DAMON

This is Karen's oldest grandchild.

Karen was my roommate at Dixie.

He is graduating from Mountain View High School in Orem.

When I graduated, there were no cords, of any kind.

He has the white collar for National Honor Society.

I was in the National Honor Society.

We got a gold sticker on the diploma.

The best part of graduating with honors,

was we got to sit on the stand at the Tabernacle.

The seats were soft.

There were cords when my nieces and nephews graduated.

Besides the National Honor Society, here's Damon's awards:

Sterling Scholar (English)

Social Studies

Math

Performing Arts

Science

I tried to get him to go to

Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge,

but, he was on choir tour.

JUST A LITTLE LUNCH IN ST. GEORGE

Another Dixie roommate lunch!

July 11, 2019.

I was just going to drive down and back.

But, Mom decided she wanted to go, and

we stayed for 3 days!

I also was able to visit Nancy in her new home,

and attend the St. George Temple.

That was the last time I attended a temple!

The St. George Temple, like the Salt Lake Temple,

is in the middle of earthquake upgrades.

Also, in the middle of September, I received

my "BYU Football Injury!"

I guess I could have gone, wearing my

surgical shoes.

But, my feet bled for months!

I did not think they would like me to bleed

all over their white carpet!

AWKWARD!

And then came the Corona Crap,
shutting down all temples!

This is a better picture than the first one.

Me

Karen McKnight Esplin

Kathleen Salazar

Becky Wells Gentry

Sara Cutler Deaver

Pam Merrell Heaton

Mom

I lived with Karen, Sara, and Pam.

The best part of this lunch was seeing

Becky Wells!

I hadn't seen her in over 40 years!

She lived in the same tower we did, and was

in the same ward.

Her husband, Doug Gentry, was the

nicest guy, and our Family Home Evening "dad"

our second year!

Our Family Home Evening group was

our four roommates

(me, Karen, Pam . . . later Stacey, Tammy, and Kara),

Doug, and "The Basketball House!"

The majority of the basketball team lived

in a (dumpy) house on "Diagonal Street", across town.

It was great!!!

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DIXIE REBEL

THIS WAS GIVEN AT THE 1975-1985 DIXIE REUNION.  I WAS THERE FROM 1976-1978,

 SO PRETTY CLOSE.

Spring Quarter 1977 Roomates
Karen McKnight, Sara Cutler, Pam Merrell

A Day in the Life of an early 80s Dixie College student by Rodney Rebel

5am – Woke up to the wind up alarm clock. OK…who messed with my alarm clock!?! I don’t have class until 8!!!

Back to sleep for two hours and 45 minutes. Woke up just in time to shower or rather spray on some deodorant and brush my teeth…well, put some toothpaste in my mouth then off to class.

8:00am – Made it to Dixie just in time for our first class. Maybe it was Max Rose’s chemistry class, or Mr. Hinton’s communications class; heck some of us had Biology with Mr. Woodbury or maybe a PE class (usually dance) with Mrs. Roper. We were just happy to be at Dixie.

In between classes we would meet at the fountain or the student center to socialize…face-to-face…looking at each other…and even talking with words!!! Some even talked about the nightmare from the night before of a future time in a few decades when they would change the mascot from a Rebel because it was offensive to a Bison of all things, an almost extinct animal almost completely killed off and considered sacred by many indigenous people…weird dream!!! Moving on!

9:00am – A time many of us considered THE REASON for life. Morning Program Bureau with Mrs. DiFiore. Ohhh, how we loved being from Dixie and singing for that beautiful woman who we all knew as Mrs. D. She was the heart of Dixie!!! It was a time of goodness and kindness; of caring and heartfelt Dixie pride. Such fun to sing about God, country, and good ol’ Dixie. To swoon and croon, to talk about not being fenced in, rocking your baby with a Dixie melody, being from Big D, Old Glory and so much more.

Following PB, as it was lovingly called, there would be an exodus to our next classes for a couple of hours of serious college work or perhaps a class across the street at the Institute building. Who could forget the classics like Dr. Anderson’s drama courses or Dr. Putnam’s choral groups or Mr. Hinton and Woodward’s speech and communication classes? These classes weren’t just time fillers. They taught us so much more than the course content.

