May 9, 2011

What was your first job? What kind of salary were you paid?

My first job was a gas station attendant at a Texaco station in Duchesne. I have told about a few experiences there. I worked form the day after I graduated from high school every night from 10 PM to 6 AM the following morning, (7 days a week) until I went to college on Aug 13, 1971. I don’t remember how much I was paid but it seems like it was around 3 dollars an hour, I really do not remember. I had some interesting experiences while there and the following is one of them.

Texaco: Drunken friends and Vito Herrera

One of the most memorable experiences I had while working at the Texaco that had possible consequences far beyond my understanding at the time was with the bosses son and a few of his friends especially one named Vito Herrera.

It was around 1 in the morning when the son of my boss and several of his friends came into the station. We had a lot a area around the station that was all paved and made for a lot of fun if you wanted to use one of the bosses toys that he had there at the station temporarily. It was a six wheeled land and water rover vehicle. It could be driven on hard surfaces and then right out into the water where the wheels were shaped such that they worked like paddles and would then take you across the lake or whatever. It was shaped somewhat like a boat and had no top so it was more like a four wheeler or motorcycle. Sin the son felt like it was his toy he felt like he had every right to play with it. However as the one responsible for the station at night and the fact that all of his friends were drunk I felt totally different. So I called the police and then his father, I that order. The police arrived first and had things pretty well under control before Carl (the owner) arrived. So you are probably wondering why I mentioned Vito and the fact that it could have lasting potential of danger to myself. Well as Vito was being put into the patrol car he told me that he was going to kill me. I didn’t think much about it since I knew he was drunk and his younger brother and I were friends from school.

Later when I was talking to Carl about how I had handled the situation he told me I did it right and to always call the police first before him since they would be able to get there much sooner and was the right course to follow regardless of who it was causing the problem.

Well it was two or more years later when I found out how dangerous Vito really was at that time. Clair was now a highway patrolman in Duchesne and had chased Vito in his car from Duchesne to Altamont. Another patrolman also was coming from Roosevelt and was going to stop him from the other direction. There is a big hollow near Altonah where the road makes a fairly sharp curve and then goes down the one side of the ravine and back to the top on the other side. It is a fairly blind curve but due to prior knowledge of Vito’s actions and tricks Clair slowed down before getting to the curve and sure enough Vito had spilled a whole bunch of oil all over the road so that Clair’s car would not be able to turn and thus go into the ravine most likely killing Clair. Clair wrote to me in the mission-field and told me of the experience and then  explained that Vito had just gotten out of prison prior to the night I had called the police on them at the station and that he was one bad cookie and would have easily followed through on his threat that he made that night.

I am so thankful for the Lord’s watchful care for Clair and myself.

May 8, 2011

CAREER PATH AND LIFE CHOICES

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I am still the same way I was when I was a child and don’t know for sure. I loved photography but wasn’t sure I wanted to be a professional with a business to have to run and taxes to have to pay and everything that went with a business. I think when I was real young I wanted to be a farmer but also knew that was not practical either. When I was in high school is when I decided I wanted something to do with electronics and thus my course for the first 17 and a half years was in electronics. However since then I have been a chocolate maker, insurance agent, cabinet finisher, and finally photographer for a company.  So now here I am just laid off from Provo Craft and I still don’t know what I want to be. I just want anything that will pay the bills and keep me home during the week.

May 7, 2011

What important world events do you remember from this time of your life?

The Viet Nam war was the event of my life at that time. Stan had been drafted and served in Viet Nam and Clair had enlisted in the Army and became a part of the Military Police. I had been lucky or blessed to have been given a fairly high draft number so that my being drafted was not a real big threat even though it was still a possibility. It ended shortly after I was married and I even was blessed to have a very good Vietnamese friend that came to America seeking refuge from the communist government that would have killed him because of his association with the American army in his home country during the war.

Other major activities during that time were the large Hippie movements occurring through the country. Drugs were becoming a major problem. I had only really heard of alcohol and smoking problems while growing up but during the years after high school drugs became far more prevent and even some of my friends from High school became involved with them and the hippie movement. Flower children was how they were know and a large antiwar camp known as Wood Stock also took place during those years as part of the hippie community.

May 6, 2011

What were your roommates like? Tell a story about an enjoyable time you had together.

My first roommate was a young returned missionary in his second year at Snow who was  interested only in dating and finding a marriage partner along with getting his education. He was also the LDS Church Institute President that year at Snow and was always gone doing things with those responsibilities if not something else with school.  He started dating a young lady by the name of Julie Gividen that year also and she ended up taking a major part of his not so spare time. The only time I really saw much of him was in class and on Sundays as we sang with the institute choir called the LD Singers. That roommates name was Lynn Poulson my older brother. We lived in a downstairs apartment owned by Sister Andersen a special friend of my mother. I probably saw more of her than I did of Lynn that year and I spent a lot of time by myself studying or riding my bike up into the hills above Ephraim as weather permitted. The first day there we went to school right after my eagle court of honor so I was still in my scout uniform when we arrived in Ephraim and moved into the apartment. He wouldn’t let me change before we went to a dinner appointment with Ross Findlay’s family. I never knew it was a setup but it was. Ross was the Utah National Parks Council Training chairman and was very interested in the fact that I was an Eagle Scout. I spent a lot of time also that year doing scouting events at Snow with Ross. I even did a lot with him after my mission which is when he began asking when I was going to Wood Badge. He was at my wood badge camp eleven years later when I finally went. Their entire family became close friends with our family due to the number of years that we spent at snow. All of my brothers and sisters attended snow except for Alma.

