Family History Experiences

These are memories of experiences from doing family history research.

In about 1975, my brother, Dave and I decided it was time to do some family history research. We were both living in Salt Lake City, Utah, and had access to the Family History Library there. It was located in downtown Salt Lake. We started meeting there for lunch.

Dave had served a mission in Austria, and I had taken a year of German at the University of Utah. So we thought we could possibly read the German names on the microfilms there. It was very difficult, as the names were all hand-written and the writing was different from what we were used to.

Mom had started the research by asking Dad's mother about her ancestors. We started with this information. It turned out that the spellings she had used for the names were very different from what was recorded.

Dave and I were both attracted to names that were only similar to the information we had. The Spirit was guiding us, and we were able to put together a large list of Polish and German ancestors. Our success was primarily in a section of Poland that had been divided off from Germany after World War I. It had changed hands between Germany and Poland several times throughout its history. That was Silesia (Schlesien in German).

There was some confusion because one ancestor, Juliana Rathusny, one of our great great grandmothers seemed to have had two husbands, each with the first name of Sebastian. Then we found where the first Sebastian had died in a fall from a roof.

Other problems that we had were caused by spelling uncertainties. One last name could be spelled one way at birth, another way at marriage and even a third way at death. We had to rely on the Spirit to help us sort that all out.

While we were thus researching, I had the opportunity to go to Germany with the Utah Air National Guard. We knew that Oma, our German grandmother had a younger sister living near Frankfort, Germany, where I would be staying. I managed to call her and make arrangements to visit with her on a Saturday.

With my limited ability to speak and understand German, I was concerned about this visit and its success. I need not have worried, because the Holy Ghost was with me and temporarily gave us the gift of tongues. For quite a while during the visit, I was able to understand everything my great-aunt Marta Gothardt was saying. And I was able to speak well enough that she was able to understand what I was saying. I was able to verify much of the information Dave and I had extracted from the records. The information we had from Oma included Juliana Rathusny's first husband Sebastian Wiechulla and their family. Aunt Marta was younger and did not know that family, but she knew the family of the second husband, Sebastian Gatzka. I knew when it was time to say goodby to Tante Marta, because the Gift of Tongues was withdrawn, and I could no longer understand all she was telling me. It was quite a testimony of the importance of this family history work.

Dave was able to prepare most of the names for Temple ordinance work, and perform much of the work at the Orlando Florida Temple while he was living in Tallahassee. I found through New Family Search that there were some that had been left out. I am currently working on those at the Palmyra New York Temple.

Courtship and Marriage

This is a story of the most important phase of my life. It is a continuing story because I am still courting my wife, and continuing to try to improve my marriage by improving myself. My wife is already nearly perfect.

In the Beginning

I first saw Georgia Smith in Sunday School class. She had just moved into the East Mill Creek Ward with her parents and 2 brothers. My first impression was that she was dressed like a greaser girl (as in the Pink Ladies from the movie "Grease"). So I was a little turned off. But she didn't fit in that group. It was only that the style from her previous neighborhood was different. With that style of dress she immediately attracted the friendship of other girls in the ward, especially Eileen Anderson, who was kind of a greaser girl. Georgia was really not that kind of girl. But she was sweet and kind and treated Eileen nicely, even though she didn't want to be in that group.

Then I was ordained a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood, and was assigned as the junior ward teaching companion to Larry Morgan. We were assigned several new families at the east end of the ward where the houses had been recently finished.

One of those families was the Robert Farr Smith family, who lived at the top end of the same street where I lived. I lived in the house, 2787 E 3400 S, on the southwest corner of the block, and they lived in the house, 3398 S 2890 E, on the southeast corner of the block.

The first time we visited them, I sat on a couch in the corner of the living room, right by the stairway to the basement. There was no carpet on the floor, yet. The house was still not quite finished. They had two little chihuahua dogs, named Poky and Tia. They got under the couch at my feet and I played with them while we visited. Georgia's dad called her to come in and meet the ward teachers.

Her first impression of me was not very good. She was not happy to have moved from her previous neighborhood and friends. She had the thought that she would likely meet her future husband in this new neighborhood. As she looked at me and thought that I might be that person, she was repulsed. Here I was, a really skinny little boy. She had already developed into a beautiful young lady. She was half a foot taller than me. My prospects must have seemed very dim at that point.

Our relationship did not advance for a long time. She continued to try to find her place in this new society. I continued to struggle with being shy, but wanted to have the fun that others had in dating the opposite sex.

We Get to Know Each Other

Once I decided I wanted to go to any particular dating function, I sometimes spent weeks trying to work up the nerve to ask someone. I don't even remember what the occasion was when I first decided to ask Georgia out. But when I called, I was told that she was in the hospital having her appendix removed. By the time I got up the nerve again, I discovered that she was 'going with' the bishop's son, Paul Pitts. That fit, because she was a former bishop's daughter. Paul was a friend of mine, so I was not about to cut in on him.

Eventually, Georgia and Cheryl Cutler became best friends. Cheryl lived next door to Bishop Pitts and his family. Cheryl first asked me out, and we double dated with Georgia and Paul. I was trying to be a gentleman, so I returned the favor and asked Cheryl out. Once again we doubled with Georgia and Paul. Cheryl and I continued to ask each other out, and we always doubled with Georgia and Paul.

Steady dating was discouraged in the church. I wanted to date other girls, other than Cheryl, but being so shy, it was just easier to call her. So we dated regularly. Toward the end of our regular dating, I did take her out without having Paul and Georgia along. But that did not end well. She was just not very fun when Georgia was not with her.

The custom in those days for the teenagers at church meetings, was to sit with your friends if you did not have an assignment. Priests sat at the Sacrament table through the entire meeting. Teachers frequently served as ushers and sat near the doors to the chapel. Deacons stayed on the front row even after they had passed the Sacrament. If you were dating someone regularly, you sat with the person you were dating. I did not want people to think I was going steady with anyone, so I joined the ward choir.

