Man recalls 1961 Grafton reunion
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GRAFTON, UTAH
Keith Stanworth of Cedar City, Utah, is a living piece of history. At this year's Grafton reunion, held Sept. 26, he sat comfortably in a foldable camping chair while recounting his attendance at the first Grafton reunion in 1961.
"I was here for the first one," he said. "My father and another old pioneer, they were the first ones to have the reunion. They got everybody together. I drove them up here that year — my Dad was getting old and he didn't like to drive."
According to Brother Stanworth, his ancestors left Grafton in 1905. Prior to that, the Stanworths had been cowboys charged with protecting their community's herd of cattle.
"The Stanworths ran the cattle for the [Grafton] organization," he said. "It was more or less a community affair. They were in charge of the Grafton herd of cows, which was about 10,000 head of cattle at one time. When they lost their permits for grazing, they trailed the cows all the way out to Nevada and sold them."
After attending the 1961 reunion, Brother Stanworth went several years without coming back to Grafton. But more recently, he has made a point out of annually attending the reunion in order to rekindle the memory of Grafton's past.
"It's got a great history if you really dig into it," he said.
