Oral History Program LaDona Gammell Russell Interviewed by Jamie J. Weeks 10 October 2013 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah LaDona Gammell Russell Interviewed by Jamie J. Weeks 10 October 2013 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii 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 College Oral History Program was created in the early 1970s to “record and document, through personal reminiscences, the history, growth and development of Weber State College.” Through interviews with administrators, faculty and students, the program’s goal was to expand the documentary holdings on Weber State College and its predecessor entities. From 1970 to 1976, the program conducted some fifteen interviews, under the direction of, and generally conducted by Harold C. Bateman, an emeritus professor of history. In 1979, under the direction of archivist John Sillito, the program was reestablished and six interviews were conducted between 1979 and 1983, with additional interviews being conducted by members of the Weber State community. In 2013 the campus prepared to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of Weber State University in 2014. In order to document the student experience, interviews were conducted with Weber State College Alumni on an ongoing basis. ____________________________________ 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: Russell, LaDona, an oral history by Jamie J. Weeks, 10 October 2013, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Donald and LaDona Russell October 10, 2013 Abstract: This is an oral history interview with LaDona Gammell Russell. The interview is being conducted on October 10, 2013 in her home in Murray, Utah by Jamie J. Weeks. The subject of this interview is LaDona’s time spent at Weber State College from 1945 to 1947. Also present is her husband Donald and Stacie Gallagher our video technician. JW: To begin with, I would like you to tell us a little bit about your early life. When and where were you born? LR: I was born in Ogden, Utah and the date was, May 17, 1926. JW: What hospital was it back then? LR: It was the Dee Hospital. JW: Was that on Harrison Boulevard? LR: Yes. JW: How many siblings did you have growing up? LR: I had two sisters. JW: I did some research on your last name, and because of the time period there were no yearbooks, of course, because it was the war. However, in some other documents I came across the name of Reed Gammell? LR: That’s my dad. 1 JW: Really interesting. What we have are the diaries of Doctor Edward Rich. Do you remember Doctor Rich as a child? He and his wife, Almira, kept a diary for seventy-three years. We have digitized all of the diaries, and your father’s name came up a few times. I think the first time I saw it was because he was conducting the choir at a church conference, and then the next time it came up was because he was on the radio. The Rich’s were going to sit down and listen to Reed Gammell sing on the radio, so he must have had an amazing voice. LR: Yes, a beautiful tenor voice and he sang all the time. He sang every day of his life. Before he would go to work in the morning he would sing, and then he taught voice lessons. He graduated with a couple of degrees in music and he led all kinds of choruses. It was just music all the time. JW: The other name I came across was Viva May. LR: She’s my sister. JW: What schools did you attend when you were growing up? LR: The first six years of my schooling was at Quincy School, which is no longer around. It has been gone for a long time. Then I went to Madison School for the seventh grade, to Central for eighth, ninth and tenth, and then I went to Ogden High for eleventh and twelfth grades. JW: We have, on our website, pictures of those old schools. I think it is interesting how many different schools you attended. 2 Then you came to Weber as a freshman in 1945. Had you and Donald met when you came to Weber and were you married yet? LR: Yes we had met, and no we were not married. JW: So were you writing to one another? LR: Yes. JW: Did you meet in high school? LR: Yes, when we were seniors. Then he went into the service and I went to Weber College. JW: And what branch of service did you sign up with? DR: The Air Corps. JW: You attended the campus on 25th Street? LR: Right. JW: Tell me about the campus. LR: Oh, it was a beautiful campus, and we just loved everything about Weber College. There were a number of different buildings. The president of the college was Aldous Dixon, and he was a very good friend of my parents, so he always looked after us. Also, a lot of the instructors were very good friends with my parents and so that made it just very nice. They had built that new Institute building which was just beautiful. 