Easter Sunrise at the Grand Canyon

Easter at Grand

From the “Shrine of the Ages,” high on the South Rim of Arizona’s Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, the National Broadcasting company, through KTAR, Phoenix, will present the tenth consecutive broadcast to the world of an Easter Sunrise Service on Sunday morning, April 9, 1944. This Tenth Anniversary broadcast of the most sublime spectacle on earth is written and produced, as in the previous broadcasts, by J. Howard Pyle, program manager of Radio Station KTAR and affiliated stations of the Arizona Broadcasting company. It is planned to carry this broadcast by short wave to our fighting forces overseas. Cooperating in the ceremonies are Bishop Walter Mitchell of the Episcopal Missionary District of Arizona, and National Park Service. “Again we are convinced,” says Mr. Pyle, “that of all the places on earth where a man can reach for his soul and find it, none is more completely inspiring than the Grand Canyon of Arizona—the shrine of the Ages.” In his vivid description of last year’s Easter Sunrise, Mr. Pyle, whose golden voice has thrilled millions of Americans through the years in this most colorful broadcast, brought out the dramatic glory of the sunrise playing upon the fantastic spires and pinnacles of the great Abyss. “The full bloom of heaven-lighted daybreak is drifting over us now. The shallow pink of only a few seconds ago has quickly though quietly broadened and deepened into a magnificent arc of richly endowed old rose. Slowly but surely a gorgeous crown of gold is being fashioned to fit it while the sky above fairly buzzes with delicately lighted reports that the queen of another Easter Dawn is about to make one of her most regal appearances. “The Grand Canyon of Arizona has heard the call and in its ponderous way is beginning to shake off the lethargy of another night of darkness. Every shrub, bush, pine and juniper is rustling itself into orderly array. The birds have flown to their highest perches... the chipmunks and their wooded friends have scampered off to their favorite haunts.

Sunrise the Canyon

"It's certainly no secret any more that the world's most savage scene is gradually being clothed in the transcendent brilliance of an incomparable Easter Sunrise. Even the lava black Trimble Mountains have raised up out of the Boulder Dam country to see what goes on here. The far rim of picturesque Hasasu Canyon, one of the nineteen major canyons within the Grand Canyon, is also taking a peek "A glittering radiance is now in almost complete command of the sky. The last of the advance guard of resplendent blues, reds and golds is swiftly disappearing in the dome of heavens. In a matter of seconds we'll see what happens when her queenly majesty, the Easter sun, begins to call the roll of the grand old patriarchs of stone who have peopled this marvel of marvels for ages. Already the first one is answering. A gleaming shaft of pure white light is triumphantly silhouetting the rugged features of Point Sublime, the pride of the North Rim. Pima Point is stepping in out of the gloom like a loyal soldier reporting for duty! Sunbeams by the millions are racing along the top edge of the North Rim and down the color-studded east wall of Powell Plateau. Only God could have formed such a rockbound rainbow of indescribable reds, blues, grays, yellows and greens as this.

"In fact, only God could have created such a superb masterpiece as the Grand Canyon of Arizona... the Shrine of the Ages... the world's oldest teacher... absolute and undying proof for all time to come that a Valley of Shadows can become a thing of beauty and a joy forever."