On this occasion--the 1968 Lyle Pioneer Days Celebration--it is fitting that we pause to pay tribute to those who first came

here and built the town.
 

The purpose of the Pioneer Days Celebration is somewhat more than just to give those who come a good time, of course. It

is also to honor and salute the brave Pioneers, living or dead, who braved hardships, danger and the hazards of the unknown, to

people the West with enterprising, hard-working folks who made it what it is today. We try to show what it was like in the "old

days", and to imitate briefly the fine people who lived through that tine.
 

For, they were the backbone of our beloved America, the sturdy stuff of patriotism and devotion and human kindness which

have become a part of our own lives, and we are grateful to them. We find them a joy to those who recall the past, and an

inspiration to those who look to the future, through strain and crises and confusions almost as difficult as those which they

encountered. They, too, had their dangerous enemies, their difficult choices and decisions as to future leaders and a bewildering

confrontation with changes to things new and unfamiliar. Those are the reward of free men, and we would like to keep it that

way.
 

The builders of Tomorrow salute the former builders of Today, with reverence and admiration, and our hearts touch theirs

across the long decades. Well Done, Pioneers!
 
 

The End