Oral History Program Judy & Winslow Hurst Interviewed by Chelsee Boehm 5 February 2018 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Judy & Winslow Hurst Interviewed by Chelsee Boehm 5 February 2018 Copyright © 2018 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Weber State University Oral History Project began conducting interviews with key Weber State University faculty, administrators, staff and students, in Fall 2007. The program focuses primarily on obtaining a historical record of the school along with important developments since the school gained university status in 1990. The interviews explore the process of achieving university status, as well as major issues including accreditation, diversity, faculty governance, changes in leadership, curricular developments, etc. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Hurst, Judy and Winslow, an oral history by Chelsee Boehm, 5 February 2018, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Judy and Winslow Hurst 5 February 2018 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Judy and L. Winslow Hurt, conducted on February 5, 2018, in the Stewart Library’s Archives Conference Room, by Chelsee Boehm. Judy and Winslow discuss their time at Weber State as students from 1960 to 1964 and their time as staff and alumni members. Alexis Stokes, the video technician, is also present during this interview. CB: Today is February 5, 2018. We are at the Stewart Library at Weber State University. We are talking to Winslow and Judy Hurst about their experiences with Weber State University. My name is Chelsee Boehm, I will be conducting the interview and Alexis Stokes is on the camera. To begin, can you tell me when and where you were born? JH: I was born May 20, 1942, in Ogden, Utah. WH: I was also born in Ogden, Utah. In December 1941. CB: Okay, and can you tell me a little bit about what it was like for you growing up? Some of your childhood experiences? Anything that you remember that is prominent? JH: My family lived in four different homes in Ogden. One place we lived was on 35th and Quincy. It was a time when South Ogden was a fast growing area and we were bused to Lorin Far Elementary School which was across town. I graduated from Ogden High School after attending Washington Junior High. It was a good time to be a kid. It was safe, it was fun, we could wander all around and not have to worry about some of the things kids worry about today. 2 CB: [To Winslow] Did you attend Weber High School? Or Ogden? WH: I’m also an Ogden High graduate. Same class as Judy—1960. We grew up— my siblings and I, about a block north of the current campus. In those days, it was just mostly cow pasture. My dad built a new house in 1942 on 36th Street just north of the campus. We watched the college kind of grow up as we did. I have the same memories as Judy that Ogden was a great place to grow up. Walked all around from our house—including downtown and back, as kids. We would go to the Egyptian theater on Saturdays for a dime and stay all day. WH: Cartoons and Westerns, Serials, and Superman and just neat days. Good place to grow up. A good time to grow up. JH: We met in the seventh grade. WH: Pretty common to hear common stories from for us. CB: Can you give me both of your parents’ names? JH: My father was H. Boyd Jeppson and my mother’s name was Ilene Carlson. She attended Weber in the 1930’s. WH: I’m a Junior. My dad’s name was Lorin Winslow Hurst Senior. My mother is a Richey, with a unique name of Hester—Hester Richey. CB: What did your parents do? JH: My father worked for Commercial Security Bank—later it was Key Bank and my mother was blessed to stay home and raise us. 3 CB: How many siblings did you have? JH: There are five children in our family. CB: Where do you fall in there? JH: I’m the oldest one. CB: Okay. [To Winslow] How about you? What did your parents do? WH: My dad was a carpenter and then a home builder. My mother was also a homemaker. Later worked as a lunch room…Cook, I guess in the Ogden School District for a while. I’m one of seven and I’m right in the middle. JH: First boy. Three older sisters. CB: Good times. CB: What made you—and maybe this is separate to the others. What made you decide to attend Weber? JH: I decided to attend Weber because as children we were attending some of Weber’s athletic events and things and it was here and it was close. A lot of my friends from Ogden High School were attending Weber and so it seemed like a great thing to do and signed up and here we are. I’m first generation from my family to get a college degree. CB: You started in 1961, is that correct? JH: Yes, we were in the class of ’60 graduating from high school. It was fall of ’60. CB: Okay. Did you both start at the same time? 4 WH: Yes, I came in the fall of ’60 also. Two of my big sisters attended Weber College and so it just made sense and again because it was close—very close. WH: Yes, affordable. I remember my friend and I were driving by Ogden High School in August or early September of 1960; high school classes