Oral History Program Lori Memmott Brown Interviewed by Kandice Harris 28 August 2019 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Lori Memmott Brown Interviewed by Kandice Harris 28 August 2019 Copyright © 2021 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 Beyond Suffrage Project was initiated to examine the impact women have had on northern Utah. Weber State University explored and documented women past and present who have influenced the history of the community, the development of education, and are bringing the area forward for the next generation. The project looked at how the 19th Amendment gave women a voice and representation, and was the catalyst for the way women became involved in the progress of the local area. The project examines the 50 years (1870-1920) before the amendment, the decades to follow and how women are making history today. ____________________________________ 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: Brown, Lori Memmott, an oral history by Kandice Harris, 28 August 2019, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Lori Memmott Brown Circa 1980 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Lori Memmott Brown, conducted on August 28, 2019, at the Stewart Library, by Kandice Harris. Lori discusses her life, her memories at Weber State University, and the impact of the 19th Amendment. Alexis Stokes, the video technician, is also present during this interview. KH: Today is August 28, 2019, 4:30 p.m. We are in the Archives Conference Room to interview Lori Memmott Brown. Kandice Harris is conducting the interview and Alexis Stokes is filming. When and where were you born? LB: I was born a long time ago. February 16, 1960 in Spanish Fork, Utah. KH: Would you talk a little bit about your early life and some historical background? Did you grow up in Spanish Fork? Where did you go to high school? LB: I lived for my first year and a half in Provo. Dad was teaching at BYU, went back to Indiana to get a doctorate. We went there. Then we came to Ogden. He worked for Weber State for 38 years. KH: And who are your parents? LB: My parents are Evan and Ruth Memmott. The finest people—well they’re not alive, but they are the finest people. I’m the seventh of nine kids and the favorite. I have five sisters and three brothers and I had an idyllic childhood. We lived next door to the best people, the Allred’s. He also taught here, Gordon Allred. They had 11 kids and we had 9. In our neighborhood, just on our block, were 2 maybe 40 kids. I mean, playing and all of that. We had big fields by our house before there were homes and all of that. We played and never locked our doors. We went anywhere in the neighborhood to eat. I get together with these families still, once a year maybe? KH: That’s great. LB: So, that’s good. I went to Taylor Elementary which, I don’t know if it’s still… Taylor Canyon in Ogden School District, and Central Middle School—or junior high. Ogden High School and went to Weber State. Well, I went to BYU briefly, just very briefly. And it was all good. Sincerely, I only have really good memories. You’ll have to figure out which high school reunion I had a year ago, and these are good people. I like to associate with them. I liked growing up here, I know some people say, “Ahhh, Ogden.” It was a good place. A good life. KH: Did you participate in any sports or activities in high school? LB: I did student government and pep club. And we had seminary, which was a religious thing, and I was a seminary officer. I was a junior class officer and I’m not very athletic, no, I didn’t do that. KH: Were you encouraged to pursue an education? LB: I was. In fact, kind of expected. My dad was the first one—he was raised in a little town in central Utah - Scipio, Utah - and he was the first one in his family to attend college. I’ve thought a lot of times how my life would be different had he not moved away from a farm. My mom and my dad went to Cedar City Branch Agricultural College. There was a war going on and then they finished at Utah 3 State, and both graduated. My mom taught high school in Hurricane, Utah. Where she grew up, you know Hurricane? Okay, good. You don’t know Scipio, well you might know Scipio. KH: I’ve seen the sign. LB: Yeah, you see the sign, exactly. So, she taught school. And my dad did high school for a year and then he got his master’s and then he went away to get his doctorate with eight kids. Go figure that. My mom had just given birth to my younger sister and we all went back there. I was little. And we lived in a trailer so he could get his doctorate because farming—he was teaching agricultural and farming and that was not going to be a career. So he got a degree in audio visual education. He was one of my professors when I was here. KH: What classes did he teach here? LB: He taught education. And in the olden days, there were not computers. You did audio visual education. In elementary school, I could thread the projector—what kind of big projector would that be? KH: The one with the reels? LB: Yeah. KH: I don’t remember what it’s called. LB: I don’t know what it’s called. But if that got broken, I could fix it. If you were doing slide shows, I could get one unstuck, I knew how to get it off. So I was a favorite because of that. You learn those kinds of things, and laminating, and 4 taking slides and he would have loved this kind of technology now to have phones and whatever. But that’s the ones he taught and there were things called, “Will Kits”. You don’t know them because you’re not in education… 100 years ago. Weber individualized learning kits and so you took little modules, and you had lots of different professors, and you had to pass those off and get these little pink slips which were very sacred. Or you couldn’t pass the class so that was more information. See I’m a talker. KH: That’s okay. LB: Well my mom taught high school so my dad could go on a mission for our church. They got married and he left to do that. She taught school to support it. So education was always important, you know? You did your homework, you did well in school, you did your best in school and everybody went to college. LB: So that was them all. KH: How long did your dad teacher here at Weber? LB: I have this bill that he got when he retired, and I want to say 38 years but I should have looked at it. KH: That’s amazing. LB: Yeah. It was. KH: Why did you choose to attend Weber College? LB: Well, I had a scholarship so that was a bonus. And it was close and it was a really good education program and stuff. And so, it just seemed good. I 5 admitted the BYU mistake. But it was a really good education program. I’m sure it still is, I mean it was a really good top-rated education program. So I went out well prepared to teach. KH: With your parents being educators, is that how you got interested in education? LB: Yeah. We had old fashioned runner desks that my dad had got out of a school that was being torn down. I played school every day of my life. He’d bring home sample workbooks—we played, we gathered up the neighborhood, you’d sit. Miss Lori was my name. Somebody would say, “Oh, be a nurse.” I don’t really like blood. “Do this.” I don’t really like… you know… it’s in my blood. It was. KH: What was Weber College like when you started in 1978? LB: Oh, you looked that up. You’re good. It was great. It was obviously different than it is now. But it was a good place to be. It was friendly, it was fun, awesome professors, awesome classes. In that brief stint somewhere else, there were classes of 500 that I was in, some of your introduction classes. Not that. It probably helped that my dad worked here, but everybody knew my name. It was really personable, everybody was approachable for that. The Union Building was big time fun for a lot of activities. It was good. Academically it was good. Socially it was good. Did you go here? [To Alexis] Do you go here? AS: Yes. LB: Are you having a good experience? AS: Oh yeah. 6 LB: Okay good. There, she didn’t pay me to say this. KH: Who were some of your favorite professors? LB: My dad. Probably none of them are here. Karen Lofgreen was in education and I saw her every once in a while. And Richard Sadler, who is a history. Does that sound familiar? KH: He just barely retired. LB: I was going to say, maybe it’s been a year or two? He took educators in our district—they got a grant, and he would… he and… oh gosh, who is the other professor with the beard in history? Oh man. KH: I can picture his face. LB: He would slap me if I couldn’t remember. Dr. Sadler, and Dr.