Sometime during my senior year in high school I decided to break up with Cheryl. I did it very clumsily and I was not very kind in doing so. I just wanted to date other girls. I did start dating others, but still had problems with being too shy to really enjoy the experiences.

Cheryl and Paul and Georgia and I were called as Ward Dance Directors. We were in charge of promoting ward dances, and in participating in stake and regional dances. I don't remember why, but Cheryl and Paul dropped out and no longer participated, leaving Georgia and I alone in the calling.

During my senior year in high school, Georgia approached me and asked if I would please ask Cheryl to the Junior Prom. She put all her feminine charm into the approach, and I totally melted. I agreed to ask Cheryl. So Paul and Georgia, and Cheryl and I were back together for one last time. But that was a big turning point. I had wanted to ask someone else to Prom. But as I thought about why I agreed to ask Cheryl, I realized that I would do anything for Georgia. I realized that I was falling for her. I really wanted to start dating her, but she was going with Paul, and I would not cut in on him.

One of the fun social activities for the youth of our time was the ward Saturday afternoon movies. It was a fund raising activity for the ward. The ward would rent 16mm movies and show them in the cultural hall. They charged for admission, and they also sold candy and treats out of the kitchen. The cost was very reasonable and most of the kids in the area attended, along with many parents. The teenagers would gather toward the rear of the hall to socialize before the movie started.

One Saturday after I graduated from high school, Eddie Nicholson and I were sitting together, waiting for the movie to start, when Georgia came in alone, looking very upset. I say it looked like she had smoke coming out of her ears, she was that mad. I didn't want to talk to her while she was in such a mood, but Eddie was not so shy. He asked her what was wrong. She turned and said, "Paul and I just broke up." She says the look on my face scared her half to death. Needless to say, I was actually delighted.

Our First Dating Experiences

I was not dating a lot at that time, being busy with my freshman year at the University of Utah. But I started looking for an opportunity to ask Georgia out. I knew she was not too fond of me, because I was the guy who had dumped her best friend, Cheryl. I had joined an LDS fraternity at the Institute of Religion. I was in Alpha Chapter of Lambda Delta Sigma. We had a lot of fun and spiritual experiences. We also frequently had joint activities with the ladies' chapters, which made it easy to socialize without the need for the expense of dating. My mentor for this group was Dennis Mead.

Finally, an annual function of the chapter provided an opportunity to ask others. It was the annual Alpha Chapter Polygamy Party, in the spring of 1963. We pretended that we were back in pioneer times and asked young ladies to join us. Bruce Dehaan, the chapter president, rented a bus and took thirty-two young ladies. I asked five girls, Georgia being among them. They were all still in high school, so they thought it was really cool to be asked to a college function. Georgia says that if it had just been her and me, she probably would have turned me down, but since there would be others, she agreed to go with me. The other young ladies named Georgia my number one wife. I guess they could tell I was really sweet on her. We all had a great time.

I continued to date Georgia through that spring and summer. We often doubled with her cousin, Deanna Chamberlain and others that she would bring. Eddie Nicholson was often with Deanna.

That fall, Georgia was also enrolled at the University of Utah. She was also employed at ZCMI, a large department store in downtown Salt Lake City. I often met her at the bus stop when she would come from work to take some evening classes. I looked for any opportunity to be with her.

I loved to go to the Utah State Fair with dates. I took Georgia that year. We doubled with Deanna and Eddie. Afterward, we dropped Eddie and Deanna off at their homes and I took Georgia to her house. As we sat and talked on the patio, I kissed her for the first time. But she did not kiss me back.

A few days later, after another date, I tried kissing her again. This time she kissed me back and I almost fainted. Then she asked me why I had kissed her. How do you answer that? I stammered something about how I thought I was falling in love with her. That seemed to satisfy her, so she really kissed me. She had me. As if there had been any question before, I was totally in love after that.

We continued to date through the fall. I was going on vacation with my family between Christmas and New Years to southern California. I felt badly that I would not be able to celebrate New Years Eve and Day with her. I did give her some really nice Christmas gifts. One was a sweater that she really liked. Another was a record album by Bobby Vee titled "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes."

A Rough Spell

Paul was trying to get back into the picture. Obviously he didn't share the same honor code with me. Georgia did wear the sweater I gave her on New Years Eve as she went out with Paul. He even asked her where she got it.

After I returned from vacation I tried to get back to dating Georgia. She was conflicted. She still liked Paul. She was not sure about me. She subtly let me know that she wasn't sure about me. I finally suggested that we break up and date others for awhile. She agreed. We'd had no agreement to be exclusive up to that time, and she felt I was trying to monopolize her time. I was, and she didn't particularly care for that.

I did date several others over the next few weeks. I also bought my first car. It was a 1957 Chevrolet. Then several of the youth of the ward were called to be Youth Missionaries. I was called, as were Georgia and her younger brother Stephen. Paul was not. We had our first meeting of the Youth Missionary Committee shortly after I bought the car. I also had a date that evening with Laura Setterberg, a girl I knew from work. So I was really dressed up. I was also wearing a nice cologne that evening for the first time, English Leather. At the end of the missionary meeting I offered to take Stephen and Georgia home, before heading out to my date. Georgia didn't want to, but Stephen readily accepted, so I drove them home. I was hoping just a little to make her jealous.

Laura was a very popular girl who had been a prom queen at Jordan High School. I had dated her a couple of times before. I don't remember where I took her that night, but at the end of the evening as I was saying goodbye at her door, she leaned out and kissed me. The emotions that stirred scared me, and all the way home I kept thinking, "I've got to get back together with Georgia!"