had begun but the college hadn’t started, we drove by the high school—which we used to do because we’d drag main in those days, it was a bit of a shock to see that school had started and we weren’t welcome because we graduated. We were kind of going, “Wow they started school without us. What do we do now?” We thought that maybe we ought to go to college. We were about that motivated as kids. We both registered at Weber College in September of the Fall of 1960. JH: In the Tech building, using cards. WH: Yep. It’s true. CB: Do you remember how much tuition cost back then? WH: $76. Plus, books per quarter. JH: Oh, those were the days. CB: Can you tell us a little bit about—maybe what the campus was like? What the feel of the campus was like and maybe what the campus looked like? JH: Campus was four buildings and a temporary Union building—called the TUB. Most of our classes were here on the Harrison campus. But, there were some we would drive to the 25th street campus for. WH: P.E. you had P.E. down town at what was called the main campus. 5 JH: And a couple of other classes, I can’t remember which ones. WH: The students who would get out of class first—early in the morning. Would come back to the campus and hang a sign on the exit of campus saying, “Radar, stationed at 25th and Monroe. Be careful.” We would tip each other off about where the Ogden police were set up to catch you in a radar trap on the way down to P.E. classes. JH: Because the campus was so small, we had a chance to meet a lot of people. The campus had a handy book that had everybody’s name, address, phone number in it and some pictures and some info about Weber State. The freshmen were given green beanies. We were supposed to wear, but didn’t. WH: Technically, we were supposed to wear beanies but we didn’t. CB: Oh, so could they pick you out? WH: Yeah. It was like an initiation. I didn’t wear one. I think we were issued a beanie but we chose not to wear it. JH: Right. CB: Yeah. [To Judy] I know you were editor of the Handy Book one year, correct? JH: I was. CB: Can you tell us about some of your other experiences? I know you served on some committees. JH: Goodness, I was fortunate to have many, many opportunities while at Weber State, it enabled me to meet a lot of people. I was the editor of the Handy Book 6 one year. After attending two years, I earned an associate degree and my adviser said, “Please stay for your next two years and be part of the first four-year graduating class from here.” I was in the first four-year graduating class. I happened to be a student officer and because I was sitting on the stand for graduation to say a prayer, I was the first woman to walk across the stage to receive a diploma. That’s a little known—actually, not known piece of information. It’s only important to me. CB: No, I think that is really important to all of us. JH: I was a physical education major. We started a physical education club called the PEM club. I was the first president of that. We also had a Women’s Intramural Association and I was the president of that. I was elected as the activities vice president of the student body. I was also on the WSC Women’s Basketball team. There was no Title Nine so there were no scholarships or any perks for us-only membership on the team. I was also a member of the La Dianaeda Sorority. It was also called, “LD”. I served as secretary of the campus activities board when the Union building was brand new to the campus. CB: [To Winslow] You participated in a lot of different committees too. You were a senator, correct? WH: Yes, not as a freshman. Just went a couple of quarters and then went on an LDS church mission. When I came back, I saw things in a lot different light. I was a better student. When I was here as a freshman, I hadn’t been able to get into the cool fraternity that I wanted. As returned missionaries, we started our 7 own. We came back and it was really cool. But, it was an unofficial organization. We weren’t affiliated with the college or with the LDS church. We advertised ourselves as a returned missionary group and we called ourselves “the group”. We got a visit from the dean of students and also the director of the LDS institute saying, “Okay, you’ve got to go with the church or you’ve got to go with the college or we are going to flunk ya.” Or, “We are going to suspend you.” I think that was the birth of Delta Phi fraternity. JH: I don’t even know if that fraternity is still here. WH: Yeah, I don’t know if it’s still here. It might have died out. It was affiliated with the LDS church at the time. We had a good group of guys! I served as sophomore class senator and junior class president. Later, I was sports editor of the signpost and chief justice of the student supreme court. CB: What kind of stuff would the student Supreme Court do? WH: We would hear such things as election hassles. About… JH: Grievances. WH: Grievances and just rules that applied to the students that needed to be adjudicated. We weren’t very busy but we were there in case we were needed. CB: