I feel truly humbled to be asked to speak today. I pray that the things I say will be of worth.
Linda told me that Link just hated long funerals and asked that his not be over and hour. I will do my best to do my part HOWEVER, Link was probably smiling at the thought of me up here trembling and figuring HE GOT THE LAST ONE, BUT a thought HAS occurred to me, that this may be MY chance to the get the LAST ONE, you may need to get up and stretch your legs or, or even LEAVE, but this is a younger brother MAY get even!
Steve Udall once told Clarence Bigelow, Dammit Clarence, I asked you what time it is, not how to build the watch!
That is how trying to tell Link’s life history in about 10 minutes is. You really will only be hearing what time it is, there is no way to tell you how to build the watch.
Link was my only brother and we have a sister Kathy Sherwood Phalen.
In looking out at all the people that are here today, I see so many familiar faces, but I also see a great number of people that I don’t believe I have ever met.
This is not surprising to me, knowing Lincoln Sherwood and the number of people he dealt with in his lifetime. One thing I think is important is to explain to those of you who only knew Link, that he was the oldest son of Gleason and Alma Sherwood, who were killed in a car/train accident in 1952, when Link was about 5 years old.
I am the youngest brother and I am about 3 years younger than Link. Link and I were primarily raised by our Paternal Grandparents, LP and Clara Sherwood. Our sister was primarily raised by our Maternal Grandparents, Byron and Anona Heap. These four grandparents shared the responsibility of our upbringing.
Lincoln married his High School sweetheart Linda Udall. Linda is the daughter of Shertie and Melba Udall. Linda’s oldest brother is Mike Udall who has spent a lifetime as a rancher and entrepreneur. Linda’s second brother is Steve Udall, who some folks felt was Apache County Attorney forever. Linda’s younger sister is Kathy Udall Hancock, who has lived in Snowflake most of her married life, and has been one of Linda’s favorite traveling companions thru the years.
One thing I probably should mention is that Lincoln was named after Gleason’s older brother Lincoln R. Sherwood, a bomber pilot in World War II who died after flying 42 missions over Italy..
I mention this only because I truly believe that Gleason named his son Lincoln after his hero older brother, to honor his brother…. and this was also the greatest honor Gleason could give his first born.
Part of the reason I strongly believe this, is from a letter that Gleason sent home from the battlefields in Italy in 1945 when he learned of his brother’s tragic death.
In part the letter said, “I had the opportunity to meet with Lincoln and we made plans for partnering in ranching and farming when we returned from the war. The letter further states, “Lincoln was not only my older brother, he was also my best friend.”
Link in the past few months told me many things that I never knew. One of those stories was from shortly before our parents were killed, while we were living in the Gleason Sherwood home, which was located in the area of the present US Post Office. Our father owned Hilltop Dairy, which was located about where Howard Lee’s dental office now is.
Link, who would have been about 5 years old, said he would walk across the highway to the shipping corrals, leading his cat with a rope around his neck. (These corrals I remember well and they were located about where the Leonard Isaacson home is now). Once at the corrals he would talk to any of the old cowboys that might be present, if they had the time for a little wannabe cowboy. Link developed many lifelong friendships with a number of the few old time cowboys left in the country. In doing so, he began preparing to live a lifelong dream.
A very few years later, his loving, doting Cowboy Grandfather, Byron Heap, placed him on a wonderful mare to race in the Round Valley rodeo. He was about 7 at the time. Knowing our grandfather Byron (who we called Gramps), I know positively that the only way Link would have been allowed to enter a real horse race on a fast horse at that tender age, would be by demonstrating without any question that he had the skills and knowledge to run that race.
Little did anyone know what a lifelong quest this would create, and Link would own some of the best and fastest horses in the whole country. In fact just few weeks ago, one of his colts was the top selling colt in the Ruidoso All American horse sale.
Another event that occurred during these early, formative years, showed Link’s character. I recall and believe it was when Link was probably around 8 or 9, he was having difficulty with a couple of bully types at school. A couple of the boys decided to nickname him a very unflattering name. Link handled this in a very unusual manner for a 9 year old. He told me that he warned the bullies that if they ever called him that name again, he would make them wish they hadn’t. There was no way he would allow them to start such a degrading nickname. He told me he might get whipped, but he would win in the end, and he did. This is a very early demonstration of Link’s determination and resolve when he believed he was right.