Things Start to Get Serious

I told her I'd had enough of dating others and took her out more. We often double dated with Deanna and her dates again. One night in May, as Georgia and I sat in my car in her driveway, she decided to find out my true intentions. After several hours of discussion I finally told her I thought I wanted to marry her. She had intended to tell me to get lost. But she didn't. She finally felt much the same about me as I had felt about her. So we were informally engaged. We didn't tell anyone at that time.

We started stopping to look at engagement and wedding rings, so I knew what styles she liked. Sometime later that year, I had enough saved to buy a set of rings. I talked to a salesman at Zales Jewelry in the Cottonwood Mall about what I wanted. But there was a problem. I was only twenty years old, and there was some law at the time that any man under the age of twenty-one could not make major purchases without their parents permission. I had him put the rings on hold for me while I tried to figure out how to talk Mom into going with me to purchase them.

One problem was that I was grounded. The night Georgia and I had talked until almost 4AM, I was in trouble when I got home. I couldn't tell Mom and Dad why I was so late. They didn't like how serious I was getting with Georgia. So they grounded me. I finally talked Mom into going to Zales with me to buy the rings. I agreed to wait awhile before I presented the engagement solitaire to Georgia. She hoped that the thought of such a serious commitment would cause me to reconsider.

Engagement

I did not give up. I was determined to marry Georgia. I was emotionally committed. I was also completely in love. Soon after Thanksgiving I decided it was time. I scheduled a date with Georgia to discuss our desires with her parents. I asked her to my house first, where I presented her with a single long stemmed red rose in a fancy florists box. I told her it was for courage in talking to her parents. Around the stem of the rose I had place the engagement ring.

I hardly remember everything that went on that evening. I think I got down on my knees and formally proposed marriage. She agreed! We then went to her house and announced our engagement to her parents. I probably asked her father's permission, but I don't really remember. It was all such a blur. It was such a happy time.

Later that month, Georgia went with my family to Camarillo, California on vacation. She got to meet my Oma and Opa, my German grandparents.

We originally set the wedding date for September twenty seventh. We thought that date sounded good.

Soon after we returned from California, we decided that waiting until September was not a good idea. We were both too anxious to be married.

I was in the ROTC program at the U. So I was scheduled to go to a military boot camp that summer of 1965. I would be away for four weeks. I didn't want to go away after marrying. I thought that would be too much torture. So we decided to get married as soon as possible after I returned.

We decided to be married in the Salt Lake Temple. However, the temple would be closed for most of the month of July. It was to open for marriages on July 23 for those who were previously endowed. We decided on that date. We received our endowments in the temple on June seventh. I left on the tenth to go to Lowry AFB in Denver for ROTC summer camp.

When we went to get our marriage license, the problem arose that men had to be at least twenty-one to obtain a license on their own. Women only had to be eighteen. Once again I needed Mom to accompany me to get her permission. It was her last chance to hold things up, but she went willingly. She had decided that it was no use fighting the inevitable.

Earlier that year I had obtained employment as a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the Deseret Gymnasium in downtown Salt Lake. I was also in my third year of classes at the University of Utah. The last term of those classes I got the best grades I had yet had. Being engaged really made me buckle down.

I had to give up my job at the gym to go to summer camp. But I had a promise that I could come back after I was through. I decided to wait until after the honeymoon to return. There was only a few days from the time I came back from Denver until we left on our honeymoon, so I didn't think it was appropriate to go back just then. And we had a lot that we needed to do to get ready for the wedding.

We had secured an apartment in Stadium Village married student housing at the University of Utah. We moved our furniture into that apartment at 1563 Sigma St. #5 during the time we were waiting to be married after ROTC camp.

Marriage

So we were sealed together for time and all eternity on the morning of July 23, 1965. The sealer in the temple was Eben R.T. Blomquist. The temple was partially under construction at the time. The entrance was through what is now the North Visitors Center.

We had a wedding breakfast at my Aunt June and Uncle John Hartman's home on Dallin Street near the Salt Lake Country Club.

Later that afternoon we went to the site of our reception to decorate for the wedding. Georgia had made most of the decorations herself. Our reception was out in the garden at the Garden Park Ward on Yale Avenue in Salt Lake. Mom and Dad had been married there in a double ceremony with Mom's sister June, and Dad's best army friend John Hartman. Georgia's parents had also had their wedding reception there. We had daisies floating in the duck pond there, and ribbon roses festooning everything around the yard. Georgia had made the roses from extra ribbon while she worked at the gift wrap desk at ZCMI.

As I worked helping decorate for the reception, I looked at my watch and discovered that it was not working properly. I had ordered the flowers from Mildred's Flowers, a place I always had gotten corsages. Mildred was also a friend of Dad's. It was too late for me to get from the Garden Park Ward house to Mildred's before they closed. I called home to see if Dad could get there. Mildred had already called him and the day was saved. I went home and picked up the flowers and got back to the church in plenty of time.

Georgia had asked her cousin Deanna to be Maid of Honor at the reception. Cheryl Cutler and my sister, Tawny, were also in the wedding line. My best man was Dennis Chamberlain, Deanna's older brother. The ushers were my brother David, and Georgia's brothers Stephen and Stuart.

The guests at the reception were served from a fresh fruit buffet. We had invited many people from the East Mill Creek wards who had watched us grow together. Georgia's dad had been the Bishop of the North 21st Ward on the Avenues, and many of them had been invited. We actually had over five hundred guests come to the wedding. When it was all over, there was no food left for the bride and groom. Georgia's uncle Ernie, Deanna's father, bought us hamburgers from Dee's drive in for us to eat as we left the church.

We left the church in Dad's '59 Chrysler station wagon. It was a good thing we hadn't planned on taking my '57 Chevy, because my brother had let all the air out of the tires. He was in deep trouble with Dad, as Dad had planned on taking my car home.

Georgia and I went to the Imperial 400 motel on the corner of Main Street and 6th South in Salt Lake. The Grand America Hotel now stands on that block.

