Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Interviewee Omar Guevera Amir Jackson Devan Newman Barbara Patterson Interviewer Liz Dela Cruz Ann Parry Brennon Scheikart Brent Cowan Copyright © 2023 by Weber State University, Stewart Library 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/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ 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: [Interviewee Last Name, First Name], an oral history by [Interviewer’s Name], [Day Month Year], WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections and University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Oral History Program Omar Guevarra Interviewed by Liz Dela Cruz Circa 2016 Oral History Program Omar Guevarra Circa 2017 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Omar Guevarra, conducted circa 2016, by Liz Dela Cruz. Omar discusses his life and experiences as a minority leader in Northern Utah. LDC: This interview is being recorded for purposes of being part of an oral history collection. This collection is part of the Special Collections section of the WSU Library. This interview is between 5-15 minutes in length. I am Liz Dela Cruz, a current MPC Student. For the record, please state your first and last name for me please. OG: Yes, my name is Omar Guevarra. I am the director of forensics in the department of communication at Weber State University. LDC: Thank you for your time. Now, question one, do you see yourself as a leader today? OG: You know, that’s a tricky question. There’s always this sort of discussion about leadership, especially since the tendency is that it gets valorized as a particular form of decision-making archetype of psychology. I guess my concern has always been with leading rather than leadership, per se. I think if you are good at leading people—might decide or conclude or occasionally think you are a good leader. For me, the secret ingredient has always been the emphasis on the now or the immediacy of what comes next. LDC: Do you feel like you work to develop leaders with your kind of way of leading? OG: I think I have an influence on the type of leadership persona that future high school and college debaters, when directing themselves might choose to operationalize as an M.O. But I do think that probably the best leadership skills 1 are taught in action. They are taught in the moment. The lesson is best taught through example, and I think that as a result, the best leadership training is indirect and often times very discreet. LDC: Based on your experiences as a person who is a minority leader in Northern Utah, how do you feel like your leadership has made a difference or impact to other people? OG: You never really know, to be completely honest with you. What the true answer is… I think the hope is that when you integrate “big D” diversity concerns into your general employment decision-making and your personal decision-making, your lifestyle, and political commitments, it brings a lot of opportunity to influence those who have been historically marginalized, but also undercounted. I think that can happen to anyone. That can happen in the classroom, it can happen in a department meeting, it can happen in a hallway, in a co-curricular event like debate. In the community forums and organizations that we have here in Northern Utah, that we benefit from, I do think that debate is unique in that regard because it is historically practiced by the American academy with the intension of rapidly developing a successful pre-professional skillset for the next generation of leaders. But even directing a program with a historic mission devoted to leadership, I would say that the most important thing is where the rubber meets the road is in sort of the day-to-day moments of leading that tomorrow’s leaders should be most in-tune to observing and internalizing. LDC: That’s a great point. That leads great into the next question. In your opinion, what are some characteristics that you feel that someone would need to have in order 2 to be a successful leader, or qualities that have helped you? OG: I think at some level they need to have credibility as an expert in some content area. I think that is some sort of sine qua non or essential of the package. I think it is more than that. There are many experts in many content areas and few become leaders—even of the most humble regional organizations. The reason for that is that the rest of society that doesn’t share the expertise in that content area is looking for the next-level skill of the leader that can communicate both the process of the skill acquisition, but also the reasons behind the celebration of the skill. I think that the future leaders in any activity, such as debate, or any profession, such as law, need to have, as a foundation, the content expertise. But also, as a maximum, the proficiency to express the beauty and the teachability of the skill or intellectual commitment in question. I think that is also a necessary component of being widely perceived as one who engages in leading. LDC: Is there someone that helped to develop you into the type of leader you are today, maybe a mentor or a teacher? OG: There are a lot of people. I would probably hesitate to give any one all the credit or all the blame for that. But I would definitely say that Dr. David Hingstman, the graduate school advisor and Director of Forensics in the Department of Communication at the University of Iowa, is probably the single most responsible person. He helped me develop the leadership model that I use as a daily template. LDC: My last question is, do you have any leadership advice that you can give for the future leaders of Utah? 3 OG: That’s a big question. I guess I would say that you