Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Legend of the Esterbrook Pen


Okay, so it's not really a legend, but a pretty neat story! I would've posted about it sooner but I just finally acquired all the necessary components.
For Christmas, Matt's parents gave everybody their own "Esterbrook Fountain Pen." Beautiful vintage pens that are true collector's pieces. For those of you unfamiliar with such pens (as was I), the Esterbrook pen company was started in Britain by a quaker, Richard Esterbrook (a relative of Matt's Easterbrook ancestors) in 1856. The company later set up operations in America in the 40's in Camden, NJ. (Oddly, where Matt would later serve his mission. Go fig'.)
Matt's dad had searched for a loooong time collecting enough pens for all the kids & grandkids. The oldest pens given to the youngest grandchild, etc. Each was given with a sweet written copy (in Esterbrook pen) of Grandma & Grandpa Easterbrook's testimony.For those that saw the Christmas Devotional this past year, President Monson talked about about an Esterbrook pen which he had as a boy & loved so much. Here's a picture of him as a boy. (That's a fish, not the pen.)
He spoke of how the pen eventually died & how sad he was. While Matt's folks were in Utah in December, they dropped by the Church Office Building to give President Monson one of the Esterbrook Pens they had collected. He wasn't there at the time, but 2 days after Christmas, they received this letter from him in the mail.
And a month later, he became our prophet! Now, we all know President Monson as a Master at telling stories. Wouldn't it be so neat to hear him tell this story in a Conference talk one day?

3 comments:

Melissa said...

That's so cool!

Angel said...

What a neat story! I had been waiting to see you post it on your blog ever since I saw the pen on your piano. Thanks for sharing!

Bernie said...

Annie,
We really enjoy your blogs! You do a great job. Thanks for publishing the info on the Esterbrook pens and President Monson. We really enjoyed it!
Dad&Mom Easterbrook