Okay. Where did you serve your mission? WH: Central states. St. Louis, Lawrence Kansas, Columbia Missouri, and Oklahoma—central states area. 8 CB: It sounds like you both were really busy. Was there a particular reason you feel like you got involved in so many things or were you just excited for opportunities? JH: I just liked being around people and organizing things. After being here for two years, I had thought about going to BYU. I had applied and was admitted and even had housing I think. At the last minute though, “Why am I leaving Weber— Weber College when I’ve made all these friends to go start over and make new friends at a new place?” That was my reason for staying. I liked my classes, the faculty and my advisor, Carol Westmoreland. WH: You were named the friendliest girl on campus. I forgot. CB: I was doing research and I found that you both were on the Union Activities Board. You were both on it together, were you not? WH: When I came back from my mission, we had been writing to one another. I was kind of interested. We had met in the seventh grade and dated. She was their vice-president of the student body. I wanted to hang around with her. I went and applied to be a committee chair. I was chair of the recreation committee on the activities board and she was my boss. JH: He was wonderful. WH: Then, long story short, we kept dating and ended up getting married. CB: When did you get married? WH: Salt Lake City. In the temple. 1964. 9 JH: June 4th. Two days after I graduated from Weber College. It’s hard to say Weber College when we’ve… WH: Been used to saying Weber State for so long. JH: At that time, they had just started building the dormitories on campus. We applied to be head residents. We weren’t married yet, but we were going to be married before the dorms were supposed to open in the fall. CB: So did you end up doing that? JH: We were hired. CB: So, what did you do in that role? JH: We were in La Sal Hall. We had an apartment. Our job gave Winslow some benefits for registration a reduction for his tuition for college. I had graduated so I was officially the head resident there. It was La Sal hall. We had 72 girls. WH: 72 girls. Yeah. CB: Were you keeping track of the students? JH: Check ‘em in. Check ‘em out. Make sure they came in by curfew. If they disobeyed rules we had a judiciary committee who t would deal with that. We were there for two… three years. WH: Three years. JH: Three years for him to finish and at the end of the time, our original housing director had moved on and I was the acting director of housing. 10 WH: For the summer. JH: Actually for a year. WH: La Sal Hall has since been demolished and there is a new building. I don’t think it’s still La Sal today? Did they rename it? CB: I think so. JH: I think they renamed it. WH: But, same location. Same general area at least. CB: Oh, where was that at? WH: Where the residence hall is. Yeah, right there. JH: There were three of them: La Sal Hall, Wasatch Hall, and Stansbury Hall and we were in one. CB: Awesome. I know you were both attending school and then you were working on campus around the Civil Rights Movement. I know Utah was far away from that, geographically. I was curious if there was a different mood on campus that you recall? WH: Pretty mellow in Civil Rights and during the Vietnam war—I think at Weber State. But, by then, we were at Colorado State University. A lot of action there. JH: He was the head resident at Colorado State in a resident hall. WH: We went from Weber State to Colorado State as dorm head residents at Colorado State. During Vietnam, they were pretty rowdy. 11 CB: When you say rowdy, do you mean there were a lot marches? WH: I remember as a graduate student going down to watch the students circle the administration building. They had it surrounded and inside were the board of regents and the vice presidents. The students were making demands about not having ROTC on campus, etc. the student leaders were negotiating with the administration. As the Admin spokesman would come out on the front steps, the students would greet them with unpleasantries and bad signals—this continued throughout the day as they were going back and forth. We’d been instructed as head residents not to go down because they were going to film who was there. I thought, “I’m going to risk it.” I went down and stood behind a tree and watched this happen. It was interesting. If you want to see what campus was like in those days, just watch the movie, Forrest Gump. It’s pretty much…we lived through Forrest Gump with Colorado State. CB: And when did you go from Weber to Colorado State? WH: We started over there in ’67. I graduated…she graduated in the ’64. We got married and then I graduated in ’67 and we went to Colorado State from ’67-’69. You guys weren’t even born. JH: Probably weren’t even a thought. CB: Then did you come right back to Weber State after? WH: We did. I had been accepted to go to graduate school for a doctorate program at Michigan State and was accepted there. I had a job offer there in