One Eyed Ford

In the nineteen fifties and sixties, Craig Shepard grew up in a small town in southwestern Utah, surrounded by a loving and supportive family. The community was predominantly Mormon. Craig’s parents, although raised in the Mormon faith, were not active in the church. Craig and his brothers were sporadic in their church attendance as they continued to assimilate into this conservative environment. Now he has graduated from high school and is entering a new independent phase of his life. While working in Zion National Park and leaving home for college, Craig encounters new and diverse people and personalities. He learns about the nature of relationships: love, jealousy, empathy. At the height of the Vietnam War, Craig makes the decision to serve a Mormon mission. He finds himself immersed in the mystic world of the Indian reservations in the American southwest. Although he finds success in his missionary duties, he realizes he is a misfit among his peers. Craig tries to find a balance between the church world and what he calls the “real world.” Throughout this experience, Craig communicates his true feelings with his lifelong friend, Ross. It is through this communication that we learn about the joys, challenges, and frustrations that are a part of Craig’s journey. His survival in this environment becomes dependent on the relationships he is able to develop with those who share his core values. Craig also finds connection and meaning through music, both by playing and listening to songs of the time, especially to the music of Neil Young. * * * * * * I reached out to my lifelong friend, Neal Ahlstrom, and told him about my desire to write my mission story. This is the same friend to whom I wrote letters during my mission, to not only share my experiences, but to also honestly vent my frustrations. He responded by telling me that he still had the letters I sent him from over fifty years ago. Neal sent me fifteen letters I had written to him from the mission field and five letters I sent to him from my time playing basketball at Snow College prior to my mission. These letters are included nearly verbatim in the book.