Work continues on restoration of Oneida Stake Academy

With new financial contributions, crews are preparing to install a stone gable that fell off the 122-year-old Oneida Stake Academy back in 1962. Necia Seamons, a founding member of the Oneida Stake Academy’s board of directors, says the goal is to have the restoration of the building finished by the summer of 2013 in honor of Franklin County’s 100th birthday. On KVNU’s Crosstalk show Tuesday, Seamons said fundraising efforts are in full swing for the restoration of the building which was built in Preston, Idaho in 1890, a time when federal agents were chasing polygamous fathers from their homes and Mormons were not allowed to hold public offices due to the Edmunds-Tucker Act. Seamons says the school was built because Mormon leaders knew the value of education. “(Some of) the people were living… in log houses at the time, scraping a living,” Seamons said. “But they sacrificed because they understood the power of education to lift people and communities and societies. “They gave their best for providing an edifice that would inspire their children to do their best.” She said many of the alumni and those of its successor Preston High School went on to national fame. Two alumni became President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Harold B. Lee and Ezra Taft Benson. To learn more about the Academy, visit

<a href=”http://oneidastakeacademy.com/”>oneidastakeacademy.com</a>

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