Veterans in my family

My Son, Mark, Marine, served in Iraq

My dad, Navy served during WWII in Brazil and Africa

Great-great-great grandfather Ashton who served in the Infantry of the Army defending U.S. interest at the time against Native Americans 1856-1861.  He marched to California, and walked the entire state North to South.  He was discharged from Benecia in 1861. (sorry no picture)

Aunt Verna who did a a couple tours of duty.

My Father's Suicide Note and Attempt

Dearest Bill,  Bill, I admonish you to be everything you have the potential of being.  There could be no greater aspiration for a son.  Help you mother, she will rely on you greatly.  You will continue schooling, of course.  Help Weldon in doing the same, and Charles too.  I am sorry for the shame I have brought the family.  Please forgive me.  Love, Dad.

When I was a Freshman at Utah State, my father took a job at Brigham Young University.  He had his own apartment there.  However, it was discovered that he had stolen books from the Special Collections at the library he had worked at previous to this, Utah State University.  There was an intense investigation, and police were at our house going through my father's personal collection of books.  Apparently they found a book that matched those they were looking for.
My father, when all this came out, was very distraught.  It is stressful to be the subject of a police investigation.  He decided to take his own life.  He wrote every one a suicide note.  The one he directed to me is above.  He planned on walking in the mountains behind BYU and throwing himself off a cliff.  In the end he couldn't do it.  However, he did cut his wrists very badly, causing some permanent nerve damage.  Weldon, who was just home off his mission, went down to Provo to see if he could intervene with Dad.  Apparently he found him all bloody walking back down the hill.
During this time I was attending college, and sitting by a couple nice looking girls in class, trying to get to know them.  There was a story in the Utah Statesman about my father, and his seeking to be reemployed at Utah State.  (He was fired at BYU because you cannot commit a crime and work there.  He probably would have gotten the job too, except for the Statesman reporter you broke the story and caused some embarrassment for the library.)  Anyway these girls were talking about Dad and how foolish he was thinking he could get a job after stealing books.  I didn't tell them he was my father, but I never tried to be their friend after that either. 

Dad Catching Himself on Fire

This story is one with regards to our days in Othello, of which I have no recollection, but was told to me by my older sister.  We figured I was probably two when this took place.
During potato harvest all was business, and work work work.  Dad was motivated to get the harvest done as quickly as possible, and so wanted to keep everyone working without breaks as much as possible.  Grandpa Wardle was helping with harvest , and I imagine there were others, including paid laborers.
Dad did not want to stop harvesting even for refueling.  So when it was time to refuel one of the trucks, he was adding fuel while the truck was still running.  However in the process, the gas ignited, and set Dad on fire.  Grandpa was close at hand, and quickly rolled him on the ground.  He was burnt all over and had the go to the hospital.  Sara said he burned his face, hands and legs.  Her

Both pictures post Othello

comment was, "He was burnt everyplace that was not covered by his garments."
As I mentioned, I do not remember this incident.  I assume they got the spuds in.  If Grandpa hadn't been close at hand, and hadn't put the fire out quickly, things would have been much worse.  My sister, and mother and father as well, considered it a miracle he wasn't more seriously hurt, and credit this miracle to his garments.  I never knew my Dad to have burn scars.

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.

Skinny Dippin' by Charlie Wardle

“Skinny Dippin’” by: Charlie Wardle
One day while we were at Granma Wardle’s in Rigby, Idaho, Dad decided that he would take us boys and some of our cousins to his old swimming hole for a swim.  Since we didn’t have any swimming suits with us, Dad said it would be alright to go skinny dipping.  When Uncle Olsen heard this, (he was very strict with his children) he told his two boys that if they even got a little wet, he’d beat them.
Dad assured Mother and Aunt Verna that his swimming hole was where no one could see us.  It ended up being about twenty yards away from a busy highway.
Dad’s swimming hole was a great big canal with a small ditch that ran along the side of it.  The place where we were swimming had about five great big trees and a rope hanging from one of the trees to swing across.  Dad said there used to be a diving board when he used to swim, but it was gone.
The people that ended up going were Dad, Weldon, bill, Charlie, the two Olsen boys and Danny Green.  The canal we were swimming in was fairly deep, at least over my head, and it was fairly swift.
We would walk up the ditch about thirty or forty yards, then hurry and jump into the canal and float on down the canal. 
We had the Olsen boys at each end of the canal when we were swimming, to watch for cars when we switched from the canal to the ditch; or from the ditch to the canal. 
One time when we were moving from the ditch to the canal, Weldon got up on the bridge that went over the canal, to dive in.  While Weldon was standing on the bridge a car came by.  Weldon didn’t have time to jump in so he just stood there and waved.  The funny thing about it was that the people in the car were Sara and Clyde.  When Sara noticed that the person standing on the side of the road nude was her brother Weldon, her bottom jaw dropped so far that I thought it was going to fall off.
After we got done swimming and put on our clothes, Weldon, Billy and Danny started swinging across the canal on the rope.  The younger Olsen boy [Reed] wanted to try swinging across the canal, but his oldest brother [Ray] told him he better not in case he fell in.  To show his oldest brother that he could do it, he grabbed the rope and started across.  He just barely reached the bank on the other side with his “tippy-toes”.  He was trying to pull himself up with the rope when his grip slipped and in he went.  We all started laughing at him.  When he pulled himself out, his brother was telling him how he had told him that he shouldn’t have swung across the canal on the rope.  He got mad at his brother and pushed him in the canal so they both got wet. 
When we got back to Grandma’s their dad was so mad with them they both had to go sit in their van until their family left Grandma’s.

Halloween Scare from my Father

My dad use to love to tease with his black spider puppet, and depending on the age of the child, they could be very frightened by this black spider.  They would always look at thinking it was just a toy, but then not quite sure because it had movement.  Happy Halloween

My Dad, the Scoutmaster.

This is the sleeve from my dad's scout uniform when he was the scoutmaster in Carbondale, Ill.  We had some pretty good times.  I was actually in two scout groups at the same time; Blazer Scouts and the regular troop.  We had a total of 10 boys in the regular troop.  At scout camp we were the only troop with just one patrol.  We did a week long summer camp, but were the most unprepared scouts in the world.  We forgot matches, so had to keep the fire going just enough all night so it would lite in the morning from the embers.  My dad couldn't get off work some of the days, so we were on our own during the day.  That was usually OK because we were very busy.  However one day a couple of the boys got into a fight.  It was pretty touch and go for a time.  Someone from the camp office visited us that day.  

We would hold our regular meetings in the primary room at our church.  It was a small church which didn't have a gym like some churches have. 

The set up was to my benefit.  I was able to get my basic scout requirements done in the Blazer patrol.  While in the regular troop I completed four required merit badges; two at summer camp--swimming and conservation of natural resources.  We also finished personal fitness and first aid.  There were members of the branch that taught these two courses.