MARK BINGHAM BURIED ON BIRTHDAY ANNIVEBSARY, SIXTH CHILD BORN AND TRACTOR TURNS OVER ON BROTHER TWO DAYS AFTER DEATH.

The Maeser chapel was filled to overflowing with sorrowing relatives and friends, Wednesday, December 19, at twelve o'clock for the funeral services of Mark Bingham, who in the bloom of life met with death so suddenly the Thursday evening before. The chapel was neatly decorated with white pleated drapes and cut flowers, and the services conducted by the ward bishopric. The Elders quorum, of thirty members, of which Mr. Bingham was a member, formed in two lines outside the chapel doors, between which the casket covered with beautiful floral tributes with its attendant pall bearers of relatives and intimate friends and mourners passed. The elders then sat in a group near the casket.

The opening song "Abide With Me" was sweetly sung as duet by Miss Eunice Smith and Warren Jones, after which the invocation was offered by Charles P Maughan. A chorus then sang "My Father Knows", with the solo sung by Bert Caldwell of Dry Fork.

Leroy Carroll, a member of the quorum and a life long friend of the deceased, was the first speaker. He spoke of the faithfulness of Elder Bingham as an elder, as ward clerk, and his well kept records. He also stated that he was exceptionally kind and considerate of o others. Walter Woolley a former classmate paid the highest tribute to the departed and read a beautiful poem finished with the lines, "It is by faith and hope that we walk, and not by knowledge". A male quartet sang "Th Teachers Work Is Done".

President Wallace Calder spoke of the faithfulness with which Mr. Bingham kept his ward records and said that his records would still live. President B. O. Colton of Duchesne Stake compared the life of the deceased with that of great men of the Bible and urged all to be kind and considerate of everyone.

The chorus sweetly rendered "Wanted on the other side", and the benediction was pronounced by Leroy Richens. A large cortege of relatives and friends followed the remains to the Maeser cemetery, where internment was made, the grave being dedicated by Thomas E. Hall.

Mark Bingham was born December 19, 1886 at Mill Ward now Maeser, the son of Thomas Bingham and Mary E. Fraerer, He was 42 years of age on the date of his burial. He attended the elementary schools in Ashley Valley, graduating from the Uintah Academy and also attending for a time the Brigham Young University at Provo.

He filled a mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Germany where he was at the time of the outbreak of the war in 1814 It was while on a mission that he met Joan Leffler, who later came to America and became the wife of the deceased. They were married in the Salt Lake temple in February 1915 and made their home in Maeser.

Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs Bingham, the sixth being born two days after the death of Mr. Bingham. They are Herman, Earl, Mariner Melba, Lyle Ray, and infant child. All these and the wife survive Mr Bingham.

The deceased's parents, five brothers and seven sisters also survive him. They are George 8., of Provo; Fred G. of Vernal; Francis M., Magrath, Alberta, Canada; Lester, Maeser; edwin, Bynum, Mont.; Mrs. Clara Bartlett Vernal; Mrs. Anna Dudley, Maeser, Mrs. Margaret Billings, Duchesne: Mrs. Karren Hacking, Cedar Valley; Mrs Edna Allred, Raymond, Alberta, Canada, Mrs. Vilate Dudley, Maeser; Mrs. Roseltha Vernon, Kanab, Utah. For several years and up until the time of his death, the deceased has been ward clerk of Maeser.

Mr Bingham's parents were among the very first to settle in the Ashley Valley, coming here in 1878 and enduring the sufferings of the hard winter of 1879.

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Lester Bingham Narrowly Escapes Death in Effort to Start His Tractor

Lester Bingham of Maeser narrowly escaped instant death last Saturday in an unusual accident. He was attempting to start his tractor, not being aware that the rear wheels of the machine were tightly imprisoned in frozen ground, and when the engine began to exert traction it was unable to release the imprisoned wheels. Instead of moving forward, the tractor arose to a perpendicular position, momentarily held it. . and then, with Mr. Bingham in the driver's seat, toppled over backward, pinning the driver beneath it. His injuries consist of a severely crushed abdomen and other bruises, but no bones were broken. His escape from instant death borders on the miraculous. Barring complications he will recover, but for some time he will be confined to his home.

Mr. Bingham had just finished his dinner and had discussed at the table an incident where a tractor had reared backwards on top of its driver and had killed him.

The tractor Mr. Bingham was attempting to start was against a fence, and when the front end came back it caught on the structure, saving Mr. Bingham's life. Mrs. Bingham and daughter were the first to reach the scene, and through the former's efforts to extract her husband and the help of neighbors lifting on the machine, he was finally freed. A space of about-5 inches remained between the end of the jagged steering post and the frozen earth where Mr. Bingham's body was held.

Source: Vernal Express Newspaper, 1928