Heber Charles Austin

The Post-Register (Idaho Falls, ID), Monday, December 8, 1947, Pages 1 and 9: Heber C. Austin, Early Pioneer Resident, Dies HEBER C. AUSTIN, pioneer Idaho Falls resident, who came to Idaho in 1903, and who has often been called the "Father of the Idaho Falls LDS Hospital" because of his efforts that led to the building of the institution here, died Sunday afternoon. Heber C. Austin, 91 year old builder and venerable LDS church leader, died behind such monuments to his memory as a hospital, sugar beet factories, an array of pioneering enterprises, and an army of friends. Death came to the aged pioneer at 3:57 p.m. at the Idaho Falls hospital, an institution which he had helped to found. He died as the result of a cerebral hemorrhage, following a stroke suffered last Tuesday. Prior to Tuesday, however, he had been in good health. Services Wednesday Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the First LDS ward church. Bishop Vernon Johnson will officiate and J. Reuben Clark, Salt Lake City, member of the first presidency, and Le Grand Richards, presiding bishop of the church, will speak. The body is at the funeral home. The Idaho Falls LDS temple will close Wednesday afternoon during the time of the funeral in deference to Mr. Austin. Since 1903 when Mr. Austin came to Idaho Falls with his brother, Mark, to establish the sugar beet industry in Idaho, the valley pioneer has been identified with nearly every major milepost in the valley's growth to one of the important agricultural centers of the nation. He and his brother set up the Lincoln and Sugar City factories, and watched two other factories enter the sugar beet assembly line as the industry became one of the important hubs of the economy. Heber Austin remained in the area as agricultural superintendent for the Utah-Idaho Sugar company and under his leadership sugar beet acreage grew from a few thousand acres served by one factory to around 50 thousand acres served by four plants. Under his tutoring, farmers learned the rudiments of sugar beet production, and it was he that rescued the industry from World War II disaster when the beet seed supply from Germany was suddenly cut off. With the aid of a French chemist, Mr. Austin provided a 12 hundred acre seed bed near Bancroft which supplied enough seed to see the industry through the emergency. Community Activities He was also interested in many other activities in the community. He was president of the Idaho Falls National bank when it was sold to the First Security corporation, and merged with the Anderson Brothers bank. A member of the first board of directors of the Bonneville Community hotel, he was active in promotion of this much needed hotel in the city. As a director of the Austin Brothers Livestock company, he held an interest in an operation that often carried as many as 20 thousand breeding ewes. Testifying to his prominent role as East Idaho builder, Mr. Austin, together with two of his builder friends, J. L. Milner, and A. T. Shane, received lifetime memberships in the Idaho Falls chamber of commerce in 1944. Church Service It was in work for his church, however, where his pioneering spirit found fruition. In 1908, he was elected president of the Idaho Falls LDS stake when Idaho Falls embraced but one ward. For 18 years he served in the stake presidency, and under his leadership the Idaho Falls LDS hospital, the Idaho Falls stake tabernacle, and several ward churches were constructed. As chairman of the finance and building committee of the LDS hospital, he was at the helm of the campaign to construct the tall, stately building on Memorial drive. He has served on the hospital's board of directors from the beginning. Dedication of the Idaho LDS hospital was the realization of Austin's fondest dream. He retired as active leader of the stake on his seventieth birthday, one of his most precious documents on that occasion a tribute from the late Heber J. Grant, then president of the LDS church. Crossed The Plains One of 17 children, he came to this country with his parents, who had become converts of the LDS church. The family crossed the plains and settled at Lehi, Utah. There the industrious Austin rose from a day laborer with the railroad when the "iron horse" first reached daringly into the mountain area, to a successful farmer. He finally became agricultural superintendent for the sugar company at Lehi, a springboard to his later accomplishments in pushing hack the cultural horizons in Idaho. Mr. Austin, who made his home at 1160 Idaho avenue, would have marked his 92nd birthday December 20. He was born December 20, 1855 in Studham Bedfordshire, England; the seventh child of a of 17 children of whom 11 lived to immigrate to America in 1868 with the parents, John and Emma Grace Austin. In addition to his widow he is survived by five daughters and one son: Mrs. Eli Webb and Mrs. Milton Merrill, both of Logan, Utah; Mrs. Charles Wright, Long Beach, Calif.; Miss Myrtle Austin, Salt Lake City; Mrs. Dean Dinwoody, Washington, D. C. and Victor Austin, Idaho Falls. Also surviving are three brothers, Mark Austin, Salt Lake City; Parley Austin, Lehi, Utah; and John Austin, Heber City, Utah, two sisters, Mrs. Julia Brown and Mrs. Lettie Goodmunsen, both of Lehi. Twenty two grand children and 23 great grandchildren also survive.