HOME | FAMILY | CONDUCTING | SINGING | USU | STEINER | STANFORD | PHOTOS
26th AMENDMENT SIGNING | MEMORIES | YOUTUBE/VIMEO VIDEOS
Our Experiences in Logan
and at Utah State University
HISTORIC PHOTOS | JESTER HAIRSTON | AREA PHOTOS | CHORALE REUNION 2012
PERFORMANCE RECORDINGS | REUNION PHOTOS
We lived in Logan, Utah 1966-1975. Our children were 5 and 4 years old when we arrived. They attended Edith Bowen School during our nine years in Logan. We have included historic photos of our days in Utah, photos and information about the visits of Jester Hairston to USU, and photos and recordings of the wonderful Chorale Reunion, July, 2012. We also hope that many additional photos will be added. We hope you enjoy these pages.
When preparing for the USU Chorale Reunion, Becky Dalby Nelson asked us several thought-provoking questions. Those questions and our answers follow. Click on the question to see the answer.
Bill, how old were you when you sang your first solo? Where was this?
What are some favorite memories/moments/crazy times you have of each other and your family?
Bill, please share some memorable moments about your teaching at USU, about students and faculty.
Phyllis, how did you survive the move to Utah? Anything particularly difficult, pleasant or funny?
What are a few of your past/present interests and hobbies?
Bill, how old were you when you sang your first solo? Where was this?
I started “music lessons” (piano) when I was about 5 years old. I also began playing clarinet when I was in the 3rd grade. There was no Elementary or Jr. High band (Middle School hadn’t even been invented in those days), so I was placed in the High School Band in the 3rd grade. Imagine those high schoolers who were annoyed to have a kid in their band! When we went on trips, they would put me in the luggage rack so that I wouldn’t pester them.
While my main musical interests were instrumental (piano, clarinet, saxophones, oboe), I was also good in the 1st and 2nd grade rhythm band. I played sticks really, really good! I, of course, sang all the time – who didn’t in those days? With no training and only a tiny bit of prompting, I sang my first solo in church. I remember it as if it were yesterday. I selected one of my favorite pieces – Malotte’s The Lord’s Prayer and proceeded to practice. All singers have this always-present fear of the voice cracking – especially on high notes – and The Lord’s Prayer is really high toward the end of the piece. Well, I did great until I got to the end and, as I feared, my voice cracked – not once, not twice, but several times. It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. After the service, Opel Neikirk, a dear family friend, came up to me and said “Little Bill, you should be in movies. Tarzan movies!” It’s a wonder that I ever sang again. To this day, I still have a fear of my voice cracking!
How did you two meet?
I was a sophomore, and Phyllis was a freshman at the University of Kentucky. I was from a tiny town, Somerset, and she lived many miles away near Ashland, at the junction of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio. We were both in the same Baptist Student Union Choir, which I directed. Immediately, she caught my attention, but alas, she was dating my high school rival. At the end of that academic year, we were going on a choir tour. Phyllis’ boyfriend (aka Rival) was unable to tour with us due to illness (or so he said), and at the end of the tour, I kindly offered to drive Phyllis to Somerset to see him. Although we arrived late at night, my parents were waiting up for us. Phyllis had to stay overnight before seeing Rival the next day. I called him early the next morning, and he was not happy that Phyllis had spent time alone with me in a car. He would scarcely even speak to her. When school started up the next year, she and I became a “couple” and have been to this day – 55 years later!
What are some favorite memories/moments/crazy times you have of each other and your family.
Becky – here are several stories. Pick the ones you like.
After we started dating and it became obvious to me that Phyllis was the one I wanted to spend my life with (I still had to convince her, however.) I took her to my parents’ home, so that they could become better acquainted and also, so that I could teach her how to water ski (one of my passions.) I did some demonstrations (showing-off) and it was her turn to get in the water. When we were just about to attempt to pull her up on the skis, she meekly announced that she “was through” and wanted back in the boat. This happened several times during the day and I eventually asked why. She told me that she had recently seen a movie, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and was frightened that the half-human/half-fish “creature” might be lurking in the water and waiting to pull her under. That evening, I related this story to my parents, and we all enjoyed a good laugh. When Phyllis was going upstairs to bed, I told her that she should be watchful because “the creature” often would hide in the attic. Only three stairs from the top, she abruptly turned around and marched back down stairs and went directly into my bedroom and got in my twin bed and told me that I would have to sleep upstairs “with the creature!” In those days there was no air conditioning, and it was very hot so we had all the windows open. It also happened to be a full moon so – I told her to “watch out for the werewolf.” We all had a good laugh and she closed the door. The bedroom adjoined my parents bedroom. Well, I didn’t want to go upstairs near “the creature” so I slipped out of the house, went around to the window just at the head of her bed and placed my fingernails on the screen and scratched from top to bottom of the screen. Phyllis sat bolt upright in the bed and started screaming at the top of her lungs. My parents (in their pajamas) came running into her room to protect her, and caught me standing outside the window with a stupid, uncomfortable grin, fingernails on the screen. I never did that again.