can never enjoy the moments of true success of leading in your craft, the true high-water marks, unless you are willing to pay your dues and stick through the hard times. There will be plenty of hard times: ones you can anticipate and ones you cannot. The one thing that I think distinguishes success in college directing or high school directing, for example, is the long-term view that understands that there will be ups and downs, both ends of the emotional roller coaster. When things seem impossibly impossible and woefully despondent, a good leading professional will neutralize the emotions of either moment and keep focused. Keep focused, set aside the short-term, and keep focused on the long-term goal. It’s probably the only way to journey through the tough valleys to really enjoy the beautiful peaks. I guess that would be my one take-away. LDC: There is so much truth in that. Well, I do appreciate you taking time out for this interview. OG: My pleasure. Thank you, Liz. LDC: Thank you so much for letting me do this. This will be transcribed and you will have access to this record. I can also give you the copy of the transcription and the record, too, if you like. OG: I would love that. No pressure on time, but that would be great. LDC: Okay. Thank you again. 4 Oral History Program Amir Jackson Interviewed by Ann Parry 31 March 2016 Oral History Program Amir Jackson Circa 2014 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Amir Jackson, conducted on March 31, 2016 in Ogden, Utah, by Ann Parry. Amir discusses his life and his experiences as a minority leader in Northern Utah. AP: This is an oral history interview with Amir Jackson. It was conducted March 31, 2016 and concerns his experiences with leadership. The interviewer is Ann Parry, and I am interviewing Amir at the Nurture the Creative Mind Space in Ogden, Utah. AJ: My name is Amir Jackson, and I am the founder and director of a local youth nonprofit, Nurture the Creative Mind. Our organization is dedicated to establishing self-value within youth through the creative arts. It's very important to our organization that young people have an established self-value. We believe by nurturing young people, we nurture our future. AP: I was wondering if you could start by telling us a little bit about your background. Where you grew up, some of your hobbies, your education, what type of family that you were a part of? AJ: I was born and raised in Rochester, New York, by my mother, Beverly Ross, who raised myself and my two siblings as a single parent. My hobbies, I grew up playing basketball and football, ran track. I really was interested in arts as well— creative writing. I became interested in the arts around the age of 13 or 14 years old. Creative writing became an outlet for me. My teen experiences, I had a real normal teen life. I hung out with friends, explored a little bit. I got to travel quite a bit by going to family reunions. Every other year, it would be in a different space or place. I traveled to Georgia, I traveled to California, and Florida. I got a lot of 1 traveling experience in my teen years, different places, different environments, which was really nice as well. AP: As you were growing up, what types of experiences did you have that lead you to believe you were or could be a leader? AJ: I think that I never really considered or looked at myself as a leader. I was told by my teachers that they felt like I had leadership qualities, typically for the wrong reasons: being a class clown, being able to dictate or direct a classroom environment negatively, as they saw it. I was typically chosen as the team captain for the football team, the basketball team, and the track team. When I went into the military, I was also selected to be a squad leader, but never really looked at myself or viewed myself as a leader. I think that what ended up happening for me was that other people viewed me as a leader and I just began to accept that role and started to see the leadership qualities in myself that other people started to see, and I embraced it. AP: When you talk about some of these leadership qualities, how do they fit in with your core values? AJ: I think for me, my core values are to be humble, be respectful, and be grateful. Those are three core values that I like to dictate my life in general. Being respectful of myself as well as being respectful of others, I think those things are synonymous. You can't respect yourself without respecting others, and you can't respect others without respecting yourself. By being grateful, you recognize that all achievements, all opportunities are blessings, and also realizing that you don't get somewhere without the assistance of someone else. Humility really comes 2 from understanding that as well. It's very humbling to recognize and realize that no matter how great you become, you did not achieve that greatness without the assistance of other people, and that really helps keep me grounded. AP: Amir, has there been somebody who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Perhaps a mentor, or somebody else that you can think of that has helped to shape the leader that you have become? AJ: When thinking about one particular person, it's very difficult for me to choose one out of the many. I think that I have been influenced by many people. I think that some of those influences have been positive, things that I want to emulate and want to multiply, and then others are poor examples. I think I have learned from the poor examples of leadership as much as I have the positive ones. I try to pull influence from all around me, whether it is socially at a coffee shop, whether it is someone historically, or it's the young people that I work with in my organization. I