Descendants, residents invited to Daniel Funk Legacy celebration

MANTI—An event celebrating a new educational display at Palisade State Park and honoring the man who developed Palisade Lake is scheduled Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel (“red church”) on 300 South and Main Street in Manti.

Recognized as an America 250 community event, the gathering, being called the “Funk’s Lake Legacy Celebration,” is expected to attract many descendants of Daniel Buckley Funk but is also open to the public.

The celebration is the culmination of what is being called the “Funk’s Lake Legacy Project,” a yearlong effort to upgrade historical information about Daniel Buckley Funk at Palisade State Park and to develop a permanent location for the Daniel Funk’s pioneer headstone.

Barbara Funk Barton, a great-granddaughter of Daniel Buckley Funk, says she was inspired by a dream to initiate a family project to create a new headstone for Daniel Funk in the Manti cemetery, replacing a pioneer headstone that was severely aged.

Encouraged by a family member to approach Palisade State Park, with the headstone as a donation, the project began.

Since the summer of 2025, Barton has worked with Brian Jensen, park manager, and Jessie Nielson, assistant manager, to develop a gazebo at the park containing a shadowbox to encase the historical headstone. The gazebo will also contain informational panels telling the story of Funk’s Lake and the beginnings of Palisade State Park. 

Construction of the gazebo, including the shadowbox for the headstone, has been underway this summer. A cream-colored oolite stone has been chosen to encase the shadowbox, coordinating with the pioneer limestone that was used for the original headstone.

Oolite was a traditional material used by local Sanpete County pioneers, often called “Temple Stone.”  It was chosen as a material to hearken back to pioneers such as Daniel Funk, who among other contributions, helped build the Manti Temple.

The Legacy Celebration will serve as a dedication of the permanent home for the pioneer headstone, an event where Funk descendants and the Sanpete County community can gather to “dedicate a lasting tribute to Daniel Buckley Funk—a gazebo, an interpretive tri-panel display and a shadow box memorial—so that his legacy may be shared with generations to come,” states Steve Funk, a great-great grandson to Daniel.

Funk’s Lake, a 75-acre lake, created and engineered by Daniel Buckley Funk, was first a fishery that supplied the Sanpete Valley with a steady food source, before being repurposed for irrigation and recreation.

“I’ve had better carp out of Palisade Lake cooked by my mother than crab at a coastal high-end restaurant,” says William Funk, a great-great-grandson of Daniel Funk.

From the beginning, dance and music were key elements of recreation at Funk’s Lake and Palisade Park.  William Funk says no atmosphere duplicates what was found at the Dance Hall at Palisade, which overlooked the lights of Sanpete Valley communities

During its heyday in the early 20th Century, entertainment at Funk’s Lake included traveling live bands, baseball games with professional teams, circuses and even performances by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Barton says she feels personally connected to her grandfather and the place he developed through personal recreation time spent at Palisade State Park, and through family stories, such as her sister Reva meeting her husband, Lenny Myer, a band leader from Indiana, at the dance hall.

As part of the Legacy Celebration, William Funk, the great-great-grandson will share history of Funk’s Lake that he learned growing up while riding horseback with his grandfather, William DeMill Funk Jr.

Just as music has been part of the Funk’s Lake history, music will be part of the legacy celebration. Brian Stucki, an accomplished concert soloist who now teaches at the Horne School of Music at Snow College, will be sing, “They the Builders of the Nation” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Also performing will be Becky Barton Hullinger, a great-great-granddaughter of Daniel Buckley Funk. A native of Manti, she has recorded three albums. She has also held the titles of Miss Manti, Miss Sanpete and third runner-up to Miss Utah USA.  Becky will sing a medley that will include “God Bless America,” “America the Beautiful,” and “This Land is My Land.” 

Both performers will be accompanied by Dr. Michael Huff, director of choral studies at the Horne School of Music.

The program will end with a keynote speaker, Utah Sen. Derrin Owens, who lives in Fountain Green where he and his wife, Heather, have raised five children along with American quarter horses and Angus cattle.

“Barbara has driven the effort that has transformed the vision for the Daniel Buckley Funk Legacy Project into reality, not only to honor her ancestor but to inspire all people to connect more deeply, strengthen relationships and increase unity in our families and communities, a divinely guided mission in which Barbara is completely invested,” says Steve Funk, another descendant, who assisted Barbara throughout the project.

Barton invites all Sanpete residents to attend the legacy celebration and to visit the new gazebo at Palisade State Park honoring Daniel Buckley Funk, who she says fits the description of “a pioneer and builder of the nation.”