Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Ellis Ivory is retiring after 19 years as executive director of This is the Place Heritage Park.
- He restored the park without pay, relying on community support and personal connections.
- Ivory's successor, Case Lawrence, brings leadership experience and a legal background.
SALT LAKE CITY — There are 19 years of legacy and memories at This is The Place Heritage Park for Ellis Ivory. The statues and the stories are all preserved by Ivory.
"All of the symbols there are of what it was really like back in the 1840s," Ivory said.
For Ivory, the past 19 years working as executive director at the site have been a calling.
"It's a great opportunity to pay back to this wonderful state," he said.
In 2006, he was asked by then-Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Elder M. Russell Ballard, from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to revive and restore the state park. At the time, the park was in disrepair, and there were conversations about shutting it down. Ivory's first task was making payroll for the park employees, something he for which he enlisted his good friend Larry H. Miller.
"I need another $50,000. He pulled a checkbook out of his desk, sat there and wrote it, so that was a highlight," Ivory said.
Yet, even after restoring the payroll, Ellis never received a dollar for his work, except for a $1 bill each year from his friend Elder Ballard.
"I don't want you to think you don't get paid and he just gave me a dollar," Ivory said.
Even though he wasn't paid for his 9-to-5 work, Ivory said he had the highest paycheck of all because of the friends and connections he made.
"When people give and do things without the economic pay, often there's greater reasons that help," Ivory said.
Memories and miracles have filled the years as Ivory restored pioneer history, added monuments and a Pioneer Center to the 450-acre park.
One of his favorite memories was bringing in the 10 different religious leaders to dedicate a "Walk of Pioneer Faiths" section, honoring the various religious leaders who fled religious persecution and found safety in Utah.
"The whole pioneer story is good for all," Ivory said.
In helping uncover the history housed in the park, Ivory also discovered his own ties to the area.
Ivory's great-grandfather was one of the first to arrive in Utah with the advanced company coming through Emigration Canyon. Later, his father pioneered building homes throughout the state and Ivory took over, renaming their business Ivory Homes.
Ivory called himself a high school dropout after spending his junior year driving his truck around town. He returned to school and studied at the University of Utah.
He served a Latter-day Saint mission in Chicago for two years, then married his sweetheart Katie. The couple had seven kids and later served as mission presidents in the Manchester, England Mission.
Ivory's next chapter, at 84 years young, will be spent enjoying time with his wife and family.
"She's been very involved all the way through," he said. "We've been in a team in everything we've done. I wouldn't be sitting here without her, that's for sure." In his 19 years at This is the Place Heritage Park, Ivory worked 18 of those years with Tresha Kramer, the Public Relations director.
"I've never known a better mentor and partner," Kramer said. "We've had a lot of fun together. I'm going to really miss that."
Ivory hands his stewardship over to Case Lawrence, who's been on the board for the park for the past five years.
Lawrence brings to the role his years of leadership as the founder and former CEO of trampoline parks around the world. Lawrence graduated from Duke Law School and recently ran for Utah's third Congressional District.