… he’s written a lot of books. KH: He has. I can picture him. LB: But they took us as teachers, because I teach fourth grade and that’s Utah History and fifth grade is American History. And high school ones…. And they took us on trips that were totally funded by this grant, back to Washington D.C., all through Utah, and stuff. And I can’t think of his name. It starts with an S. Anyway, he was amazing because of the knowledge. And when I saw him in this other role of being, “Hi, take us on these trips.” And they knew it, you could just tell. They weren’t looking at anything, they knew the stories. Dr. Sadler, Gordon Allred—my next door neighbor and amazing English teacher. And that helped 7 my rating a lot. Blaire Lowe, he’s long gone. Helena Watson, I think they have both passed away, and Gordon has passed away. So there. But, there’s nobody that I look at, or look back on in those years and say, “Well that was a crappy class.” You know, why would I ever take? They were good, just probably more of my interest, a little history, a little writing, and education. KH: Gene Sessions. LB: Thank you! Have you had him? KH: I think he’s still teaches but… LB: Just kind of adjunct, but he is funny. Now Sadler is straight knowledge. But he’s more of the funny one. And he was you know, kind of a joker smart mouth. I liked that. But you know, really anybody I had was good. I wouldn’t say that any of them were like, “Crappy teacher.” I didn’t drop any classes because of that. KH: What student organizations were you involved in? LB: I was in La Dianaeda, which used to be a sorority. KH: It was here until… the late 2000’s. Like 2008-2009. LB: You know, I wasn’t there. But that was fun. They were all good people and there were three sororities. La Dianaeda, Otyokwa or OT, and Lambda Delta Sigma which was a church one. And they were kind of dividing lines. But we did fun and crazy, crazy things. KH: Like what? 8 LB: Well, we were a calmer one. We were not a drinking… or by activity work. I don’t care if anybody did. But, like when they did what was it called? Sneak. When they, “Okay, you’ve been accepted to be a member of this one.” I was still up studying for a class, so that’s kind of how I roll. And so then they would go and do things to the others and you know, you just do pranks kind of things. And the boys… I don’t remember this. Oh, there was a (Tau Theta Nu) one too. So we did that. A lot of parties, a lot of fun things, a lot of get together, just hang out kind of stuff. And that was fun. I was briefly in a writing one, but I’m not that good of a writer. I forget the literary magazine. Do you remember the name of that? KH: Scribulus? LB: No. KH: Was it Scope? LB: It starts with an s, you’re close. Not like newspaper, not like the Signpost and stuff. I was mostly into student government. I was activities vice-president here and that was a kick in the head. I mean, it was fun. Busy, busy and fun and then I was Student Body President here. So that was a little time consuming, and fun. So that’s what I did besides keep a scholarship and doing those kinds of things. KH: What were your responsibilities as the activities vice-president? LB: Well a lot, okay. I was telling my husband I was doing this I said, “Go get those large scrapbook things that you’ve kept for a hundred years.” Not quite a hundred. So here you go. I know you’ll want to see this. But you don’t have to. [Lori starts showing Kandice and Alexis her scrapbooks from her time at Weber 9 State.]There were all of these different committees. Wait a minute these are probably in no kind of order. Oh, see these good times. I hope you have him interviewed. Jim Audi. Okay, so these were in another lifetime, oh sorry wrong book. That’s when I was student body officer. These were the people that were great people. Rick Southwick and I both served on a committee. Student Advancement, Faye Hardy. Stephanie Degraw, Bruce Richards, Richard Hackwell, Tammy Hammer—finest people you could meet. Seriously, finest people. So that should have been in another one. We had little offices in what was the Union Building. Isn’t that precious? You don’t want to see all of this. Oh see, vote, vote, vote, vote.Now this kind of stuff I could do at my dad’s office [Talking about a photocopied election poster.] Okay, there you go. Student body elections [1980 election results]. Oh this is activities because here I am, and Jim Parker. The finest people you’ll ever know. Mike Arave, Jim Alvey—he’s around. If he’s near me, I’ll kick him. John Dawson… look at him, he didn’t even run against somebody. See these lovely signs, you’ll think you’re cool. Another thing… Homecoming! We did Homecoming, huge deal. We did a float, the students with an adviser who knew what she was doing. And oh, there’s homecoming, oh look at that. If that’s not precious. You know, we were good friends and we hung out and we worked hard and that kind. So there were dances… here you go. “The way we were.” Is that not iconic? Now looking back we thought we were all that and a bag of chips. Oh see? We had an activities board—College Activities Board that was called CAB. That’s what we called it. And wait… let me find 10 the… because really, you don’t need all of this and this kind. But we did all kinds of stuff. Okay, so here is our lovely design. College Activity Board with the Wildcat. Drawn by Dean Hurst who’s not around anymore, darn it. KH: When did he pass? LB: Oh, wait his wife! His wife died. KH: Okay. LB: Sorry. Sorry. I could be wrong. And see we had these. We got these little things, these notes. I save notes. I save letters. I do. And I’m going to get you excited for this. There are the student body officers again. We think we’re all that and a bag of chips. I’m sure we’re doing the stupid pyramid like we’re cheerleaders. Now, I think there are some really goofy ones. Oh maybe, I don’t know. Those are good people. Luckily, I had a brother who was a photographer, Okay, let’s see… Hold on. Oh this is just letters. KH: Did you get to meet him [Charlton Heston]? LB: Oh yeah! What used to be Marie Calendars here on Harrison. He ate the bloodiest meat I’ve ever seen. I’m not kidding. It was like a hamburger steak. But, yes, I shook his hand. I didn’t arrange for this [signed flyer for Charlton Heston speaking at convocation.] This was Jim Alvey’s. He was over convocations, I don’t know if they still do it. But very nice guy and very personable and I felt pretty impressed to have that, he was in The Ten Commandments. He is pretty, pretty cool. And it was a packed auditorium. 11 KH: I would hope so. LB: Yeah, you would think you’d be that cool if you had Charlton Heston. He’s probably dead. KH: Probably. LB: I don’t know. I don’t follow him. KH: Oh, we recently came across some of those patches [Waldo patch]. We have some of those in the Archives now. LB: Well then, hey, my whole life could be an archive. This is resident hall association and we got together with the resident’s hall and the CAB, the College Activities Board [Certificate of appreciation for participation at the R.H.A. Winter Retreat, January 16-18,1981]. Then the institute was a pretty big deal. They had a strong following and we had lunches mostly and chat about getting along and supporting each other’s activities. But when our RHA had a casino night, we all went. The institute did this, we all went. If we had a dance at the college, we all went. And purple paper again. Oh there is that float. Okay, just give you a drift of that. KH: That’s awesome! I love the Sesame Street stuff. LB: Well, Rainbow Connection. I’ve got to look on this side. I think that’s me, and I’m not sure. I’ve got to look closer. But we worked hours on this and a float is not easy nor cheap. LB: So picture every one of those tufts. 