Oral History Program Candice Johnston Interviewed by Lorrie Rands & Brian Whitney 1 July 2015 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Candice Johnston Interviewed by Lorrie Rands & Brian Whitney 1 July 2015 Copyright © 2015 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 Utah Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum honors men and women whose lives exemplify the independence and resilience of the people who settled Utah, and includes artists, champions, entertainers, musicians, ranchers, writers, and those persons, past and present, who have promoted the Western way of life. Each year, the inductees are interviewed about their lives and experiences living the Western way of life. ____________________________________ 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: Johnston, Candice, an oral history by Lorrie Rands & Brian Whitney, 1 July 2015, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Candice Johnston, conducted July 1, 2015 by Lorrie Rands and Brian Whitney. Johnston discusses her father, Gary Cooper, recent inductee to the Utah Cowboy Hall of Fame. BW: Today is July 1, 2015 we’re interviewing Candice Johnston, a telephone recorded interview from Weber State University in the Special Collections Department. We’re interviewing Candice Johnston regarding her father Gary Cooper who is an inductee in the cowboy museum. Interviewing today is Lorrie Rands and Brian Whitney and the time is about ten until noon. So I guess our first question is let’s just talk a little bit about your father’s background. Where he grew up, when he was born? CJ: He was born August 6, 1930 I believe. He was raised in Lehi, Utah, his father passed away at the age of two from tuberculosis and was raised with his other three brothers and mother Josephine Mary Cooper on a little farm right in the center of Lehi. They had raspberry bushes I know that he hated raspberries because he hated picking raspberries because of the thorns. They had chickens and horses and cattle and like I said he was raised with his three brothers. They were all very close, he believed that family came first and was very dedicated to his family. LR: So you said that his father died of tuberculosis. Was he, do you know if his father was maybe in a sanitarium when he died or was he just at home? CJ: I believe he was just at home. He had just got out of the service. He’d contacted it in the army, in the service and then came home. 2 LR: So would that be during WWI? CJ: I think so. BW: So he would’ve died in 1932. LR: Okay well no that wouldn’t have been. BW: It’s kind of in between. LR: Yeah it’s in between. CJ: Well he came home for a few years, but he had contacted it in the service and battled it for a while is my understanding. LR: Do you know much about his mother? CJ: Yes my grandmother, she was amazing. She worked at Geneva Steel. When the work broke out all the men went to war and so she went to work at Geneva Steel as a crane operator. Geneva Steel is a steel mill there in Orem, Utah and she could do anything. She was raised down on a farm out at Cedar Valley, down at Cedar Fort. You know she told us stories of going in with wagons and horses going to dances into Lehi. She really could do anything. She could tear apart a lawn mower and put it back together. She’d dress up and look beautiful and go out dancing that night, she could do it all. LR: Do you know much by chance about his father? CJ: You know I really don’t know a lot about him. LR: Okay. CJ: Sorry. LR: No that’s okay. So growing up with his three brothers and his mom did he tell any stories about just being a, growing up? 3 CJ: I know that the lived right across from the city park and the movie theatre was just a block behind them. So I’d always heard stories of when the shows let out the girls would cut through the park and him and his brothers would hang in the trees in the park and swing down and scare everyone walking home from the park. I can’t really think of many others. They all had chores and their chores better all be done before their mother got home. They were taught to be very responsible. His one brother became a lieutenant in the Utah State Highway Patrol. Another brother was a dentist, his youngest brother and the other brother belonged to the state legislature, state representative. LR: That’s right. CJ: So she raised four amazing boys. BW: How do you think losing their father at such a young age affected your father and his parenting? CJ: Well he didn’t have a father so he kind of you know had to learn on his own on how to be a father and I think he was raised with very strict rules. So he expected us to live by very strict rules as well. I think my mother, my grandmother you know had to set boundaries because she was a single parent and that’s the only way he knew was to be very strict. LR: Now she never remarried did she? CJ: She didn’t. LR: Did your dad ever say why or did your grandmother ever tell you why she didn’t remarry? 