Brother Day: Story Teller

Brother Day was a speech student at Southern Illinois University.  He was a large man.  I don’t know what came of him.  I don’t know if he was local to Illinois or there just for school.  In fact, I don’t even remember his first name; just Brother Day.
Man could he tell a story!  He introduced me to many scary stories as he would do campfire stories at the fathers and sons outings.  He often would tell Edgar Alan Poe stories.  I am sure he didn’t read the entire story, but make it scary and interesting.  Some of the classic stories he introduced me to were “The Raven,” “Tell Tale Heart” and “Monkey’s Paw” (Not Edgar Alan Poe but similar type.)  He also would throw in some twists such as the story of the big monster and the traveling salesman.  This was really scary, until the big monster is about to get the traveling salesman, and then says “tag, you’re it.” 
Brother Day also did a humorous skit which has stuck with me and I enjoy even today.  I use to sing the tea pot song as a small child so this really caught me.  He would sing the teapot song with both his hands on his hips.  You have to imagine this chubby man with his hands on his hips.  It was funny just to look at him, and he really did look like a piece of china.   Each time he would get stuck on the part about the spout, “I’m a little tea pot short and stout, here is my handle, here is my... “  He would be looking at his arm on his hip.  He would be frustrated and then start the song again.  “I’m a little tea pot short and stout, here is my handle, here is my... “  On the third they he would say, “By golly, I’m a sugar bowl.”  That was funny, and he had that knack for story telling some people have.

Othello Embarrassing Memories

One of the most embarrassing experiences I ever had occurred when I was only five years old and in kindergarten.  In those days I had very poor control of my bladder.  This often caused problems for me.  Because I was so embarrassed I would try to cover it up.
On one particular day the kindergarten class viewed a filmstrip for which we went to another room.  During the film I had one of those unfortunate accidents.  I was too shy to ask permission to go to the restroom.  After the film the teacher decided it was a good idea for us to do some exercises.  I tried to cover my wet pants by crossing my legs.  This was a precarious position in which to do exercises.  Soon the teacher was on my case, asking me to stand correctly.  As I persistent in crossing me legs the teacher finally sent me back to the classroom.  She said, “Since Billy can’t stand right he is going to go back to the classroom.”
My embarrassment did not end there.  After sitting by myself for almost a half hour a lady and her daughter came looking for the teacher.  We had a rule of standing when talking and I was compelled to stand, displaying my still wet pants.  I directed the lady correctly—she was enrolling her daughter in our class.

Othello and the Dogs

One of my earliest memories is a fear of dogs; especially big ones.  We lived on a farm in Othello, Washington.  It seemed we always had a large dog.  I was young and, unfortunately small in stature.  It seems the dogs would always jump up on me and know me down.  I imagine that more than once I would run to my mom.
I did have some good times with the dogs.  A trick I learned from my older brother and sisters was to tie a bun to a rope.  This accomplished, I would use a ladder to climb onto the clothes line pole.  The trick now was to entice the dogs with the bun while keeping them from grabbing it.  I would let the bun hang down for them, and when they came for the bun is would jerk it up, keeping it away from them.  They would jump and I would jerk.   It was great fun.  I guess it was mean to tease the dogs with food however.
Of course the dogs had their victories.  At times they would grab the bun, and get their snack.  One time I fell from the pole.  Fortunately I escaped with little injury besides bruises and hurt pride.  Another victory for the dogs was a time they knocked me down before I got to the ladder.   Before I could recover my posture the bun was gone.

Another Artwork, I think of Judy DeBolt

More Positive Thinking Quotes

If you don’t like the view, change your seat.

To reach a goal you have to give up some security.

Procrastination:  To put off intentionally, and habitually and reprehensibly the doing of something that should be done.

If you keep doing what you’re doing you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.

Truly the most valuable product in the world is an idea.  Good ideas magnetically attract support form unexpected sources.

I don't have sources for these quotes.  Just stuff I wrote down to remember.