While living in Logan, we purchased a tent-trailer and loved to go camping. We spent almost every weekend during the summer in Guinavah-Malibu campground in Logan Canyon or on Cedar Hill. One summer we took the family to Bryce and Zion to camp. There was a tremendous storm (tornado) which nearly demolished the trailer and really frightened us. After the storm passed, we thought (what were we thinking?) that this might be a good time to tell our kids about the “Birds and the Bees.” We carefully explained everything in terms we thought they could understand, and then asked if there were any questions. Silence…. Then a snore came from Chris. Finally, David asked, “Did Grandmama give birth to Grandad?” OK, so we were not entirely successful!
Edith Morgan (an editor of the Herald Journal newspaper) asked if she could feature our family in Good Cache Cooks. We stuffed a turkey, made a wonderful antipasto flower, and posed for photos. We later got a call from Edith telling us that David had crossed his eyes in the photo. In those pre-Photoshop days, she took a pen and attempted to draw in “normal” eyes – not very successfully.
Here is one of the very funny (embarrassing) things that happened when we were living in Logan. One day in the Fine Arts Building, I spotted a “joint” on the stairs just outside the Departmental Office. I quickly picked it up and decided that I would take it home as an object lesson to show to our young children – so that they would know what it looked like – so that they would avoid it! A few weeks later, Phyllis and I were having Glen and Phyllis Taggart in for dinner at our house (the first and only time we were ever able to host a University President!). Our son, Chris, came in the room with his hands tightly clasped together (obviously hiding something) and proudly proclaimed to President Taggart, “Look what my Daddy brought home from school!!!!! A marijuana cigarette!!!”
Bill, please share some memorable moments about your teaching at USU, about students and faculty.
Life in Logan and teaching at USU was, for me, one of my most cherished experiences. We have the most wonderful memories of Logan even though we haven’t been back there for many years and may not even recognize the town with the vast changes that have probably taken place since we last visited (in 1995.) Max Dalby was the most supportive Department Head I have ever encountered. He delighted in the success of others and continually gave me opportunities to grow and try new things. Without his leadership and the support of the Department and Community, I could not have become the musician and teacher that I eventually became. The students at USU were among the most remarkable I have known. They possessed a deep commitment to the arts and a dedication to learning and self-improvement. We had wonderful times working with Jester Hairston and Sebastian Cabot and performing masterpieces of music from the finest composers past and present.
Phyllis, how did you survive the move to Utah? Anything particularly difficult, pleasant or funny?
Bill flew out from Louisville to interview for the job. I only heard about Logan from his description and was very excited. We drove across the country in a caravan – Bill drove our VW van, his brother-in-law drove a U-Haul truck, and I drove our VW “bug.” There were 5 children and 4 adults. We broke down in Table Rock, WY. After spending nearly a day awaiting the repair of the vehicle and attempting to keep the children entertained, we then approached the Utah border. By then, it seemed like we had been in the desert for days and days. We communicated by borrowed CB radios. I called Bill and said, “You said Utah was beautiful. When are we going to get to the beautiful part?” He said, “I think this is magnificent – you can see forever, and there are no trees to get in the way.” I wasn’t amused and thought he was serious. When we got to Bear Lake, I was “hooked” as were the rest of the family. We camped in the Canyon while we looked for a place to live. Betty Dalby and Alta Burton were taking me around to look for a house when I spotted a Stake Center. (I didn’t know much about the culture here.) I asked, “What kind of church is that?” Betty replied, “That is a Mormon Church.” We drove a little longer and passed another Stake Center. I asked again, “What kind of church is that?” and Betty replied, “That is a Mormon Church.” I replied, “Oh, you have two of them here in Logan?” (In our small Kentucky home towns there was one Baptist, one Methodist, one Presbyterian, one Episcopal, one Catholic, etc. church. To have two churches would not be expected!)
It's the eye patch moment! Tell us again how this happened? And did you know that we all ached for you? But you put on a good "face" for us anyway.
