Early in their marriage World War II broke out ; Price was at Pearl Harbor with the Army when the Japanese attacked December 7, 1941.
[2] He was sent to serve in the European Theater, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and received a Purple Heart for an injury sustained during a run-in with a tank.
After the war, Price served as a deputy post commander at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, retiring in 1973.
Price was active in community affairs in the unincorporated part of Salt Lake County known as Granger-Hunter.
While many were involved with the push to become a city, "it was abundantly clear that the driving force behind incorporation was Henry Price, the Justice of the Peace in Granger," said newspaper reporter Mike Gorrell.
Accentuating points with frequent waves of his trademark--an unlit cigar--Price left no doubt he knew what he wanted and intended to get it."
Price was elected the city's first mayor in a landslide over Hiland Kent, a retired Hunter businessman and chair of the Granger-Hunter Improvement District Board (5,309 votes, 68%, to 2,537, 32%).
"In due time," Price predicted, "we'll make a beautiful place out of what is now called West Valley City.
"We Blew It - Now Let's Undo It" said the anti-city literature, and the courts set the disincorporation effort for July 8, only a week after the new city was supposed to launch.
Many thought it prudent for the city to postpone its July 1 start date until the outcome of the disincorporation vote was known.
[8] Price was sworn in as the mayor of Utah's newest city on July 1, 1980, by Judge David K. Winder.
This led to Price storming out of the room, furious, and telling Mackay on his way out, "Madame, put your head in the toilet and flush it!
[12] The primary election of October 6, 1981, stunned the city's commissioners, as outsider Maloney led them all with 1,769 votes (30%), followed by Wagstaff with 1,689 (29%).
After the primary, Price mounted a write-in campaign to retain his seat, and Mackay endorsed her fellow city commissioner Wagstaff.