3 JW: Was that also down on 25th Street? LR: No, that was on 24th Street. I have a picture and a really good story about that. JW: We would like to hear it. [LaDona has some scrapbook pictures she shares with us] LR: This first one is a picture of me when I went over there and signed up to go to school. Somebody from the Standard Examiner took that picture. (App. 1) This is one of the buildings on the campus. Weber College was wonderful. My two years there were filled with so many interesting activities, I loved every minute. I was involved in lots of different activities, the Whip Club, the Otyokwa, which was a social club, the Musettes and other musical organizations, and as a member of the Social Committee. I also served as president of the Associated Women’s Students. This was World War II at the time, so there were very few men on the campus, so being president of the Associated Women’s Students was almost like being Student Body President. I was also teaching thirteen piano students every Saturday and I had a full course of study at school. These were very busy years. In one program at school I played a duet with Beverly Jurgens, and we played “Night and Day” on two different pianos. She wore a white formal and I wore a black formal and it was a beautiful arrangement of Cole Porter’s song. That’s his [pointing to husband Donald] favorite. (App. 2) This is a picture of a couple of the buildings at Weber College. (App. 3) 4 JW: These look familiar. The Moench building and the Gymnasium. And here is your Associate of Arts degree. (App. 4) LR: This new Institute building is my special story. When I was at Weber College, we had this beautiful new Institute building on campus, and every Sunday we held a Sacrament service there for the college students. I was on the Institute board and we held weekly meetings to plan these services. Easter was approaching, and we wanted to have the best possible Easter sermon, so we discussed it at length and somebody said, “Well, why don’t we ask the Prophet, President George Albert Smith?” We were all in awe of this idea, and we thought it would be an impossible request. We wrote him a letter inviting him to be our Easter speaker, and he very graciously accepted. At our next planning meeting we were discussing the music and other details and somebody said, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have a dinner after the service?” We all thought that would be great but where would we have it? Who would do it? I thought about it, and pretty soon I raised my hand and volunteered my mother. I knew she would do it, and she too very graciously accepted. Needless to say, that was one of the most beautiful days of my life. The meeting was superb, so uplifting. President Smith touched every heart with his wonderful message. It was my privilege to be part of that program also. I played “Adagio Cantabile” by Beethoven for the prelude music. I also sang “The Lord’s Prayer” with the Musettes for the closing hymn. 5 Afterwards, the President and his daughter, and members of the Institute board, and a few guests [including Don Russell] went to my home at 2583 Fowler for dinner. Mother had outdone herself. She prepared turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, salad, hot rolls, pies, and all the trimmings. My dad and my sisters did the serving. When my sister, Viva May, served the Prophet, he looked at the plate and said, “Please take it back to the kitchen and give me a smaller plate, because I don’t want to waste any of that good food.” So great was his consideration for others that he wouldn’t even waste a little food. The Prophet shared his wisdom and his testimony and so we had a feast both physically and spiritually. I’ll never forget this experience. How grateful I am to my parents for providing this marvelous memory for me and all those who were in attendance. I am overwhelmed at their constant goodness and generosity. (App. 5) This is a picture of the Prophet. This is the Prophet and his daughter and my mother out in front of my house. At that time the prophet’s wife was not living, so he brought his daughter with him, and this is a copy of the program. (App. 6) They put it in the Standard Examiner and these were some of the articles about the program, and then this is a picture of the Institute building. (App. 7-8) JW: Who was the music director while you attended Weber? LR: Well there were several, including Clair Johnson and then Roland Parry. When I was there, Clair Johnson, who was head of the Music Department, asked me if I 6 would be the soloist and play Mozart’s E flat Major Concerto with the Weber College and Ogden Community Orchestra in the Spring Concert. He asked me in January and the concert was in March. I thought it was an impossible task. I was just involved in so many things including the Associated Women’s Students, the Musettes, who gave very