think that all of my experiences, all of my situations in my life have really shaped me into the leader that I am. AP: What do you see as the biggest challenges of being a minority leader in Northern Utah, which is predominantly white. What do you do to overcome some of these challenges? AJ: I think that one of the most difficult things for me that I have experienced, so far as being a minority leader, is the question that others may have of whether or not you belong, if it was some type of favor, have you earned the spot or not? Really, for me, what I have decided was that those questions are valid. I don't feel disrespected by the questions, but to overcome that I work hard and I believe in 3 myself tremendously and I think that I leave other people no choice other than to believe, or to just be in denial about it. I work hard enough to leave no doubt. AP: What advice would you give emerging young minority leaders in order for them to be successful? AJ: I think that the first thing I would advise other minority young emerging leaders is to believe in themselves. Without first believing in yourself, it's very difficult, if impossible, for other people to see you and believe in you. I would also suggest that they see their obstacles and barriers as opportunities to shine. Being forged in fire is a benefit. It is not something to be looked down upon and I think that if you ask the question, “What now?” rather than, “Why me?” success is inevitable. Don't ask the question, “Why am I put in this position? Poor me, why me?” Just ask, “What now?” That answer is much more important than the answer to, “Why me?” AP: Are there any other insights that you might like to share about being a minority leader, especially in Northern Utah? I know that you grew up in New York, where I am guessing, there was a different demographic in that area. AJ: I think that outside of what advice I have already presented, I would like to reiterate the fact that belief in yourself, establishing your value is extremely important. Not just establishing that value, but believing in it. I think that that more than anything else, once you have done that, once you have believed enough for others to believe in you, everything else becomes easier. I think that young people, minorities especially, there's a magnification glass on them. It's impossible to not be noticed as a minority in a place like Utah, and use that to 4 your advantage. That means when you do something well, it's being noticed that much more. I think that rather than looking at the fact that you are a minority and the drawbacks to that, look at the benefits. AP: Thank you, Amir. 5 Oral History Program Devan Newman Interviewed by Brennon Schweikart 6 April 2016 Oral History Program Devan Newman Circa 2016 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Devan Newman, conducted on April 6, 2016, by Brennon Schweikart, at the Dee Events Center. Newman discusses being a minority leader in Northern Utah. BS: Please start by telling us about your background. DN: I was born in Lewistown, Montana. At the time, my dad was playing football in the Canadian football league, so he didn’t really get to see me until a month after I was born. Kind of shocking. Parents met, you know, in Montana. He was playing professional basketball at the time, and my mom was working in Montana. But my dad is Creole, which is kind of a mixture of French, Black, Native American. It’s kind of a gumbo mix of something. My mom is Caucasian. I am Creole and white, I guess, technically. From there, moved around a lot. My dad was a basketball coach, so I grew up all over the place. Spent the majority of my childhood in Sacramento, California, and then high school, I spent the majority of that time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then college, spent the majority of that time in Oregon. From there, kind of always knew what path I wanted to take as far as my career; wanted to get back involved with basketball and inevitably get into coaching. So I did a Master’s degree at the University of Louisville and was a grad assistant there for a year, and then hired on staff for two years after that, and then had an opportunity to get into coaching here at Weber State with coach Bethann Ord, and followed her here and been here ever since. I just finished my fifth year here at Weber State. So that’s, kind of in a nutshell, my background. 1 BS: Okay. What experiences did you have that led you to believe that you were or could be a leader? DN: I always wanted everything to fall onto my shoulders. I was never scared of the limelight, never scared of the big moments. Always wanted to be the burden of everyone’s problems or everyone’s emotions. I wanted to always lend a helping hand for someone having a bad day, always wanted to put my arm around them and try and make it better. I always wanted that responsibility, and for some reason, everyone thought I was pretty good at it. People would always come to me and want to sit down and talk about what was going on with them. Coaches in my life, played sports growing up, they always trusted me in crucial moments. Been voted for captain on a lot of my teams. I think it was part wanting that responsibility and always stepping up to those responsibilities. Part of it was outside people recognizing it within me and kind of putting that responsibility on me because they thought I could handle it. I think it was a combination of both letting me know that I could do it, I can be a leader, I can influence people in a very positive way. BS: So it’s been something where you’ve always seen as yourself as a leader throughout your entire life, based on what others did? DN: Yeah, and I think at first, it was based more on how others