On July 4th of 1967 (our first summer), we had been invited to an afternoon outing at the Wasserman’s. I had been annoyed about our garage door for a very long time. We didn’t have an electric door opener and the door was very heavy. Phyllis could not open it, because the spring was not tight enough to assist adequately in the lifting of the door. I looked the situation over and saw that there was a spring that went around a rod that was connected bu cabels to the wooden door. I suspected that the spring needed to be tightened. I got a wrench and a screwdriver, and with the door closed, started to loosen the mechanism which attached the spring to the rod. I had no idea of the power of that spring, especially since the door was completely down. When I loosened the collar, the spring released and threw the wrench into my right cheek, after which it flew over my head and hit the wall in the back of the garage. I knew that I had been hit but didn’t realize just how bad I had been hurt. Phyllis was standing at my side. When she saw that the wrench had knocked plaster off the back wall (probably 25 feet away), she remarked that we were “lucky it didn’t hit us.” Then she realized that I had been hit. She ran inside, got some ice to put on the wound and we headed for the Logan Hospital. The doctor (Dr. Jenson) examined me and later told me that I had disintegrated all my bone structure in my right cheek. He said it looked like a Gray Hound bus had driven through a plate glass window at 70 miles per hour and just shattered all the bones. Later that evening, he performed the surgery. Because the muscles that control eye movement had been damaged, I was forced to wear an eye-patch for almost a year while the muscles healed. During the “eye-patch” ordeal, various students made me colorful eye-patches to wear. One day the Leonard DePaur Chorus performed on the Community Concert Series and then visited a Chorale rehearsal. When I walked in room 214 with the Mr. DePaur, there sat an entire USU Chorale wearing eye-patches!!!
What are a few of your past/present interests and hobbies?
After moving to Silicon Valley, I became interested in computers. One of my students in the doctoral program – a young fellow named Craig Jessop – brought me a term paper, which was nicely typed and both left and right justified (everything lined up on both the left and right margins.) I was astounded and asked how he was able to type the paper with such perfect margins. He told me he “did it on a computer. Would you like for me to show you?” he asked. We went together to the computer center, and since that moment, I have had a strong love-hate relationship with the computer. I purchased a Radio Shack TRS-80 and set out to learn various computer languages. In those days, there was little available software for the computer (and virtually none for the TRS-80) and when I asked the salesman if I could buy a word processor, he told me that there was no such thing commercially available yet, but that a professor at Stanford had written one. He gave me the name of Arthur Schawlow (a physicist at Stanford) to contact. I called him and set up a time to meet with him. He was very nice and give me the word processor he had written. I noticed that he had many books in his office about lasers. I asked, "Is the laser one of your interests?" He chuckled and said, "I guess you could say so, I invented it!" Little did I know that he was a well-known scientist and also had been awarded a Nobel prize! He seemed to know everything about me (his wife sang in University Chorus.) We became dear friends and my interest in the computer continued to grow. I generally spend many hours a day at the computer – designing and maintaining web sites, editing pictures, inputting music, etc. I combine two hobbies, photography and web design.
Another interest was house boating. While on leave from Stanford University, we purchased a houseboat and moved to Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. We loved living on the boat, and after retirement, spent 5 years with our houseboat as our only address. My biggest hobby, however, has always been music. I always felt so fortunate to be able to earn a living just doing my hobby – conducting and singing. I still enjoy music as a member and sometime conductor of my church’s choir.
How many grandchildren do you have? (I saw 4 on Facebook). Would you tell us a little about each one? And also share a little about your fine children.
Phyllis and I moved to Utah when our children were very young (Cheri was 5 and Chris and David, the twins, were 4.) They attended Edith Bowen School and Cheri later attended Logan Junior High School. Cheri and family live in San Jose, California. She has 2 children (Jessica, 24 years old, a manager at California Pizza Kitchen, and Andrew, 22 years old who works for Lindamood-Bell.) After being a stay-at-home Mom and volunteer until her children were out of high school, Cheri is currently the Center Director for a Lindamood-Bell Learning Center. Their instructional programs teach children and adults to read, spell, comprehend, and express language. They have been particularly successful for those with a previous diagnosis of dyslexia, hyperlexia, ADD/ADHA, CAPD, and Autism Spectrum disorders. She earned a bachelors and masters degree from the University of California, Davis in English and Linguistics and ABD (all but a dissertation) at Stanford in Linguistics. Chris lives with his family in the house where I was born in Somerset, Kentucky. He has two boys, Logan (15 – a saxophonist and exceptional baseball player) and Jonathan (11 who loves animals and working with his father.) Chris is a full-time artist (a wood turner.) His pieces are in many fine galleries and private collections throughout the world. His specialty is wearable wooden hats. He was commissioned by President George W. Bush to create several pieces for the White House. His web site is www.knot-head.com. David lives in the Lansing, Michigan area with his family, where he is a veterinary ophthalmologist. After several years as a University Professor in the Veterinary School, he went into private practice, limited to small animals – mostly dogs and cats. His practice web site is www.eye-vet.com. He has two children, Harrison (14 – a trombonist, drummer and guitarist) and Madison (9 a dancer and swimmer.) David is also an exceptional wood carver specializing in animal carvings – mostly horses. The carving web site is www.burlhorse.com. He recently returned from Rwanda and Uganda, where he lectured to veterinarians in the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and in Vet. Schools.