frequent programs, the Social Committee, the Whip Club, and Otyokwa. All of these activities took a lot of time, and I was teaching thirteen piano students with a full course of study at school. Playing this concerto required learning and memorizing twenty-five pages of music! I asked my mother what I should do and my mother said, “Do it!” She was the one that thought nothing was impossible. I practiced many hours every day and I did it. It was an amazing experience. I’ll never forget it. I was sitting there on the stage at a beautiful grand piano and the orchestra behind me. I wore a formal and Don gave me an orchid corsage. This is the program. (App. 9) DR: I happened to be home on furlough, I was just lucky. It was just happenstance that I was on leave on that special date in March, 1945. JW: And it was rare for you to actually be able to be there? DR: Yes, it was. LR: Yes, very rare. It was just a wonderful experience. I also have some pictures of a few things that happened while I was there. (App. 10) JW: I would like you to talk about the different groups you are in, which might include going through these scrapbook pages, and maybe talk about some of the friendships you formed at Weber? 7 LR: Okay. This was a picture of the Social Committee, and we used to greet the students that would come in from high school. This was J Clair Anderson, he was also a musical teacher at the time, and that’s a picture of the Mussettes. (App. 11-12) JW: While you were involved in the music, were you also participating in musicals? LR: Yes. JW: One of the things I love about Weber College is that everybody was involved. You are such a great example of how students were involved in so many things. You all kept up with all of it and your studies. And then the musicals were just incredible, and they were going on all the time. LR: All the time. Yes, and I was in everything. Everything they had. JW: Everybody was so talented and well-rounded by being involved in everything, the same as you were. LR: Well, Roland Parry was a marvelous musician, and I sang in all of his programs. This is one of the pictures of Roland with some of us. (App. 13-14) JW: Yes, he was amazing and so well known. LR: I found a newspaper article about the Musettes. We performed 28 times during just one quarter of school—so the two years I was at Weber, we must have given about 100 programs. The articles also mentioned singing at the Masonic Temple, Egyptian Theater, Bushnell Hospital, the W.O.W. Hall, Institute of Religion, Central Junior High School for the retiring principal’s programs, Ogden Business 8 and Professional Women, Ogden Doctor’s Wives, Weber College Commencements Service, Lion’s Club, Weber Assemblies, several wards and te crowning glory was a program on Ogden’s radio station, KLO. JW: So KLO was the local radio station, and did that come out of Ogden? LR: Yes, and here are just some more pictures of things I was involved in. (App. 15- 16) DR: Maybe later you’re going to tell them about Roland Parry’s daughter who was one of your best friends and bridesmaid?. LR: Yes, Roland Parry’s daughter Gloria. She was a very good friend, still is. Anyway she was a bridesmaid too when I got married. JW: And you’re still in touch? LR: Yes. This is telling about the Musettes and how much in demand they were, we just sang everywhere. It says right here we sang for a large group of return war veterans at the Depot, and then we sang at the Hotel Ben Lomond for a large group of people. We were just singing for different things all the time. (App. 17- 18) JW: Did you also sing for the prisoners of war? LR: Yes we did. 9 JW: I’ve seen pictures of the Defense Depot in Ogden where the prison camp was for the Italian and German prisoners, and it looked like they had brought in singing groups and the band from the college. LR: Yes, I remember that. JW: How often did you get to go out there? LR: Maybe once or twice. JW: Was it an interesting experience? LR: Yes. JW: Were you nervous? LR: No. JW: We’ve interviewed several of them that ended up marrying local girls and staying and raising their families in Ogden rather than returning to Germany or Italy. It is interesting to see how the prisoners meshed into the Ogden community. LR: We were so good to them. They had a place where they could play outside, and they didn’t treat them like prisoners, they just treated them like good people. DR: They were frequently downtown. LR: Yes, that’s right. They could go downtown and visit and shop. JW: This is very interesting. My uncle was a prisoner of war three times during World War II, and he did not get that same kind of treatment in Germany. 