12 KH: Stapling them in. LB: Yeah, but you had to crunch them and then staple it. Have you done a float? You sound very experienced. And so that was lovely. Oh, wait, wait, wait for this. Okay, so we did a Weber State College handbook. Get ready. You probably don’t have this in your archives. See, I save everything. KH: I don’t think we do. LB: Okay, so here are the student body officers. Yes, indeed. And with senators. And then the CAB committee people right here. Lovely adviser. DeAnne Spencer and here we are. We are in these rainbow striped… see that same tree of my brothers. But we had this many—secretary and we had a dance committee and a publicity and a films. We used to have a weekly film at the Union building when there were no such things as DVD’s and streaming. It was a big deal, and cultural, and special events. I serve at a care center. And this guy, his mom was there—Dave Knowles. I was just reminded of this because I found a colored picture of him and I said, “Hey, oh my word…” Now wait, more committees. [Turns page in brochure] Look at this! This is a lot of people to staff. Arts and crafts, we did a monthly… we started the Harvest Bizarre which I don’t know if it’s still going but it did go for about 20 years. And we’d have craft people come. Do you have a craft thing? KH: Not that I know. LB: In the Union Building? Well that’s too bad. It was really lovely. And oh Ted Godfrey, he’s still in Ogden. Roxanne, she’s in Plain City. Dave’s in North 13 Ogden. Richard, I’m not sure, but he was good. He got really good. And Stephanie DeGraw… KH: I love that you are still in contact with all of these people. LB: Oh well you know what? Well there’s Instagram and Facebook. But, they’re good people. It’s not like I see them often, but oh, I ran into her [Pointing at picture of Roxanne Andersen]. I recognized her. There would be an association, that kind of thing. Oh look at those cute little baby drawings that we did. Not me, but somebody did them on these committees. Ha! Do they do that anymore? Probably not. You’re laughing, she’s laughing left and right. Okay, okay. You ready for some more? Look, a Wildcat Safari [Flier for activity on October 3, 1980]. This was so cool. People came with stuffed snakes around or plastic. It was really, really fun. And we did—see? Released to the… KH: The Jungle Book. That’s awesome. LB: Yeah, so it was a combined activities but relays to the dorm and they were good ones. No this might have been later. We did spinning jelly beans, and you’d keep going like that. So the gal who was the artist in all of this, she did all of these drawings. This was before you could just, you know, whip up anything off of whatever. Crowning of Tarzan and Jane, that’s right! People came dressed because they came as partners and there was a prize, a worthwhile prize. So we did this, we came up with that. We did… what was the Baptist one? It might still be here. You just never know. Oh, no, those are the cultural affairs. The Fall Fling! Get ready for that. Oh, my gosh. Now, notice the price. Tickets $1. 14 KH: Yeah, nothing costs that anymore. LB: I know. But music by Copper Ice. There you go, but people came. They came a lot. I don’t know, it’s probably changed a lot that the people kind of have—if you were right out of high school, this was a deal. If you were working and raising kids or whatever, there was always a different thing. But, it was a lot of fun. So, everybody went to the games, then everyone came to the Union Building to do something after on a pretty weekly basis. Makes you wish you were growing up now. KH: Yeah. LB: I don’t think so… KH: No, I look back on all of the activities that Weber has done over the years and like up until the end of the 80’s it was a really connected campus. Everybody went to everything… LB: And now it’s different. KH: Yeah. LB: We were always more of a commuter campus than other places which… but they came back. Go to work, go to school, go to work, come back. So oh no, this is different. Our advisor got married, so we did those kind of things [Flier for a surprise shower on November 20]. “Don’t let us not entertain you.” [Flier for joining the Entertainment Committee of the College Activity Board] Oh see? Join 15 our committee. Now look at that, that is a good flyer, that’s hand lettered. I’m just going to tell you it wasn’t by me. KH: [reading flyer] “Have you ever smoked tums?” LB: Okay, you have to know the guys that was doing this. He would always say, “Are you smoking something?” Well, actually no. “Are you willing to share your time, talent, integrity, good looks & reputation?” Do you wear colors that don’t exist in nature?” But it was pretty funny and people would sign up. Dancing shoes. [Flier for joining the Dance Committee] Oh see? Another little Wildcat and we’re dancing. And we did retreats. So these are where people said on the CAB committee [Slips of paper with characteristics]. We went on our own retreat about me. I hope it wasn’t rude, too bad if it is. “Fatherly?” Oh thanks. I have to think, who would have wrote… who’s handwriting is that and who would say such a thing. But we did do a lot of team building, you know those kind of things. Make you feel a part. Okay, oh look! Events for fall [Flier]. Pickin’ pumpkin party [October 29, 1980, Union Building Lobby, 12:30], who doesn’t want to do that? Hillbilly bash [November 22, 1980, Union Building Ballroom], Candle Making classes November 17-December 12, 1980, Hobby Cellar]. Okay, so there was a range of a lot of things. Somebody could find something to be involved in and be happy, and it was cheap or free. So, who doesn’t want to pick pumpkins, or hillbilly bash, or make candles? This must have been the arts and crafts people. She’s up in Brigham, she’s a lovely person. Hand lettered, again. Current events [Flier for Fall Quarter 1980 16 events], okay so, look you have a monthly activity in them. And this is Ted and he did a great, great job. KH: They look great. LB: They do and they were doing it. So they didn’t just have them doing it, everybody had a committee, a pretty sizable committee, which meant that the more people you involve, people support what they help to create. That’s what our advisors always said to us. People support. And let’s see, oh films, look at! [Flier for movies from September to December 1980] We had a film and that was big a deal. You didn’t sit at home and watch something at home. Yeah…. Some kind of convention [NECAA National Convention in San Antonio, February 1981]. It was a big deal. And fun. Oh, the Wildcat Safari again [Different flier for October 3, 1980 event]. We had to have a follow-up. Who doesn’t… and there it is! Mr. Tarzan and Mrs. Jane. Look at how good of an artists she was. She did the lettering. You don’t care about the Signpost. Oh here’s the theater sign. The Way We Were, how old is that? But that, that was cool. I know there’s not one up there now because I bring students bowling here every year. Oh see? There’s a leadership conference for CAB [Flier for October 25, 1980]. But this part [pointing to border] was from my dad’s office. So there’s the audio visual of it all. And that was fun. I don’t know what I’m saying there [Letter to Jill from Lori, welcoming her to CAB, June 1980]. These are some smart mouths who I will not name [Drawings of pink flamingos with notes]. They were funny and they did swear occasionally. I liked it. Okay, okay, okay. Oh sun fest! It was a huge deal in the spring [Calendar of events, May 11-16, 1981]. Did 17 Sun Fest, something every day. So these are week long activities. These are not just for the weak of heart. And we had fun doing it. KH: Did you have a favorite part of Sun Fest that you enjoyed? LB: Do you know what, I kind of am a die hard player—the canoe races were pretty funny and they really let us do that. You know what I’m saying? I wasn’t into Softball, uh firehose, oh! Hoppity hop contest. That was funny because here you are jumping on hoppity hops across the field, which is now blocked off for football players or something. And a firehose going at you trying to knock you off. So it was a good… it was a good time. Let’s see, oh outdoor movie that’s still… I can’t believe we saw Legend at Hillhouse. Jelly Bean Spitting. Root beer Chugging. VW stuffing, who doesn’t want to do that? KH: Was that seeing how many people you can fit in? LB: Uh huh. Yeah. Outdoor Rainbow Disco. Fun and fun. I wasn’t an arm wrestler. BYOT (Bring your own towel) ha ha. Female and male leg contest. I wasn’t one in that. No. And a Luau, the luau was fun. We fed them a ton of good food. And then this road race was pretty funny too, and pretty competitive surprisingly. And a free breakfast, come on. This is good. And then ended with that casino night at the Resident’s Hall. KH: With the road race, did they have to build their own car? Or how did that…? LB: No. They were in cars but you had to have so many and then you had to kind of like, “okay, here you have to jump out kind of fire drill.” And there was a lot of interruptions and you have that kind of relay kind of thing. 