Michigan. Judy went home to Ogden to say goodbye to her parents before we went east 12 and called and said, “Winslow, there’s a job as an assistant to the dean of students at Weber State.” I applied and having known the dean of students and administration here—they hired me without making me interview. CB: Okay, what was it—I mean you had gone from being a student to being staff. Did you have a different perspective? WH: It was a little hard to come back and now be a colleague with the people I had known as administrators. So, funny story I’d get on the elevator with Jim Folger—Dr. Fulger who was a pretty stern and important guy in charge of all the business affairs of Weber college. I could never bring myself to call him Jim. On the elevator I would say, “Hi, Doc.” and he’d say, “Hello Winston.” He never got my name right. I just called him Doc Fulger. I couldn’t ever say, “Jim, how are you doing?” So, that was a bit of an adjustment from having been a student to come back and adjust to being a colleague. JH: When we were in the residents halls and he was the student and I was the worker. I also taught physical fitness at the Swenson gym. And that’s… WH: This was at Weber, not Colorado State. JH: This was at Weber, yeah. Some of the faculty wives would come to my class and we’d exercise and then we’d all go out for ice cream. CB: Oh nice. So if you were teaching a fitness class, would it be all women? JH: It was all women, yeah. CB: And were you teaching sports or? 13 JH: It was just physical fitness. As I was a sophomore, here at Weber, St. Joseph High School called the university and said, “We would like to have one of your students come and teach our girls P.E. and health.” My department asked me if I would like to do that. I was the first non-Catholic sister who taught at St. Joseph High School—P.E. and health. For a couple of years. CB: Yeah, that’s awesome. JH: In those days, there was not a title nine. But, we had Weber State Women’s Basketball team. I was a member of that. There were no scholarships and our season existed of all of the colleges in the state got together for a tournament on Saturday. We’d play each other and then we would sit down and have lunch and that was our season. CB: That was the whole season? JH: We practiced a lot. [Laughter] CB: Yeah. So, at what point did you return to working at Weber College? JH: I started in 1984. I came back as a half time advisor for student activities CB: Okay, and Winslow? WH: Assistant to the Dean of Students. Fall of 1969. CB: And how long were you in that role for? WH: I’m not sure the number of years. I went from being assistant to the dean of students to… Well I went as—in that assignment as the student recruiter. So, we’d go to the high schools to represent Weber State and invite students to 14 attend. Then later I became Director of Admissions. I don’t remember the exact years. Later, became the Director of Admissions and registration and then retired as the University Registrar—over 36 years. Would probably have signed your transcripts if I was still here. CB: Can you tell me about some of the changes that you noticed on campus. Was there some prominent things that you notice changing? Obviously, it expanded. JH: I came in ’84 as a half time professional and then became a full time coordinator for student activities and then the director of student activities. In 2000, I went to the Davis Campus as the assistant dean of students and worked there until… WH: You were there for five years. JH: Until we retired on the same day in 2005. I served for 20 years, and you were 36. WH: Yeah, 36. Combined 56 years. How about that? JH: Changes in the campus? It was exciting because things were moving from a two-year school to a four-year school. There were lots of firsts and the decisions about what majors to offer and when to start offering masters degrees. Student government changed from—sometimes five vice presidents and then they switched to having a president and two vice presidents. I think one of the things that I thought was really great was we held a New Year’s Eve party in… Whichever year. I can’t even remember. But, just as Weber State College was going to become Weber State University. The vice president for Student Affairs said, “We want the students to be in charge of the New Year’s Eve party and 15 we’d like it to be focused on this change. From college to university and budget is not an issue.” Oh, it’s so fun to plan a party when there’s not a budget. So, we transformed the whole union building into kind of city in the ballroom we had a big dance going on. In the sky room you could have a steak dinner. In the gallery, which is where student affairs is now, you could have a chicken dinner and down on that first level where there’s… WH: Bowling alley. JH: Where there’s the bowling alley area, you could have hamburgers and French fries. So, you could choose which venue you wanted. We transformed one of the meeting rooms into a florist shop where you would go in for free flowers you’re your date. In another room there