Monday, February 22, 2010

Feb 23, 2010 Happy 34th Birthday Ben.

What is the biggest problem you remember having in Sr. High school?

It was a I entered the ninth grade when I decided that I could be a better student. I had to follow behind an extremely smart sister that was only a year ahead of me in school. She had been a straight A student her entire school career. Pauline had also entered the picture being a year older than me yet in the same grade. The three of us would end up having a lot of fun for the next few years as we grew very close together. I did improve my grade that year and started to get A’s in most of my classes but still had a big climb to make to get straight A’s like Leesa. It was a hard trek but paid off as I graduated only 3 hundredths of a point behind Serena Davies who was our Valedictorian.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Feb 22, 2010

What is the biggest problem you remember having in Jr. High school?

The worst problem in Jr High was having to put up with the seniors since we had 7th through 12th grades in the same building. I remember one day when about four of the seniors decided to have some fun with me and it was again due to my size. In our school we had a ramp from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor. It had one turn in it just as the stairs would have had if they were in there. It was apparently made so that wheel chairs could go from one floor to the other. The problem with it though was that the side was only about three feet tall. So there you have the best set-up for some hazing seniors and they took full advantage by holding me upside down over the edge of the ramp so that I was looking down about 8 feet to the floor of the ramp. Well here again it didn’t last very long and they didn’t drop me but never the less I was scared. I remembered that little experience and never even threatened a 7th grader 5 years later as a senior in the same building.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Feb 21, 2010

What is the biggest problem you remember having in grade school?

My biggest problem in grade school was probably my size. I didn’t have a lot of self esteem and my grades reflected it. I was basically a “C” grade student and quite scared to hold my own. I can’t forget the day that a neighbor who was in 3rd grade and somewhat bigger than me even though he was younger. One day just as our recess was coming to an end Jay lit into me and did a pretty good job of beating me up. It was more of an issue of hurt pride than physical hurt. He beat me up but it was in such a short amount of time that I really didn’t get the thrashing that I could have gotten. The worst part of it though was that we had the same name, only difference was it was my middle name not my first name as it was for him.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Feb 20, 2010

What do you remember as your least favorite subject in school?

My least favorite subject was probably English. Band, PE, even running cross country and track was a lot more fun for me than the English class. It was the English teacher that got me started in photographing the yearbook pictures but it was also the same English teacher that kicked me out of class one day because I had to go take some more pictures again and she didn’t want it to happen that day. I remember having to go down to the library and tell mom what had happened. It was short lived though and the English teacher Mrs. Evans was one of my best teacher’s in the long run.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Feb 19, 2010

What do you remember as your favorite subject in school?

Math and science were my two strongest subjects in school until I got to college. I enjoyed science when I was a senior especially since that was the year where I got to make a photocell during that class. It was probably that experience that made me decide to go into electronics as an original profession. The classes that I probably had the most fun in however were the hours that I spent with the yearbook staff during the lat four years of high school. I was asked by the English teacher when I started 9th grade to be the yearbook photographer and then I did that the nest three years as well as being the editor for the last two. It was fun.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Feb 18, 2010

Tell about family reunions in your childhood.

I only remember about three family reunions while growing up with the Poulson family. We had one at our house and the main thing that I remember is cooking the meal on the little outdoor fireplace that we had down in the yard. The other two were both held in Orem at Uncle Tennis’s home. He always had a beautiful yard and it was fun to play around it. Almost all of my cousins were at least 20 years my senior. Their children were mostly around my age so all my first cousins once removed were more like cousins to me on my father’s side of the family. That was because I was his 6th child born when he was 42 years old. He was not married until he was 32 years old and his brothers were all married many years before that.

Mother’s side of the family was a different story. We had reunions almost every year or at least we made a trip to Centerfield every year and would see most of our cousins during that trip. I was in the middle of this side of cousins with a number older, several with in one to two years of my age and a number younger. We have reunions now every other year and I enjoy seeing the cousins. I wish however that we culd get a reunion on my father’s side.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Feb 17, 2010


Tell about your first favorite TV shows.

I will first tell about our fist TV. It was an old Black and White one with a thing we could put in front of it to make it look like color. It was a big beast as well. It was our only TV for a lot of years. We did finally get a color TV and from then on I don’t really remember any of them specifically. I do remember the shows however that I would get to watch once in a while after school. We had the Lone Ranger, Zorro, The Rifleman, and I Love Lucy. Those were probably my favorites with no particular one as the favorite. I remember a few other shows that we watched like Larwence Welk , and the Monkees.

I was curious after writing this the other night so went to the internet and found a list of movies from the 40's through the 70's. I was surprised when I found out the ages of some of the shows.

I have listed the ones I remember the best below from the 40's and 50's.

