By Craig R. Frogley
The family gathered in Nauvoo, IL this last summer for its regular reunion. Once again under the direction of The Family Reunion Organization rather than the Foundation, we met to enjoy each other as well as the reconstructed city. As I contemplated going back to Nauvoo (The Foundation had sponsored the Family gathering surrounding the dedication of the New Nauvoo temple just a year earlier.), it was without the usual excitement. Perhaps it was because I try to
avoid redundancy, or perhaps it was the twenty-eight hours in the car with the children that killed my enthusiasm in returning to the same place. Then, Gracia Jones remarked to me a most profound thought I have tried to reconstruct since:
“We do reunions, not to see the places, though they are deeply significant because of the ancestral prices paid, but because we are with family. Things will happen if you are there that would not otherwise happen that will affect both lives and relationships eternally.†I went with that in mind and found it deeply true. I noted that there was much that was better than it had ever been before: The speakers were profound, the gatherings were bonding, the food was great, etc. Then the most profound thing happened to me that emblazoned the reunion forever onto my memory and reconfirmed the purpose for which we do what we have been striving to do over the last nine years as a Family Foundation.
The Samuel organization decided to once again feed the family. We met in the grove just north and across the street from the Homestead and west of the Mansion House. As we feasted under the trees with the family sites surrounding us, I happened to shift my gaze from the smiling faces of those sitting and eating, or serving, to look upward; and there it was!!!
The spreading canopy of my dream arched over us. It had been a restless night preceding the public organization of the Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith
Foundation to which I had been newly appointed, particularly to find all the living descendants. The early morning hours finally found me drifting in to a deep
and much needed sleep. It was during this time that the following dream portended all that we would do during the ensuing years.
I saw in the morning dreams a large and beautiful tree with a very stout and long trunk. The canopy of branches was high overhead and extended in all directions but most especially to my left towards other trees of like configuration. The wind began to blow and the great tree moved majestically in the wind. The branches seemed to extend and began to mingle with those of the other trees. Then to my surprise the extending branches seemed to form a horse head sculpted in the leaves and branches. Then the head, moving also in the wind, visible intermittently with the waving, mingling more with the other tree branches, began to graze on the branches of the other trees with which it mingled but the branches were not consumed. I looked closer and marveled at what I was seeing-I looked intensely to verify. The grazing continued but instead of consuming the other trees they merged to form a larger canopy, an umbrella covering, until they were virtually one tree with many trunks.
The canopy of The Foundation has been spreading, joining and sometimes spawning other family organizations that carry the load of the work that binds us as a family. We continue to help, counsel, finance, and research, many projects and family organizations as you will note in the following paragraphs. We feel it a privilege to work with and help correlate with the following organizations: Joseph F. Smith Family Association; Hyrum Smith Organization; Joseph Smith,
Sr. Family Reunion Organization; Joseph Smith, Jr. Organization; Samuel Smith Family Organization; John Smith Family Organization; Martha Ann Smith Family Organization; Sarah Smith Family Organization; and The John Walker Family Organization; A Family Media Group and of course Internet Specialists.