One of the memories that I recall vividly to this day, was an error that I made in my young married life, that I have regretted my whole life, but appreciated the valuable lesson that Link taught me.
Link lived what he preached. One thing he believed as strongly as anything was that a man is only as good as his honesty and integrity.
To summarize this story, Link located me some cows and calves shortly after I was married and moved to St. Johns. It was a time that he was trading livestock. He sold them to me at a good price, AND got a good commission, BUT requested that if I resold them, he wanted the first opportunity to buy them back. I agreed, not thinking too much about it. A few months later, the original owner of the cattle came to me and wanted to buy them back. Surprised at the request.. unthinkingly, I agreed to sell them back, not even considering my commitment to Link. Shortly thereafter, I was reminded in no uncertain terms, of that commitment… by Link. Not only was I reminded, but I was reminded in front of my stern and impeccably honest Grandfather. Link’s chastisement and the method used has caused me a lifetime of regret and taught me a lesson on Integrity that I will never forget.
I have noticed during the past week how my children have grieved for Link. I spent over 20 years as a Criminal Investigator pursuing bad guys, often weeks away from home.
As we lived across the street from Link and his family, my children and Links were best friends and together constantly.
Even though Debbie was home, our kids much loved kind, gentle Linda and teasing, ornery Link. As I was gone so much, Link became a father figure to them. He taught them many things, not the least being hard work. We all are eternally grateful for the great influence my brother had on my children.
They share their cousins’ loss, and will always love their Uncle Lincoln.
Not too long after I found out Link had cancer, I wrote a story that I feel is very appropriate for this talk. (ACTUALLY for the funeral, in interest of time, Kim only gave excerpts from this, but we have posted it in its' entirety, including pictures).
From the top of the Mogollon Rim it seems you can see forever, and equally amazing is what you can see. To this ole’ country boy it is one of the prettier sights, in this big wide beautiful world. One of my preferred overviews is on the Heber to Payson Highway ( Hwy. 260). The highway winds across the relatively flat top of the Rim from Heber to the edge of the Rim above Christopher Creek, and then drops suddenly and steeply down the rugged and colorful pine covered rock formations to the beautifully clear, oak lined Christopher Creek.
I often stop for an old man break and admire the view. It seems you are standing at the top of the world, you literally look down on the tops of the tall ponderosa pine trees, and on a clear day can see for miles. On a cloudy day I often feel, as I look through the clouds and mist, as God possibly felt looking over his newly created world, so clean , fresh and beautiful. It is the most impressive after a summer rain and everything is so sparkling clean and seems to touch my very soul.
This is often enhanced by the sun filtering through the clouds, and mist like a promise of a wonderful day to come. A few miles on down the road is another impressive view , this one is southwest of Camp Creek as the highway finally drops into the high desert and a few miles further we see the ribbon of green, the Verde River Valley. There is a huge pile of immense granite boulders that the highway literally cuts through. These boulders are impressive to most, and to me they look like they were placed at the edge of the desert floor to limit passage from the hot, often barren, and always unforgiving desert, into the cool life-giving sanctuary of the mountains.
These boulders, as impressive as they may appear from the highway to travelers, have a much greater awe to some of us that know what important, life changing events were played out in
, over and around them. As I ponder the events of which I am personally acquainted with, I feel that very probably over the centuries of time, other events may and probably did occur among the massive, unmovable monuments of time and nature. Very possibly an Indian fleeing General Crook and his bloody campaign to exterminate the renegade bands that took refuge in and around the Tonto Basin and Mogollon Rim, took refuge there. Or possibly a hot, thirsty explorer finally reached the life giving shade an protection from the blistering summer sun that shows no mercy on man nor beast, and always has and will be the supreme ruler of the Arizona desert. My thoughts and imaginations could ramble for pages on what may have happened over the ages of time, but what I personally know did happen at those rocks is something that needs to be recorded for all future generations to understand and contemplate.
All of us from a very early age start to make decisions that affect our entire lives to come. As we reach young adulthood these decisions become tougher and more important in determining our future lives. These decisions don’t fade away as our adolescent pimples do, but they often become more important and life determining. Who we marry, where we live , what our professions are, how many children we are blessed with and what role we let God play in our lives. What we eat, who we choose for friends, the list could go on and on.
A family man with some heavy, life determining decisions fought a tough battle here among these rocks and won, and continues to win . We can use his struggles and eventual triumph over these obstacles in our lives, they can and should be an inspiration to all of us, especially his family and posterity.
