Moab Museum Team
While many of us are drawn to the red rocks and Moab for its awe-inspiring splendor, the sheer sandstone cliffs, and winding waterways, our community and connections with one another so often have a more profound impact on our image of this desert landscape.
Each new generation associates a series of paramount characters as inseparable from their experience of the Moab Valley. For Robert Burr, a resident of Moab as the town was finding its footing, he connected with a number of community members, many whose names he could recall far after moving out of canyon country.
Robert Charles Burr, born to Lester Burr and Eliza Irene Berry Bockerough in 1925 in Grand County, recalls growing up in Moab and the many faces that influenced his time in the red rocks. Burr attended Grand County High School, participated in “all the sports that Grand County had,” and graduated with honors.
Moab at the time was in a rough state; Burr was born during the Depression and lived in a house with outdoor plumbing and no running water. Immediately after graduating high school, Burr enrolled in the military. He fought in WWII as a bombardier stationed in Italy.
After returning home and being treated to a Lion’s Club banquet to honor his and others’ service, Burr worked for the Moab Transportation Company and at the Sego coal mine.
When asked if he could remember some of the names of folks in the Moab area, Burr responded with this poem:
As I grow older and the years roll along
My mind goes back to when I was young.
The people I knew and impressions they made
What they were and did, in my memory stayed.
Moab was uncrowded, friendly and warm
people were sometimes too well informed.
And some of those folks come back to my mind,
Such a vital part of my growing up time.
Mayor Dennis Baldwin, the garage man
With his big cigar and delivery van;
George Murling, the man with a hole in his cheek
Made curious kids take another peek;
Krug Walker, the barber, with the local dance band
On Saturday nights, he was always on hand;
Stone Ruttledge was the one I especially recall
Since he caused my military rise and fall;
Ama Larsen, a cowboy tall and lean
The barnyard philosopher, if you know what I mean.
He said “When I first came to Grand County,
The La Sals were an ant hill too little to see.
Rolla Myers with only one arm was an unusual sight,
Carrying a jug full of kerosine for heat and light,
Cause small children to stay closer to their mother in fear,
When he would come into sight, until he’d disappear.
Sam Hudson, Bill Hinton, George Burk, Bish Taylor, John Jackson,
Doc Williams, Jim Westwood, Tom Foy, Clive Stewart,
Lon Robertson, Bun Titus, Elmer Ellis, Floyd Trout, Ross Thompson,
Doc Tangren, Mel Stewart, Ed Kirby, Doc Allen, Don Taylor,
And Bishop Hammond. As names and faces crowd into my mind,
And end to the list would be hard to find.
In a nostalgic way I put a face
To a certain event and a time and place.
Now faces have faded and people have gone,
But I feel for certain, as life goes on
One day a flashback will occur
And I’ll remember the folks and the way they were.
The bullies, the braggarts, the heroes and friends
Of life in Moab and the message it sends.
One man said, “In those red rocks he had to stay,
Born there and couldn’t afford to get away.”
Another said something I’d like to repeat,
“When the red sand grinds into the soles of your feet,
It also attaches itself to your heart.”
Words like that from my memory will never depart.
To a better place these folks have gone,
But in memory their faces linger on.
Faces and places, in a different way
Will leave an impression on the generation of today,
For the better I doubt, with all sincerity,
For they can’t know Moab as it used to be.
Burr was married to Louise Pene and had two children, Christie Ann and Robert Jr., later adopting a third, Shelle Louise. Down the line, the couple had twelve grandchildren. Burr and Pene moved to Orem in 1961 where the two later passed: Burr in 2017, Pene in 2020.
Perhaps you’ve heard tales of some of these characters: Bish Taylor, Doc Williams, Doc Allen, etc. Their stories live in the Moab Museum’s Oral History Collection online or in person at the Museum; visit us to see what Moab meant to its residents over the years.
The Moab Museum is dedicated to sharing stories of the natural and human history of the Moab area. To explore more of Moab’s stories and artifacts, find out about upcoming programs, and become a member, visit www.moabmuseum.org.