May 5, 2011

Happy Birthday Leilah!!


Did you attend any school or training after high school? How many years of education have you completed?
I attended Snow College, a two year college. I attended in 1971-72 and 1974-75 years earning an Associate of Applied Sciences degree in Electronic Technology. It was during the years of major changes in that field. I left after the first year when we still used a slide rule for calculations to go on an LDS mission to Texas and returned to a program where we now used handheld calculators. I ended my education at that time since I was qualified to enter the workforce and was planning to get married and felt it best to start working full time in an electronic career. I worked in it for 18 years until the second company that I was employed with closed down in Utah and moved their operations to New Mexico.

Did you have any college degrees or training certificates? From where? What was your major or area of study?
As I stated I earned an AAS degree in Electronics from Snow College. My only major was Electronic technology.

May 4, 2011

EARLY ADULTHOOD 18-25 YEARS
YOUNG ADULTHOOD


Describe your personality as a young adult?
I was shy. However when I was comfortable around someone then I liked to laugh and have fun. I was what I though was witty but proved not to be such a lot of times. I was pretty even tempered and seldom got mad or real angry and tended to hold things in rather than make a scene or embarrass someone because of what they might have done to me.

May 3, 2011

PRIESTHOOD ORDINATIONS

What dates were you ordained to offices in the priesthood? Who ordained you? Where did the ordination take place?

Deacon:  22 Aug 1965    Kermit Poulson

Teacher:  20 Aug 1967 Kermit Poulson

Priest:  17 Aug 1969 Kermit Poulson

Elder: 23 Sept 1972 Kermit Poulson

High Priest:  30 June 1985   Richard Smoot Nixon

Set apart as Bishopric 2^nd Counselor same time.

What are some interesting experiences in connection with these ordinations?

The best part is that my father was the one who performed almost all of them. He was deceased when I was ordained a High Priest. He set a great example for me by being there with me as I grew in the priesthood. I attended conference, stake and ward priesthood meetings with him while growing up. 

May 2, 2011

Seminary

What did you enjoy most about your favorite classes?

I must admit that I enjoyed the object lessons best. It was fun to put on the devotionals but it was probably not my favorite part of the class. I read the Book of Mormon for the first time because of Seminary and have learned to love it far more than I did then. (Hard to admit but true.) I look back now and wish I had put even more effort into seminary even though I did get straight A’s from those classes.

What special events or activities do you recall?

I had the opportunity to be on the seminary council for a couple of years. We had a lot of fun activities like hay rides in the fall and dances once in a while. The socials were always fun but that was probably more because Marie was there than the fact that it was a seminary activity. We did have one hay ride where we went up snow draw which was located by the airport above our home. I was probably the most instrumental in getting it there since that is where I always ran for training and was one of my favorite spots. Besides that it made the ride a couple of miles long.

What did you feel was the most important thing you gained from your seminary experiences?

The most important thing I got from seminary had to be a knowledge of the gospel that was learned from daily events rather than just on Sunday at church. It required reading the scripture which I most likely would have never done on my own even though I lived in a home where the gospel was a major part of our living experiences.

May 1, 2011

Which was your favorite classes or teachers?

I liked all of my classes and was lucky to have two great teachers over the course of those 6 years. Brother Sam was my teacher the first two years. He was also a local lawyer and I remember him most because of his story about his conversion to the gospel when he hitchhiked from the south to BYU to go to school where he learned of the gospel and was converted. He hitchhiked because of a lack of funds. His family was originally from Hungary and later in life the church asked him to go there to help open the country for missionary work. He later became my stake president and was the president when I was called to serve my mission. Brother Neil Decker was the other teacher that I had for the last four years. He loved to teach with object lessons and spent many hours in preparing for them. I remember one where it took an entire summer to grow a cucumber inside of a narrow necked bottle. Of course we couldn’t figure out how he got it in the bottle because it was far to big to have put it in there after it was grown but the object was to teach how we let little things become part of us slowly day by day until hey are so much a part of us that they cannot be removed easily. Good ones we don’t want to remove but bad ones we do and it is then very difficult. He later compiled the lessons into a book and gave one to Marie and I for our wedding.

Apr 30. 2011

Where did you attend seminary?
I attended seminary from 7th grade to 12th grade in Duchesne, Utah. The first two years were only half years but they were offered for us then. It was in an old seminary building that sat on the south end of the high school lot. It always reminded me of an old one room school. After the new seminary building was built it was moved to the fair grounds and became the first senior citizen building for Duchesne. The last four years were in a new seminary building north of the high school. It was located just half way between the high school and the elementary school. We had our lunch in the elementary school so we always liked it when our seminary class was 4th period just before lunch. We could get to the first of the line that way.