Barbara C Hoag.com

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

Finally out of High School. Fred Adams the founder of The Utah Shakespearean Festival was in our ward and he came up to me one Sunday and asked me if I was going to try out for Festival. I said “I didn’t think I had a chance.” He said, “I want you to.” So he told me when auditions were and I showed up. I don’t remember much about the process but it took a couple of days and then the lists were posted. I was given the part of Helena in ‘A Mid Summers Night Dream” and a walk on part in something else, I really can’t remember.  At this point in the Festival’s history we only did three plays and they rotated through the week. The Festival only lasted through the month of July. So we played “Dream” maybe two maybe three times a week. The shows were dark on Sunday and we didn’t do matinees. At that time the whole set had to be built and taken down at the end of the season. Now they have a permanent stage fashioned after the Old Globe Theater in England. When I wasn’t rehearsing I was helping sew costumes and baking tarts. I was still involved in the Green shows the nights I wasn’t performing. It was a wonderful summer.

Fred Adams was starting to hold auditions all over the country and he brought in Directors from other Universities. Festival was on the edge of Greatness. A large majority of the actors were amateurs from the Cedar City area but a few were from other places. Now very few of the actors are amateurs. I don’t know which is better. It certainly makes it more professional and brings more wide attention. A few years ago the Festival won a Tony Award for small regional theaters. That helps attract more gifted professionals.

After Festival I had decided I wanted to go to College. But school did not start until the end of September. So I had two months with nothing to do. I applied at the Union Pacific for a job at one of the National Parks and a couple of days later they called and offered me a job as a cabin maid at the Grand Canyon North Rim. I was to leave in two days and they would take me down on the delivery truck. (Fancy). So I was off.

This was the first time I had ever been away from home for any real length of time. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is like a very small community. You get to know almost every one. There is a definite class system. Some jobs have more prestige than others, and again I was on the out side looking in. I had just had a “starring role” in the Shakespeare Festival and here I was making beds and cleaning toilets. The bell boys and waitresses ruled. The cabin maids and linen boys did not. We were the bottom of the rung. There were several kids there from Cedar City that I knew. Some older than me and some my age I had gone to school with most of my life. Two times a day all the employees would gather in front of the Lodge and do what they called a sing away. The tour buses would all be parked and as the tours loaded the employees would sing to them and invite them to come back and hope they had a good visit. I wish I could remember the words to the song it was really fun.

At nights the employees would put on a show for the tourists. Some nights the Rangers would present some interesting things about the park and other nights the Employees would put on a variety show. I would get up and recite a poem from “Alice in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass” “Jabberwocky”. Other nights we would have a movie, usually a really old black and white movie. It seems like it was always Nelson Eddie and Jeannette MacDonald. I can’t watch these movies still without thinking about the Grand Canyon.

The only access we had to the outside world was mail or pay telephone. Some kids had radios but the reception was very poor. News papers were sold at the curio shop but I did not worry about reading the paper. I would call home a few times and I wrote letters. I had been there several weeks without a letter from my folks and I was getting pretty homesick. One day I was walking back to the dorm after mail call and no letter I was feeling pretty down. I looked up and saw a couple getting out of a car across the street and then I realized it was Mom and Dad. They had driven from Cedar just to see me. I was so happy to see them. They brought me sugar cookies with orange icing. We spent the rest of the day together and I showed them my room and all my favorite spots. Then Dad told me that he had been released as Bishop. He had been a Bishop for nine years, half my life. That was really weird. After they left I felt like I could make it the rest of the summer.

I had a spot that I could be alone and read sitting on a rock on the rim of the canyon. Watching the birds flying into and out of the canyon. Listening to the trees and watching as the sun and the clouds changed the the color of the canyon. Then the sun setting and the changing colors of the sky. I grew to love that place.

Next time it is on to COLLEGE.

I just remembered a couple of things about High School that I wanted to get down. When I was a Junior I entered a speech and story telling contest. I won an excellent rating but I did not get to go to the State contest. So when I was a Senior I entered it again and this time I got a Superior rating and was invited to go to the State Contest held a the Brigham Young University Campus. My Drama teacher told me that no one else from our school was going so if I wanted to go I would have to find a way to get there myself. I talked my Dad into taking me. So off we went and he dropped me off and I spent the day by myself. At the award ceremony I was awarded an honorable mention. Kind of a let down. In retrospect I think my drama teacher did not really care if I did well. He was the choir teacher and did not really want to be doing drama stuff. But we had an excellent choir.

High School Graduation 1964 was an exciting time. We did not have caps and gowns I made my graduation dress. I felt very grown up. My class was the first to graduate from the new High School.

