Jesus our Lord, and Savior.
Patience
The tender loving care, God helped me give my precious wife, taught me patience. And the experience drew me closer to my Savior as I felt his magnificent love radiating through my life to my wife and the others I cared about. I was driven to God's audience chamber in prayer with the Lord, who was my strength. He was with Rose and I all the way.
Now I am dependent on Hospice and my family to care for me. I am nearing the end of my life's journey. My faith is strong and I have peace in my heart because, "the Lord is my shepherd. I do not want. He's making me to lie down in green pastures; he's leading me beside still waters. He is restoring my soul. Yes, even though I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for God is with me. His rod and his staff, they comfort me. He anoints my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of my Lord forever." Psalm 23
Dick Rentfro is a retired Seventh-day Adventist evangelist and pastor. He can be reached at 81 Mission Road, Thorp, WA 98946Keeping the faith: How to restore your spirit
My noble son, the late Richard Rentfro Jr. was a successful orthopedic surgeon. In 1999, he volunteered to serve at Scheer Memorial Hospital, in far-off Nepal, half way around the world.
Dr. Rick was quickly recognized as a peacemaker and when issues came up among the medical staff, he had the God-given ability to bring about reconciliation. The staff loved him, as did the Nepalese people. Before long, he was named chief medical officer.
I made two trips to the Kingdom of Nepal to visit my son and his family. I remember it so well. The place where I slept was like a little porch at the east side of the doctor's housing. Every morning at dawn, I was awakened by the loud chanting and music from the near-by Hindu temple. How often I walked from the mission hospital to that temple, rubbing shoulders with the worshipers. They were very friendly people.
Trapped
On my second trip, I awakened at 3 a.m., panic seized my heart. About 9,000 miles from my home, I seemed enveloped in a dark cloud of despair. At last I knocked on my son's bedroom door and explained my dilemma. He kindly told me that there was nothing that he could do about it. I felt so desperate I suggested we might have to fly Connie, my daughter, over to take me home.
My son told me that he had the very same thing happen to him when he first arrived in Nepal, a country that until 75 years ago, was living in the Middle Ages. My son felt trapped and he said, "Oh God, what have I done, getting myself into this? I can't possibly stay here."
He discussed his situation with another physician and she said, "You know, that was my experience exactly; until I had a good long sleep and God resolved my crisis."
My son went to his room and lay down, praying to God to remove his panic. In a short time, it was gone and he never had another episode. I tried my son's plan and it also worked for me. I got through it all with my Good Shepherd answering my prayer and giving me peace. When I awoke my emotional vitality returned and I felt better physically.
Nonstop life
This morning I was reading an experience of Scott Walker, commenting on the familiar verse, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul." Psalm 23:2-3
Walker wrote, "After I graduated from college, I traveled nearly a year as a member of a five-person vocal group. We gave 90 concerts on college campuses in 10 months. It was an intense time, exhilarating, exciting, fun and quite fatiguing. There were days when I woke up so tired that I had to look at the bedside phone to remember where I was. Traveling all day, performing at night and interacting constantly with people was exhausting."
In the midst of his travels, he asked a veteran musician for advice. "How do you cope with this nonstop lifestyle? How do you spend all your energy and talent every night and refill yourself for the next say?"
He smiled at him and said, "I sleep a lot! Whenever the world closes in on me and I can't take anymore, I take a long nap."
The Sabbath
At the close of creation week, Adam and Eve learned quickly that rest deserves to take its place as one of the very real spiritual disciplines.
We also need to restore our spirits with rest and sleep. "And on the seventh-day God ended his work which he had done and he rested ... then God blessed (turned his face toward) the seventh-day and sanctified it (made it holy)." Genesis 2:1-3
The Sabbath was God's royal flag of liberty, loyalty and love. "Moreover, also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them that they may know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them. Ezekiel 20:17, 20.
The Sabbath forever memorializes God's creation and his redemptive work. "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day' and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it." Isaiah 58:13-14
From the Creator's hand, to the perfectly restored new earth, the Sabbath stands as a sanctuary in time, transcending history and projecting its promise of rest into the eternal future.
Dick Rentfro is a retired Seventh-day Adventist evangelist and pastor. He can be reached at 964-2114.
This index, for July through December 31, 1997, includes the articles, editorials, columns, book reviews, and news features. Not included are Children’s Corner stories, Bulletin Board, and recent news stories. Indexing is prepared by the SDA Periodical Index, James White Library, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1400. The Seventh-day Adventist
Periodical Index is available free on the internet in electronic form. Telnet: library.libr.andrews.edu. Worldwide web:
http://143.207.5.3:82/screens/opacmenu.htmlOct 9, p16- 18(1344-1346)
RENTFRO, ROSALYN-DEATH AND BURIAL: My Rose. (L). Rentfro,
Richard A. Oct 9, p16-18 (1344-1346).30 (1758) A D V E N T I S T R E V I E W , D E C E M B E R 2 5 , 1 9 9 7