University of Utah

I began my college career at the University of Utah about the first of October, 1962. The U was on a four quarter system at the time, with the standard curriculum going Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Summer  usually had courses for make-up work, if you had to drop a class, or failed it during the regular part of the year.

I had really enjoyed my physics classes at Olympus High School, so I decided to major in physics. The Physics Department had a very specific schedule, in order to fit in all required classes within the standard four year program. I did well in some of the first classes, but bogged down when I got into calculus. I just didn't get what calculus was about, and I couldn't get help from the teachers. They were all graduate students in the math department, and didn't have time to help students. Calculus and other advance mathematics is used so much in physics that you cannot progress without a firm understanding. In fact, a couple of terms before you have enough physics credits to graduate in that major, you have enough credits in math to graduate with a math degree.

I went to the counseling center to get help in choosing a new major. Aptitude tests indicated that I should pursue a course to become a doctor. So I switched to pre-med as a course of study. I had avoided biology in high school because of the poor reputation of the teachers who taught it. Now I found myself taking several biology courses, and enjoying them very much.

When it came time in that course to apply to medical school, I hesitated. I was in the Air Force ROTC program, and I didn't think I could delay that for more school. I also had a poor grade point average compared to other candidates, due to my poor grades in math courses. So I didn't think I had a very good chance of getting in. Actually, I was afraid I wouldn't get in, so I was afraid to try. There were also rumors of a possible Air Force program to send people to medical school, for those who were already in the Air Force.

One of the best parts of my freshman year was the carpool. Many of my friends from the neighborhood were also attending the U. Jeff Anderson, Charlie Nielson, Cathryn and Carolyn Call were the regulars. There were several others who joined frequently enough that we usually needed two cars. The friendships were helpful as we discussed which professors were good, and which ones to avoid.

Another activity that was very helpful was Latter Day Saint Institute and the associated social groups. I joined the Alpha Chapter of Lambda Delta Sigma. Dennis Mead, who had gone to Olympus HS, was my mentor with the group. He was a good friend. I also went to the Institute Building most days at noon to eat my lunch. I often got into table tennis matches with friends I met there. Clyde Ford was one who was in pre-med with me. He beat me all the time. He eventually became one of the best oncologists in Salt Lake.

The Alpha Chapter parties were great. They gave me a chance to take girls out on dates that didn't cost too much. The best one, however, was the polygamy party where I had my first date with my future bride. They also had firesides with excellent teachers. S. Dilworth Young, a Church general authority who was the senior president of the Presidency of the Seventy was one who came. He gave us a very pointed lesson on chastity in our dating.


There were always noon hour devotionals once a week at the Institute. They were usually very inspirational. The Institute classes were very good. Georgia and I especially enjoyed the early morning Marriage Relations Class we took from T. Edgar Lyon. Several of the young wives in the class were pregnant for the first time, and frequently had to leave abruptly to go to the restroom with morning sickness. I enjoyed all the other Institute classes I had, and I was surprised when I was given a diploma for graduating from Institute, I had taken enough classes to complete all requirements, without even realizing it. I continued to take classes there after I received the diploma. What I learned there often helped counter some of the anti-religious bias I encountered in other classes.

Many of the University classes I took were taught by top notch professors. My first year chemistry classes were taught by Dr. Lloyd Malm, who had collaborated with Dr. Linus Pauling in writing our textbook. Another was Dr. Stephen D. Durrant, who taught comparative vertebrate anatomy. He was a legend in the Biology Department and throughout the University. He was named teacher of the year at least twice while I was there. All premed students had to take his class, and many doctors came back years later to thank him for what he taught them.

I had a music appreciation class from Ardean Watts. He had to be one of the funniest teachers I've ever had. He really made music fun. I bought season tickets to the Utah Symphony as part of the class. Georgia and I enjoyed those for a couple of years after the class.