18 KH: Okay, that sounds like a lot of fun. LB: It was. It was crazy times. Oh see, those precious CAB people. Now they’re in green. Instead of the white in the handout, they’re now in green [Pictures of Student Association officers and College Activity Board]. So, we had one of these in color and in every building. And you know, like those sing-up sheets that anybody could join, could be on the committee. And people did. I think it opened it up a lot that you can include people. See these calendars? Oh, my gosh, we got them coming out. Oh let’s see, homecoming [October 18-24, 1981]. We painted the W there on 25th and Washington. And in the middle of the night. That still happens. And we had a family night to include the married students. That was fun. KH: Do you remember what type of carnival activities you did? LB: A lot of them for kids. Like we were reaching out to the people who had kids and so we were running fish ponds and that kind of thing. Anybody could play it, but it included little kids, and blue grass concert. Oh yeah, that was entertainment. And a day stomp, mall activities. We were branching out to the mall. I did not do the marathon, I did do the breakfast, that’s how I roll. KH: The breakfast sounds more enjoyable than the marathon. LB: My daughter is a marathon runner and I’ve never bonded with that. So, I’ll be the breakfast, I’ll cheer really loud. So, there is fun. Oh see, yes indeed. This is from when I was president, sorry we just switched. Okay, every semester, there were the committees. Oh, sorry, this was a note from my sister. “Left this on your 19 desk, but you’ll probably find it next year.” We did a lot with the Moench statue [Pointing to newspaper clipping]. That was some of the playing. KH: I’ve seen pictures where they put fraternity shirts on him and stuff like that. LB: Scarves. He was holding a flamingo. You know, those same kind of things. KH: Was the goal to never be caught? LB: Oh, well sure, it was to never be caught. Oh, this is from my little get together [Turning pages of notes] and oh another one of those—just look at, look how lovely this is. That is a huge float. This is my brother’s van going to pull it. Thank you very much David. And I don’t know who we paid to sweat in those, because I didn’t want to be cookie monster. KH: Somebody was dressed up as them? LB: Oh, yes. And they were sweaty. KH: Oh, I’m sure. LB: Any parade is hot. But those were a lot. We won awards for that. You know, it was a big deal. I’ve not seen them in the 24th of July parade anymore. Those were the days. A long time ago. KH: I think the only float they do now—and I’m not even sure if it’s a float. Is they do it for the pride festival. I don’t know of any other… LB: Oh really? Those were tricky costumes [Sesame Street costumes for Big Bird and Cookie Monster]. Not the best, but they were tricky and sweaty. I said, “I’m never wearing that.” 20 KH: I don’t blame you. LB: Makes you happy that you’re not sweating in that huh? KH: Yes. LB: Apparently we have more. We didn’t even see Oscar the Grouch. KH: That’s great. AS: That’s cute. LB: Yeah, yeah. I thought they were very clever. I was a worker, but I was not the designer for anything. All of that silk, holy moley. They need to straighten those letters. Oh look! I forgot them [Costumes of Miss Piggy and Kermit]. Apparently everything was worth recording. KH: Is this the Purple Paw? LB: Yes! You knew that? Okay very good, look at those silly, silly [Pointing at purple smocks with paw print]… that’s the swearing in of people. KH: What’s with the telephone? LB: Oh, we gave out awards and somebody was always on the telephone. They didn’t have this kind that we have, but it was mocking it. This is at the… the Sky Room. In the Union Building. Is there still a Sky Room? KH: There is. LB: And we’re out giving everybody, oh and you have to sign the Order of the Purple Paw. You have to do that. So to be part of the CAB committee. It was quite a 21 deal, we did a slide show. Before you could make movies, we did a slide, and it was a boat load of work. See I’m at least all of these pictures, you could get a visual. KH: Yeah, these are great. LB: You like visual, not just yacking. So. Okay. Oh see they’ve all got some kind of thing that they got. Oh yeah, that guy was kissing everybody. He thought he was mister charismatic. KH: So what was your award? LB: I gave the awards. I was the boss. They could mark me, but there was not…you know. AS: How fun. LB: It is. Oh, this guy, Steve Garner, one of our dearest friends, we go to Yellowstone with him every year. I saw his wife at my daughter’s shower last… there’s a link. That’s goofy [Activities Vice President election flier]. That’s another goofy [Handwritten note to Lori]. Well okay. Oh here’s one of the dances, look at that for a good group. KH: Oh that’s a great picture. LB: It’s at the Dee Events Center and those are people who all went to the dance. I think this was homecoming. People are dressed up. They’re going. They got it on. Oh, this is elections. More of the homecoming. Those are funny. More of the homecoming. [Flipping through pages of pictures] Okay, I’m going to tell you 22 this little side note when you asked about family. This is my oldest sister’s house [Pictures of election celebration]. Where when I ran for office and won student body president, she had all of these people come. She makes the best cinnamon rolls in life and she had them all come to her house to eat. Like, “Thank you.” Her idea. And they did. These are good people. LB: We like each other. We are having fun. It’s a good time. Good, good people. KH: Oh, and you got a congratulation cakes. LB: Yes, I got a lot of things. I mean, people were very kind. And I realized the one thing I was going to bring, I didn’t bring because my daughter used it in a controversial—well not a controversial task. When I ran for student body president, I did this and then I ran for student body president and I ran against four different guys. And they were all good guys. And my two buttons that say, “Memmott Student Body President” and then one of these boys, I won’t mention his name, had these buttons made - you used to make buttons -that said, “Keep the priesthood in office.” KH: Oh, my gosh. LB: She took them for a women’s rights class or something and it really kind of offended me. I mean, I wasn’t threatened by it, but I thought, “Really? Really?” What do you think? What do you think mine coming from? So, some people were not very happy when I ran and won. I was the first student body president in the state that was female. I’m okay with that. My sister and my mom sewed these huge banners that said, “Memmott Student Body President.” I mean huge! 23 And these were everywhere. On every light, in every building, I mean go big or go home. And the other people were good. They just said, “Hey, I think this is going to be what do.” So… “Keep the priesthood in office.” Go figure that. I mean does that not have a low ring of lowly. Here’s someone who ran for president [Advertisement of Steve Largent]. He’s passed away, he’s from Mountain Green. Rick Southwick, academic [Advertisement for Rick Southwick, running for Academic Vice President]. These, you paid for these ads, back in the olden days. Oh, this guy was somebody I ran against. He was a really good guy [Pointing to an editorial by Clint Wooley]. He brought sheep. His name was Clint Wooley, he brought his sheep. Isn’t that funny? Memmott there’s not a lot to do with that. [Reading caption below a picture] “If you’re going to vote fowl don’t vote for turkeys, vote for the duck.” They were doing that with the statue. “Vote