4 CJ: No she dated several men but I think there was a little jealousy from the boys. You know they didn’t want their mother necessarily to be with someone else because they were young and wanted mom, but I don’t know that that’s why she didn’t marry. She must not of met the right one I guess. LR: That makes sense. So after your father graduated from high school do you know kind of a, some of the stories of his life after high school? CJ: Well after high school he went into, he actually met my mother at, well actually I guess after school he went into the army as a boxer. He was the middle weight boxing champion of _____ California and he came home at Christmas and met my mother at a basketball game. He had a squirt gun and went to squirt one of his friends and the friend ducked and he hit her right in the face. She let him know she didn’t really appreciate that very much and that’s how he met her. Then he, let’s see maybe that’s not exactly how that went, but I know that he came home off leave of the service and they got married on December 29th and he was on a three day leave then went back in the service. BW: So they met and married within three days? CJ: No that’s why I say I think I messed that up I’m sorry. You know they must have met before he went in the service, but then he came home and they got married on a three day leave. He was I want to say 19 and she was 20 maybe. LR: Wow, young, what year did they marry? CJ: You know I don’t have that here in front of me. I really don’t know. LR: Okay that’s fine, no worries. What was the other question? Oh, how much longer was he in the service after they got married? 5 CJ: I think just a year. LR: Okay, so after the service he comes home and what does he do? CJ: Well you know at that point he wasn’t a rodeo cowboy. That’s when he decided to become a cowboy, a rodeo cowboy. He loved horses and my mother thought she was marrying a politician, but much to her dismay became a cowboy. He loved horses and he loved rodeo. You know he had passion in everything, anything he did he had a great passion for it. LR: Do you by chance know what prompted him to go that route, to do the rodeo? CJ: You know he just had a love for horses and he you know loved the cowboy life, the rodeo life. He was really good at it, he was really good at breaking horses and riding bareback and bull riding. When he first started he was a rodeo clown and at that time rodeo clown was the bull fighter and the clown. I remember he was quite an entertainer. He had a little clown act, which was a little levitating man. He had a friend lay down and it made him look like he was floating in the air. I remember I was so impressed with that and thought it was so cute. He also was a bull fighter and he actually got hit by a bull and has a buckle that has a dent right in the middle of it where that buckle probably saved his life. LR: So that was from bull fighting? CJ: You know I don’t know if that was from bull fighting or if that was when he was a riding a bull. I’m not sure, but I do remember the buckle. You know bareback riding was just, he felt like bareback riding was the most physical of all the rodeo events so he really pursued that. He was one that was really, always really in good physical shape. That was important to him. 6 LR: Now Desiree mentioned that if he’d of gone pro and done the whole circuit all the time he probably would’ve been world champion. CJ: That’s true, he would’ve. In fact him and his friend Ken _____ whom they both filled their RCA events and the champion would come to town like Jim Shoulders and Larry _____ and they rode against all of them and him and Ken would beat the champions more times than not. So you know I was just so proud like he won Lehi and Pleasant Grove a couple times and you know he’s like a hometown celebrity. It was really cool. BW: Who do you think your father’s heroes were? Did he ever bring up any heroes? CJ: Boy yeah I can’t really think… BW: Besides Gary Cooper. CJ: Pardon me? BW: Besides the actor Gary Cooper. CJ: Yeah that’s the one that came to mind. Gary Cooper, that was one thing that was really neat back when he first rodeod telephones had switch boards where you’d unplug them and plug them in the little holes. He would call, you had to call in to enter a rodeo and he would tell them that he was Gary Cooper and so the operators would unplug who’s ever on the phone and put him in so he could be the first one to enter the rodeo. So that really you know kind of neat and unique for him. LR: Yeah did they ever catch on eventually? CJ: No in fact once he went to a show in Las Vegas, they wanted to go see and I’m not sure, I think it was Jimmy Stewart I’m not sure. They went to a movie in Las 7 Vegas or to a show and they wouldn’t let them in and my dad says, “Well let me handle it.” So he walked up and told them that Gary Cooper was here and wanted to see him so they gave them front row tickets and during the show they sent down a note that said, “He would like to meet you after the show.” My dad says, “Well you know we’re really busy tell him I’ll catch him next time.” They left, but they really thought it was Gary Cooper because he looked a lot like Gary Cooper. LR: Oh really? CJ: Yeah. BW: Your father sounds like he was fairly fearless. CJ: Yes, definitely I think one of his qualities that will always be remembered is how tough he was and he wasn’t afraid of anything. I can’t remember of anything my dad feared. LR: What I find interesting is that how important family was to him because he wouldn’t go pro because he wanted to be home with his family. CJ: That’s true. LR: How do you think that affected, how did that affect you guys growing up? CJ: You know my dad was always there for me. I knew that if I ever needed anything my father would always be there. I definitely feel like he could’ve been a world champion had he gone down the road, but I appreciate the fact he sacrificed you know for our family and that he stayed home and provided for us. I think rodeo was a second income for our family which really you know provided a better life for us. I was always very proud of him and his accomplishments. 