I also had several teachers of whom I had little respect after taking their classes. I had fun learning about Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology when I was younger, and thought a class in mythology would be fun. It filled one of my basic requirements. However, the professor for the class considered all religions as myths and especially enjoyed trashing the Mormons in his lectures.

Another class I took was American Economic History. It was to fill a history requirement. I had taken and very much enjoyed two classes in basic economics during my freshman year. So I thought this would be an easy and enjoyable class. However, the teacher lectured on one subject, gave assignments that had no relationship with the lectures, and then gave some standard tests he'd found someplace, that seldom had any relationship with either the lectures or the reading assignments. He also blamed all economic problems on religion, and his lectures were basically "world religious history." I don't think he got to U. S. History until about the last two weeks of class. Then he left on a trip before the final test, which was administered by his graduate assistant. He didn't get back until several days after the beginning of the next term, and didn't get the tests scored nor entered until after he returned. So everyone in the class received an Incomplete for the final grade. A couple of students needed that grade for graduation at the end of the term and had to wait for everything to be straightened out by the administration before they could get their diplomas.

One chemistry class had a really bad reputation. It was required for premed students. Almost all waited until after they were accepted to medical school before they took that class, because the class grade average over the years was a 'D'. It was a bad reflection on the teacher, because many of those 'D' grades were given to students with very high GPA's. He was an excellent researcher, but one of the worst teachers. His lectures almost always started 10 to 15 minutes late. They were always disorganized and disjointed. And half the final grade was from the final exam. On the final exam, all the information was given, and all we had to do was do the math. The math was very long multiplication and division problems; 5 places divided by 5 places, with no calculators. So the test was a contest to see who could do the math the fastest, not who knew the subject matter.

One thing that kept me sane throughout the years I was there were the classes in the Physical Education Department. They usually only earned 1/2 or 1 credit hour, were almost sure 'A's and there were numerous choices. I started out taking Life Saving and then Water Safety Instructors classes. They earned me certificates that I used to make a living for the rest of my time at the U.  I also took basketball, tennis, golf, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, etc. I took one class each quarter, which gave me the exercise I needed and lots of good therapy.

During my Life Saving class I was paired with Marv Fleming, who was the poorest swimmer in the class. He was also a future NFL star tight end, earning several Super Bowl rings. He had nearly drowned at a swimming party during the summer between his freshman and sophomore years. The teacher who taught all the men's swimming classes was also an assistant football coach. He signed Marv up for every swimming class he taught, because he didn't want to lose their star football player. Marv was big and black and had no fat on his body, so he did not float at all. I was the strongest swimmer in the class, so I had the privilege of towing Marv across the pool in all our practice carries. We did become friends, and he came back to finish his degree after being drafted by the Green Bay Packers. He'd see me on campus and say, "Hi!"

Most of the intramural sports were contested by members of the various fraternities. Most of those of us who had competed in swimming in high school were not in fraternities. One of our number decided to get the former high school swimmers together and form a team to compete. We won the intramural swim meet by a large margin. Then the guy who organized the swimmers went on to organize other groups of former high school athletes to compete against the fraternities, with the same sort of success. The fraternity boys were not happy that they almost always got beat.

My final term was the most difficult. I had to take several classes to complete a degree in Zoology and Entomology. I had taken the premed classes and the easiest degree to complete after that was in the Biology Department. The Air Force was beckoning, and if I took 21 credit hours, I could finish in one more quarter. I did that, but had to quit work so I could have enough time to complete all that work. I completed my requirements about the middle of March and then just had to wait for the Air Force to send me orders.

I missed my graduation ceremonies, because I was already on active duty in the Air Force. They didn't have a ceremony in March, and I entered the military in May. The ceremony for those finishing in March and June were held in June, but I was living in Illinois by then.

Church Callings

I've had a wide variety of callings in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I've served in three bishoprics, in Young Men, in Primary, Sunday School, High Priests Group, and in Stake Athletics. Of course I have been a Home Teacher through all my time in the Church since I turned 14. This blog post will only concern my callings other than Home Teaching.

