Reader comments
LDS Church terms no longer in use

Why is this a newspaper story? I'm Mormon, and I don't get the motivation for this one.

The Church should have had the name, "The Crickets," to denote irreverent little boys and girls in Primary who were in danger of being kicked out by "The Seagulls."

From my perspective a newspaper's role is to inform. This type of material was once much more common in newspapers. It still is common in some small papers. I think items that simply pass on information or give a sense of history are much more timely and relevant than a random report of some salacious crime in a far off city when 99.9% of similar crimes in the nation never make it into that same paper.

Dont' forget Blazers, the 10-11 year old boys in Primary.

I found the article interesting and appreciated the moment of nostalgia it evoked for a few minutes. Thank you.

Yes, don't forget the "blazers," but you also need to remember the Trekers and Guides.

Besides "Blazers", at which my 11-year grandson's look at me at unbelief when I ask them how Blazer's are going (Scouts), there were up to (nearly 1960), Jr. M-Men (16-18 year olds) and Junior Gleaners, same age for women. There were also awards for the M-Men and Gleaners, called Master M-Men and Golden Gleaners.
A correction: It was YWMIA (not Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association but Young Women's Mutal Improvement Association) and YMMIA (Young Men's...) for the decades of 1930s-1980s. Often termed Young Men and Young Women for short, the church finally combined them as "Mutual" the weeknight meeting, and left off the rest of the name.

Don't forget "jack mormons" are now "less active". It made me feel a lot better. I am still not sure what a "good mormon" is. I guess we stay good until we spoil?

Important correction:

Home Teaching is not just re-named Ward Teaching; it is continual watchcare for a family in any type of need, spiritual or temporal.

Until 1964, Ward Teachers did enough if they made a brief visit once a month to deliver a prescribed lesson-for-the-month from a book, left a printed summary of it, then reported being "finished" for the month.

Unfortunately, 44 years later, a lot of Home Teachers still do.

New to Utah.
What are Jack Mormons? Sounds funny?
Mormons are strange and unfriendly

Don't forget the Merry Miss class for 11 and 12 year old girls - This term and Blazers were used through the late 70's

We were "Targeteers"--sad to see that go.

Did the article misspell "Liahona," or was "Lihoma" considered a valid alternate spelling? Or are they two different words?

Wippity do. i don't know what any of you are even talking about. Did I somehow wake up in a time warp or to another time in life, or what? Merry miss?, Lihoma?, jack mormons?,blazzing saddles? Huh?

to Anonymous and others: Jack Mormons is a term that goes back to Brigham Young days. It was the idea that often a jackass / donkey / burro just doesn't pull its part of the load. Thus members who didn't accept callings and do their part were referred to as Jack Mormons. It began to mean inactives during most of the 20th Century.

Can we forget the Gold and Green Ball, or the Teen Gold and Green???

In my (ancient) day, and for many years before and since, the Guide Patrol program for boys consisted of Blazers (age 9), Trekkers (age 10), and Guides (age 11). The girls had corresponding programs. We learned the Articles of Faith (so many per each of the three years) and marked our progress in doing so with stickers on our "Trail to the Priesthood" pictures. We each also wore a green "bandlo" around our necked onto which we attached plastic symbols indicating our class standing. My source for this (besides my memories): http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/museum/primary/home/1,16231,,00.html

Thank you - I have been trying to write my history and since I am in Primary and see the requirements for "Faith In God" I have been trying to do in in story format so my grandchildren will get to know me and learn what my life was like. I have my old bandalo but couldn't remember the reason I had the plastic note, and the fireplace and (something that fell off?) but now I can explain what I did when I was their age.

Oops--caught a boo-boo in my earlier post.

The program that comprised ages 9-11 for the boys was called the "Trail Builder Boys" program (and not the program that I listed earlier).

I still have a copy of music for the "Trail Builders Hymn," which started out "Trail Builder Boys are happy at home and across the sea."

Moonbeams actually was the name for the 18 monts to three year olds when they were in the nursery.

Don't forget Bluebirds. Primary girls between Larks and Seagulls.