Olympus High School

Well, I got through the posting about my junior high years without too much pain. So here goes on the high school era.

I attended Olympus High School from September 1959 until June of 1962. There were many highs and lows while I was a student there. I still remember the school motto, "With freedom comes responsibility." I truly believe that.

Sophomore Year
One of the highlights of every young man's sophomore year was drivers' ed. We actually got to drive. The car I drove in was a 1960 Pontiac. The first day out on the road in the car, I felt that I was too close to the side of the road. I only felt comfortable in the middle of the road. The instructor had to keep pulling the wheel to the right to get me into the proper lane. I overcame that tendency by the second time behind the wheel. I eventually passed my driver's license test the summer after I completed the sophomore year.

Seminary that year was Old Testament with Brother Max Moffat. He made the subject fun. I still remember learning the order of all the books. I think I can still recite them up through the major prophets. I didn't ever get the minor prophets down.

For math that year I had Mr. Jensen for geometry. I loved it. He was an excellent teacher, and by the end of the first grading period, we were ahead of the advanced math class that many of my friends were in. But he had bought a dairy farm in Heber City, which he had hired a manager to run. That didn't work out well and he had to quit teaching half way through the year to run his farm. We had a series of substitute teachers the rest of the year, and made almost no additional progress.

I also took a typing class at the encouragement from Mom. She had taught me a little before on our little portable typewriter at home. I was able to stay ahead of the class on speed tests for the first few weeks. But when I got to 30 words per minute I hit a plateau. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get any faster. My old problem with poor finger dexterity had bit me again, just like when I tried to learn to play the piano. I still type about the same speed, today. I did learn touch typing and it has been a great blessing through all the years.

I did have a lot of friends at Olympus, but I was still suffering from shyness, and from problems with Dad at home. One of the boys who had tormented me was giving me a hard time after a class, and I pushed him down, hard, into some of the desks. Then I just walked away. He was very nice to me after that. The boys who had been so cruel in junior high were not at the high school. The worst of them were in juvenile detention for some really bad things they had done. The one who seemed to hate me the most ended up killing himself and some others, including a couple of police officers, when he grabbed the steering wheel and forced the police car into oncoming traffic while being transported between court and the detention center in Ogden. He thought he could escape that way. No seat belts in cars at that time.

Junior Year
My English teacher, Mr. Lynn Reading, was also one of the coaches. He thought it would be good to give more boys the chance to participate in sports, so he started an intramural program. There were 2 divisions, a team division, and an individual division. I didn't know enough people who were competing in team sports, so I only entered the individual events. But I entered every one: golf, tennis, swimming, track, rifle shooting, table tennis, badminton, bowling, skiing, chess. There may have been others, also. I did well enough at enough of them to win the first place trophy in the individual division. In high school it was socially important for a boy to be a jock. That success helped my self esteem. I didn't get to keep the trophy. Mr. Reading took it to get it engraved for me, but he moved away and I never saw it again.

My poor study habits carried on from the years before. I got by, but I could have done much better. I frequently forgot assignments, or put them off until the last minute and did them sloppily, so my grades were not as good as I could have. My friends in the advance placement classes moved further and further ahead of me.

For Seminary, I had Brother Olsen. He was very enthusiastic and I enjoyed my New Testament studies. For my class essay, I wrote about the Savior, and referenced Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. I'm afraid I copied too much from the book, because I remember the teacher's comment on the paper, "Next time more Hippen, and less Talmage!"

All 3 years at Olympus I took Spanish. I had started that in 8th grade at Evergreen Jr with Mr. Cooper. Mr. Cooper had been a pretty good teacher. He had also introduced us to Mexican cooking by taking us to the Casa de Tampico restaurant at the end of each year. I went with other students to the BYU campus to participate in the "Festival of Foreigh Languages" that the Y put on each year. I loved the college atmosphere. Every year I spent the time with Dave Powers at the competition. I remember having a comment on one of my presentations that I spoke Spanish with an Italian accent. However, the Spanish teacher at Olympus was not a good teacher. We never made any progress, because he never had us practice speaking. We called him "The Berb Brain." All we ever did in class was conjugate "berbs" (verbs, with a Spanish accent.)

I also got involved in more serious science classes. I took physics and chemistry. Mr. Poulsen was the physics teacher. He was quite good and I did well in his class. He invited me to join his advanced physics class the next year. I loved being in an advanced class.

Senior Year
My last year at Olympus was much better. I had better teachers for one thing. I dated more regularly, although it was still a painful experience to ask a girl out.. The main other thing was the swimming team.

Olympus had never had a swim team before. We didn't have a pool. But arrangements were made to use the Granite High School pool, and a coach was called. The coach was Mr. Sullivan, who had been my chemistry teacher the previous year. We had a pretty good team, especially considering that Mr. Sullivan had no training as a swimming coach, and we were limited to 3 days per week practice. At the end of the year we placed 5th at the state championship. I swam breaststroke as my primary stroke. Gerry Carlson, whose father ran a swim school, was the other breaststroker. I occasionally beat him. I also swam individual medley at times. That's 2 lengths each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle crawl.

In seminary I had Brother Groberg. He lived in the East Mill Creek 1st Ward, so I knew who he was long before I had him as a teacher. We studied the Book of Mormon for the first half of the year, then Doctrine and Covenants and Church History the second half. Brother Groberg had a reputation of being very boring. He did have a monotone voice, and showed little personality in his teaching, but he was not as bad as I expected from hearing him speak in church.

My English teacher was Mrs Clemmons. She was brilliant. She was a Vassar College graduate. I was familiar with Vassar, because my cousin, Kathryn Stein was going there that same year. Vassar had the highest entrance standards and the toughest curriculum of any liberal arts school in the country. It was an all girls school. The first week of class she passed out a list of about 100 classic books that she said were required reading for anyone going to Vassar. She said every girl going there was expected to read them all before starting as a freshman. She had us all check off the ones we had read. I had read 6 or 7 of them. But that was more that anyone else in any of her classes, so I started out on a very good footing with her.