was a Mrs. Cavanaugh’s Chocolates where you could go for free chocolates and there was other different things going on all around the Union Building. At midnight, of course, we welcomed Weber State University into being was wonderful. I think the students at the dance had live birds that they released and a water fountain. It was fantastic! CB: Oh wow. That’s really cool. You would have started working at the Davis Campus not long after it opened. Is that correct? JH: When I went out, to work at the Davis Campus, it was on Gordon Ave. I was there to welcome the new building on University Park Boulevard in Layton. CB: What was that like? JH: It was really exciting. I left the Ogden Campus, my replacement was one of my former student leaders, Nancy Collingwood. As I went to the Davis Campus we 16 started a student government there and there was an easy bridge to the Ogden campus for student involvement because of our experiences and our relationship. So, that was… it was really great. It’s been—it was wonderful to work with the students at the Ogden Campus. The volunteer programs, the activity programs, and the Greek program were under my umbrella. It was a wonderful time of my life. As our children came, they all attended Weber State and of course they had to be on an activities committee. It was great to be here with them. CB: Yeah, and you have six children is that correct? JH: Six children. CB: They all came to Weber State? JH: They were all here at Weber State. CB: So, were you working here when they started to attend? JH: When they started? CB: You paid for many lunches, right? WH: And parking tickets. JH: And parking tickets, yes. CB: I think that I read that all of your children’s spouses attended Weber State as well, is that correct? JH: Right. It was fun to be here and watch them date and fall in love. Most parents don’t have that opportunity and it was a rare opportunity. 17 CB: Oh yes, what changes Winslow? WH: I was sitting here thinking that watching Weber State change from a junior college when my sisters came here to college and then to a fine university now. Thinking about my area of responsibility, when I first came, we were registering with punch cards—computer cards. Before that, probably just hand registrations in the old days. We were students you would go and draw cards and if you got a card you were in that class. I was standing with that buddy who said, “We ought to go to college,” as we were driving by Ogden High and the line to get cards and between—well, he was in front of me and he got the last card for the class. When I came out the class was closed. That’s how it worked in those days. You had to get cards and then turn them in and you registered for those classes. Weber State was among the leaders for the next phase of registration, which was telephone registration. A university in Georgia—I think Georgia State was the first school in the nation that went to telephone registration, followed by BYU— Brigham Young University, and Weber State was third in the nation. We kind of teamed up with what BYU was doing and Dr. Emil Hanson and I were instrumental in getting telephone registration started at Weber. From there to computers and the transition to today. That was a significant step for Weber State to go to phone registration it’s all online now. JH: But, you were here when the computer guys started as well. WH: Oh yeah. We shut down the campus system when we first turned on phone registration. The presidents phone wouldn’t work. There was such a flood of calls that we just broke the system. 18 JH: Winslow was doing some recruiting in Indonesia and he called from Indonesia to see if he could get through to register WH: Later, when we got the system fixed… I was in Asia and I phoned from Jakarta Indonesia and registered for classes just to see if I could do it. It worked. CB: Wow. That is amazing. WH: Yeah, that was pretty cool. CB: Obviously you recruited locally, but did you do a lot of traveling? WH: Not a lot. I went there and we sent reps to what was called the Lindon Tour. Which organized tours for colleges and universities go across Asia to recruit students for undergraduate and some graduate programs. I went twice and I think we sent representatives two or three more times. Maybe we went five times to Asia. WH: As mentioned, Weber sent reps five times and I was privileged to go twice. Wonderful. Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Taiwan, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpor. JH: Taiwan. WH: Hong Kong, Tai Pei… yeah. CB: And so when you went, how long of a trip was it? WH: Couple of weeks each time. CB: And would go to high schools? 