I have heard some people say that High School was the best time of their lives. I really would not go back there. I always felt like an outsider, even though I tried to get involved with things to be “in” with the “in crowd”. I was never asked to any of the school dances. The only school dances I went to were Sadie Hawkins Day dances. That was when the girls chased the boys. That kind of says a lot about the rest of my life. I have always kind of felt like I was the one doing the chasing. Not only boys but life.

Fast forward to 1999 and I finaly caught what I have been chasing all my life and that would be Mr. James L. Hoag. But more about that much later.

I got out my High School year books trying to get some inspiration. I tried to get involved in several clubs and activities. In my Senior year I joined the Pep Club. That was fun. We had a Pep Club uniform and we learned synchronized marching that we performed at half time during football and basketball games. I had a big mouth so I usually came home from games horse from screaming so much. But to be honest as much as I tried I still did not run with the “IN Crowd”.

The most important thing that happened during my Senior year was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I was on the campus of Southern Utah State College. We were practicing for a Choir Concert. We had just broken for lunch and I was out on the sidewalk and I saw some of the kids that were in Shakespeare Festival the summer before. They were looking very upset. I asked them what was the matter. The said that President Kennedy had just been shot in Dallas, Texas. They were very upset. They had actually met him the year before when they went on a Drama Club Trip to Washington, DC. I was very confused. I started to walk home and my Dad and Aunt Inez stopped and picked me up. They were listening to the radio. The announcement was made that President Kennedy was dead. Everything was so surreal. We had our lunch in front of the TV. I went back to the College for our Choir practice but it was really hard to get back to business. The next few days were kind of a blur. The day of the Funeral, school was closed and we all stayed home and watched the funeral. It was very sad to see those two small children, Caroline and John. Mrs. Kennedy was so strong.

A few days latter we had a memorial program at school and the Choir sang. One of the songs we sang was the poem that is on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. Your retched refuse from your teaming shores. Send these the homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the open door.” I love this poem. It was a beautiful song.

Another thing that happened my last year of High School was we moved into a brand new school. The old high school was turned over to the Jr. High and the High School moved to the south part of town. It was still winter and walking up the long straight road to school with the cold south wind blowing as it does in Cedar City was a challenge.

By this time my sister Sandra was going to College in Logan, Doug was on his mission in Australia, Kathryn was married and had a little girl. Richard was in Jr. High School and I was in High School. Our family was growing up. Dad had been given more responsibility at the Power Company. He was still Bishop and the new ward house that was being built just a block from our house was almost finished. Mother was working at the hospital as a cook making delicious meals for the patients.

I will finish up with High School next time.

As I watched the festivity and ceremony of the Inauguration today I was struck with the idea that the Lord has a hand in all of our lives. He lays the foundation for everything. On Sunday our Gospel Doctrine teacher showed a video of Joseph Smith’s first vision. The film showed the preparation that the Lord gave Joseph Smith before he took the step to seek out the Lord and ask that important question. Which of all the churches was right and which should he join? Joseph spent many months asking questions and reading the Bible trying to decide for himself which of the Religious sects he should join. Then he took the step to ask Heavenly Father. And with that step the rock was struck from the mountain and would begin to roll and could not be stopped.

Yesterday I watched a program outlining the path that Martin Luther King took in trying to help colored people gain their rights as American Citizens. Another stone was cut out of the mountain and could not be stopped. Then the time was right for the Lord’s Priesthood to be made available to all worthy men. Another stone was cut out of the mountain and could not be stopped. The thought came to my mind that because the Lord restored the Priesthood to all worthy men it made it possible for this President at this time to take over the leadership of this nation. I am not saying that I believe that the Lord chose this President, I am saying that with the restored gospel and the restored priesthood in this land that all men are more free. All men have more opportunities.

So much has changed since I was a child. I watched the first man walk on the Moon. I have seen the gospel spread all over the world. I saw the Berlin Wall being torn down. I have seen the common use of computers and the Internet. Cell phones. Human hearts being transplanted into another person and saving lives. The communist countries opening their doors to the missionaries. What a wonderful world we live in. What a wonderful country, this is truly a blessed and promised land.

Another thought that struck me today is the reality that anyone in the United States can aspire and gain the highest office in the land. Barack Obama was born a poor boy of bi-racial parents. He did not grow up a man of privilege and he came into this campaign as the poorest candidate. To me that is amazing. I did not vote for him but I surely wish and hope it is a new and better day.