We studied Shakespeare that year. Macbeth was the main point of study, but we studied parts of several other of his plays and many of his sonnets. We also studied other British authors, like Chaucer, and Bacon. For one of our term papers, we were given the choice of an essay on Macbeth or to write a Shakespearean sonnet. There were other choices also. I intended to write the essay on Macbeth, but put it off until later, and then forgot about it. Most of the other students wrote the essay. The morning of the day it was due, one of my friends asked me how I did on the paper. He could tell from the look of panic on my face that I had forgotten it. I decided the only choice I had time for was a Shakespearean sonnet. I had read all of his sonnets so I was very familiar with the format and style. The subject of my sonnet was 'virtue'. I cranked it out in the few minutes after I finished lunch. My friend was surprised when I handed in the assignment, but he was furious when I got the top grade in the class on it. Mrs. Clemmons actually read it to the class before she handed our papers back to us.

That was the only year she taught high school English. The following year she was teaching at the University of Utah. I was blessed to have her.

I started dating Cheryl Cutler that year. Her best friend was Georgia Smith. I had called Georgia for a date earlier, but she was in the hospital having her appendix out when I called. By the time I worked up the courage to call her again, she was dating another friend of mine, Paul Pitts, our bishop's son. We were encouraged to double date as much as possible by our church leaders, so it was just natural for Cheryl and me to get together with Paul and Georgia. We dated often, many times just Friday nights at Cheryl's house for ice cream and to watch the Friday night horror movies that were very popular on TV at that time. (That was the inspiration for Michael Jackson's Thriller.) We also went to all the church dances together, and eventually were called as Ward Dance Directors, all 4 of us. The problem was, I found myself liking Paul's date more than my own. Much more. But I was too good a friend to try and cut in on him then.

I tried to break up with Cheryl towards the end of the year. I did it very clumsily, and I probably hurt her feelings. Then Georgia asked me to ask Cheryl out for a special occasion, Jr. Prom, I think. I then realized that I had fallen for Georgia. I did ask Cheryl out again. I did it because I would do anything for Georgia. But she was still going with Paul.

I also took a couple of other girls out that year. One was Marjorie Debenham. At first I really enjoyed her, but after a few dates, her giddiness started to wear on my nerves. Her mother was also putting pressure on me to make some kind of commitment to her. I was definitely not ready for that.

I started school an hour early that year. My advanced physics class started an hour before the regular school day. We had a great time there. It was all laboratory work, and we designed our own projects and experiments to demonstrate various principles. One very cold winter morning we got to class and the heat had gone off in the night. It was barely above freezing in the room. Mr. Poulsen turned on some of the gas jets that we used for powering bunsen burners, and lit them! We had several 2-3 foot long torches going all at the same time. Warmed the room up pretty quickly.

I grew a lot, physically. When I started as a sophomore I was about 5 ft 2 in. When I started my junior year I was 5 ft 6 in and weighed 135 pounds. When I started my senior year I was 6 ft 1 in and still weighed 135 pounds. My entire junior year, and especially the summer between those years, I was tired all the time. I could sleep 12 hours a day, easily. The rapid growth took all my energy. When we went outside for gym the fall of my senior year, I had difficulty running because I was not used to the size of my body. I felt like I was falling over forward all the time I was trying to run. Being on the swim team helped me catch up by strengthening my muscles. I was still only about 145 pounds when I graduated.

Our graduation was a big deal. It was one of the largest graduating classes in the state. I think it was over 700 graduates. After graduation, Jeff Anderson, Charlie Nielson, and I took dates to Charlie's house for dinner and games late into the morning hours. I do not remember who any of our dates were.

I started working at the Holiday Neighbor newspaper during my junior year. I delivered bundles of newspapers to the carrier boys. I started using Mom's '52 Buick, then our '54 Chrysler Imperial, and eventually in my '57 Chevy. I made about $20 per week. I saved more than half of everything I earned, and used it to buy the Chevy and to pay tuition for my first year of college. I kept that job for about 3 years.

Junior High

This part of my life story I have been putting off as long as possible. But now is the time to suck it up, quit feeling sorry for myself, and just write it!

We were moving into our house in East Mill Creek when I started 7th grade at Evergreen Jr. High. The first week or two was ok. I met some good future friends. Don Cowan and I kind of raced walking up Evergreen Avenue. I was ahead of him, walking alone. He decided he wanted to pass me. I heard him coming up behind me and I decided to not let him pass. We ended up almost running up the hill until we started laughing at the situation.

Jeff Anderson and Charlie Nielson stopped by the house and introduced themselves. They ended up being some of the best, most loyal friends I had for the next 8 years.

I started going to church regularly. Sister Barney was my first teacher. I was still in Primary for the first few weeks, and she saw to it that I completed my requirements for Primary graduation.

I also walked past the East Mill Creek library on my way to and from school every day. I got a library card and made it a habit to stop there and check out books on a regular basis. My favorite author that first year was Jim Kjelgard. He wrote about dogs, Irish setters mostly, and forest animals. His stories made their lives sound very interesting.

My study habits in 7th grade kind of slipped. I read a lot, and I watched a lot of TV. But I didn't organize myself and didn't apply myself very consistently to my studies. In my English and history class I succumbed to teasing from a boy who sat near me. It seemed that I always retaliated against him just as the teacher turned around, so I was frequently in trouble.

In my first Home Room I was seated next to Bill Haskins. He and I became good friends for the next several years. I even nominated him for 7th grade president, the class voted for him, and I became his campaign manager. I had no idea how to do that. I was also too shy to ask for help, so the campaign didn't go very well. He didn't win.