for the Duck.” Like vote for none of the above. So, that was pretty funny. And there’s some more good luck cards. He ran against me and he’s a really nice guy, John Dawson, from Roy. Oh, there’s Clint’s picture. Look, we got Air Supply to come here. Can you imagine? Do you know Air Supply? KH: I do. LB: Okay, thank you. “I’m all out of love” and all that. look at the price of the tickets [$7 and $8]. Holy Moley. KH: Wow, that would be like ten times the cost now. 24 LB: I’m old. Let’s see, “Candidates Explain…” Oh, we explained our stance. They had like debates I was the only female of course and they said, “What will you do if you have your period during…?” And that was like, “Are you kidding me?” And so it was another world. You know, forty years ago, no 38 years ago and stuff. Let’s see, dude here we go. Oh, here is a handwritten [vote totals], from whoever counted them. I don’t know. But it’s not very official is it? KH: No, but that’s okay. LB: I wasn’t in charge. So, I won by five. That was close. He didn’t have to run against anybody [Hamer]. Now, Jill Niederhauser, who was like a senator. She’s like a… KH: Supreme Court judge. LB: Yeah, I was going to say, Judge, justice or something. KH: For the state. LB: She was very, very bright. And so there you have it. AS: Look at you too. LB: Yeah. I don’t know just a little bit. But it was good. Okay, oh see. See these plastered all over? [Pictures of election posters] There’s my dad. Holy moley, who else is with me? Oh, this is Heather who was on the activities board. So, they were everywhere. I silk screened these in what used to be called the Hobby Cellar. Do you know that? KH: I do. 25 LB: Okay, I’m very glad that you did your homework. Okay, here are the candidates. Look at this, for old fashioned. This is the actual ballot. No clicking on anything, no punching, you had to put your “x”. I don’t know how they ever kept track accurately if somebody voted or not. Do you know what I’m saying? So, there it is. They gave those stickers. [“I voted have you?”] Oh, word of greeting [Letter requesting Lori speak at the Leland H. Monson High School Debate Tournament on January 8, 1982]. I voted. Those were pretty big. But those were hand stamped twice, because there’s two different colors. This was not an easy life. Oh, but this is what somebody else did. They broke all of the signs. KH: Oh, sad. LB: Yeah, it got a little silly. But, you know, people not making good choices. It happens. KH: That is very true. LB: Okay, oh! So, do you know who Bryan Steele is? KH: I recognize the name, and he was student body president. LB: Maybe two or three before me. And he said, “If you’re running, let’s talk about strategies.” This is his handwriting and he said…I don’t know which one… and I said, “I think just do all of that.” So he said, “You’re going hard the whole time.” I said, “Yeah.” “That’s a tight window” So, he was saying, “There’s all of these ways that you could do it. I did this, you do this.” And he’s a smart guy. He’s got to be east somewhere, but I don’t know. Oh, here’s some other little pointers he’s giving me. Oh, see Memmott, who knows that name? Okay, nobody. So, all of 26 these little strategies. Oh yeah, this was a goal sheet, if it wasn’t for my campaign manager, this is what they trained us on. In student government, in CAB, what’s active, what’s the goal, what are the things that need to be done. And I hope I have the other one. Oh I do, okay. So all of these things, these are things and some more things. Here’s my goal, student body president ’81. Alright, I had balls that would drop in classes. There were banners, there were buttons. I made… KH: Peanut M & M’s. LB: Well not so much because somebody could be allergic. M&M I thought they would remember Memmott with that one. And they would do this. Look at that schedule. Then you say, “Well, who’s going to do this?” Well apparently me, mostly. Heather was going to design the button. And it actually, I haven’t put it digitally but it really was a good way to keep track and not just, “Oh, I’m going to do something.” So a lot of training from those good people that we worked with. Oh, this is just buttons. Okay so there’s probably 50 in here for everything. Oh yeah, right behind here. There’s 50 of everything you could do. You had to get people to sign on a petition to be able to run. Oh key people, we got it going. Here “People are terrific.” [Signpost article about Lori as Activities Vice President] Isn’t that precious? Terrific. And they are. Jonathon Murrell, Mr. Signpost. Good person. And who is this? [Letter to Lori from Elaine] Oh, Elaine Jarrett, she just died. Do you recognize that name? She was the Assistant to the President of the university for a long time. Okay, here look, another student body office. I don’t know what they do now. But we thought we were all that. We repapered 27 this. We thought it was festive and I collected all of those buttons. Dang, I wish I would have brought that because that would be an archivable thing. KH: All of this is. LB: “First women president” [Standard Examiner article, April 17, 1981]…. And when I’d go to the meeting of the student body presidents in the state that was hard for them to deal with. KH: They wouldn’t work with you? LB: They wouldn’t let me be in charge kind of thing. But I was like, “Okay, it’s not life or death.” Is that a classic? There’s homecoming. [Group picture of student body officers] AS: That is awesome. LB: There’s our sweaters. Look at that. Purple and ASWSC Vice President. That’s actually a really good picture. KH: It is. LB: I like it. AS: Love it. LB: Here we are in color. Look at that purple cowboy hat… cowgirl hat. KH: That’s a beautiful car. LB: Isn’t that? This is the homecoming royalty and this gal was homecoming queen. And I don’t know why Richard Hackwell, a student body officer is taking off his 28 shirt. But they got engaged, and then they didn’t end up getting married. But it was like, “Put it on. Who wants to see that?” See? Fun huh? LB: President Brady, Dean Hurst. [Picture in the football stadum] Farrell Shepherd and Kay… LB: Evans During homecoming… we had a homecoming officer’s reunion, and we invited all of the past student body officers back. Tremendous turnout. I mean, we fed them, but still tremendous. We did the “8 is enough for an increase.” [Tuition increase] We had buttons for that. KH: Yeah, I saw that at the beginning. LB: and we had them in blue and white too. [Button is yellow and black] Okay, this is good. [Signpost article “Seating question unresolved’] One thing we did when I was student body president is they were trying to get the seats on the floor of the Dee Events Center, prime seating, which we students paid into. We paid for part of the Dee Events Center and I’m a reader of policies. I said, “You can’t.” Well I won’t mention who was athletic director, but he said, “These can make us this much money.” I said, “It’s the students.” And I said, “I’ll fill them. I’ll fill them every week, but they’re students.” I don’t know that they still are, because I don’t go to games anymore. And not happy, but it was pretty impressive because you could fill it and they were loud and we didn’t let somebody… but he said, “Oh no, that’s not true.” And I said, “Yeah, it is.” Here it is. And they don’t care for that. There’s your 8 is enough, yeah, we got it going on. [Signpost article] KH: Did you guys go down to the capitol building and protest? 