When I started high school, I was scared to death and also very shy. I really didn’t know anyone but my classmates from Snowville. But I soon made many good friends, and learned how to play the saxophone in the band. I once had to play a short solo at a music festival. We got a great rating so I guess I did alright.
My sophomore year I lived with the Gee Family in Garland. They both were teachers and I helped with the housework, fixed meals, ironed, washed, etc. That helped pay for my room and board that year. My junior and senior year I lived with the Bowcutt Family. Their daughter Sonja and I were really good friends. She was the only girl in the family with one older brother and a younger brother. Her parents owned the grocery store there in Garland. I helped her mom again with a lot of the housework. Sonja was jealous of me because I knew how to do things around the house, and her mother thought I was wonderful. But Sonja was a beautiful piano player, and I can still hear her practicing every morning before we left for school.
I would go home on weekends if there wasn’t something more exciting to do. I had a lot of parties out at the ranch. All of my friends loved to go out there. We had ice skating parties in the winter time, down at the old Rose Ranch. Our dates would hunt jack rabbits most of the time. The girls would do the driving and the boys rode out on front with the guns, shooting rabbits. I didn’t like it when I would hear the rabbits cry. There were so many rabbits at that time they would have “Rabbit Drives” where they would pay you so much for a rabbit.
I loved to dance and we would always go to Salt Lake to “Salt Air” or Lagoon and they would have special musicians – Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole, just to name a few. We were always thrilled when we could get a date and attend those dances.When it was time for General Conference, we would always go to Salt Lake for at least one session with our dates. We would get there as the morning session was letting out and then stand in line to get into the Tabernacle and wait for the afternoon session. They were special occasions. I remember mother taking me and my friend Cheryl when President George Albert Smith lay in state. I remember his long white beard and how nice he looked.
The year I graduated from Seminary I was asked to be one of the speakers. I was so frightened and never prayed so hard in my life. I remember looking down in the audience and seeing Grandma and Grandpa Dredge looking up at me with big smiles on their faces. It was a wonderful experience. That was the first time I had ever spoken to such a crowd. The tabernacle was filled with people. Kenneth Ward (my cousin) was the other speaker and everyone thought we were twins. Ha!
After I graduated from High school, Daddy let me take his brand new Oldsmobile and three of my girlfriends to Jackson, Wyoming for a little vacation. (Can you believe he would let me do that?)
We had a wonderful time, until we rented a row boat and headed out on Jenny’s Lake. It was a beautiful day, clear blue skies, and the Grand Tetons were breathtaking.
Needless to say, none of us knew anything about rowing a row boat. We had drifted out quite a long way when the wind started up and the black clouds started to roll in. We all took turns trying to paddle our way back to shore. Around in circles we would go. I started to pray and cry. I didn’t know how to swim a stroke and was scared of water to start with. We finally made it back to shore with the help of our Heavenly Father. I have never forgotten that experience, and knew our prayers had been answered. I never visit Jenny’s Lake without that frightening experience coming back to my memory.