Things hadn’t gone as planned in the farming and ranching business, eventually high interest and low prices took it’s toll. The loss of the farm wasn’t from the lack of work, I personally can remember many mornings when he had irrigated the fields all night and followed up doing his other ranch and farm chores all day. This often went on day after day, with very little sleep. His kids, and most of mine, learned what the meaning of hard work was from his example, and sometimes from his other methods of getting his point across. It has to be one of the most traumatic and life effecting events for a man to watch his life long dreams, as well as the all the work and sacrifices of your time and youth, wilt and die like the wonderful desert vegetation after a wet spring gives up to the blistering, life sapping, desert sun.
Lesser men would allow these setbacks and dream smashing obstacles to whip them. but not Lincoln R. Sherwood, he was cut from the same timber as his father and grandfather. Link did what us damn hard headed Sherwood’s do, made up his mind to do something and then did it. His quest was that he would make it all back and more. This wasn’t just an idle dream, it became a life consuming quest. (This is a brothers observation), I watched Link struggle with a ranch foreman job in Utah, then to livestock trading on the Navajo Reservation, but these weren’t getting him to where he promised himself he would be. A small opportunity came up to build a section of highway fence on the Black Ridge west of St. Johns, it wasn’t much, but a foot in the door. Then a big break came along, a contractor who had bit off more than he could chew, couldn’t complete the contract and Link was called in to take the contract over. Several miles of highway right of way fence through the boulders south of Camp Creek was a job that would test the metal of any man and most would come out losers, if they were foolish enough to attempt it.
Fence building under any condition is tough, but over and through granite boulders bigger than a pickup goes well beyond tough. Throw in months spanning triple digits heat and every kind of desert plant. Those of you not privileged to have worked among these plants may not realize that they all have some sort of defensive armor, usually sharp thorns that poke in with the slightest pressure and usually break off at skin level or just under the skin. They all must have some sort of chemical that amplifies the pain the second they enter your flesh. You add the rattle snakes, the hot sun in the day and the cold desert nights, all of this is on the ridge line that transforms the rolling high desert into the foot hills that rim the desert. There isn’t a machine that can traverse this terrain. The only way fence gets built here is by sheer guts, sweat , perseverance, and tenacity.
Next time you are at your home town hardware store, or Home Depot for you city dwellers, throw a big roll of barbed wire on your shoulder, just walk up and down the aisle a few times with it, while you’re doing this, think what it would be like carrying it over cactus, rocks and all manner of obstacles, and all types of weather. Don’t forget the rattle snakes that are ever present, and after seeing (and hearing) the first two or three of the day, you naturally get so jumpy that you start seeing them under every bush.
I often forget that some of our kids haven’t had the blessing of farm and ranch work, so I thought maybe a brief description of fence building was in order, pages could be written about the difficulty of fence building and still not convey the true challenges. I am not saying or implying that Link conquered the massive undertaking alone, he had some good help, one being his brother-in-law Mike Udall, who has a heart as big the rest of is body (and that’s pretty big), but when it all comes down to where the buck stops, Link’s name was on the line, and that means more than most people will ever know. When an old time cowboy gives his word, he will go to the ends of the earth in defense of his good name, which is built upon living up to his word. A man’s name and his word used to be, and in Link’s mind still is, inseparable.
Tenacity is something that I feel I have become somewhat of an expert on, in my colorful and sometimes slightly twisted path. It can either get you where you where you want to go, or sometimes places you should not be. Link used his to get where he always planned to be, it wasn’t a rapid or easy climb, but most things in life of value come with a price. All of my life Link has told me of his love for ranches, fine horses and good cattle and through sheer guts he has earned them all. One of the very significant points that I think needs to be brought out here, is what happened when Link finally conquered these massive boulders. A whole world of opportunity opened up for him, he became known as the man that could get any job done, an was rewarded for his tenacity and integrity with many more difficult, but monetarily rewarding, State and Federal jobs. Equally important, was that he proved to the world (and more important to himself) that he had what it takes to come out the winner.
At some time in our lives we will all have some pretty large boulders to climb over, and most of us have our share of thorns to dislodge, but when we conquer these boulders, and endure the thorns, we also will have gained an inner strength and confidence to succeed in the opportunities and challenges that surely will come.
