Everyone in Gorin, Missouri was scandalized when the daughter of a leading citizen committed the ultimate sin of entering into a mixed marriage. A Methodist exchanging vows with a Presbyterian?...
That daughter was Sedona Arabella Miller, and the marriage she made carried her west to a red-rock canyon in the Arizona Territory. When her husband, T.C. Schnebly, applied for a post office, the name he offered was hers - and so the town became Sedona.
A century on, her name graces one of the most beautiful places in the world, spoken by millions who never knew the woman behind it. For our family, the story is more intimate - a reminder that even the grandest places begin with ordinary people, and that a small act of love can echo far longer than any scandal.
Originally published in View AZ Highlife Magazine, Spring 2008.