8 LR: What were some of your, what are some of your memories on the road with your dad going to the different rodeos? CJ: Well my fondest memory was Lagoon. Every weekend they had rodeos at Lagoon and he would take the whole family and I actually got to pull her bareback rigging a couple times and get behind the shoots which was unusual for a girl to be back behind the shoots. About the third time I pulled his rigging a horse reared up and he fell behind it. It took another man to yank him back out and my eyes were you know as big as saucers and he says, “Sis I think maybe you better go sit this one out.” That was the last time I pulled his rigging. He was, in the beginning rodeo wasn’t really a family sport and then later on it started catching on and families started going and now I think it’s wonderful that rodeo is such a great family sport. LR: You mentioned his rigging, pulling his bareback rigging. What exactly is that? CJ: The rigging it looks like a suitcase handle and it just wraps around the horse and they cinch it up and that’s what they hold onto. LR: Okay, I had something else in my head. Thank you. CJ: No you’re fine. BW: It seems to me that the family has maintained a love for rodeo. How’d your father, how do you think that your father influenced, are you still involved with rodeo first of all? CJ: Yes, actually I just had a post on Facebook of my granddaughter tied her first goat last night. BW: Oh nice that’s adorable. 9 CJ: I said that’s five generations in my family, four from his side at rodeo. So yes I have son that still team ropes and I have a daughter that her kids are now starting. Cody’s daughter is rodeoing so of course he’s had a great influence on all of his children and his grandchildren. They all looked up to him and admired him and they’re all very accomplished in different areas and I think they get that from that Cooper determination. You know there are a few of them that have followed him in the rodeo department. They all have a love of horses, but it’s kind of exciting to see some carry on the rodeo tradition. LR: Did you have another part to your question? BW: I don’t no you had a question that you wanted further clarification. LR: Oh that’s right, but what was it called? I left it in the other room, your sister said something that I forgot to ask her what it meant. It was… BW: I’m having trouble remembering. LR: Oh my gosh she was talking about horses and it started with an “I.” BW: Oh imprinting. LR: Imprinting, thank you. Do you by chance know what that term means, imprinting? CJ: Yeah I don’t know what she, no I don’t know what she meant by that. LR: Okay, I know it was referring to horses and the way they’re raised. CJ: Yeah I don’t know what she’s meaning. LR: Darn I should’ve asked when I was thinking about it. So you growing up, going around to the different rodeos that was a family event right? Your whole family would go? 10 CJ: Well in the beginning he traveled with a bunch of cowboys and went to a lot of rodeos, but after a few years it became more family oriented and then we all started going. LR: Was there a time as he got older that he would just go off on his own or did he always take the family? CJ: Well there were a lot of times he went on his own or with his, with other cowboys to rodeos. He always stayed local so it wasn’t like he went off and stayed for days. He just you know would go to a rodeo and come back that night. LR: How many rodeos would he try to do in a weekend? CJ: You know probably that was very depending on how many rodeos were that weekend, but if they close he could probably get in three rodeos a weekend. That wasn’t normal, normal probably two, but there were probably some that he was in three or four. It would vary. LR: So let’s see of you and your siblings there were two boys and two girls correct? CJ: Yes. LR: Only one of his sons went or did both of the sons do rodeo like his dad? CJ: Well actually my older brother he started rodeoing a little bit and went to a competition. He was also the little league pitcher and he went to a rodeo and went to calf riding and went to jump off and broke his arm. So he didn’t get to pitch at the little league championships and that ended his rodeo career. He saw that there were a lot of other things he wanted to pursue. Then Cameron he totally followed in my dad’s footsteps. He loved, he was a champion bareback rider. He would’ve won the world probably if he’d of lived, but in fact he was in 11 second place with the RMRA when he died and my dad rode for him at the finals and that was pretty cool. LR: I bet, did you or your sister do rodeo as well? CJ: I did high school rodeo and I went to college on a rodeo scholarship to TCU where my dad ended up being, sorry UTC, Utah Technical College at the time. My dad ended up being the Utah Technical College Rodeo Coach and he coached there for several years. Louie Fields was right behind me and Louie Fields was going to give up the bareback riding and my dad talked him into sticking with it and then a few years later he won the world championship. BW: Yeah so obviously rodeo is a dangerous sport with a lot of injuries. What kind of stories do you have about your father either sustaining injuries or coming near death? CJ: Actually my dad always said that, “In rodeo it’s not a matter of if you get hurt it’s when you get hurt and how bad.” I remember once he got kicked by a bull or I don’t know if he got kicked by a bull or a horse but he had a blood clot in his leg. He took a pocket knife and just cut his leg and popped the blood clot out and butterflied it back together and went to a rodeo the next weekend. LR: Oh my gosh! I can’t believe that! CJ: Yeah he was something else. LR: Ow! Oh wow I’m speechless. Wow that’s amazing, that’s a great story. CJ: He was very tough you know and I’m sorry I can’t put it in chronological order, but he was a diver. He believed in being the very best at whatever he did. At Saratoga Springs they had diving acts and he did a diving routine where he could 12 walk up on his hands up the highest diving board, across it and dive off. Or jump off the