I don't know why I suddenly became shy. I had not been that way before, but I became terribly shy. I guess it had something to do with teenage hormones. I was afraid to talk to girls. I was afraid to talk to adults. I was afraid of my teachers. All the things I'd done successfully before then left my memory, and I lost all self confidence. Things were not very good at home. Dad was not acting nicely. His friends became more important than his family. He seemed to get very hard on me and I was always in trouble at home. He wasn't interested in helping me with any of my school work, but would yell at me and punish me if I didn't do it right. He became antagonistic toward the Church. I couldn't seem to do anything right. I was still basically happy. Happy was my natural state. But I was also quite miserable much of the time.

I kind of withdrew into a shell. I read a lot, and watched TV. I went to school, church, and not much else. Withdrawing was not the best thing to do. It just made things worse.

I made my first enemies in 7th grade. There were a few social groups, and I didn't seem to fit in any of them. The group I was most afraid of were the 'greasers'. I thought I could befriend them by combing my hair like they did. Mom was my barber, so I was not able to carry that out well. The 'greasers' just laughed at me. A couple of the worst of them started bullying me, and my shyness put me at a great disadvantage. The only time I tried to retaliate, I just made them mad, then I became even more afraid.

The other groups were the 'betas', the 'brains', and the 'jocks'. The betas were the rich kids who set the fashion trends. Mom bought all my clothes, and I was not 'in' with the expensive fashions the betas wore. Beta was derived from the Greek letter and indicated that these kids were destined to be fraternity members in college. They also were the kids with the most self confidence, so I didn't fit in with them in any way.

The brains were the top students. I fit in with them socially, but my study habits made me so I didn't fit in with them very well, either. They were the guys I hung out with. I ate lunch with them. But they left me behind when it came to grades. I just had no self discipline at this time in my life.

I didn't fit in with the jocks either. The other boys started filling out and getting taller. I was short and skinny. And I was kind of a weakling. I was afraid to try out for any sports. I lacked coordination. I started practicing basketball in our driveway, and eventually got to be a pretty good shot. But I felt I was too short to actually participate.

Mr.Walker, my 7th grade gym teacher, organized a baseball league for the summer. I was encouraged to participate. All who came were guaranteed positions on a team. I played shortstop and got to be a pretty good fielder. I was still afraid of too many things, especially failure, and that made me very nervous when I played, so I was not able to perform at my best.

There were a lot of others that didn't fit with any of these 'in' groups. I started hanging out with some of them. We kind of formed our own group, the 'losers'. Anyway, that's how I felt. Staying just on the edge of the 'brains' group kept me from becoming a total loser.

Toward the end of 7th grade I got to be friends with Hugh Coleman. He was popular because he was often the class clown. He made people laugh. I invited him to go fishing with Dad and some of Dad's friends for the opening day of fishing season at Moon Lake. Fishing was Hugh's favorite activity so he readily accepted. We had a great time, and Hugh became a great friend.

Hugh and I were locker partners in 8th and 9th grades. At the end of 8th grade Hugh ran for student body office. He used his ability to make people laugh to good advantage and was successful in his campaign. A result of his popularity was that I was no longer 'in' with his new group of friends. We started to drift apart. Toward the end of 9th grade some of the greasers who were bullying me started to intimidate Hugh, also. That pretty much ended our friendship. He no longer wanted to be associated with me if it meant he would be one of their targets also.

Eighth grade is just a blur. Things got worse at home. My grades did not improve. I withdrew even more socially.

Ninth grade was a little better. I was assigned to Mrs. Herman's English class. Mrs. Herman was a short Jewish lady. Many of her students were taller than she was. She also had a reputation of being the toughest teacher in the school. But she really challenged her students to do their best. I accepted her challenge and started to improve my study habits, if only for her class. She singled out those in her class that were doing well, and we kind of became members of an exclusive club. We spent time with her outside of school on special projects. I really enjoyed the attention and I responded with much of my best work.

Some of my classes served me well in later years. As I worked as a handyman, I remembered many of the lessons learned in shop classes. Woodworking shop, sheet metal shop, and electrical shop were all good learning experiences.

I actually started dating in ninth grade. No one at that time had suggested we wait until we were 16. The dates were just to school dances. My first date was with Marian Florence. She was a good friend. Mom had to drive us, since I was still a couple of years away from having a driver's license. I only remember one other date, it was a group date to a girls choice dance. I had never met the girl before she asked me, but she was a friend of Kathy Harrington. I think every boy in the class wished that Kathy would ask them, but she made arrangements for all of her friends to have dates. We all went as a group. I don't remember how we got there. The girl who asked me was a very cute blond. If I hadn't been so shy, I would have had a much better time with her. Now, I can't even remember her name. I did remember. It was Jane Rasmussen. She is now married to Kathy's brother Bob.

Boy Scouts

All things considered, Boy Scouts has been one of the best experiences of my life.

I was 12 years old when I first got involved there. My first Scoutmaster was Jerry Snider. One experience I had with him was passing the cooking part of my First Class rank in his back yard. I built a fire in the middle of his garden area. It was Autumn and all his vegetables had been harvested.

Other Scoutmasters were Charles Crosby, and Tom Wall. 'Bing' Crosby, as we all called him, was a retired U.S.Army cook. He was a great positive influence on my life. Most of my Scouting was done under his leadership.

Tom Wall had us earning the money we would need for our activities, including summer camp. He organized us and took us out almost every Saturday to sell stuff. We went all over the Salt Lake Valley to a different neighborhood each week. We sold Maxfield chocolates and pecan bars, bath oil, and bags of light bulbs. I earned much of my camping gear, my uniforms, as well as my camping fees. It was a great experience which would be the basis for being a salesman later in life.

My first year I was not able to go to Scout Camp in the Summer. I do not remember why. They went to Camp Steiner in the Uinta mountains. The stories they told about it made me want to never miss another one.