19 WH: We would mostly go to hotels and stay and then go down to the ballroom in the evening and set tables up in the big ball room and the parents and the students would come to us to learn about our educational programs, tuition, and fees, etc. We also made visits to the counselors at high schools and to the international schools that were there. The international schools were unknown to me, before I first went, I learned quickly about them. The international schools that are for the children of the ambassadors or the military or anyone who is working overseas on a visa. They are just amazing high schools. As if they had air lifted Weber High or Ogden High with their soccer fields and swimming pools and their auditoriums, etc. And landed there in Jakarta Indonesia or in the middle of Hong Kong, or in Singapore. Just amazing—with the curriculum in English and all of the other extracurricular activities. They are still there. Very expensive. If you are ever transferred there with your offspring, the first thing you would say to your employer, “Will you pay for the tuition for my children to go to the Jakarta international school?” and they would say, “Yeah, that’s part of the deal.” IBM would pay the tuition. They’re still out there. Good schools. CB: Very cool. So, how long have you been involved as alumni? JH: Wow. I’ve been involved with in a couple of different ways. I Served on the vice president’s advisory board for two years or three years. Even though I wasn’t advising Crystal Crest, they invited me to co-chair the guest presenters committee for two or three years. We’ve served on the Emeriti for about four years. 20 JH: We served two years, then we went on a couple of missions and now we are back serving again. CB: I think we are fortunate to have you. You said you served missions, can you tell us about some of the places you have gone? JH: When we retired in May of 2005, we went to Nauvoo for the summer. We were part of the cast of a new… WH: Nauvoo pageant. JH: We were there for the summer and then we went to New Zealand for 18 months and worked with the Maoris. Proselyting. And we came back. WH: We served as docents, which is a fancy name for “tour guides” in the LDS church history museum in Salt Lake City for three years. We lived in Qingdao China for a year, as part of the BYU China’s teacher program. CB: So, were you teaching while you were over there? WH: We taught English at the Ocean University of China. WH: Hai Yung daux shu wa CB: So, were you teaching university aged students? WH: Yes, smart kids. Like juniors, seniors, and graduate students. She taught economics which made me smile, because, she knew nothing about it. JH: I had never taken an economics class. I was teaching juniors and seniors economics. 21 WH: She did a good job! JH: They asked me if I could do that and I said, “Yes.” I would do that. I asked if they had a textbook, and they said, “Not in English.” So, it was a matter of creating my own curriculum. It was good. It was fun. When we came home from China, we were called to be full time missionaries living at home and serving in our stake. We did that for 22 months. We’ve had other opportunities to serve here and there over the years, and have found it added to the enrichment of our lives. CB: So, other than your time at Colorado State, you both have been in Ogden pretty much your lives. WH: Except for the years in China and New Zealand. CB: Oh right. So how do you think Ogden city has changed? WH: Quite a bit ethnically. My dad, was born in old Mexico and lived there for five years, before he came to Ogden with his parents, who were also born in old Mexico. My mother was born and raised in Arizona, so they both spent a lot of time around Spanish speaking people and spoke a little. But, not enough to really be fluent. That’s alluding to the fact ethnicity of downtown Ogden has changed quite a bit. I would say to President Thompson who was president when I was working in admissions as a recruiter, “We need to recruit Hispanic students, because this needs to be their university.” I did a study that showed that in the four county area of Davis, Weber, Box Elder, and Morgan, Hispanic students were significantly underrepresented at Weber State as freshman, in 22 comparison to their numbers in the high schools in that four county area. Black students were about the same. Native Americans were not a big number but, fairly well represented according to numbers. But, the large number of Hispanic students in the four county area, were not here at WSU as students. And over the years I’ve watched the University try to fix that. President Wight has worked on it. He’s initiated the “Town Gown” interaction between Weber and Ogden. Which is good. We should continue to do that. We need to get the Hispanic kids to think of Weber State University as their school and get them to come here. That would benefit the university and the community. CB: Definitely. WH: Just one guys’ opinion. Weber High, by the way, was our major feeder school in those days, when I did that study. It has been important. But, I think it’s not now, the largest feeder of freshman. It was for quite a while. We are glad you are here. JH: I’ve watched our volunteer programs go from just the very beginnings to bloom and grow with a lot of different avenues for participation for the students. Over the years, I’ve thought that the classroom experience is really important