Poetry I Like: Always Have Dream

Always Have a Dream

Forget about the days when it has been cloudy,
But don’t forget your hours in the sun.
Forget about the times you have been defeated,
But don’t forget the victories that you have won.
Forget about the lessons you can’t change now,
But don’t forget the lessons you have learned.
Forget about the days you have been lonely,
But don’t forget the friendly smiles you have seen.
Forget about the plans that didn’t seem to work out right,
But don’t forget to always have a Dream.
(Anonymous)

Positive Thinking from Prophets

When we deal in generalities we shall never succeed.
When we deal in specifics we shall rarely have failure.
When performance is measured, performance improves.
When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.
Thomas S. Monson

If you have somebody who has a goal mind, you’ve got a gold mind.
President Spencer W. Kimball

What we persist in doing becomes easy to do.  Not because the task becomes easier but because our ability to do is increased.
President Heber J. Grant

Poetry I Like: The Night they Burned Shanghai

The last stanza of this poem us familiar to me.  I did not know it had a whole poem, and story before.  The world is such a small place.  We are all interconnected, and should actively work to make the world a better place.  It is too easy to turn your head, pretend you don't see.  However in this times, if we do that we may lose our civil rights and then our freedom.  Let us be active in preserving our rights, but peacefully if we can.

The Night they Burned Shanghai
by Robert D. Abrahams

The night they burned Shanghai we had a date,
Bridge with the Watermans in Germantown.
"Now, John, be careful of the game you play;
Don't overbid. Play safe."
                    "I will, Louise.
Let's not discuss it. I'm not good at cards.
Lord, it's a long way in to Watermans'-
Half Philadelphia's length, if it's an inch.
Why do we have to live near Valley Forge,
If all our dates must be in Germantown?"

(Tonight Shanghai is burning,
Bright Shanghai of the Bund;
The rickshas all are overturned,
The China-hands are stunned.

The curio shops are looted,
The fan-tan games are gone;
The shrieks of haunted children rise,
The bombing planes drone on.)

Darling Louise, but eighteen, then, and slim,
Not thirty-two and card-wise, neighbor-wise.
"Darling Louise," I whispered, "life comes once.
Let's grab it while we can and make it ours.
Bucharest, the band at Parcul Carol
Will play for us alone if we are there;
And Copenhagen-Tivoli at night -
Naples and Athens, Persia, Xanadu,
Adventure everywhere for you and me;
We need not even go so far afield.
Here in this Philadelphia, our frontier,
We'll find stuffed shirts to puncture, work to do,
Dead wood to clear away, great causes ready,
Making to stay at home adventure too.
Adventure shared is most of love, Louise."

(How far is Germantown from Valley Forge?
A bitter march in winter for the troops,
While Tories dance in town with General Howe
And gentlemen sit down at cards and dice,
And wonder when that rabble will give in.
"My dear, I cannot understand this Washington -
A gentleman, at that, to lead revolt.
And what's the latest fashion from abroad?
Pray, who is marrying who, and who is not?")

Then, I remember, "Shanghai, too," I whispered,
"We'll know bright Shanghai of the Bund, Louise.
We'll ride in rickshas down by Soochow Creek
And haggle with the Chinese curio men."
And eager-eyed Louise looked back at me
And answered, "Yes, John, yes, we'll do it all."
I know she meant it, and I meant it too.

(Tonight Shanghai is burning,
The flames are leaping high,
And those who fought or kept the peace,
Alike must drably die.)

"Louise," I say, "we'll never get to Burma,
Or go to Dutch Guiana or Shanghai -
No, not Shanghai; they're burning that tonight;
But yet we've our frontier in Philadelphia.
Next year let's take an interest in the world;
Go into politics, perhaps, or write a book,
Or make a fight for ancient liberties,
Or go adventuring some other way.
But not Shanghai-they're burning that tonight -
And not tonight-we have a date tonight,
And that's the way it always seems to be.
Wait long enough and Shanghai always burns.
Your bridges burn before you, not behind."

(Tonight Shanghai is burning,
The fan-tan games are stilled,
The chips cashed in in blood and gore -
The players all are killed.)

"Isn't it strange, Louise, that up this road
The Continental Army came one day,
Where now we're driving down to Watermans'
To spend a little quiet time at cards?" . . .
"I think the door's the second on the right."
And Waterman is probably inside,
Setting the folding table up, the chairs.
In every second house in Germantown,
At this particular moment, I believe
You'd find a man unfolding little chairs.
(There was a place I wanted much to see -
Madrid, the place was called-that's burning too -
And Prague and Hankow, going with the rest.
Well, next year maybe no more bridge, Louise -
Next year adventure right at Valley Forge -
Next year's for living-here is our frontier.)

And now we come at last to Watermans';
Our host is waiting pleasantly inside.
"And play a safe game, will you, John, this time?"
Louise says while we park our car.
"I will, Louise, I will."
               I know I will.