The next year they went to Camp Hunt at Bear Lake. I got my Canoeing and Nature Merit Badges and passed a few other requirements and generally had one of the best times of my life.

The following year we went to a camp near Bryce Canyon, Camp Pine Lake. Once again I thoroughly enjoyed myself and being out in nature and the friendship with the other boys.

Each spring, when we had a 3 day break from school, we'd go to Mount Topaz for a campout. There was a dry stream bed there that had a lot of clear gem stones, topaz, in the sand. Around the stream bed were rock outcroppings where you could dig into crevasses in the rock and find the orange colored gems. Once they were washed into the stream, the sun would bleach all the color out of them. We would also stop on the way home to climb and jump in the sand dunes in the area. One night we had a spring rain storm, accompanied by some strong winds. Most of the tents had blown over in the night, leaving us with puddles of water on the sleeping bags. Another night, there was a full moon and we went on a nighttime hike. As a I jumped onto a rock while coming down a mountainside, the rock moved a little, and I heard the unmistakable buzz of a rattlesnake's tail. I think I cleared about half of the mountain in one jump, getting away from it.

Each winter we would have a campout in the snow at Tracy Wigwam. It was only a few miles from our neighborhood up Millcreek Canyon. We slept in bunks in 3-sided Adirondack cabins. I always had a hard time sleeping, because I could not keep warm. I was very skinny, and would always wake up in the night shivering. One morning a very cold pocket of air had settled in there during the night. It was so cold that the leather on our boots was frozen and several boys could not get their boots on. We were trying to cook breakfast on an open fire in front of the cabin. It was so cold that the sausage we were trying to cook would be burnt on the bottom and still frozen on the top. Eggs would not come out of the shell. The camp staff finally realized that it was too cold for us and came and collected everyone to the lodge and finished cooking breakfast for us in the kitchen there.

In between time I passed my other rank requirements. We went to the YWCA swimming pool every week in the winter. I earned my Swimming and Life Saving Merit Badges there. I really started to learn to swim well during that time.

Other merit badges I remember were Reading, Music, Hiking, Cooking, Camping, Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the Community, Home Repairs, Personal Fitness, and Geology. I ended up working many years later when we lived in Orem, Utah, for the man, Dr Preston Hyatt, who taught the Geology Merit Badge class. He once showed us evidence on a hillside in North Salt Lake where the Wasatch Fault had slipped some 50 feet in one quake. That would level everything in Salt Lake Vally were it to happen now.

I also went with a bunch of other Scouts from our troop to The University of Utah to take Aviation Merit Badge classes from the Air Force ROTC. That eventually led me to join the ROTC when I was at the U, which led me to a career in aircraft maintenance in the Air Force.

Other merit badges I worked on but never completed were Pioneering, Rifle and Shotgun, and Astronomy. I learned a lot from every badge I worked on, even those I didn't complete.

My final rank earned was Star. I was about to earn my Life rank when Dad grounded me from Scouting. I had been with some friends who decided we should work on our Cycling badge. When we got home from school, we grabbed our bikes and headed for the Salt Lake airport for our first long ride. No one was home when I got there from school, so I was not able to get permission. I left a note, but that didn't cut it. I stopped to buy some food on the way home and got way behind my friends. I got home very late, and Mom was very upset because she was worried.

Dad blamed the whole problem on the Church, and since the Church sponsored Scouting, I was taken out of that. Dad was socializing with a bunch of anti-Mormon friends at the time and looked for any excuse to get us away from church. I think he was also a little jealous because I had passed him in Scout rank advancement.

When I was in the Air Force in Omaha, Nebraska, I had the opportunity to work with the Scouts again. I was working with the Young Men, and the Scouts were going to drive to Yellowstone and Teton National Parks for their summer adventure. I was asked to go along to help with the driving. The troop rented several cars. We visited Yellowstone for 3 days and nights. We camped out on the banks of Yellowstone Lake near Fishing Bridge. We went to Teton National Park, swam in Jackson Lake. It's very cold, but not as cold as Yellowstone Lake. We also went to Custer Battlefield, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, and the Badlands of South Dakota as we were traveling homeward.

It was a wonderful trip except for one incident. The Scoutmaster was a very high strung, nervous man. He was an excellent organizer, so the trip was well planned. He also had a medical problem that was exacerbated by stress. He had medication for the problem, but he was very worried about the boys. They were fine, but he still worried. His medication was therefore not handling his problem, so he took a double dose. Big mistake. That caused him to hallucinate, and there was a very scary outburst in front of the boys as we were getting ready for bed one night. The other leaders anointed and gave him a priesthood blessing and then took him to a clinic for medical treatment. I was left behind to calm the boys and get them to bed. He was brought back late that night and the rest of the trip went without further incident.

However, he was very embarrassed by the incident, and soon after the trip he asked to be released. I was subsequently asked to serve as Scoutmaster.