10 LR: Nobody did, except in the United States. Anyway, these are just more pictures of this and that. (Apps. 19-31) These are just some programs held at that time, and I took part in all of them. (App. 32-48) JW: I am so pleased you hung onto all of this, because it’s information, especially in the war years, that we just don’t have. LR: I know. I was so disappointed that we didn’t have a yearbook. JW: Yes, that’s true. We don’t have a lot of collections to cover that time period, so it’s a big gap in our collection to try and figure out and understand student life. This is one of the reasons we decided to do these interviews, so we could get a feel for student life during that time period. LR: Well, I loved every minute of Weber College. Every minute! JW: What were some of the classes that you took while you were there, and maybe some of your favorite professors? LR: Well, I loved all of the music courses and professors. I knew them the best. JW: From what I understand the teachers were very involved with the students. LR: They were just wonderful teachers, just marvelous. JW: You knew the President of the college? LR: I knew the President, and most of the teachers, because they were all good friends of my parents. 11 JW: What was it like on campus when the war ended? LR: Oh that was such a happy day! Everybody went downtown, and we were singing and dancing and walking around. Everybody was smiling. Oh it was such a wonderful experience! JW: I know in Salt Lake City, they closed down State Street, and just danced in the streets. Is that how it was in Ogden? LR: Yes. On Washington Boulevard, everybody just did whatever. Singing, dancing, shouting for joy! JW: Don, how long were you in the war? Did you stay when it was over or did you come home? DR: I stayed in until it was over, and then I came home. JW: Were you able to come home in1945, or did you have to stay for another year? DR: No, I didn’t stay another year. JW: LaDona, were you a sophomore by the time he came home from the war? And did you get married right away? LR: No it was a little while after. JW: You waited? 12 LR: Yes, I went to BYU right after I graduated from Weber, and we were having a big dance at BYU. Anyway, Don came down and afterwards when we went out to the car he proposed. DR: It was the Valentine Dance. JW: Was this in 1948 or 1949? DR: It was 1948. Then I gave you your ring in March at the Junior Prom. We didn’t get married for another year though. LR: We had to earn a little money and take care of a few things. JW: Did you then graduate from BYU? LR: Yes I did. JW: With a Bachelor’s in Music? LR: Yes. JW: Then you continued to teach piano? LR: Yes I did. DR: She also taught singing classes to the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders at Arsenal Villa School from 1948 to 1949. JW: How long did you teach piano? LR: Well, I taught after I was married at different times, when we lived Saratoga and when we lived in Ogden. You see my mother was a piano teacher, and so every 13 minute there was music in our house, whether it was my dad singing or my mother with all of her students. She had so many students. Everyone wanted to take lessons from her; she was just a marvelous teacher. She died when she was eighty-nine years old, and she was teaching the day before she died. Just hundreds on hundreds of lives she affected. DR: She was teaching our granddaughter the day before she passed away. She had come from Salt Lake to have a lesson. JW: Interesting. Once you came back here twenty years ago, did you continue to teach? LR: No, no I haven’t. JW: Are you still involved with Weber in any way? LR: Well, I’d like to be, I don’t have any way to be involved anymore. JW: It is hard. Salt Lake seems pretty close to Ogden, but it’s still quite a ways, especially you are down here in Murray. How were we able to find you? LR: The way we got in touch was my sister Viva May. She had a pamphlet about the oral history project, she told me about it and gave me the phone number, and so I called you. JW: Wonderful. It’s nice to have people who are able to remain involved. Do you still have friendships you keep in touch with? LR: You bet. 14 JW: You have Roland Parry’s daughter that you’re still close to, and then do you have other friendships that have continued from Weber? LR: Yes. Other friendships I have enjoyed and continued from Weber College are: Helen James, Ruth Bertagnole, Jeanette Draayer, Joan Farr, Marilyn Farr, Beverly Farr, Shirley Pickett, Jackie Snell, Susie Clements, Jean Richardson, Joan Clayton, Dorthea Dalton, Ruth Henderson, and Gwen Ball. Some have passed away now. JW: Is there anything that we haven’t covered that you want to talk about? LR: I think you have done a very good job. JW: I hope we covered everything, we are just very grateful to be here, and to be in your beautiful home. We appreciate you taking the time to do this with us. LR: Well we are so grateful to have you come. 15 1 Appendix 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48