40's TV shows
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Candid Camera
Ed Wynn Show
Howdy Doody Show
The Jack Benny Show
The Life of Riley (1949)
Lone Ranger
The Perry Como Show
50's TV Shows
20th Century Fox Hour
Abbott and Costello Show
Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet
Adventures Of Superman
Adventures Of Wild Bill Hickok
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Annie Oakley
Bonanza
Cisco Kid
Dennis The Menace
Dragnet
Ed Sullivan Show
Father Knows Best
Flash Gordon (1954)
Frank Sinatra Show
Gunsmoke
I Love Lucy
Invisible Man, The (1958)
Lassie
Lawman
Leave It To Beaver
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
My Friend Flicka
Perry Mason
Rawhide
Red Skelton Show
Rifleman, The
Rin Tin Tin (1954)
Robin Hood (1955)
Science Fiction Theatre
This is Your Life
Three Stooges
Twilight Zone, The (1959)
Untouchables, The (1959)
Wagon Train
Wanted: Dead Or Alive
Wonderful World of Disney
Zane Grey Theater
Zorro (1957)

Monday, February 15, 2010

Feb 16, 2010

Tell about your first kiss.
This is how I have written about this event in my life’s stories.

A Stolen First Kiss

I hesitate sometimes writing about some of the events of my life since it really shows how human I am and some of my weaknesses but it is for that reason that I write concerning this particular event of which I remember only a short part. Maybe by reading some of these my young friends and grandchildren may be able to side step such temptations.
I was a senior in high school and was also very infatuated by a beautiful junior girl named Marie. She and I had actually liked each other for several years and I had officially started dating her when she turned 16 just a year and a few months before this event. We were in the same LDS Ward and so we had lots of chances to be with each other. I guess in today’s terms we were “Hanging Out” as often as circumstances would allow. We spent time together at MIA (Young Men and Young Women’s activity night) on Tuesday nights and never missed a fireside or sitting by each other’s side during them. I am sure there were other cute girls that I could have sat by but this one was definitely my choice. I also remember the often given council at these firesides, church classes, parental suggestions and advice that asked or suggested that we date many members of the opposite sex so that we would know better the person that we would like to marry. Well being young and stupid as we often are in our youth and having liked several girls throughout my youth in elementary I felt it OK to see this young lady as often as occasion would permit. I think back on the temptations that were created by so doing and am very grateful for liking a young lady that had very high standards and wouldn’t compromise them.
So now on to this stolen first kiss episode. We were going to a school dance one night and I don’t even remember which one but for some reason after I had picked her up from her home, only two small blocks form the school, we went to my home about two miles from the school either for me to change my clothes or for some other reason of which I have no recollection. That two miles however included a drive across part of blue bench where there was no lighting, other than the stars and the moon which was probably full that night, before dropping off a small hill to the rest of the road along the canal below which I lived. We were returning from my home to town and the dance when I decided to stop the car (there is a Stake Center very near the spot now) and steal a kiss from this beautiful girl that made my heart skip so freely every other beat when I was around her. I remember well that it was my senior year because I was wearing something that had been totally foreign to my style throughout my life. I had just received my Senior Key and I never wore necklaces of any kind. I had to be toward the end of the year since we didn’t get them until we were about to graduate and I was wearing it on a chain around my neck. I suppose I felt it was time for a first kiss since I would shortly be graduating and going off to college and then on my mission so I might never get to kiss the girl that had been so much a part of my life for the past few years. Well Marie was wearing a very beautiful knitted sweater. Now I would never have remembered this since I seldom notice what others are wearing and have not really felt the need to memorize what they were wearing except that this particular time that was not the right thing for her to have on while I tried to steal a long and lasting kiss. I pulled the car to a stop along this stretch of dark lonely road and of course she wondered why so it didn’t take me long to let my intensions to be known as I leaned over and stole the kiss. In those days cars seldom had bucket seats and seat belts were not yet popular so she was sitting very close to me as she most always did. It wasn’t a very long or lasting kiss except in my memory, because about that time the Lord sent the needed interceptor along as a car drove up over the crest of the hill so that it’s light were directly on my parents car and well into our eyes. I have no idea to this day who it was but I remember well the fact that we couldn’t just swing back into our seats as though nothing were happening because the loop holding my senior key to the chain around my next had ever so slyly hooked itself through one of the strands of that lovely knitted sweater so that she and I became somewhat inseparable. I was probably a fairly bright red color by the time the car passed and it wouldn’t have been due to the fact that the tail lights of the car were red either. It only took us a few minutes to finally separate ourselves but the memory of the moment lasts to this day. I can’t remember much of the rest of the evening or even when we had our second kiss but I will actually cherish that memory for it put into my mind the lasting memory of kissing my future wife for the first time. Now I am lucky that she ended up being my wife and we have had many kisses since that time. She will often come up to me when I am busy working on pictures or something where I am very involved and give me a very passionate kiss and then I want to continue with more but she puts me back to work just to painfully wait for the chance to steal another kiss.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Feb 15, 2010

Tell about your first date.

I honestly don’t remember my first date but I know that it was with Marie. I had liked her for several years before she turned 16 and we had hung out together at dances and her home. Most of the time at her home it was while standing outside next to her window and talking to her through the window. I do remember however when we went on dates after we were both 16 years of age that we would often sit in the car and talk after getting back to her home. I also remember very well the signal that her mom and dad would send so that we knew it was time to get out of the car. Dad would turn off and then on again a couple of times the front porch light. It was not ignored either as I would then get out of the car and then let her out and sometimes walk her to the porch. I don’t think I went to the porch very often though since I knew her dad would be standing just inside the front door waiting.

Feb 14, 2010 Valentines Day

Tell about a special Valentine you once received.

Marie gave me several valentines that I always liked and below are two pictures of ones that she sent to me while I was in the mission field.