proceeded. I’ve been involved with sports all my life since I can even remember, and I think when a lot of people put that confidence in you at an early age and know that you can handle those kinds of situations, or believe that you can excel in a position like 2 that, you start believing it within yourself. Then you start expecting it within yourself, and then it becomes part of your character. BS: What are your core values? DN: Honestly, I haven’t really wrote them down or thought about them too much. I think it’s just how you live your life every day. How I try to live my life every day is a certain type of work ethic. I think you come in, and you just gotta bust your butt at everything that you do. I learned about it at a young age; nothing is given to you, no one owes you anything. You gotta work hard, and you gotta go after what you want, so I try to do that every day. I try to live in a positive light and a positive path. There’s so many things in life that you’re gonna come across that you can’t control, and if you allow those things to come in to your space and dictate how you operate on a day-to-day basis, then I think that’s on you. I try to be the best me I can be every day, live positive, try to touch somebody every day. Not necessarily influence everyone, but, you know, be an example for someone. You got to stay true to who you are. Then just do it every day and be the best person you can be every day, do the right thing and do right by others. There is always going to be something to try and knock you off your path. BS: How have these influenced your leadership experiences and/or abilities? DN: I think if you can stay true to who you are every day and live by a certain standard, then hold yourself to that standard every day. When you come across someone else that might need your help or might need your leadership, it’s easier to come at them from a very real perspective. It’s easy to say the right 3 things to somebody, but if it don’t come from a place that you truly believe in or truly live by, then it’s just smoke and mirrors. I don’t think that people can respect that, and I think if people are coming to you for leadership or whatever they need, you just can’t blow smoke up their butt. You gotta be real with them; I think they respect that more than anything. That’s how I handle a lot of these kids that I come across, either recruiting or coaching. If they come at me with a problem or a situation, I’m going to give it to them how I feel. They respect it ‘cause they see me living it every day. It might not be something that they want to hear, but at least they know it’s coming from a place that’s real, and they can take from it what they want. BS: Name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader. DN: One is my dad; him and I, we have that connection as always being involved with sports, both coaches and this, that, and the other. I know I got my work ethic from him; I got my passion for coaching basketball from him. He taught me come with it every day, go after what you want, and I’ve seen him fail and succeed in life, face some pretty tough times and have the strength to get through those tough times and still go to work every day like he’s not battling for his life. Those type of things, what we do every day, there’s a bigger purpose for everything. We live every day, but the bigger being out there that’s deciding our paths... You just got to get up every day and be the best you can be. BS: What do you see as the biggest challenges of being a minority leader in Northern Utah, which is predominantly white? 4 DN: Moving out here to Utah, it’s definitely a different culture. I can’t say that I have experienced a lot of setbacks or discrimination just based on gender or ethnicity, age, or anything like that. In our business, I think we find a lot of challenges in regards to more of the religious culture out here more than anything. But even if it might be a challenge, if you dwell in that, then it becomes harder than what it can be. You just got to go out there and put your best foot forward, and you’re always gonna come across those kinds of hurdles, always. If you let those hurdles stop you, then I think that falls on you. I think you just gotta come and do the best you can do and put your best foot forward and stay true to your values and who you are and never give up on what you’re trying to accomplish or whatever your goal is. You’re always going to have those challenges. Understand where they are coming from, learn from them, grow from them, and make them a positive for you. BS: What advice would you give emerging young minority leaders in order to be successful? DN: I would just encourage them to understand why you are a minority. Understand those reasons why people might pigeonhole you like that. Learn from them, accept them, grow from them, and then always stay true to who you are. Understand that there is something bigger out there, bigger than you and what you’re trying to accomplish. Always keep an open mind to different perspectives. There’s always an opportunity to grow and change and accept new ways and new perspectives. Also just who you have in your corner—have a great support system along your way, and those are the people that you go to when you go 5 through those difficult times or cross those hard paths or those hurdles. Just go after what you want. Nothing is owed anything; you have to go after what you want. You got to work for it, and there’s gonna be times when you fail, and you just got to learn from those times and grow from them. Be the best you can be every day. BS: What about those that may not have the best support system? DN: You don’t have to have the best support system. I think there’s always someone in your