Matilda

RaNae and I got married in 1955. At the time, I had a 1950 Ford convertible that I had nicknamed "Matilda." It was a great car. The previous owner had split the V8 engine exhaust manifold so the exhaust was twin pipes that had a deep resonant tone. That was in the days before catalytic converters so the engine sound could be heard through the mufflers and exhaust pipes. On the day we were married, (a Tuesday,) we rode to Manti, Utah with RaNae's Mom & Dad. My parents came in their car. RaNae's best friend and Bridesmaid and her husband drove my car to Manti. They came home with RaNae's parents. When we arrived in Salt Lake City, we went to an apartment that had been rented by another of RaNae's girlfriends who was to be married the next week. We had our wedding reception that night and spent our wedding night at the apartment. The next morning, we discovered that the car was gone. Before we even called the police, RaNae's Dad called and said the car was parked in front of their house in Midvale. We took a bus to Midvale but when we arrived at RaNae's home, the car was gone. We didn't go on a honeymoon as I was scheduled to go in the army in eight days. So, I went to my job (A Civil
Engineering firm) and RaNae went to hers. Later that day, RaNae called me and said that her Mom had received an anonymous phone call saying the car was parked on a Salt Lake east side street called Wasatch Boulevard. I got one of the guys at work to take me to the car but when we got there, it was gone. On Friday of that week, another fellow from work and I went to our bosses garage to get some survey stakes and when we opened the garage door, there was my car. It was stolen originally by an old boy friend of Ranae's who was in cahoots with her Mom & Dad and the guys where I worked. I was glad to get my car back. The caper had been done in good fun and we have reminisced about it many times over the past 53 years. We kept the car until 1957 and then traded it for a newer one when I got discharged from the Army.

Eagle Project

When I was twelve years old in 1942, I joined he Boy Scouts of America. It was an exciting program and I enjoyed the meetings, scout camps and jamborees. The ranks of Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class Scout weren't too difficult to attain and I did so as the time lapse between each rank was attained. I had an ideal to look up to in the person of my older sister's husband. He was an Army Air Corp Officer but was also an avid scouter. He had earned all of the Merit Badges available at that time and wherever he and my sister went, he was involved in the scouting program. Earning Merit Badges for rank advancement is strictly a product of ambition and there were those who advanced in rank from Star Scout to Life and Eagle Scout as quickly as possible. I was sixteen (1947) by the time I had attained the rank of Life Scout. As all know, Merit Badges are not the only thing necessary to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. A Service Project is also necessary. You must plan and organize the project having other scouts help at your direction if necessary. The project I chose was to organize an Assistant Project with the U.S. Forest Service who was planning a reforestization project of Provo Peak located east of Provo behind the "Y" mountain. This required going with the rangers to the base of Provo Peak and then hiking up to the area where the planting would be performed. As I recall, there were six rangers and six of us scouts. We all had back packs filled with pine tree seedlings that we carried up the mountain in addition to shovels and our lunches. We had left Provo at six in the morning and by the time we reached the planting area it was about eight o'clock. I had planned that each scout would work with a ranger and by five o'clock in the afternoon, we had completed our task for the day. The twelve of us planted over five hundred trees. The project was accepted by the Great Salt Lake Council of the BSA and I received my Eagle Award in July of that year. I didn't check up as to the success of the reforestization project until 2007. I learned that the project had been a success in preventing erosion of that area that had been hit hard the previous winter wherein a lot of trees were lost due to the harsh winter conditions. During my scouting career, I didn't earn all the Merit Badges but enough to earn the Eagle Award with two Silver Leafs. I would be amiss if I didn't thank my Mom for the prodding she did to inspire me to accomplish my goal.

Prompting of the Spirit

My Dad worked construction most of his life. Shortly after he married my Mom, he got a job as a "Cat Skinner." The "Cat" was also known as a "Bulldozer." I asked him how he got the job and he said that he taught himself while demonstrating to his prospective employer that he could operate the equipment. For the next forty plus years, he worked construction jobs all over the country from Idaho to the Panama Canal and from Utah to South Carolina. During 1938 and 1939, my Dad, "Digger," was working on the Deer Creek Dam in Heber Valley in Utah. His job required that he, among other things, pioneer a road from the east side of the dam to the Walsberg road
east of Heber City. To this day, the highway follows the route he made. On one occasion, he stopped for lunch and backed his "cat" up to a steep incline that was in the shade to eat his lunch while sitting in the seat of the "cat." He had finished eating and was taking a nap before resuming his work. Suddenly, he awoke and a voice told him to get out of the seat and on to the ground. He did so and within a few seconds a rock from up the hill about four feet in diameter landed in the seat where he had been sitting. The rock must have been jarred loose while he was working the hillside for the road. He told me this story to emphasize the importance of following the promptings of the spirit. Had he not listened to and followed that small voice, he surely would have been killed. He was a very humble man though his outward demeanor did not show it.

Throwin'' The Weight Around

My older sister's third husband was, I think, about twenty yeas older than her. His Son in Law was Governor of Wyoming during the 70's and early 80's. His name was Ed Hirschler. Interestingly enough, I was working for a trucking company as Lease Manager at that time. The company ran about 40 leased trucks. My job, among other things required that the equipment be licensed in the states we ran in. On one occasion, an emergency required that I fly to Cheyenne, Wyoming to get plates for the trucks. The company was starting a new job transporting crude oil from Wyoming and I needed the plates for the next day. While attempting to accomplish this, I was being hassled by the Wyoming license plate division. After several attempts to get the plates, I mentioned that my sister's Son in Law was Governor Hirschler and that I was going to call her and tell her of the treatment I was getting. As I started to leave, the director of that department stopped me and said to wait a minute. Thirty minutes later, I had the plates and was on my way home. It just goes to show you that sometimes throwing your weight around gets positive results.