for students. Being involved in something else—something extracurricular ties them to Weber State. Working here as certainly don’t that for us. The variety of offerings for students on the campus now has grown to be such that there should be something that any student taking a class can find something to be involved with that would enhance their personal growth and development and would make them better students, citizens, and employees. Student participation is really 23 important for resume building to show potential employers they have valuable interpersonal skills. So, I’ve been really pleased over the years and proud of Weber State student activities and their programs. We’ve always felt like those programs were on the cutting edge of not only the state, but the country, and well respected throughout the nation. A side light—our daughter said to her dad, “You should get on Facebook.” He said, “No, no, not me. Let’s put your mother on Facebook.” So, they put me on Facebook and it’s been really neat because students that I worked with over the years have surfaced and we’ve reconnected. I’m seeing their children, where they are and what they are doing. As they are participating in the community and throughout the country. There are students— in our neighborhood. There are former Weber State students who are still blooming and growing in their lives and professions. There’s even one group of women who were student leaders who still get together on a regular basis, they call, “All about me.” Even share things they are doing and learning with each other. CB: This is kind of back tracking a little bit. From your time at Weber as a student, can you recall having like a favorite professor? Or a favorite class? WH: I had several good teachers. I liked Weber State because you got to know your teachers. The classes were smaller. Having gone on to a Master’s and then a Ph.D., I found in graduate classes was where you got to see the full professors at Colorado State and the University of Utah. JH: And you went on for your Ph.D. as well. 24 WH: Yeah, I just mentioned that. I can remember liking Dello. Dayton. Who taught Constitutional History. He was a good teacher. Bob Michelson in English. He taught us romantic lit. He was good. The debate tournament, that still goes around—I think it’s still here. The Monson debate tournament is named for Leland H. Monson. Leland Monson, who was a good teacher. We had a hard time in the registrar’s office of finding enough seats in Gene Sessions classes for History. Sessions is a good teacher. And then Diane Blackington in math. Blackington was so popular her math classes just would fill up like that. Diane Pugmire is the one who just got sick and died. That was a sad day for Weber, because she was a very popular math teacher. Lots of good administrators we served under. Everyone from William P. Miller to Ann Miller over our years. JH: Along with some of the teachers that he mentioned, my advisor, when I was here, was Carol Westmoreland. And she was really an outstanding advisor and teacher. Milt Meackam and Dick Motto were also really good. WH: My boss, when I first became an admissions representative, was Milt Meacham, he was dean of students at the time. Or dean of administrative services? Gordon Allred was a popular teacher and I had his father, Thatcher Allread, who was well liked. That’s who the Allred Theater is named after. JH: A couple of my mentors were Monte Shupe and Ferrell Shepherd. WH: Good guys. JH: They were involved with the building of the Union Building, activities, and services there. 25 JH: We drive past Weber State and we say, “We’re glad to be retired, but weren’t those wonderful people we met while we were there.” And didn’t we just… there were faculty and staff members we associated with as Winslow was on the staff during our early years and I was at home. I was a member of the faculty women’s association. We got together and did things to support the college. Weber State has been a homey comfortable place. We’ve been really proud to be a part of and to represent this University. We made wonderful friends all around the country and throughout the state. Like I said earlier, the students who have passed through the portals here have just been outstanding. We have lifelong, ongoing, relationships with many of them. It’s just been a really, really great opportunity. WH: I would add the joy at working at Weber State was a combination of seeing students come and catch fire and develop and grow and graduate and then a new wave would come through. And then… JH: Bloom and grow. WH: The part of working at a university that I liked was the opportunity to sit around tables like this with bright people and watch their minds work. I relished that and there are smart people at universities. Weber State has had their share. I just really liked watching Dr. Eisler’s mind work. He was the provost at Weber State and went to be president of—I was going to say Ferris State. But, it’s in Michigan. But, just to see how bright people problem solve. And some of them so bright that they weren’t very social. But, it was really invigorating to see—to be in meetings and participate in making important decisions with bright people. 