Link has climbed some immense boulders the past couple of years, but he has what it takes to get over these also, it makes me proud to call him my brother.
So next time you take the Highway between Payson and Phoenix, look at the massive boulders and imagine the difficulty of climbing over and through them with rolls of barbed wire and steel posts, not to mention the difficulties encountered getting the posts set into the ground ,or more often the case, into solid rock. Then take a little side trip to the Panhandle country of North East Texas, and you will see one of the nicer cattle ranches around. He has put together a herd of some of the finest Brangus cattle, and as good a set of corrals as I have ever been in. Massive sprinkler wheels irrigate the long rolling green fields, a dream come true.
But more important than all this, he has proved to the community that he is a man of his word. When the people in that small Texas town learned I was Lincoln Sherwood’s brother, they welcomed me into the community like I had been raised there, which is very seldom the case in small towns.
One of my favorite quotes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow says it all,
“The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.”
If you think Link got lucky, think again, he has literally climbed boulders his whole life to become the man he is, and attain what he has, and we should let his example be a lesson to us all. Thanks brother, for the example of integrity, strength, and tenacity.
I often stop for an old man break and admire the view. It seems you are standing at the top of the world, you literally look down on the tops of the tall ponderosa pine trees, and on a clear day can see for miles. On a cloudy day I often feel, as I look through the clouds and mist, as God possibly felt looking over his newly created world, so clean , fresh and beautiful. It is the most impressive after a summer rain and everything is so sparkling clean and seems to touch my very soul.
This is often enhanced by the sun filtering through the clouds, and mist like a promise of a wonderful day to come. A few miles on down the road is another impressive view , this one is southwest of Camp Creek as the highway finally drops into the high desert and a few miles further we see the ribbon of green, the Verde River Valley. There is a huge pile of immense granite boulders that the highway literally cuts through. These boulders are impressive to most, and to me they look like they were placed at the edge of the desert floor to limit passage from the hot, often barren, and always unforgiving desert, into the cool life-giving sanctuary of the mountains.
These boulders, as impressive as they may appear from the highway to travelers, have a much greater awe to some of us that know what important, life changing events were played out in
, over and around them. As I ponder the events of which I am personally acquainted with, I feel that very probably over the centuries of time, other events may and probably did occur among the massive, unmovable monuments of time and nature. Very possibly an Indian fleeing General Crook and his bloody campaign to exterminate the renegade bands that took refuge in and around the Tonto Basin and Mogollon Rim, took refuge there. Or possibly a hot, thirsty explorer finally reached the life giving shade an protection from the blistering summer sun that shows no mercy on man nor beast, and always has and will be the supreme ruler of the Arizona desert. My thoughts and imaginations could ramble for pages on what may have happened over the ages of time, but what I personally know did happen at those rocks is something that needs to be recorded for all future generations to understand and contemplate.All of us from a very early age start to make decisions that affect our entire lives to come. As we reach young adulthood these decisions become tougher and more important in determining our future lives. These decisions don’t fade away as our adolescent pimples do, but they often become more important and life determining. Who we marry, where we live , what our professions are, how many children we are blessed with and what role we let God play in our lives. What we eat, who we choose for friends, the list could go on and on.
A family man with some heavy, life determining decisions fought a tough battle here among these rocks and won, and continues to win . We can use his struggles and eventual triumph over these obstacles in our lives, they can and should be an inspiration to all of us, especially his family and posterity.
Things hadn’t gone as planned in the farming and ranching business, eventually high interest and low prices took it’s toll. The loss of the farm wasn’t from the lack of work, I personally can remember many mornings when he had irrigated the fields all night and followed up doing his other ranch and farm chores all day. This often went on day after day, with very little sleep. His kids, and most of mine, learned what the meaning of hard work was from his example, and sometimes from his other methods of getting his point across. It has to be one of the most traumatic and life effecting events for a man to watch his life long dreams, as well as the all the work and sacrifices of your time and youth, wilt and die like the wonderful desert vegetation after a wet spring gives up to the blistering, life sapping, desert sun.
