Idaho, Day 8, Sugar City

After the drive to the ranch, we returned to Sugar City, the place where I was raised until the age of 12. We had an appointment time with Uncle Keith. Annette planned to do her interview about LTM days and Lynette and I were glad to listen in. We were also very excited to see and visit with him. The main reason for this trip farther north was to see our Nyborg related aunts and uncles.

Keith moved to Sugar City from the ranch so that Raija would be closer to medical care 5 or 6 years ago. He lost his beloved companion in February 2010 and is now organizing his papers so that he might write his history. It is quite a history. He has been a missionary to Finland, translator at the 1952 Oympic games in Helsinki, rancher and farmer who served on many boards and commissions, LDS bishop and stake president, and ambassador to Finland during the Reagan years. His office is treasure trove of interesting pictures with the stories to match.

I had never been to his home on the south side of Teton Road east of Sugar City. I was amazed to discover that it sits on the property which used to be the Sugar City Ward's welfare farm. I had spent much time on that property during my youth. The building in the background was a part of the welfare farm dairy.

Across the canal to the east of the dairy are the fields where I helped thin sugar beets.

Uncle Keith's home sits in the middle of these two sites. The trees in the foreground used to be the back of the lot were one of my best friends, Karen Forsyth, lived. There was a big strawberry patch behind that house and one of my favorite memories is picking strawberries with Karen which went straight into our mouths. Unfortunately, the homes I remember that used to be along Teton Road were all destroyed when the Teton Dam broke 35 years ago on June 6, 1976.

It is easy for me to remember the date because I was a student living in Provo at the time and very pregnant with my oldest son who was born June 19th. It was a sad, sad time and it forever changed the landscape of my childhood home. Very few of the buildings which existed during my youth remain, including my childhood home and all the outbuildings on the farm where I spent my first years. To read personal accounts of the aftermath of the Teton Dam break go to here. Many of the published oral accounts are names I remember from my childhood including Karen's mother, Grace.

However, the dairy building remains and it made me almost giddy.

My father was a dairyman and also performed the artificial inseminating of cattle. He spent many hours at this dairy providing services and I often tagged along in his red pickup truck.

Keith's son, Bruce, now owns this property and he used to store some farm equipment here for his Agritech Corporation equipment business. His business is on the land just to the east of the old Sugar factory along the highway. Sugar City is named after the factory and sugar beet business that was prominent in the early 1900's.

My father, Gary Ostler, is center back and Bishop Forsyth on his right

Karen's father, Marion G. Forsyth, taught at Ricks College in Rexburg. He was also our bishop and apparently a long time friend of our father. I found this clipping in my file. I knew there was a special relationship between the two. Karen was one of the youngest in her family and I the oldest in mine. I spent many a Sunday afternoon at her home between Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting. I would ride home with her family from Sunday School and would meet back up with mine at Sacrament Meeting. Karen lived on the east side of town and I the southwest.

Here's the sugar factory today. I think it is part of Bruce's holdings.

I couldn't make out the former writing on the side of the building.


There were several sugar beet factories built in Idaho and Utah during this time period. Read more here. This is the one east of Idaho Falls in Lincoln. My father worked here nights during the winter months to supplement his farming income. I remember how hard it was to be quiet while he slept during the day. He still milked his large dairy herd morning and evening.

He wore white clothes to his work in the quality control section of the factory. This meant that he would bring home coin sized golden candies, the remains of the sugar syrup he would test. I remember the difference between going to see him in the lab as a family and my childhood field trip to the noisy factory part. I was so grateful that he got to work in the quiet lab.

Our cruising through Sugar City and about the countryside has brought back so many childhood memories. I've decided that I will scan some pictures to share of how it looked before the dam break and some of those memories next post.