life that might not be mom, dad, sister, brother, but it might be a teacher, it might be someone at your community center, or something like that. There’s always someone that you can bounce something off of, you just gotta find that person. You gotta know that you’re worth it and you can accomplish anything. BS: What other insights can you share about being a minority leader in Northern Utah? DN: I moved around a lot and I’ve lived in a lot of different places. Every place has its different challenges. You just gotta understand what they are, be educated in them, and just turn them into a positive for you. Know that you’re always going to run into those challenges—and being in Ogden, they say it’s one of the most diverse cities here in Utah. I believe that, being on campus. But I think it’s all just challenges, challenges that are in your way or in your path, and you gotta face them head-on. You gotta face them head-on; learn from them and grow from them and do the best that you can. BS: Devan, thank you for your time today. Thank you for being able to speak up and tell us more about minority leadership in Northern Utah. Appreciate it. 6 Oral History Program Barbara Patterson Interviewed by Brent Cowan 1 April 2017 Oral History Program Barbara Patterson Circa 2017 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Barbara Patterson, conducted on April 2, 2017 by Brent Cowan in Patterson’s home. Barbara discusses her experiences as a city councilwoman, a business owner, and a cancer survivor. BC: We are here today with Barbara Patterson, city councilwoman for Clinton City. She is a business owner and a cancer survivor, so those are the three things we are going to talk about today. So, Barbara, just to start out, please tell me about your background: from your childhood years, your teenage years, and while you were growing up. BP: I went to elementary school at Layton Elementary. I lived in East Layton in a house that my great-grandfather had built. I went to Wahlquist Junior High in Taylor, I went to North Davis Junior High, and I graduated in 1968 from Clearfield High School. Then I went to beauty school when I was a senior in high school. BC: So as you graduated from high school, that’s when you started? BP: Nope, I just wanted to be a beautician, and I didn’t have anything else that I wanted to do. BC: You started on your own? BP: Yes, I got a scholarship, and that is what I went for. BC: Okay, so tell me about your hobbies. What other hobbies did you have? BP: I like playing golf. I love to cross stitch, and I bowled for a lot of years. I was the league secretary for one league probably 15 years. I was on the—it was then called the Association for Bowlers—I was on that for a few years. I was the ditch master for the Clinton South 8; that was getting water scheduled out to 1 everybody for watering. It was a farming area out here. I did that for a lot of years, then I got elected to the city council. BC: I want to ask you, what is your highest score after all these years of bowling? BP: I had a 243. BC: That is good. I think I am a 144, but I don’t bowl very often. Okay, so what experience did you have during your childhood and teenage years that led you to become a leader? BP: You know, the thing is, I was very shy in school. The teacher would ask me a question in elementary school; I couldn’t give you the answer. When I went to high school. I met a girl named Annelle Lyles, and she was on the yearbook staff. Somehow, I got put on there, and there was a position they had to put me in, and her and I became very good friends then. She brought me out of my little shell I was in, being very quiet, and now I am not. BC: I can attest to that. Yeah, that helped you come out of your shell, and you said you are more outspoken? BP: Yeah, I am. BC: So that experience, that person helped you. She probably noticed that as well, and she helped you overcome that. BP: Yep, she did. BC: Now, are there any other experiences you had? That was the first thing, but what else? Maybe starting your own business? 2 BP: Yeah, starting your own business, you have to be very outspoken and get what you want. I started my own business in 1977; I had worked for other people, and in 1977, I went to work for myself. BC: So how long after high school… You said as a senior, you started as a beautician? BP: I did. In 1968, I became a beautician, and I graduated from beauty school. I took my first state test in California, because that is where I was living at the time, and I passed the board out there. [Interview stops] [Interview resumes] BTC: Okay, you were in the middle of talking about how you were in California and you were coming back to Utah. BP: I came back to Utah, and I got my state license, and I worked in Utah for a while. Then I moved to South Carolina and got married to my present husband. I worked there, and you had to have a state license, so I was licensed in three states. That was an accomplishment because getting a license, they give you a written test, and then you have to bring in a model and do what they tell you on the model. I thought I did really good, but I was still scared. Things like that scare everybody. But I made it through. BTC: So you went about eight or nine years before you started your own business? BP: In 1977, my husband got out of the military and I got home and started my business. BTC: Is that where you’re at today? 