By the time I got to High School my income became reduced. I stopped getting baby sitting jobs. I think people thought I was too busy with school. I did occasionally get a job sitting overnight. There were a few couples who trusted me with their children if they needed to be away for a day or two. My Mom and Dad had some friends the Truman’s. The had about four kids (I don’t remember for sure) and they asked me to tend sometimes. I remember one time I was with the kids all day. We were out in the front yard and I would let the kids sit on my feet and I would push them into the air.  Kind of hard to describe it but one of the little girls had her turn and she landed on part of the sidewalk and started to cry. She said her arm hurt. I tried to comfort her and sent her into her room to rest. When her parents came home I told them that she had fallen and that I was sure she was ok. Well they called later to say that she had a broken arm. Ops!! I felt so bad. Needless to say they never asked me to tend again.

My Dad was the Bishop of our Ward and I would often tend the children of his counselors. Especially on New Years Eve. One night I was tending Brother and Sister Bradshaw’s children and I heard a lot of popping coming from the basement. I went down stairs and there were many bottles of home made Root Beer that were blowing their tops. What a mess. Another family that I used to tend for over night was Brother and Sister Dixie Levitt, their son Mike grew up to be Governor of Utah.

By the time I got to High School I was interested in drama. I wanted to act on the stage. When I was a Junior I tried out for a part in the play “George Washington Slept Here”. I was cast in the part of the Mother. I remembered seeing an old movie by the same name starring Jack Benny. I realized after reading the script for the play that my part had been rewritten for Jack Benny. I had the best lines. It was funny and I had a lot of fun. I guess I was good. Of course every one tells you that you were wonderful.

I found out when they were having tryouts for the next summers productions at the Shakespeare Festival and I tried out. I was cast as a hand maiden to Cleopatra and a towns person in one of the other plays I don’t remember which one. I also helped out during the Green Show as a Madrigal singer and a seller of tarts and hour hound candy. The production of Anthony and Cleopatra was horrible. The lady cast as Cleopatra could not remember her lines and she was replaced just a couple of weeks before production by another actress. In the play Cleopatra kills herself on stage and so do the hand maidens. So I got to die on stage. Yeah! My High School drama teacher came to see the play and said she was kind of disappointed in my performance. Oh well you can’t please them all.

The next year in school we had a new drama teacher and Choir director. He wanted to put on “Oklahoma” as a school production. This time I was cast as Aunt Eller. I wanted to improve my singing and I tried to take lessons from my teacher but we didn’t communicate very well. I don’t think he really wanted to bother or else he didn’t think I had any talent. Anyway lessons did not last long. Doing Oklahoma was fun and when I was supposed to sing solo parts I couldn’t get the pitch so he had me talk the words to the music. That worked out pretty well and got me over my nervousness.

We also did “Brigadoon” and this time I was in the chorus and I helped with the props. That was fun making fake rocks and trees. I learned a lot about the backstage production of a play.

The next summer 1964 after I graduated from High School I tried out again for Shakespeare and this time I was cast in “Midsummer Nights Dream” in the role of Helena. She in one of four young lovers roaming through the forest. It was a great part and I had some great lines and action. Again I participated in the green show on the nights I wasn’t in a play and I helped sew costumes and I think I even helped make tarts. Those were some of the best summers of my life up to that point. Festival only lasted about four weeks at that time. They were starting to bring in more experienced actors and local amateurs did not get as many leading roles.

After Festival was over there was about two months before College started. I didn’t have a job and so I applied to the Utah Parks for a job. They called me up two days later and asked me to go to Grand Canyon North Rim as a cabin maid. And, as they say, that is another story.

When I entered 10th grade it was a lot different from being in Jr. High. Even though we all were on the same block. High school and Jr. High shared some of the same class rooms we did not attend the same classes. There was a different division. I was now a High School student. Doug was a Senior, I was a Sophomore. There were clubs you could join. I wanted to join the Pep Club but that cost money and you had to try out and I was not one of the pretty girls. I tried to join the Future Homemakers of America and did not get accepted. Never could understand why. I concentrated on taking Choir and just trying to adapt to harder classes.

In the fall, one of the big activities was a Sadie Hawkins Dance. All the girls and boys would be put together and then names would be drawn out and a boy and girl would be paired up and the girl was supposed to catch the boy and then they would go to the dance together. Of course I thought this was great. The boy I was paired up with in 10th grade was a senior. He lived out west of town. But he was also the boyfriend of one of my friends. I was so excited. He was tall and dark and very handsome. This was just for fun and so my friend who also lived in the same small town let me come and stay at her house and then we ambushed him at home. We made our date and Beverly and I planned to go together with our dates. We went to a movie and then to the dance. It was fun but thinking back about it I think it must have been kind of uncomfortable for Beverly to be with another boy and I was with her boyfriend.