Lesser men would allow these setbacks and dream smashing obstacles to whip them. but not Lincoln R. Sherwood, he was cut from the same timber as his father and grandfather. Link did what us damn hard headed Sherwood’s do, made up his mind to do something and then did it. His quest was that he would make it all back and more. This wasn’t just an idle dream, it became a life consuming quest. (This is a brothers observation), I watched Link struggle with a ranch foreman job in Utah, then to livestock trading on the Navajo Reservation, but these weren’t getting him to where he promised himself he would be. A small opportunity came up to build a section of highway fence on the Black Ridge west of St. Johns, it wasn’t much, but a foot in the door. Then a big break came along, a contractor who had bit off more than he could chew, couldn’t complete the contract and Link was called in to take the contract over. Several miles of highway right of way fence through the boulders south of Camp Creek was a job that would test the metal of any man and most would come out losers, if they were foolish enough to attempt it.
Fence building under any condition is tough, but over and through granite boulders bigger than a pickup goes well beyond tough. Throw in months spanning triple digits heat and every kind of desert plant. Those of you not privileged to have worked among these plants may not realize that they all have some sort of defensive armor, usually sharp thorns that poke in with the slightest pressure and usually break off at skin level or just under the skin. They all must have some sort of chemical that amplifies the pain the second they enter your flesh. You add the rattle snakes, the hot sun in the day and the cold desert nights, all of this is on the ridge line that transforms the rolling high desert into the foot hills that rim the desert. There isn’t a machine that can traverse this terrain. The only way fence gets built here is by sheer guts, sweat , perseverance, and tenacity.Next time you are at your home town hardware store, or Home Depot for you city dwellers, throw a big roll of barbed wire on your shoulder, just walk up and down the aisle a few times with it, while you’re doing this, think what it would be like carrying it over cactus, rocks and all manner of obstacles, and all types of weather. Don’t forget the rattle snakes that are ever present, and after seeing (and hearing) the first two or three of the day, you naturally get so jumpy that you start seeing them under every bush.
I often forget that some of our kids haven’t had the blessing of farm and ranch work, so I thought maybe a brief description of fence building was in order, pages could be written about the difficulty of fence building and still not convey the true challenges. I am not saying or implying that Link conquered the massive undertaking alone, he had some good help, one being his brother-in-law Mike Udall, who has a heart as big the rest of is body (and that’s pretty big), but when it all comes down to where the buck stops, Link’s name was on the line, and that means more than most people will ever know. When an old time cowboy gives his word, he will go to the ends of the earth in defense of his good name, which is built upon living up to his word. A man’s name and his word used to be, and in Link’s mind still is, inseparable.
Tenacity is something that I feel I have become somewhat of an expert on, in my colorful and sometimes slightly twisted path. It can either get you where you where you want to go, or sometimes places you should not be. Link used his to get where he always planned to be, it wasn’t a rapid or easy climb, but most things in life of value come with a price. All of my life Link has told me of his love for ranches, fine horses and good cattle and through sheer guts he has earned them all. One of the very significant points that I think needs to be brought out here, is what happened when Link finally conquered these massive boulders. A whole world of opportunity opened up for him, he became known as the man that could get any job done, an was rewarded for his tenacity and integrity with many more difficult, but monetarily rewarding, State and Federal jobs. Equally important, was that he proved to the world (and more important to himself) that he had what it takes to come out the winner.
At some time in our lives we will all have some pretty large boulders to climb over, and most of us have our share of thorns to dislodge, but when we conquer these boulders, and endure the thorns, we also will have gained an inner strength and confidence to succeed in the opportunities and challenges that surely will come.
Link has climbed some immense boulders the past couple of years, but he has what it takes to get over these also, it makes me proud to call him my brother.
So next time you take the Highway between Payson and Phoenix, look at the massive boulders and imagine the difficulty of climbing over and through them with rolls of barbed wire and steel posts, not to mention the difficulties encountered getting the posts set into the ground ,or more often the case, into solid rock. Then take a little side trip to the Panhandle country of North East Texas, and you will see one of the nicer cattle ranches around. He has put together a herd of some of the finest Brangus cattle, and as good a set of corrals as I have ever been in. Massive sprinkler wheels irrigate the long rolling green fields, a dream come true.
But more important than all this, he has proved to the community that he is a man of his word. When the people in that small Texas town learned I was Lincoln Sherwood’s brother, they welcomed me into the community like I had been raised there, which is very seldom the case in small towns.
One of my favorite quotes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow says it all,
“The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.”
If you think Link got lucky, think again, he has literally climbed boulders his whole life to become the man he is, and attain what he has, and we should let his example be a lesson to us all. Thanks brother, for the example of integrity, strength, and tenacity.
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