And after greetings, Waterman exclaims,
"A fine mess in the Far East, boys and girls,"
And we agree, and we sit down to play.
Tonight they burn Shanghai, and we are safe -
Safe from the world and all its puzzles-safe
From everything except our own contempt.

(Tonight Shanghai is burning,
And we are dying too.
What bomb more surely mortal
Than death inside of you?

For some men die by shrapnel,
And some go down in flames,
But most men perish inch by inch,
In play at little games.)

The Starfish

I first heard this story from W Mitchell at an Amway conference.  It made an impression with me then I still like it.  I hope to make a difference to the one.
The Starfish

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn.  In the distance he saw a frail old man.  As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.  The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water.  He asked him, “Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?”  The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun.  “But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish,” exclaimed the young man, “How can your effort make any difference?”  The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to safety in the sea said…… “It makes a difference to this one.”
 Adapted from Loren Eiseley

Artwork by Niel Frank

I had some friends that were very talented growing up.  Neil Frank and Randy Allen were always good at drawing.  Niel gave me this picture long ago.

Cliff Elmore: Friend; Graduate School Days

Cliff and I met my first year of graduate school.  We both did field placements at Children's Service Society.  While there Cliff met Judy.  They would later become husband and wife.  Cliff and I ran a first time adoption group at Children's Service Society, focused on older child adoption.  We had considerable material to use with regards to adoption of older children.  The Society also helped put a larger conference and Cliff and I helped with logistics, chairs etc. and were able to attend. 
Cliff and I were very motivated by adoption, and that we would form an adoption agency after finishing school.  We moved into an apartment together.  Not the nicest place, but adequate.  I had moved out of living with my father.  At the time I was caught between my folks and their divorce and didn't like it.  Cliff was leaving his wife. 
Our second year we did rural placements in Roosevelt, Utah at separte times, and wrote a research paper together on our experience.  While I was doing my visit, Cliff visited and went on a date with Sheri and I.  We saw the movie "Ghandi."
 During the summer between our two years of graduate school, Cliff and I went on a trip to New York together.

Cliff and Judy in New York

After we graduated, Cliff and I kept in contact for a while.  Cliff came to the Basin and we went camping together, Cliff bringing the canoe.  Cliff now lives in Saint George, and I haven't seen him for many years.

Work of Judy DeBolt

t

This is the old Hyrum Post office.  I had not realized it was a Stake Office building at one time until looking at this picture.  I am not sure if this building is still standing.  It was a dentist office after being used as a post office.  Judy DeBolt is a good friend from the Hyrum days.  She and her family now live in the San Diego area.

Big Mistake--Almost

When I was 25, I decided I was tired of being single.  I decided to marry the next girl I started dating.  Charlie had a steady girl in Las Vegas, and I traveled to Vegas with him and went on a date with a friend of Charlie's girl friend.  Her name was Kara.  We went to the UNLV-Utah basketball game.  UNLV was very good back then with Jarry Tarkenian coaching.  Any way, that was around New Year's.  We also went to the Las Vegas region New Years Eve dance.  It was a really big deal, at a mall in Las Vegas with several different bands.
Kara was a student at BYU, and I at the time was at the University of Utah.  I proposed to her close to Jordan River Temple.  She said she would have to think about it and then in the end said no.  That was a blessing.

In the interim I went to Roosevelt to fulfill a field placement for my graduate degree.  I met Sheri at and office supply store.  We hit it off very quickly.  When I met Sheri I had a big scruffy beard, as I was doing a musical in Vernal.  Kara came out to the musical with a friend one night.  She approached me and said she had changed her mind.  I said I had to as I had met someone else.  Within a couple weeks of this I proposed to Sheri.

Hyrum Little League Baseball: 1980?

I hope I have the year correct.  This, I think is the Hyrum team which represented the Blacksmith Fork League.  We have three players from Wellsville on the team, Darrin Meyers, Rod Stewart and Terrel Baldwin, first three in back on the left.  We also had Devin Fackrell who threw left-handed (I think the tall boy in the back.)  Travis Gittens in front left.  We had a very good team.  We traveled to Malad for a double-header.  We didn't have much success at Soda Springs.  We fared better at Malad winning two games.  We also had a tournament in Hyrum, playing against Logan and Rexburg, and came out on top.  Please help if you can identify any of the others.

