The Old gentleman Missionary

Indian tribes.

Even though he mastered the Apache language he has never mastered the automobile. On horseback he covered his territory for twenty-five years, riding from camp to camp, up and down hills, across rocky, sandy, flooded arroyos and through mesquite thickets that even a Model T could not negotiate. The horse was dependable, easy to care for, inexpensive and was never stuck in sand or bogged down in mud.

Riding along in God's great outdoors, it was easy for him to contemplate and to work out plans and problems as he went along while his mount, with little guidance, followed the familiar trails.

For twenty of his reservation years, he was Superintendent of the Apache Indian Mission which included both the San Carlos and Fort Apache Reservations. Along with other supervisory duties he trained teachers and interpreters in the Gospel doctrine and Scriptures and taught them the fitting Apache language words and phrases. He visited the Mission stations and schools at Bylas, Peridot, White River, East Fork and Cibecue; made monthly reports and requisitions for each; set up budgets and represented the Mission stations at conventions. Along with all this, he carried on a heavy correspondence and still kept a close, brotherly contact with the Apaches.

In the meantime, other members of the Uplegger family were far from idle.

Up to the present time, Alfred has served as missionary to the Apaches for forty-six years. He was transferred from Globe to the reservation and back again, sometimes taking care of both areas at the same time, until 1941 when he returned to the reservation permanently as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church at San Carlos. His wife, Irma, teaches in the Sunday School along with other duties. Their daughter Rachel is married to Robert D. Hinton and lives in Phoenix. A Gold Star on the parsonage's front door stands for their only son, Karl, who became a casualty in Germany on March 1, 1945.

Alfred was resident missionary at old San Carlos when the government wanted to dam the Gila River to provide needed water for Pima Indian farmers, and Apaches objected. In their largest community at old San Carlos, which would have to be flooded, they lived in houses as well as wickiups, had a cemetery and many of them cultivated fruit trees, gardens and farms. These Apaches had a water problem, too. They were plagued by hot, dry seasons and flash floods that washed out their irrigation ditches.

The Apaches did not want to give up their homes and farms or to have their cemetery covered with water. A mass meeting was held. Representatives of the Gila River Reservation came and appealed on behalf of the Pima Indians. A government representative urged the Apaches to give their permission which would allow the dam to be built. He told them they would be moved to other settlements with new and better irrigated farms and also, for several years during the construction of the dam, many Apaches would have cash jobs.

Reverend Alfred pointed out to the believers that just as World War soldiers buried at sea would arise from the dead, their loved ones buried under the proposed San Carlos Lake would also arise. Then he asked the un-believers what difference it would make to them, anyway. He asked all to have brotherly love for their neigh-bors, the Pimas, and give their consent.

Eventually Apache leaders agreed to permit the dam to be built and those who could not write put their fingerprints on the document.

Daughter Johanna is the wife of Pastor Henry Rosin who now has served for 46 years as missionary-teacher at the Peridot Mission. Johanna is also active in mission work and serves as organist. Their son, Rupert, has been principal-teacher at the Cibecue Mission and now serves in the same capacity at the Lutheran Church School at Caledonia, Wisconsin. His five children are Dr. Uplegger's great-grandchildren.

Daughter Dorothea has taught for forty-one years, at the Faith Lutheran School in Los Angeles and on the San Carlos Reservation, and now teaches Beginners and First Graders at the Peridot Mission School. She likes to teach her pupils to sing. With the words on large charts on the walls, she points these out and sings along with the pupils. Songs written by her father combine folklore and religion, tell about flowers, birds, animals, weather and land.

The Mission School at Peridot started in 1893 with thirteen children and now has 126 in eight grades, including beginners. Pastor Rosin has been stationed therecontinuously since he came to the reservation in 1917. Usually parents bring their children to school in the morning and the school bus takes them home. It has competitive baseball and basketball teams that travel to other towns. Some of its graduates go to East Fork and Globe high schools.

A good accomplishment is the number of Apaches who have been trained as teachers in the Lutheran School. Mrs. Dolores Rambler Cassadore now teaches at the Peridot Mission School. Priscilla Smith, from Peridot, studied at Martin Luther College, in New Ulm, Minnesota, and now teaches at lower Cibecue. Priscilla Hoffman from San Carlos now teaches at New London, Wisconsin, and Lucinda Dosela is teaching at East Fork.

Six years after coming to the reservation, Dr. Francis lost his beloved wife, Emma. For thirty-four years she had been at his side, sharing his mission work, rearing their son and three daughters and giving generously of her love and encouragement.

Tall, erect and slender, still active in advisory affairs, Dr. Francis Uplegger looks far younger than his busy ninety-five years. With old-world courtliness he received us in the study of his home where he lives with Dorothea. We were joined by another daughter, Gertrude, home to keep house for her father, and Reverend Alfred who supplied most of our information. For gracious, friendly Francis J. Uplegger, who received his title of Doctor of Divinity from the Concordia Seminary in 1957, is far too modest to talk of his many accomplishments during forty-four years with the Apaches.

San Carlos Indian Reservation