29 LB: Oh yeah, we did that all. “Regents recommended…” [Signpost article “Regents recommend 8% tuition increase] This is not as nicely lettered but see? [Flier for 8 is enough] 8 is enough, student government. A lot of cards. Oh, we did a handicapped awareness day. [Signpost article “Handicapped Awareness Day features tours, blind baseball] That was pretty cool. I mean, back in the day… KH: What did you do? LB: Well, we asked people to go with them. We had wheelchairs available, we had handkerchiefs so they could try to do without some kind of disability and see what would be hard. And I want to think that they made a lot of changes but I don’t know for sure. So it was good. Blind baseball. KH: It looks like you were in a wheelchair. LB: Well I was. That’s not me there in the picture. I’m walking blind. This is Faye, but we traded. I did do part of it and that was extremely hard. Never go in a wheelchair. That was kind of festive. Oh, we had a Handicapped Awareness Day invitation. Okay, this is one thing I’m very proud of that we got Shepherd Union building named after him [Farrell Shepard.] And this man loves—well he’s passed away. I was going to his viewing and that. And I was saying hi to his kids and saying I worked with him at the college, he was my advisor. And I said, “Where’s your mom?” Because they were always together and she passed away during the viewing and had a joint funeral the next day. They were at my dad’s funeral. They came to every game. They wear purple through and through. Shep was there when it was built and you know when it was TUB (Temporary 30 Union Building) and became that. And they didn’t want to name it. I said, “There’s no provision that we can’t name it.” Well he’s still alive, well he’s not going to do anything sinful. I said, “I’m looking at your handbook, it’s okay.” So we put together this huge binder about the Union Building and Shep and the role of the Union Building and the copy is not great. But, all of those to do it and for everybody to do on the board of regent. Every committee we had to go through, we had these binders, and I had two people helping me with that and it was like, “It’s done. It’s his.” And you would see Shep at every Union Building after, I mean, before he got it named and everyone after. So this is a good one. You’ll want that. Those are good people who love Weber State. Shawn Myers, do you recognize that name by chance? KH: I don’t. LB: He was alumni president and Myers Mortuary… and he’s big. Oh yeah, finer people you could not find. I actually really like the black and whites. KH: How many people or committees do you think you had to go through to get the Union Building renamed? LB: One, two, three, four, at least four. It wasn’t named. It was just the Union Building. We had to get it named and that had to be approved by a Union Building one, and then the president’s council, and the alumni council, and I want to say the board of regents. And it probably says it in here [pointing at binder]. But I’m not sure. It was a big deal and he didn’t know that we were doing this. So when this happened, he cried. And it was all of this. I mean, it was so well 31 deserved. “Oh here’s the planning, here’s the progress.” Getting that built and letters people wrote about that. So we contacted a million people saying, “Hey can you give us a letter to write that the Union Building should be named after Shep?” They all came back quickly and in mass. So that was cool. Alright, let’s see… oh yeah, look at that, “Outstanding Service.” [Award from the Associated Students of WSC] I have this plaque from President Brady that looks like I’m going to die. I mean… it is huge. KH: Athletic Board Committee Member, DEC Advisory Board, Scholarship, and Media Board Member. Goodness, you did it all. LB: Well if you were president, you served on all of those. And it was a lot of meetings and a lot of things. But good stuff. So it was all good. Oh, graduation Signpost. There we are, looking back. There’s the famous statue. I don’t know what those are… KH: “Candidates force Moench’s support.” [Signpost letter to the editor] “Moench holds self hostage.” [Signpost article] LB: See, there you go. Vote for Moench was some of that going on. Okay, way too much information huh ladies? KH: No, no, this is great. LB: Okay, there you have it. All of that. And that was way off topic, huh? 32 KH: No it wasn’t. I think people gloss over and try to think, “Oh this wasn’t that great.” But I mean, most people probably didn’t know that there was a race or that you guys did carnivals at the Dee Events Center. LB: Oh, they didn’t know that we did it. You know what I’m saying? If they went… or they didn’t participate. I mean, everybody’s life at different things. But it was good times. KH: Would you talk a little bit about your experience getting the Crystal Crest Female Scholar… or were you a recipient? LB: Yeah, I was the recipient. She is like FBI background. I had a 4.0 and I’m sure I’m not the only one and stuff, and you didn’t apply for it. You were nominated. That’s how it used to go. KH: It’s still the same. LB: Okay, you nominated and I don’t know who exactly… I mean, a committee votes on it. And that was nice and it was unexpected and cool because I knew there were tons of people. And it wasn’t like, “Oh here… I have applied.” You know, and you’re kind of busy with life. KH: What do you remember from that Crystal Crest night? LB: Kind of a blur because it comes at a really busy time. You know like, “Almost graduation and that…” And then of course, I was going because I was student body president, and there were a lot of things. So, it was kind of more, “Woah, what just happened there?” So, more surprising and there were a lot of good 33 people getting different awards and it was new. It was maybe two or three years old. So it wasn’t anything that I was ultimately familiar with because, I hadn’t been attending or planning and I didn’t plan that either. KH: Do you remember any of the performances or anything that went on? LB: Now you’re going to make me think. I remember I went to every football game. I went to every basketball game. There wasn’t soccer and stuff. And I went to everything that was there. I went to Air Supply and the concerts … I mean they were loud, even though they’re not a really loud band. They’re just loud because of where they are. And of course, the Charlton Heston, but let me think about plays… I can see some people that were in them. But I don’t remember the names exactly. KH: What did you do after you left Weber? LB: I started back at Weber. I graduated in ’82, got married two weeks later, started my master’s the next week. They were starting a pilot program with Utah State through Weber State, and they gave me a scholarship. I started that in the summer and I had a teaching job in the fall and I thought, “Hey, they’ve told me for years that I wouldn’t be able to have kids.” Which wasn’t true. And so I had to just get on board and just do it. I’ve got something I like. I like going to school. I mean, it’s not distasteful to me or anything. So I did that, I got married, started my master’s, started teaching, I thought I had cancer, but I was really pregnant. I had my first son the last week of school of my first year of teaching. He was 7 ½ weeks early and stuff. So I did that, and I’ve kept teaching for longer than my 34 dad had. I had kids and now I have four kids. A son, and a daughter, and then there was a ten year break… not planned. And then I have another son and daughter and so now I have six grandkids. Ten and under, go figure that. She’s ambitious and stuff. I’ve been busy, happy, life is good. I’d do it again. KH: Where have you taught? LB: I’ve taught out in Roy at Municipal Elementary and then I’ve taught at H. Guy Child which is in South Ogden. And I’ve taught second and sixth and fourth. And if it weren’t for testing, you know these crazy testing data and that, fourth is great because their old enough to kind of be in charge of themselves, but they aren’t as hormonal as the sixth graders. There’s not the girl drama, or you know, those kind of things. And so it’s a good place to be. KH: You mentioned your bachelor’s and your master’s, did you get any other degrees or certifications? LB: I did. I got a resource endorsement for special ed, and I got a gifted endorsement for advanced accelerated kids. KH: What were some of the challenges you faced while obtaining your degrees? LB: Getting enough sleep. I think getting my master’s… juggling working full-time and doing that a lot of nights. And then having a baby and finishing. Just that there was a lot more demands. My husband was finishing up his bachelor’s, and working and teaching can be challenging. I’m sure I wrote something down. Oh yeah, juggling work, family life, and getting life in general. You know, the laundry. There’s a lot of things. But I was really fortunate, to get a scholarship 35 and to have a good experience. It was great in my master’s here as well and to have that here. That was in the beginning stages of… that was the first master’s degree