We had a lot of good times while I was Scoutmaster. The Air Force encourages it's officers and others to support Scouting. I was essentially given as much time off from my duties as I wanted to serve in that position. I took advantage of that and spent at least 2 weeks each summer with the boys on Scout campouts. I read in Boys' Life magazine about a canoe outfitter in Minnesota that catered to scouts. I talked to the boys and their parents, as well as the other leaders, and then organized a trip to Ely, Minnesota and the Canadian Border Waters Canoe Country. We went for 9 days each of the 2 summers I was Scoutmaster. Fortunately, both years we had an outstanding group of boys and leaders. We traveled over 50 miles each of those years canoeing and portaging between lakes along the U.S./Canadian border. The boys all got their canoeing and swimming merit badges. Most of them also got Cooking and most of the requirements for Camping merit badges. The second year most of the boys earned their Mile Swim patch. I picked out an island about a half mile out in the lake where we camped, and we swam to the island and back. It was an easy swim for those boys who tried it (only one boy on the trip did not do it). I learned then that all of the boys were on age-group swimming teams. The first day on the lake each trip was always a learning experience. The boys would be doing loops and zigzag courses, trying to learn how to make the canoe go straight. One year there was a windstorm blowing the day we had to go home. I was in the lead canoe. The big lake we had to cross coming back had white capped waves, which made it quite treacherous. As we got to the middle of the lake I turned around to see how the boys were doing, and was very pleased to see an absolutely straight line of canoes following my canoe. They were having no trouble handling the rough water. A week of practice had made them all excellent canoeists. A couple of the boys also became excellent cooks. We did a lot of our cooking in dutch ovens. There were lots of blueberries in the woods around us, and we were treated to some excellent blueberry pies. On the next to last day of the trip we discovered hidden in the bottom of one of the packs a large bag of raisins that we were supposed to have eaten throughout the week. Oops. But the two boys, who were brothers made a couple of raisin pies, which we all enjoyed.

After the Air Force time, I had the opportunity to work with the Scouts again. This time I worked with Georgia as the 11-year old Scout leaders. It was a really good experience for Georgia in helping her understand what it takes for a Scout to make Eagle rank. So she was able to help all 3 of our sons to achieve that rank. It was also good for our sons Lyle and Eric. They were just a little younger than our Scouts at the time, and we allowed them to participate along with the Scouts in many of the activities. It got them started well on their road to Eagle.

Folk music

In my post about music I left out a part. When I was in high school, folk music became very popular. It started with the Kingston Trio. Their first hit was Tom Dooley. Other groups built on their popularity and soon there were many folk songs among the top hits of the day. There were even a couple of prime time folk song based TV shows. One was Hootenanny. Country songs that were done in a folk song manner were among those hits. Folk, pop, and country all kind of blended together and competed with rock and roll on the radio. I enjoyed them all. I loved to sing along with the radio.

Several of my friends bought guitars and started to learn the cords to accompany the folk songs. Mom had an old guitar which had been in storage since she was a teenager. It had been a steel guitar which had all smooth strings and was played with it sitting on your lap with a steel bar to change the notes. Most of the strings were broken. I bought new strings for it and tried to learn some cords. But the strings sat too high to play fingered cords. So I cut down the string supports so I could play cords.

I bought a Pete Seegar Song Book and started learning some cords and some songs. It was a lot of fun. I even used some of those songs to serenade my future bride. I wasn't very good, but I think she did like being serenaded.

Music

I love music! I think I always have. When I was a very small lad, living in Boise, Idaho, I listened to popular music all the time. I liked the popular songs; the hits. I also loved 'Western' or 'Cowboy' music.

We listened to "My Hit Parade" every week. It was fun to hear them countdown the top hits of the day. I think they performed the top 7 hits each week. They had a regular cast and orchestra to do the numbers. They didn't use the original performers. I remember some of the names, Snooky Lansom, Gizelle McKenzie, Dorothy Collins. There were others, too, and occasional guest stars. The show picked up on television sometime in the 1950's. They were very much geared to 'Big Band' type music which was popular in the '30's and '40's. But they could not do 'Rock' music worth a darn, so the show tanked after that became popular.

Some of my favorite stars from when I was a kid were Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and the Sons of the Pioneers for Western music. I also liked Kay Kaiser's and Spike Lee's bands and others that did humorous songs, like "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". I really enjoyed the 'Big Band' stuff myself. Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Perry Como were some of my favorites there. Mario Lanza was always good. Louis Prima and Keely Smith did some good stuff, too.

In 1956 I discovered rock and roll music. Fortunately Mom and Dad liked it a little, so it was not banned like it was for some kids. When American Bandstand came on the TV in the afternoons, I always tried to catch it. I still like many of the songs from back then.

When I was about 8 years old we got a piano, and I started taking lessons. That did not come easy for me. I had very poor finger dexterity and just had a hard time with it. I practiced every day, but never seemed to make much progress. I did learn to read music and that was the best thing that came out of it. I had 2 different teachers. Mrs. Catmull lived on Westminster Ave. which was on my way to and from school at Dilworth Elementary. After I had taken lessons from her for about a year she told me that she was retiring from teaching and that I'd have to find someone else. However, as I passed her house on the way home from school each day, other kids would be in there taking lessons, still.

A few weeks later a man who had just immigrated from Holland stopped by the house. He rode a little motor bike. He offered to come by the house to teach piano. That lasted for about 2 years, and then he gave up on me, too.

When I was about 9 years old I began my singing career in Primary. I've told about that in a previous post. Then, in 6th grade I began to learn to sing parts. When I was in high school, many of my friends were in the school orchestra, or one of the choruses. I didn't seem to have room in my schedule, so I decided to try singing in the ward choir. I sang bass. I really enjoyed that. Choir music is very uplifting and inspiring. I continued singing in ward choirs for many years. It's difficult where we now live because of travel.

When I was at the University of Utah, I took a music appreciation class. Ardean Watts was the professor, and he really brought the music to life. It was a fun class, one of my very favorites from my college days. I still love the numbers we studied, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Dvorak's New World Symphony, Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Smetana's The Moldau, Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto.

In 1971 we moved into the Butler llth Ward. The choir director was desperate for tenors, so she switched me and one other man who could also reach most of the higher notes. At first it was hard because I couldn't seem to hear the tenor part. I remember a solo I was supposed to sing during one choir presentation, where I couldn't find my note at all. I really butchered it. With practice I did learn to sing tenor in the choir. I still sing tenor to this day.

I really enjoy all types of music. Just scroll down through my playlist to see a very eclectic mix. There's rock and roll, opera, classical, country, a little bit of everything. If music is done well, with a strong melody, I enjoy almost every genre. Sometimes I just like a particular beat or rhythm. If it's done well, I'll probably like it.