Growing up, Jan Pinborough never thought of herself and her family as pioneers. Pinborough recalled dressing up in aprons and bonnets as a child and pulling wagons around the meetinghouse with other Primary children to commemorate the early Latter-day Saint trek west. She assumed that’s what it meant to be a pioneer.
Pinborough’s parents, Horace and Shirley Underwood, had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when she was 3 years old after Shirley let the missionaries into the family’s home despite warnings from a neighbor.
The family remained devoted members of their ward in Midland, Texas, as Jan and her three siblings grew up, helping with early meetinghouse building projects and serving in leadership callings. Several years after the Underwood family joined the Church, the same neighbor who had warned Shirley Underwood not to talk to the missionaries ended up joining the Church, along with her whole family, after Pinborough’s brother told one of the neighbor’s daughters about the gospel.