My first calling was as Young Men Secretary while I was going to the University of Utah. That was in the East Mill Creek 11th Ward. I think Tom Pike was the YM President at the time. Georgia and I also served as Dance Directors in the ward at the same time. As I posted before, we started out as partners with others, and ended up serving as a couple.

Then I was called to teach a Sunday School class in that same ward. I was one of three teachers assigned to the 12 year old classes. They had one all girls class, one mixed boys and girls, and one all boys class. I had the all boys class.

My next calling came after I married Georgia. That was when we lived in Stadium Village married student housing. We were called as a couple to plan and organize an activity each month for all the couples in our building as part of an ongoing MIA (Mutual Improvement Association) program. One activity I remember was a group picnic held on the lawn in front of our building. We brought the corn on the cob. I asked my grandpa, Elmer Gale to get it for us, as he was in the produce business. I thought two ears of corn for each person would be enough. But Grandpa brought us twice that amount. And it was so good that there was no left over corn, everyone eating an average of four ears apiece.

When we moved to Rantoul, Illinois in the Air Force, I was called as Genealogy Chairman for the Rantoul Branch. I knew little about Genealogy and did little to help others at the time, but the calling piqued my interest. The only thing I remember doing in that position, was finding an article about the ancestry of President George Albert Smith, Georgia's great uncle. Their ancestry was traced back to John Alden and Priscilla Mullins of the Mayflower, and also back to the Emperor Charlemagne.

When we moved to Omaha, Nebraska, I was called as Aaronic Priesthood Youth General Secretary. That's a position that no longer exists, but was similar to being Young Men Secretary and Executive Secretary for the youth. I also worked with the Boy Scouts and was subsequently called as the Scoutmaster.

Working with the Scouts, I first went with our troop as a driver on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. The troop rented several cars and we caravan-ed to Yellowstone, around the park, then to Teton National Park, then across Wyoming to Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore and the Badlands of South Dakota. Then home to Omaha. There was an incident in Yellowstone where the Scoutmaster overdosed on some medication which caused him to hallucinate. It scared the boys pretty badly. As a result he asked to be released. I was then called to replace him.

The following two summers I organized trips to the Boundary Waters canoe area out of Ely, Minnesota. The area included lakes along the United States and Canada border. We canoed and portaged along the border for over fifty miles, going and coming. I understand that the troop has continued to take that same trip almost every year since. I also took the boys to the council summer camp each summer.

We also used the Winter Quarters Stake campground, which was at the confluence of the Platte and Elkhorn Rivers. We even bicycled from the ward building out to the campground.

After returning to Salt Lake following my Air Force service, we bought our first house in the Butler 11th Ward. I was first called as Aaronic Priesthood Adult General Secretary, a precursor to the Potential Elder program. I was able to work with one inactive brother who was a couple of years older than me, to reactivate him. He was eventually called to serve in the bishopric.

I was then called as Ward Mission Leader. That scared me because I had not previously served a mission. I did have the privilege of helping to teach a young lady whose parents were inactive members. Her baptism was held in February. When I went to fill the baptismal font, I discovered that the main water heater for the building was not working. The only way to heat the water was with a small auxiliary water heater next to the font. It took over 30 minutes to heat up 5 gallons of water. I went to some of the homes near the church and asked the ladies to heat water and bring it over. I think we got the water temperature near fifty degrees. That's really cold for a baptism. But she was baptized and was not bothered by the cold. Her only regret was that her parents would not come to her baptism.

I was then called with Georgia to work with the Blazer 11-year-old Scouts. It was great to work with Georgia in that calling. It was also very good for our own boys. Lyle and Eric were just younger and they were able to see what was necessary for success in Scouting. They then excelled in their Cub Scout work and eventually both became Eagle Scouts. Georgia was also able to help Seth become successful in Cub and Boy Scouts when we lived in Redding, California, as there was not a good Scout program there.