Some of us took breaks to head over to the bookstore to see Dave Wilkey to chat and share a laugh or maybe to the cafeteria for some yummy food prepped by Chef George Whitehead and his crew. We would often times stop and talk to our favorite custodian Ronnie who was always happy and positive. We might drop in to talk to Rudy Iverson or Dr. Karl Brooks or Tad Derrick or Bill Fowler or Kathleen Pope for some good ol’ fashion reassurance and advice. There were so many mentors that loved us.

12:00 noonish - That mid-day period was another great opportunity for students to hang out, study, and maybe meet with one of the clubs like DECA, the Hospitality Club, Radio & TV, Drama or the Pink Panther Peace Corp. We headed to the library to type a paper on the cool, new IBM Selectric typewriter. Again, this was a time where we sat face to face and conversed one with another…using words. The only thing we did with our fingers was premarital bisexual interdigitation (holding hands).

1:00pm - To kick-off the second half of the day, some of us headed to afternoon Program Bureau for more of God, country and Dixie with our amazing Mrs. D. We heard from the likes of Ed Rogers & Ken Young; Phil Theobald and Cara Clawson; Theresa Springer and Ron Kahle; Eric Young and Gretchen Graff. Oh, the songs we sang like “I Love to Cry at Weddings,” “When You’re from Big D,” “Waddlie-Acha,” “This is a land of milk and honey,” and so many more…almost sounds like a “Time/Life” commercial doesn’t it.

The afternoon hours were filled with more classes or studying…no really some of us actually studied… and of course, work. And we worked wherever we could…Ben Franklin’s, Pizza Factory, Larson’s Frost Top, Chez Maggie, the bookstore, Harmon’s, the cafeteria, landscaping. You name it, we did it. Anything we could do to earn money for school, dates, rent, dates, food, dates, and of course dates.

We also took off to Snow’s Canyon to go rappelling, to the narrows in the Red Cliffs to get stuck, or maybe to Pine Valley for a hike. At certain times of the year, we might find a swimming hole down at the river or if it was raining go to the canyon to watch the waterfalls.

6:00pm - When the evening hours finally arrived, it was time for one of the many social activities. We watched our awesome Rebel basketball team win championships and go to nationals cheered on by Deanna Hafen, Lisa Newby, Koni Esplin, Sheri Blake, Gretchen Graff and others. We either went to watch or were in one of the many musicals directed by the gifted Dr. Paul Anderson such as Oklahoma, South Pacific and Guys and Dolls. We went pool hopping innocently from motel to motel. We went tunnel running through the passageways under the college and never got caught.

8:00pm – We snuggled ourselves safely in bed while visions of sugar plums danced…oops wrong story. We were just getting started around this time. This was the time we would head off to a dance and boy could we dance…the Hustle, Moonwalking, Cabbage Patch, the Robot, dirty dog…OK, maybe we should forget that that ever happened. It was also when we did this thing called “dating.” That’s where a guy calls up a girl on the telephone and asks her to go out for ice cream, to the movies or dinner…and they would talk to each other….in person.

11:00pm – To end the day, we would all head over to JB’s for a burger or Larson’s for ice cream sundaes, shakes, malts and of course fries with fry sauce. I might interject here that most people outside of Utah don’t know about fry sauce. Here we would talk about the day, tell jokes, laugh, cry and just have fun being together because we were with friends in one of the best place to be – Dear ‘Ol Dixie.

The life of an early 80s Dixie College (and late 70s) student was…well…the best of times.

(And, if I hadn't gone to Dixie first, I probably would have liked my time at BYU better!)

CEDAR CITY TEMPLE

I thought it would be fun to go to the

Cedar City Temple

Open House for my birthday.

Cedar City is about 45 minutes north

of St. George . . . the town I was born in,

and lived until I was 6.  Also, went to

Jr. College there.

I sent a message to former roommate, Sara,

if she'd like to come up for it.

She wanted to get all of our roommates

together (Pam couldn't make it.)

The problem?

The dates weren't very long.

We had to work around my BYU football

and Utah Jazz games, mom's surgery,

my responsibilities as Utah ADK President,

and birthdays.

I was able to come up with the

dates, November 15-17.

(The 15th was Ally & Brooky's bday, and

the 17th was Mark's.  But, we had celebrated

on the Sunday before.)