For some reason the little group of girl friends that I had hung out with in Jr. High didn’t seem to transition together in High School. We all went in different directions. It is funny how even in a small town and when there is only one school that friends drift apart. I always felt like an outsider. I was one of the tallest girls in the whole school. Another little note. Remember that we had to wear dresses to school. Girls could not wear pants. By the time I got to High School I was wearing nylons and a girdle. We didn’t have panty hose. It was bout this time that Fred Adams came to town. He was teacher at the Collage and he had an idea to start a Shakespeare Festival. He produced Broadway Shows at the Collage and I fell in love with the Theater. My cousin Lyona was the lead in “Bells are Ringing”. He did “The Diary of Ann Frank” it was wonderful.  He even had the ushers dressed in Nazi Uniforms. Real theater had come to Cedar City.

One of my favorite classes in Jr. High was Home Economics. I loved cooking and sewing. I thought that I would like to be a Home Economics teacher. One day in the Spring before we graduated the Principal Mr. Hulet came to our class and said that he had a presentation. He called me up to front of the class and presented me with a statue for being an outstanding Home Economics student sponsered by Crisco. I suppose my teacher had nominated me. I don’t know what kind of qualifications were required but I guess I fit. I was so surprised and I felt very important. That was the high light of Jr. High. Yeah!

Mother and Dad had gone to Southern California for a Lions Club National Convention. I think I was in Jr High. They came home with stories of Knots Berry Farm and Disneyland. It sounded so wonderful. Then they told us that they would take us during spring vacation in March. We were all so excited. We borrowed Aunt Inez’s car because ours was too small or old I didn’t know why. All I cared about was that we were going. I remember the anticipation. The planning. We would leave on Tuesday in the evening and drive all night. There was talk about having to drive at night because the desert would be too hot. We did not have air conditioning in the car. Mother packed food to eat in the car. We took pillows. The front seat was a bench seat so that three could sit in the front. It was usually Richard. The rest of us were in the back. There was some of “He’s touching me” and “are we there yet” but for the most part I think we got along pretty well. We were used to road trips.

When we rode into Las Vegas It was a wonder. This was before the freeway and you drove right down Fremont Street and then down the Strip. It was as light as day, I had never seen so many lights. I don’t think we stopped, we just rode though. Then we settled in for the long drive. I think somewhere along the way Dad stopped the car and slept for a little bit. I think a police man knocked on the window and asked if we were OK and we couldn’t stay there. We were in California. The first thing we did was drive to the Beach for our first look at an ocean. We all took off our shoes and ran out into the water. It was cold. The beach sand was rough and rocky, not the smooth sand that I had imagined. Doug found a live star fish and wanted to keep it. Then we drove to the Motel we were going to stay at. I think the girls had a room to ourselves and Doug and Richard shared a room with Mom and Dad. The lady at the motel told Doug to put the star fish on the roof of a shed to dry out.

I don’t remember the order in which we did things. I remember stopping at some kind of market and Sandra, Kathryn and I bought big straw hats with handkerchief ties. We thought that Disneyland would be really sunny and we would need hats for protection. Dad took a picture of us riding the tea cups with those silly hats flying. They proved to be more of a bother than a help. But we sure thought we were stylish. We went to Knots Berry Farm first and looked around. It was more of a collection of old buildings like an old western town. There were lots of shops. But I don’t remember there being any amusement type rides. We went to Marine Land and saw the shows with the dolphins and whales. We went to the Hollywood Wax Museum and that was a lot of fun. They had statues of Keystone Cops all around the building and some of them were real and some were just statues and you could not tell them apart. I saw one of them following my Mother around and when she would turn around he would stop and then he tapped her on the shoulder and I thought she was going to faint. She nearly jumped out of her skin.

Then finally we went to Disneyland. We got there as soon as it opened and stayed all day. Mom and Dad promised us if we would not beg for food while we were there they would take us to nice restaurant. We all agreed. Disneyland was truly a wonderland. We had seen it being built on TV as we watched the Mickey Mouse Club and Walt Disney Presents. We rode every ride we could. It was wonderful. It was hard to imagine how it was all possible. We rode in a submarine, a boat down a river in Africa, a pirate ship through wonderland, and rocket ship to the moon. Remember this was before anyone had been to the moon. We wore ourselves out. Then it was back to the motel to dress for dinner. We went to a Polynesian Restaurant. We were all so hungry that everything was so good. Dad told us we could order anything we wanted. The waitress showed us how to use chop sticks. I had some shrimp that were served on bamboo skewers. Everything was different from anything I was familiar with. What a great adventure. Trying to act so grown up and sophisticated. But down deep knowing I was just a small town kid. But it was such a wonderful time. It is hard to believe that we were only there three days. We were back in school Monday morning.