that was co-sponsored by Utah State. That involved Utah State professors coming down for some of them. But to not have to travel somewhere else to get a master’s was awesome. And they were good and it was applicable. It was useful, it wasn’t just going through the motions, I guess. KH: Did your husband go here too? LB: He did. KH: What is your husband’s name? LB: Steven John Brown. Yes, the year I was student body president, he was institute president. And there was a lot of separation of church and state. And when I was activities Vice-president, he was over the good times committee at institute. Which was kind of those things. Not planned. He actually dated my older sister. And she was married by this time. He went to BYU for a while and then came back up here and it was like random, kind of thing. And then okay, “We’ll get married after we finish.” Because he couldn’t be married. I could have been here. And we were busy. I was graduating. KH: What mentors or resources did you have available to you in your program and career? LB: The faculty in the education department—School of Education was amazing. Really available, really everything. I mean the kids, to me, were pretty hands on for that long ago as far as doing that. They worked with me personally student 36 taught in the spring… wait. Maybe the fall and the spring and you were supposed to do that in a full day. Realizing that I was student body president, I couldn’t really do a full-day and be effective going to all of those meetings. So they let me split it up in two different school districts and two different grades. Now they do that, common to do that. I went to Ogden City for second grade and I went to Weber County for fourth grade. But they worked with me to say, “You can do this in the afternoon. You can do this half day in the afternoon and now you’ve got all of that together.” Which was really awesome of them to do. I felt like President Brady, who was an amazing man, but was very, very accessible to students and very involved with things. And he was supportive and everybody in student government, they were great. I mean they were involved because they loved it, and they are awesome people. Like I said, I don’t really have any bad memories of professors. But I again, was more involved with the student government and over in education. So, probably more of those. KH: What were your career options once you had your degrees? LB: I could have gone into administration and those kind of things. I really love teaching. I like being in the classroom that works. I could have done some other things, but I had a little premature baby, and I wanted to be a mom, and I wanted to teach, and this worked out that I could do both with my situation. So were there options? Yeah. Actually… another junior college said, “Hey, you could come down here.” Well I wasn’t moving, you know, my husband is in school, this is it in the area. And that would have been fun in a lot of ways but this was just my deal. 37 KH: What resistance or battles did you face as you progressed in your career? LB: I’ve had an easy life. I’m just saying. I don’t feel like I’ve really had resistance or battles. I mean, some days are long, I’m just going to say that. You know, some days are long, but I haven’t had battles. I haven’t had resistance. I got hired before I graduated, so I didn’t have anything for that. I got a master’s and I like going to school and that worked all well. But resistance, I don’t really think I’ve had any. I tried to think of that. KH: What positions have you held… well you’ve already answered that question. LB: I did teach for the state Office of Education. I taught in the summer, I taught other teachers at a thing called Core Academy. Where you do math—they used to. I don’t know what they do now. Math and Science and you develop lessons that went along with the common core. And then, I would travel in the summer with kids, and my sister and her daughter, throughout the state and teach in the middle of nowhere. Where this is their one time to have in-service kind of thing and to write the lesson plans. And they got free materials for coming. That was pretty cool. A ton of work, but it was cool to see that many different teachers and associate that way. My kids got to swim at the hotel my younger two, they got to spend money and eat out, and I did that and came home. That was a lot of fun. I think that’s all changed now. KH: What committees or organizations have you or are you a member of? 38 LB: The PTA. I feel like my schools is a big community and I’m on the community council at different schools, and alumni, come on, I’m doing that. I do volunteer work. I’m in church committees and stuff like that. KH: Are you a part of the Utah Teacher Association or something like that? LB: Oh yeah, thanks. They are pretty limited there, yeah. I am that. KH: How have you stayed connected with Weber since graduating? LB: Well I keep up on what’s going on, I’m an alumni. I did young alumni for a while, when I was young. I’m on now Student Advancement Committee. It’s next week, except they always hold it on a Thursday, which happens to be back to school, and those kinds of things. Sometimes I go to homecoming things. It depends… it comes also at a busy time at school. Which is not anybody’s fault, it’s just how it goes. I have grandkids and a busy life with extended family and things like that. So I don’t really go to many football games or basketball games or that. But I feel like I know. I mean, I read those magazines they mail out faithfully. In fact, I volunteer at this care center, Mountain Ridge Assisted Living and it’s out on Harrison. Anyway, so this one lady there, I saw her name come up in the Alumni magazine and she’s in the generations, which is kind of like memory loss and Alzheimer’s. And I knew her kids and I would go and gather her to come to things and I said, “Colleen, I brought you a present.” Sometimes I’d bring them chocolate or candy. And I said, “You are in the Weber State Alumni magazine.” “I am? Did I go to Weber?” “You did. I’m going to read…” She cried. And she 39 said, “I didn’t know anybody knew that I had done anything, it just kind of said, ‘I raised a family’.” I mean, just solid things that ladies would do. “I raised a family and I taught school.” And she said, “Could I hold this?” And I said, “I brought it to you. You get to keep this. Now one of your kids might bring it to you too because they went to Weber.” She was holding like it was this treasure. So I tell other people, another lady in this care center is Maggie Favero. And you may, maybe you don’t know her. KH: I know the last name. LB: She was alumni president. And her sister is Karen Lofgreen, who taught in education. Both educators. Anyway, I will say, “Hey Maggie, did you know Weber..?” “Did they?” You know, she’s a dyed in the wool… But she can no longer do that. And so I spread the good news of all of this happening and stuff. And so that little alumni magazine, which I do look at, and I read it. Somebody had to write this for my friend who’s 85, to say, “Somebody had to write that up about her because she could not.” She doesn’t remember her name. But because somebody did, oh my gosh, it makes me get a little teary now. Just that that was a really, really good thing. So that’s what I do, ladies. KH: What does young alumni do? LB: Young alumni connects the alumni… or it did. To connect the alumni right from the start. So my youngest daughter went to Snow and at graduation they gave them a frame for their license plate that said, “Alumni at Snow.” And they gave them a shirt, and something else. They gave them three presents and I thought, 40 “This is the smartest thing I’ve ever…” Because they’re probably going to A) join. And I think they even had a sign-up, like “Join right now.” And that we weren’t that aggressive and stuff. But we met a lot of times and we would say, “Oh okay, get people to join.” And then it would be when we grow up we’ll be alumni. And it was cheap to join young alumni. I can’t tell you how much, and then we would have maybe only quarterly activities, get togethers. But people were just out of college so they were like, “Oh yeah, I could do that. That would be a date. Or I’d do that.” And it was cheap, and