Dad Bought a Second House

1315 S 200 E SLC, Utah

View out the front, corner of 13th S 200 E.  There is a shopping center there now, but there was a school

Charlie by the house

view out the back to the alley

While I was on my mission, my dad bought a second house in Salt Lake, 1977 or 78.  By the time I came home off my mission he had moved out of our and was living there.  The house was a triplex with a residence in the back, in the front and upstairs.  My dad always lived upstairs.  It was 1315 South 2nd East in Salt Lake City, close to Liberty Park in Salt Lake.

Liberty Park, Krista, Geneve (maybe another day)

Buffie, Krista, Dianna, Mom

Buffie, Krista, Dianna

One day my mom went down to help him with cleaning and whatever.  There must have been a parade on State Street at about the same time.
I lived with my dad for a year while I was going to school at the University of Utah.  Also I went down and helped him re-roof his house.  We also put in a paned front window and worked on remodeling the inside.

Hyrum Garden

Connie and Buffie

This is the best view I have found of our garden.  The first year we moved in, my father, with everyone's help, put in a culvert from the irrigation ditch to the garden which was behind our house.  Then there was a large ditch that ran the length of our back yard and was the start of the ditch. Even when the water wasn't running, there was usually just a bit of water in the culvert, which attracted the most interesting water bugs.
When we moved in there were a couple old plum trees, which we kept and tended until they started producing again.  However every year my dad would plant another fruit tree or raspberries and strawberries which would produce year to year.
Hyrum is built on a delta of the old Lake Bonneville.  As such our garden had more than its share of rocks.  We spent every spring raking and picking rocks getting the garden ready for the soil to be turned. 
Some years my dad would hire a plow to come in, but most years we just turned the soil with our roto-tiller.  It use to shake and shake, but it would get the job done.  It had attachments to make the rows, but usually we made the original row with a hoe.  We would place a string to make sure the line stayed straight.  Dad said a straight line was evidence of a good farmer.  After when we ran the tiller through the rows during the summer to keep the furrow deep, but also to weed.  However this was always weeding to do on the hill between the furrows.  My dad use to assign so many rows for us to do while he was at work.
Irrigating was always fun, as you had to make sure every thing got watered, and the water went where it should.  We would have turns, and sometimes the turn was in the middle of the night.  The water would flow through our garden, and then be able to water the gardens of the duplexes behind our house if anyone had cared to plant a garden.
The result of all this is we had a very nice garden.  Not only did we have the orchard, but also vegetables.  We always had potatoes, corn, peas, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce etc.  We didn't have much success with cantaloupe or melons. 

Utah Boys Ranch 1981-82

While I was going to school for my Masters in Social Work at the University of Utah I worked at the Utah Boys Ranch in Kearns.  I was called a counselor, which basically meant I helped the house parents.  My second year they opened up a third home and I actually moved up in the world and became like and assistant house parent.  They also gave me a room to live in.
I started in cottage 2 with Nancy and Bob Burtron as the house parents.  It was fun, but could be hard work.  We supervised work hours, drove the van and transported the kids, had a level system we administered.  This included scoring their chores and rooms.  

t-shirt Nancy got me when I coached briefly the boys ranch team

Some things from school spilled over into work at the boy's ranch.  Some with success and some not. I brought someone from Planned Parenthood for sex education.  A big flop.  However I also brought other speakers and presentations. We tried playing basketball with YMCA but when one of the kids broke into a locker that ended that.  They had their own chapel on site.  The social worker was into motor bikes.  There was a course on site and we had some good times.  We even took a trip to the sand dunes.  We also went on other local trips, to go swimming, ice skating, and just for a drive.  Once I took the kids to Logan to meet my mom.  For Christmas we did a fireside and I sang a song with my mom on piano.  We went camping and fishing for a few days in the Uintahs.
These pictures are from a group shot, but to preserve confidentiality I am showing myself, with a mustache and Patsy and Charlie, Bob and Nancy's children.
There were lots of facilities as well.   Bob liked to lift weights and had lots of equipment.  I could never lift as much as Bob, but I got to where I could bench over 200.  There was also ping pong, and I perfected my spins and smashes.  I could beat all the kids.

Dr Martin Luther King

While we are celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, I am moved to remember his death.  When Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee, I was living in Carbondale, Illinois, and attending the fifth grade at Parish Elementary.
I remember the African American community in Carbondale was very upset.  There were many fires started, but for some reason, these were generally in the Black community.  I found it odd why the people would burn their own areas.  I remember once coming home from church, and a fire engine going through the train barricade to get to a fire.  It was an interesting time. 
After the Assassination of Martin Luther King, our area of the country was on the look out for a white mustang.  It had been reported the assassin fled in a white mustang.  From this developed a car game where we could get points for seeing things.  One for a horse, five for a mustang and 50 for a white mustang.
There were riots, including the big one in Louisville, Kentucky.  My dad took us to the site of a  riot, but I can't remember where.  I am pretty sure it was in Kentucky, at a university.  It could have been Louisville.

