Vordis Reo Cazier – Cazier Family Organization

Vordis Reo Cazier 1900-1980

Vordis Reo Cazier was born on July 22, 1900 in North Ogden, Utah. He married Mabel Rosetta Andersen in the Logan Temple on July 2, 1924. He died on December 1, 1980 in Townsend, Montana. He had four children–Don, Janeal, Boyd, and LaGrande. Throughout his life Vordis was known for his honesty, his spirituality, and his ability to find work for others. He loved the Cazier family and the things that it stood for. He supported them in every way.

In 1936 Vordis was selected to haul the children to school. Grandpa Andersen helped him build a wooden frame bus covered with tin. To do this, they had to use the beet truck. Every morning he would take off the beet racks and pick up the children and take them to school. After returning home the beet racks would be placed back on until it was time to pick up the children and take them home. That evening he would again remove the bus and haul beets until dark. Early in the mornings he would take a load of beets down to the weigh station, unload them, and return to pick up the children.

Vordis had many spiritual experiences. He was involved in hauling sand and gravel during the time when Preston was asking for bids to furnish sand and gravel for the courthouse. Vordis was farming in Virginia that summer. They stayed in a two-room shack. There were no lights in the house or windows in the windows. One night around midnight as he was in bed pondering a bid for several hours, the end of the wall lit up and the numbers 1 1 7 7 appeared. Thinking that his eyes were strained, he tried to go to sleep. Around 2 a.m. the end of the wall again lit up and the numbers 1 1 7 7 appeared. These events kept him awake for the rest of the night and just before daylight the numbers 1 1 7 7 appeared for a third time. That morning he related the night’s events to his partner, who said that they had better place 1177 on the bid. The county officials called Vordis in and asked him how he had come up with the numbers 1177. He told them his story–Preston being a religious community. They said, “Vordis, if you had told us anything else, we would not have believed you. Those numbers, $1,177, were the exact figures that they had on the contract.

Another experience happened one day when he was out in the yard. In the distance he saw a man riding a motorcycle coming towards him. As he drew closer he could tell that it was his father. He asked his father what he did on the other side. His father told him that he was a gardener in the Cazier Estate. Soon his father told him that he had to go or he would miss the train.

Vordis’ mother died when he was at the age of three. She died of blood poisoning from a miscarriage. His dad would go to work and leave him alone. Loneliness would sometimes overcome him. Sometimes he would go out to the haystack and cry himself to sleep. As he slept he would dream of a woman rocking him to sleep and singing lullabies. He liked to believe that this was his mother. He believed that his mother and father guided him through this life and that they would in the next life. Vordis was a rich man. Not in material matters but in spirit. He was motivated in many things being a very industrious man. Vordis felt the Spirit of the Lord throughout his life.

Vordis was a highly respected man in the community. In 1932 he was walking down the main street of Preston when Pete Peterburg, the owner of the Chevrolet Garage, stopped. He told Vordis that he had a truck that he wanted him to have. Vordis refused as he had no money to buy a truck. Pete told him to take the truck and to put it to work. He acquired his first farm in a like manner. The Bank of Preston called him in and asked him if he would like to buy a farm. He told them that he did not have the money to do so. The bank proposed that he rent it for the harvest and at the end if he wanted he could use the money that he paid as rent for a down payment. This farm was in Virginia, Idaho. Vordis improved many farms and after he improved them he would sell them. In 1956 he moved his family to Montana where they bought Park Trail Ranch. This was the last one that Vordis owned.

He helped keep people working during the depression. He created jobs for them to do. He also helped keep the school children off of the streets by putting them on the farm doing the farm work. Many of the roads around Yellowstone National Park are ones that he built.

Vordis was the son of Fredrick Alvin Cazier and Emma Alvina Campbell.