3 BP: I was in Clearfield for a while, and then he sold that business to somebody else. I went over to it. It was called Scottsdale Shopping, and I went up there in Sunset. There was a beauty shop there, and I started working there, and she decided she didn’t want to work, so my mom bought it and ran it for several years. Then we moved around to the front of the building and that’s where I’ve been ever since. BTC: That’s neat how you took that chance and started your own business. That obviously helped you build your leadership. BP: Yes, I think that helped. BTC: Starting your own business is not easy to do. BP: No, it’s not. BTC: What are some of your core values? BP: My mom brought us up to tell the truth. Don’t lie, steal, cheat, and tell the truth. We raised our girls the same way. I didn’t care who they brought home with them as long as they didn’t lie, steal, or cheat. I think I’ve done very well bringing our girls up that way. BTC: Did the values that your mother taught you help you become a leader in any way? BP: I guess so, in a way. My mom always worked, so we had to fend for ourselves. My brother and I had to get ourselves up before school, and after school, we had to get our stuff done. BTC: So you are pretty independent and a hard worker? BP: Yes, I am independent and a hard worker. 4 BTC: Name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader. You already mentioned that girl in high school; she was also a mentor for you. You’ve joined the city council. Who has helped you the most will being on the city council? BP: Gee, Lin Vincent did, in community development, but he retired. The mayor really stands behind all of us. He listens to us and tells us how he thinks it should be, and I listen, and he listens to me. BTC: Yeah, I’ve met the mayor before. I remember going to a city council meeting. I think he actually came and shook hands with those who were there in the audience. That stood out to me as something I remember about him. So you joined the city council—can you tell us how that happened? BP: The first time I ran, it was on a dare. “I dare you to do this,” and I thought, “Oh, okay.” Then I lost the first election by six or seven votes. I’ve been on the council almost 10 years now. I did the first four years, then I didn’t win the second election, and it was a good thing, because I found out I had breast cancer and I needed some time to get over that. Then we had a councilperson die, and they did interviews for it, and I got back on the council. I served for two years, and then I won this last election. I have another year-and-a-half on the council. BTC: So, 25 people interviewed. Usually not that many people run, so why…? BP: When they interview you, they do it a bit differently. They interview to find out who wants to be on the council and what they want to do, and I just told them how I thought it should be, and then I got back on the council. 5 BTC: I know when you run, you have to campaign for yourself. You leave door hangers and stuff, but there’s not 25 people. BP: No, there’s not 25 people. BTC: When it was just an interview, it was a lot easier? BP: Yes, it was a lot easier to get back on. BTC: Yeah, it kind of surprised me that there were 25 people, if they had to go out and campaign and put door hangers. BP: They wouldn’t. BTC: So that kind of shows you that it’s hard work. BP: It is hard work. BTC: Well, good. So you were on there for a while, didn’t get re-elected, but you didn’t give up. You had cancer, and you wanted to recover from that, and now you’re back on the council. What do you see as one of the biggest challenges you have as a woman leader in the community? BP: You just have to be smart and stay on top of things. Don’t let anybody put you down. Don’t be bullied. I would tell that to any girl: “Don’t let anyone bully you.” BTC: Nobody does, because you’re so outspoken. You haven’t had the challenges many other women have had because you’re outspoken and you stand your ground. BP: That’s right. BTC: You have a toughness to you. BP: I do. BTC: What advice would you give other young women or other minority leaders? 6 BP: Just be yourself. Be honest, and don’t take advantage of anybody. BTC: Have you mentored anybody? BP: I don’t think I have. Maybe I have and not known it. BTC: I know you have always made yourself available. I think that’s important. BP: I have. My phone is on 24/7. BTC: You have allowed me to do this interview, and I know you have helped out with Boy Scouts trying to get advancements for the community merit badges. I always have them come to you because I know you are available. What other insights would you say you have? How has it been, being a cancer survivor? It has obviously made you stronger. You own your own business. You’ve been part of the city councils. What else would you say that it’s done for you? Do you have more confidence? BP: I think so. Now I get to have my bowling tournament this month. We’ve been doing it for years. BTC: Okay, let’s talk about that a little more. You’ve been a cancer survivor for about seven years. BP: We have a bowling tournament, and the money we make goes to Huntsman Cancer Center. We take a check downtown once a year. We don’t pay anybody; it’s all volunteer. BTC: So it’s just donations? BP: It’s just donations. BTC: There’s no payment to get into the tournament? 7 BP: Yeah, you have to pay to get into the tournament. It’s twenty dollars a person, and you get lots of prizes and lots of fun. We have a raffle—I’m not supposed to say it like that—but we have a raffle, and last year, we donated $8000 to the Huntsman Center with just this little tournament we have for two days. BTC: Is it local businesses? BP: Anybody can be in it, and anybody can donate to it. It’s open to everyone. You don’t have a USVC card; it’s just something my girls wanted to do, and we kept it going. BTC: Your daughters got it started? Maybe there’s a little leadership in them. BP: Yeah, I think so. BTC: Well, good. That’s probably the influence you’ve had on them. Well, Barbara, thanks for taking the time. BP: You’re welcome. 8