Connie Fornoff

My sister is named Connie Marie Wardle Fornoff, taking her middle name from my mom's sister, Rose Marie.  Connie always had an independent streak.  When we moved to Hyrum she made her own bedroom by hanging sheets in the basement.  I do not remember this, but it seams she used bags of cement for her bed.

Connie started going out with Kelly before we moved to Illinois for two years.  When we returned, she went to Sky View.  She would take the bus with the rest of us, but she would get of at South Cache, and then get a ride with Kelly to Sky View.


Black Smith Fork

Connie and Buffie by the garden

With Dianna in Hyrum

Wedding picture, Las Vegas

Matt Dec. 6, 1981

Jed, Aaron, Matt 1981

JAM and Connie, June 19, 1982 (Charlie's return)

Jed

Jed 3 1/2 years

Aaron 18 months

Connie married Kelly young, and without the blessings of my parents.  They eloped to Las Vegas.  They are still going strong these 40 or so years later.  They first had an apartment in Logan, then a house in River Heights, and now live in Cove.  They have three children, Jed, Aaron and Matt, or JAM for short.

My Life in Theater: Ninth Grade, Mini Musical, 1972

1972 I was in my last year at South Cache Junior High School.  We had a new choir instructor that year.  We presented a review of different shows, Oliver, My Fair Lady, Fantansticks and Sound of Music.  I sang in the chorus.  The men's chorus did "food" which was very fun.  We also did "Plant a Radish."  As a full chorus we also sang "Edelweiss."  I was one of the Von Trapp children in "So Long, Farewell."  In addition to the shows at the school, a few of us, including the Von Trapp kids sang in our ward relief society.  I remember after the show Dad taking us our for ice cream one night.  I was wearing my Sound of Music costume.

Carbondale: Summer Reading Program

I was required to do a summer reading program because of my poor reading skills.  The problem was not that I didn't comprehend what I was reading, but I read so slowly I didn't get a chance to answer all the questions on the timed tests they kept giving us.  I don't know if it helped much, I still read slowly.  However at the end of the course the instructor offered my a choice of two books--a Civil War Book or a Yogi Bera how to play baseball book.  I selected the latter, and used it considerably playing and coaching baseball  However I always had some regrets that I didn't get the Civil War book.  I had told the instructor those were the two subjects I was interested in.

My Life in Theater: Amahl and the Night Visitors

I have been in Amahl and the Night Visitors twice.  First was my freshman year at Utah State University.  I was a shepherd.  The shepherd song was very hard to learn, especially remembering all those names and foods as we came to honor the kings.

While living in Eastern Utah I was again in this production.  This time it was a bi-stake production of the stakes in Roosevelt.  We performed at the high school.  This time I had the roll of one of the Kings, Melchior, the baritone.  It was fun.  Betty Griffin directed.  We had a very good cast. 

My Life in Theater: Within These Walls 1980

Within These Walls – musical by Margaret Smoot & Robert F. Bruner.  To be honest, I don't remember this musical very well.  Hyrum Stake presented it for the 150 year anniversary of the founding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1980.  It was during the period when I lived at home and attended Utah State University.  It was about different families that lived in the same house.   Grant Norman was the stake President.  Gary Ward the high councilman assigned to the project.  The director was Ruth Leishman.

 About this time I was in another production and sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" as John Taylor.

Tonsilitis: Third Grade 1965

recovering

I was in my underwear for more than a week

My only surgery in my life was when my tonsils were removed after third grade, 1965.  I had surgery a few days after Chritmas.  I remember getting a shot, and being told to count backwards.  The next thing I remember was waking in the car as my parents loaded me in.  It must have been same day surgery.  This was at Logan Hospital. I was pretty sick for a few days. 
When school started, I had a sore throat every morning and stayed home a week.  The wore throat would go away by noon, and I was mostly OK the rest of the day.  This was great, because I received a Civil War set for Christmas, and entertained myself just fine.

My Potrait Through the Years

I won a beauty contest as a baby

First Grade

2nd?

??, a crew cut was common

Junior High

High School Graduation