As I worked with the Scouts, I was called to be the Stake representative to the local Scout District. I was able to help the ward Scout leaders learn the programs and have access to the Council resources.

Then I was called as Stake Athletic Director. I had quit participating in church sports because of the poor sportsmanship exhibited by too many of the men. The Stake President told me I was called to fix the problem. I had no idea how to accomplish that. So I called together all of the Ward Athletic Directors to get ideas. As they came into the meeting, I realized that all but one of them were ones I had seen exhibiting the worst behavior. So I asked for ideas. They came up with a program that I was able to implement that accomplished the goal. Since it was their program, most of the time they were very cooperative, and it turned out great.

We then moved to Redding, California, where Georgia and I were called into the Young Men and Young Women programs, respectively. I also had the privilege for awhile of teaching the Gospel Doctrine Class in Sunday School. While teaching that class, I was challenged almost every week by a man I think of as a reluctant convert. He was a gold miner, who lived at his mine. He was somewhat antisocial, and found that the Church did not fit his desired lifestyle. But he had felt the Spirit while the missionaries were teaching him, so he could not deny that. He studied the assigned scriptures and lesson materials each week, but he was looking for something that would let him off the hook. And he was very honest about his quest for answers, so he came up with very interesting questions. Many times he would ask a question that I was totally unprepared for. I would see looks on the faces of other members of the class that either said, "I've wondered about that, myself!" or "Wow, how can you possibly answer that one?" I would pause, and suddenly the answer to his question would come into my mind. The Spirit would really help me out of the tough spots. Our Father recognized the goodness of this man and his honest quest for truth and taught him what he needed to know. Toward the end of that class, he cleaned up, sold his mine, got engaged to a good Mormon girl, and signed up for classes at Chico State University to become a school teacher.

As Young Men and Young Women leaders, we got to work with our own children. All but Hanna were involved in YM or YW sometime during the 5 years we were there.

I was called to be Second Counselor to Bishop Richard Estes, working also with Jack Reese, who was first counselor. We worked very well together, and I thoroughly enjoyed that opportunity.

We had to move back to Utah because of the loss of my job in California, and then getting work in Utah. We moved to Orem, where I was called as a counselor in the Ward Sunday School Presidency, and then as Sunday School President, and then as Stake Sunday School President. I enjoyed working in the Sunday School. I also served as a Veil Worker in the Provo, Utah Temple.

Family needs led us to move to Mesa, Arizona. I again had the chance to teach Gospel Doctrine, and later to work as Ward Mission Leader again. I think I did a much better job the second time around in each calling. Then I was called to be a counselor to Bishop Dale Foote. Walt McIver was the First Counselor. Walt lived next door to us, and Dale lived across the street from both of us. We had many informal Bishopric meetings in the middle of the street (or on one of our front lawns). It was great to work with these fine men.

Once again family needs led us to move back to Salt Lake. In the East Mill Creek 11th Ward, I again served as the Sunday School President.

We bought a house in the Salt Lake Central Stake, where I served as a counselor in the High Priests Group leadership, and then as High Priests Group Leader. I was then called as a counselor to Bishop Tyler Lamprecht, with Carter Williams as the Second Counselor.

Moving back to the East Mill Creek 11th Ward, I served as a teacher in the High Priests Group.

Moving to Palmyra, New York, I then served as Young Men Secretary, and then as a counselor in the High Priests Group. Georgia and I also served as Ordinance Workers in the Palmyra, New York Temple.

Now back in Salt Lake I am again a teacher in the High Priests Group. Georgia and I also serve together in the Family History program. We go to the Family History Center in the Stake where we are learning to help others. We also help teach Family History classes in the ward.

I have enjoyed all the opportunities I've had to serve in the Church over the years. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the most wonderful organization on earth, giving all members who are willing, the chance to do good for each other, and for others throughout the world. It also provides for all to learn how to improve their lives as they move toward the ultimate goal, which lies beyond this life, of becoming perfect.