26 Watch their minds problem solve. Your kids are not embarrassed that mom and dad work at the university. It was a good career. JH: One incredible process for student affairs was the student fee committee. It was under the vice-president And she allowed students to sit on the committee and to allocate student fee money across the campus. And the entities who needed money would come and present to the Committee. The goal was to try to reach a consensus when allocating the budget. It was really a high powered opportunity for the students to be involved in spending the money they were paying. WH: Fee money. Student fee money, right? JH: Attending Weber State was a great experience for many of the students and they had many opportunities. It’s been fun to watch those students bloom and grow and catch fire as Winslow said. I agree with him about having the opportunity to sit and discuss with and be friends with some really smart people. WH: I remember Ferris State. I don’t know if he is still there. AS: Can I actually can ask a question? CB: Yes, please do. AS: Since both of you are alumni from Weber State, do you have any advice or words of wisdom for current students at Weber State? WH: Never apologize for having a degree from Weber State. It’s my experience and firm belief that our students as they have gone on to graduate school—at many 27 prestigious universities elsewhere have been able to hang with others who have come from expensive prep schools back east or wherever. Our students Weber State have been every bit as well prepared and able to compete with students from such other backgrounds. This is from my own experience seeing others go to Harvard or to medical schools and to any number of other prestigious universities to graduate level and do very well. I just tell students Weber State is a real university. You don’t just go around saying, “Well, I’m only going to Weber.” You say, “I’m going to Weber State.” It’s a fine education. You’ll be able to compete with and excel against others as you go elsewhere! I know that to be so. JH: We just came back from being down at the Emeritus Alumni attended the legislature. Last Thursday, and listened to the presentations from Weber State and some of the other colleges and universities. WH: Utah, and Utah Valley, and President Wight was there. JH: And one of the slides from the University of Utah showed presentations they are the university with the highest starting salaries of these students graduating. WH: It showed the starting salaries of the graduates for a certain year. The average for each university. The University of Utah was number one and Weber State was number two. JH: Of all the institutions in the state. WH: In the state, yeah. 28 JH: My council and advice would be to enjoy your time here. Take every opportunity. WH: Get involved outside of class. Get involved in outside of activities outside of the classroom. You’ll be more well-rounded, right? JH: And enjoy this season of your life. You make friends you’ll have forever and ever. It’s a time when you are standing at the crossroads and making decisions for your lives. Be wise, but go ahead and take a chance or two and enjoy what comes at you. WH: Participate. I would have never even thought about running for an office in junior high or high school. She did, and I didn’t. I was so amazed that I won when I ran for sophomore class senator at Weber. I went, “Wow.” So, I went for junior class president. Get involved and risk it. Yeah, go. I went on to be elected in Layton as a city council member and other services there and haven’t ever lost an election. I’m never going to run again just so I don’t ruin that record JH: Our daughter said, “As I’m being a wife and mom and I’m taking care of five children who are pretty close together. I think back on the experiences that I had at Weber State. I think, ‘I didn’t always just do diapers and fix food. There was one time I was a student leader and I mattered and I had great experiences.’” The memories are very excellent. WH: I tell the grandkids, you know when they are all together. There’s 25 of them. I say, “When grandma and I were your age, we were cooler than you.” They look at me and they don’t say it but they think, “Grandpa, you were never cool.” I can see it in their minds and I say, “Yes, we were. We would have beat you in soccer. 29 We had hotter cars. We were better looking and we could have gotten ya. I plant that seed and then I walk away.” They’re thinking, “Grandpa thinks he was cool.” Maybe he was? JH: And maybe as a final thing, we’ve been through the portals of Weber State for a very long time and we are still recruiting for Weber State. We talk to people everywhere we go: in restaurants, grocery stores… we ask them where they are going and we always say, “Be sure to give Weber a little love.” CB: Thank you guys so much. WH: Our pleasure.