available, and pretty convenient. So I think we kept them close to Weber. You know, associated. KH: What do you do with the Student Advancement Committee? LB: Well there’s committees and were reassigning this first meeting. And we do whatever—the guy says. He was student body president here, Bret. And they come and they were involved… we were involved with the new rec place. And getting that and we do for people re-entering… it kind of evolves, I don’t know that it’s set, but you know, people re-entering college. Or there’s a night were we go and they invite people who are interested in coming to Weber and you sit and you talk to them about your experience. About [how] this is a good place to be and that. So kind of a recruitment maybe. And there’s all different little committees. Like maybe, ten or twelve, and I only know about the ones that I’m saying because those are the ones I’ve done. But, they’re doing good things and supporting of those. I really think the recruiting, I think that’s a good one because they get maybe 25, maybe more to come and it’s just a couple of hours, and, “Do you have any questions? Can I help you do this?” And there’s or one to support 41 people with handicaps. And I should be more… if I had that book, I could tell you. But I don’t, so that’s what I can tell you. They’re doing good things, and it’s a newer committee. We didn’t have that back in the day. They’re looking for ways to reach out to more people. KH: What recognition have you received for your accomplishments? LB: Not enough. They used to do Apples for the Teacher, where kids would write-up, but kind of you thought that was mostly their mom’s doing. And you get a recognition for the Core Academy and I got Teacher of the Year once from Sam’s Club, which was a lot of money. I’m just going to tell ya, I’ll take it. Mostly I’d say the recognition is from the kids, what they write to you. You know, the little notes you get that I hold onto. In a different binder, you’re glad I didn’t bring that and stuff. So, I don’t know, you’re not really into teaching for the recognition. I have not won gold medals or anything like that. KH: How have you become a mentor to others in your field? LB: I do, level two, level three, practicum, work-study, I’ll pretty much take anybody who comes that way if it fits in their schedule and mine. And I’ve helped lots of people share like, “Oh this is what I do in fourth grade.” That might help you, “This is what I do for this subject.” I think several, several few dozen call and say, “Oh you’re teaching? Can you…” “Uh huh.” “Can I come watch?” “Sure.” You know, whatever. So, that’s what I do. I have gone back to the School of Education and taught a class, like on discipline in the classroom, rule setting, and I’ve been on panels for them, just to talk about it. They kind of come and go, 42 they do them and then they don’t. So just that. What advice would you give to students and women starting in your field? KH: I would say, “You’re going to love it. You’ll work harder than… it’s the toughest job you’ll ever love.” You know, you’ll work really hard, but you’ll really love it and it will be rewarding; and you can be a mom with this and you’d be on the same schedule as your kids probably if you’re in the same district. And you’re going to like it. I’d also say, if you think you’re making a million dollars, you’re not. I think they all know that. LB: They should. There you go. KH: What are some of your favorite memories at Weber State University? LB: [Points to scrapbooks] These. I mean, really, they are all good memories. I don’t think, “Man, I couldn’t wait to get out of there.” Educationally or the things that I was involved in. The Union Building is a really good memory because I think that was so well deserved and meaningful to me and to Shep. And the Jungle… Sitting in the Jungle and the Parade was a lot of work, but it was fun and painting the “W”. Any of those because they were all memorable and a lot of work and a lot of fun. That’s how we go. KH: Did you ever do the Mt. Ogden hike or any of the other traditional things? LB: I did and like I said, I’m not athletic, but I did do that. But see, at the time of the hike, there were things going on campus as well. And so if you stayed up late to paint the W and there’s some trade-offs there. But, all of them are good. Find your niche with that. 43 KH: How do you think women receiving the right to vote shaped or influenced history, your community, and you personally? LB: Well, you know that happened in Utah, just saying. And I teach my kids that. That we’re the coolest. And I’d like to think that they’re brave women from a long time ago in history and now, all of the time. So, I don’t know that that exactly, to me, at the time sunk in. I know I learned that in school and stuff. But the fact that a woman is equal to a man, different, but you can do anything you want to. I remember my dad saying that to me when I was like, “Do I dare do this?” “You can do anything you want.” When I was little there was a sliding glass door, a big heavy one going out from our kitchen to the back patio. And my mom would say, “I don’t think you can open that Lori.” And I was little, she’s told me this story, that’s how I remembered it. And I’d say, “Oh you think I can’t?” Someone gave me a shirt when I was running for student body president that said, “Anything boys can do, girls can do better, or at least as well.” A lot of people, you know, jelly beans for President Regan, when I he liked Jelly Belly, “They’re good enough for you.” And so I really think in any situation a lady is equal to if not superior to a man in a lot of things. I think how our brains work and organizationally and caring. We got a lot on our side so I’d say, the running for student body officer was new but I thought, “Women have done amazing things in the wars, in the state, in whatever.” I’d seen my mom have nine kids and support my dad. You know what I mean? She did it. Okay, I can’t do that, but I can do hard things. That’s our Brown Family motto. I think anytime a woman takes a risk or 44 branches out, and makes progress, it benefits all of the women and everybody really. I’d like to think, what you’re doing is going to benefit you and other people. What you’re doing—what I’m doing, or what I did benefitted me. I know, I know this time at Weber State made a difference to me. Educationally, all of this, and I’d like to think that it made a difference for some people. I know that the people I served with, I knew the people I went through education with. You know, what they’re doing benefits everybody. And what women do every day— the laundry, take care of… [To Alexis] Do you have kids? AS: No. LB: Buckle up. KH: She’s newly married though. LB: Oh okay, but you’re putting in a hard day. What are you studying? AS: Family Studies. LB: To do? What would you like to do when you grow up? AS: School counseling. LB: There you go. You know, you’re on board for a master’s. AS: Yes. LB: Okay, just letting you know that. So, there you go. You’ll be in the millions wracking… but you’ll make a difference. At the end, I want to say I made a difference somewhere and I can say it even if nobody else disagrees. Oh ladies, you’re going to be so glad when we leave. 45 KH: It’s only 6 o’clock we’re good. That was the last question I had was there anything else you’d like to share? LB: Now I really want you to see those buttons. Dang it. I might have to bring them back. KH: Oh please do. LB: I’m not kidding. KH: We would love that. LB: They are rusted through because you know how many years I’ve been out of school. She’s on it. All over, she had stuff I didn’t even say. But I can talk incessantly, my husband says it’s relaxing. That’s a good match, right? It’s a good place to be. And that’s what I’m saying. KH: Great thank you for your time. LB: Really? Okay. Alright, friend. KH: Well if there’s anything else you’d want to share, we’d love to hear it. LB: Weber State! Weber State! Great! Great! Great! That’s what we did. I’m a loud cheerer. And we could belt that. And Weber State’s great contribution to the community. When I come here to graduations, when I come… you know what I’m saying? This is community minded in how they’ve branched out in different places.