After they closed the Lodge at Grand Canyon I came back to Cedar City and got ready to enroll in the College of Southern Utah. Enrolling was very different then. The teachers would all be sitting around the Gym at tables and you would go from table to table and collect IBM cards that had holes punched in them for each class you wanted and then turn them all into the registrar. Much like High School there were certain classes you had to take in order to graduate. English, some sort of Math, some sort of Science, Social Studies, History, and Humanities and classes to point to your major. I had earned enough over the summer to help pay my tuition. Mom and Dad helped with the rest. I still lived at home so I had no room and board expenses. I honestly do not remember what I did for spending money. I don’t remember having a job or getting any babysitting jobs. I guess if I needed money I had to beg from my parents.
College was so different from High School. Classes were usually held two or three times a week so often you would have several hours between classes. This left lots of time to spend in the library studying or in my case because I did not really think I needed to study I spent most of my free time hanging around the Auditorium. There were clubs to join and Sororities to pledge. I signed up to pledge and was invited to several Sororities but when it came to being invited once again the only invitation that came was from the Sorority that only had about three members and was about to be shut down. I didn’t join, I started going to the Drama Club and it was there that I found the friends that I would have the rest of my time in College. One of the girls I met was Tauna Lyman, she was from Monticello, a small town in Eastern Utah. Her older sister had played the part of Cleopatra the first summer I was in Shakespeare. She had also played the part of Lady Macbeth. I thought she was a wonderful actress. Tauna was not really interested in acting but she found friends in the Drama Club and I don’t know why but we just became very good friends. Another difference that I thought was wonderful was girls did not have to wear dresses to school. We could wear pants.
I took every drama class I could fit into my schedule. I signed up to help with every production. I was given a part in the play ‘The Ladies in Apt. 409′. I had a small part. I really loved being part of a play. At Christmas time the Drama Club would decorate the Auditorium with about ten different Christmas Trees. Each one decorated to a different theme. It was a lot of work but really fun and exciting to see them come together. We would scavenge around town and come up with all kinds of stuff to use on our trees. They were beautiful. I believe they truly lived up to the name Hall of Enchanted Trees. It was a gift to the community. The elementary would bring classes to see the trees. It was fun to be there and talk to the kids.
I had the opportunity to work in the costume shop. Eventually I was able to get a paid position in the costume shop so that helped with my spending money. My social life picked up too. For the first time in my life I was being asked out on dates. Most of the time however we traveled in a pack. Tauna and I and several other girls and boys socialized. We went to movies and other school activities. In other words I had finally found a world were I felt like I fit and was accepted. My regrets about those College years was that I really did not work harder at academics. I think I was not really very focused on learning. If I were to give my Grand kids any advice it would be to take school seriously. It is hard to go back.
At this point in our family, Doug was on a mission in Australia, Kathryn was married to James Jensen and already had a baby girl, Richard was in ninth grade and Sandra was engaged to Max Lewis whom she met at Utah State University. They planned to be married right after Christmas in the St. George Temple. Hers was the first wedding reception held in our new ward house. Kathy’s little girl was just learning to walk and she was toddling all over the gym floor. The floor was so shiny and new she would keep slipping and falling. She would lay down on the floor and pet it. She kept us all very entertained.
More College memories next time