Mom and I drove down.

We first met at the

Brick House for lunch.

Clockwise, left to right:  Maria (Sara's neighbor, and a nonmember),

Sara Deaver, Kathleen Salazar, Karen Esplin, me, and mom

 I think the temple looks a little bit like

a smaller version of the St. George Temple

(pic from internet)

Karen, Kathleen, Mom, Me, Sara

Outside of the temple.

It was sooooo windy!

The temple at sunset

(pic from internet)

Mom and I decided to go to St. George

for 2 nights and 3 days.

This is LoyAnn McArthur McClendon.

My mom taught her in the 1st & 2nd grades in 

the early 60's!

This is her first year of retirement as a teacher.

She told us about her experience in

St. Thomas during the hurricane!

 St. George Temple

Oh, the flowers!!!

I wish I had driven by at night for pictures!

 We went to the St. George Temple and did a session.

We hadn't been there since August 2016, when

Kathleen received her endowments.

We ate lunch at the temple.

I saw Jewel Walters!

We were in junior high - high school together.

She also was a para educator at Alpine Elementary.

Her husband, Clive, grew up in my ward.

Their kids went to Alpine Elementary, and

Jessica was my aide one year.

They moved to St. George.

We also went shopping while we were there.

We got mom a new purse, garments, 

and some clothes at Dress Barn.

I got mom's Christmas while there...gift card for Dress Barn.

After shopping at Dress Barn, we hit the road.

The weather was fine, until we hit Beaver.

From Beaver to Fillmore, it was a downpour, then

snow.  Lots of it.  We were surrounded

by people that didn't know how to drive in it!

Cars were backwards, off the road, etc.

Some drivers think the speed limit signs

are for all the time!!!

The traffic going southbound was at a standstill.

Other than stretch of traffic, 

fabulous road trip!!!

ROOMIES

For just about 6 weeks, the 4 of us lived together at Dixie.

Karen McKnight Esplin, me, Sara Cutler Deaver, and

Pam Merrell Heaton.

All from Las Vegas.

All attended Clark High School.

After my first 2 quarters at Dixie, my 3 roommates

decided to move off campus. My room was already paid for, so I couldn't move.

 They wanted to keep two dorm rooms open for spring students visiting the campus.

I was heading to Wyoming for a debate meet.

I had a few choices, and hastily said, Pam Merrell.

Pam's roommate, Cozette Davis, was moving home to Lehi

and to get married in June.

She's actually in my stake, but in 10 years, I've never

seen her.  I know her husband, cuz he was a stake clerk.

(Funny side note...in the end, my other 3 roommates were sad
of their decision to have left.  Especially since I was so happy!
I had made tons of new friends that last year and quarter,
they didn't.  They lived in a triplex.  They knew
their neighbors, and that was it)

Anyway, this girl in my Spanish class moved all my

things to the new room.  It was spring break. She was

from Pennsylvania, and wasn't going anywhere.

Karen and Sara were the "potty partners."

Karen came winter quarter from BYU...well, just living there.

She had to bring her grades up to get into BYU.

Sara's family introduced Karen's family to the church.

Karen was tired of Sara.

She wanted to move with me.

We tried to find a place in the dorms, but couldn't.

I didn't even know Karen, except she was the

visiting teaching coordinator.

Well, Sara and I swapped rooms.

Sara lived with Pam, and I lived with Karen.

Then, Sara's dad came up and pulled her out of school.

He found out that Sara was coming to Vegas

without going to see her parents.

Yup.  Drug run.

Anyway, Karen and I lived together our last year at Dixie.

Pam moved to the Tara Trailers.

I've seen Pam once in awhile, but keep up now on Facebook.

I've really kept up with Karen and Sara.

I was bridesmaids for both of them.

I've stayed at their homes, gone to their children's weddings.

We've been out to lunches and dinners, and Jazz games.

All are active in the Church.

Sara has been an ordinance worker in the Vegas Temple.

Karen and Dale, lots of callings.

Primary chorister, Presidency members, 

Bishop in a college ward,

Lambda Delta Sigma (our LDS sorority) advisor.

But, for 6 short weeks, 40 years ago...eternal friendships evolved!!!

STUDENT OF THE SEMESTER