high dive and hit the low dive and dive in. He was amazing and he run 8 miles a night when I was little. I remember him running and like I said he was a boxer and he taught kids how to box. Then for rodeo I mean you know he just he was tough. If he wasn’t the best at it he worked until he was the best. BW: So what did your mom think about this lifestyle? CJ: Well she went with us, she loved it. She really didn’t have anything to do with the horses, but she was very supportive of him and you know encouraged him. Loved the rodeo people and she ended up helping my sister a lot when she won Miss Rodeo Utah. So she was involved, but she wasn’t really into the horse thing. LR: So your father made sure from what I’ve gathered that all of you that wanted a horse had a horse growing up so you could learn to ride? CJ: Well actually we all had horses, but mainly we broke a lot of horses. My dad would, he was really in with the Palomino Posse and they thought he was wonderful. They’d always bring horses down for him to break and he would take the buck out of them and then we kids would get on them and ride them and train them. So we always had lots of horses to ride. LR: So when you say take the buck out of the horses what do you mean? CJ: Well meaning he’d get on them, when you first get on a colt or get on a horse they’re, first thing in the spring they kind of want to buck a little bit. They’re still kind of frisky and he didn’t want us to get hurt so he’d get on them first to make 13 sure that you know they were gentle enough for us to get on. Then we’d just put lots of miles on them. BW: Sounds like your father is pretty light on his feet as well? CJ: Yes, he loved to dance. I mean not only was he a fighter my dad had great passion for life. It didn’t matter what he did he had a lot of passion. He loved to dance, he was a very good dancer. Boxing, you know he was light on his feet boxing. BW: He entered a lot of competitions in all sorts of areas it sounds like. CJ: Yes he was the true all around and all around in life. BW: Live life to its fullest right? CJ: Yep. BW: So speaking about life just tell me in your own opinion what is the rodeo lifestyle? CJ: Well I love rodeo, to me rodeo is a very close knit family of friends who have a passion and love of animals and competition and they love nature. BW: I get the feeling that there’s a competitiveness among the cowboys but there’s also this friendliness among competitors. CJ: Right, they are the best of friends and yet they’re very competitive with each other, but they’re very happy for each other when each one succeeds. BW: Do you have any examples from your father of that competitive friendliness? CJ: Him and Ken Wilson, whom every, they’re very good friends and they took turns winning the bareback riding. If one didn’t win it the other one won it seemed like every year. They were always very happy and had great respect for each other. I think they were best of friends. 14 LR: One kind of as a final question the and we’ve asked this of everybody. What do you think your father’s legacy is? CJ: I think my father’s legacy would be his mental and physical toughness, his devotion to family and his passion for life. LR: Do you think those are some things his children have passed on to their own families? CJ: Oh definitely, I definitely do. My dad always said that the most important things in life are God, country and family. Not necessarily in that order, but family comes first and his devotion to his family was you never said anything bad about a Cooper. You know they all stick together and they’re all right there for you. LR: That’s awesome well we’re good? BW: I think so. LR: Awesome well Candice thanks so much for your time. What you gave us was amazing, we actually got some different stories from your sister so thank you very much. We appreciate your time. ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW AGREEMENT This Interview Agreement is made and entered into this ______1st____________ day(s) of _July 2015_________, by and between the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program (WSUSLOHP) and___Candice Johnston______________________, hereinafter called "Interviewee." Interviewee agrees to participate in a recorded interview, commencing on or about Noon, 7-1-15____time/date, with___Lorrie Rands and Brian Whitney__. This Interview Agreement relates to any and all materials originating from the interview, namely the recording of the interview and any written materials, including but not limited to the transcript or other finding aids prepared from the recording. In consideration of the mutual covenants, conditions, and terms set forth below, the parties hereby agree as follows: 1. Interviewee irrevocably assigns to WSUSLOHP all his or her copyright, title and interest in and to the interview. 2. WSUSLOHP will have the right to use and disseminate the interview for research, educational, and other purposes, including print, present and future technologies, and digitization to provide internet access. 3. Interviewee acknowledges that he/she will receive no remuneration or compensation for either his/her participation in the interview or for the rights assigned hereunder. 4. WSUSLOHP agrees to honor any and all reasonable interviewee restrictions on the use of the interview, if any, for the time specified below, as follows: ________________________________________________ Interviewer and Interviewee have executed this Interview Agreement on the date first written above. INTERVIEWEE INTERVIEWER _______________________________________ (Signature) _______________________________________ (Signature) _______________________________________ (Printed Name) ________________________________________ (Printed Name)