Oral History Program Sandy Eversten Interviewed by Jaqueline Herbert 3 June 2019 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Sandy Eversten Interviewed by Jaqueline Herbert 3 June 2019 Copyright © 2022 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 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: Eversten, Sandy, an oral history by Jaqueline Herbert, 3 June 2019, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Sandy Eversten 3 June 2019 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Sandy Eversten, conducted on June 3, 2019, by Jaqueline Herbert. Sandy discusses her life, her memories, and the impact of the 19th Amendment. Sarah Storey, the video technician, is also present during this interview. SS: Ok, today is June 3rd, 2019. It is approximately 12:07pm; we are interviewing Sandy Evertsen and we have Jaqueline Herbert interviewing her and Sarah Storey is recording. Go ahead. JH: Ok, first question, when and where were you born? SE: I was born in Ogden, Utah. Right here, March 06, 1942. JH: How come you never moved out of Ogden? Or did you move out of Ogden? SE: You know I've only lived out of Ogden for two years. My husband and I served two missions and lived in Alaska for a year and Florida for a year. But I love it here. I love Utah. JH: When you were a young girl, were there any women you looked up to? SE: Hmmm. I can't say specifically, but yeah, I always looked for good people to follow and ambitious people but I can't think of anybody in particular. JH: What were some of the common things that made you want to follow them or look up to them? SE: I like good moral people with values, who are fun loving and that are honest. I could say active people. My mother was a hard-working nurse, and she worked 2 all her life. I just assumed that I should work all my life too. It didn't even cross my mind to be a full-time mom, but that's just the kind of people I look for. JH: How do you think the role of mothers has changed? SE: Hmmm. Mothering has definitely changed. A lot of men are better mothers than the women. Siblings have also had to step in early and help because mothers have had to go to work. You might not want to hear this, but I really admire women who can stay home and be mothers because I think raising children is so important. But I was never a stay-at-home mom. I worked my whole life until I retired in my early 60's. And yes, the role of men and women really is changing; women do have to work, and I think they're good at it. hate to see them taking over the role of men, but, if they have to work, I feel the best person for the job should always be selected no matter which sex they are. JH: Were you encouraged to pursue an education? SE: Oh, yeah, yeah. It was just kind of expected. That's what we did. We were always expected to go to college and be able to provide for ourselves. I do believe an education is important for women as well as men. You never know what's going to happen in your life, and you need to be prepared. JH: What did you study? SE: Hmm, that's interesting. I had always wanted to be a P.E. teacher because I love sports. But I went to BYU, and in my first Physical Education class there were all these women, big women, and they were talking about playing soccer. I had never even heard of soccer in those days, and those girls scared me right out of 3 that major. The next day I went right in and changed my major! So, I really just did generals for two years until I decided to get married. Then I thought, "I need a quick education." So, I came home and went to Stevens Henager College and got a secretarial degree. I never ever wanted to be a secretary but found I really loved it. I was good at it, and I enjoyed it. JH: What were your career options once you had your degree? SE: I started out at The Boeing Company being a secretary. Then I went to be a medical secretary for the Ogden Clinic. From there I went to the Internal Revenue Service for about 10 or 12 years. And there I had my biggest opportunities. I started out as a stenographer, then promoted to a Branch secretary and then a Division secretary. Later I went into the data processing system. The computer era was just beginning, and this began my technical career. I started in tax examining and then into the technical section. I was able to train and learn a lot regarding individual tax returns as well as business tax returns and all the processing of them. After that I went into the Public Relations office where I worked on press releases, the IRS Service Center internal newspaper and was selected to be a tour guide. During this time I got divorced and about three years later, in 1973, remarried and eventually that started my next career. Restaurant work was not in my DNA, but that's where the road led. I liked to cook; my mother was a good cook; and I had friends that were good cooks. My experience was an 8th grade cooking class and working in my uncle's restaurant as a fry cook and a waitress. But, all of a sudden I was in a cooking and catering career! 4 JH: What were some of the challenges you faced when obtaining your degree? SE: I started out at The Boeing Company being a secretary. Then I went to be a medical secretary for the Ogden Clinic. From there I went to the Internal Revenue Service for about 10 or 12 years. And there I had my biggest opportunities. I started out as a stenographer, then promoted to a Branch secretary and then a Division secretary. Later I went into the data processing system. The computer era was just beginning, and this began my technical career. I started in tax examining and then into the technical section. I was able to train and learn a lot regarding individual tax returns as well as business tax returns and all the processing of them. After that I went into the Public Relations office where I worked on press releases, the IRS Service Center internal newspaper and was selected to be a tour guide. During this time I got divorced and about three years later, in 1973, remarried and eventually that started my next career. Restaurant work was not in my DNA, but that's where the road led. I liked to cook; my mother was a good cook; and I had friends that were good cooks. My experience was an 8th grade cooking class and working in my uncle's restaurant as a fry cook and a waitress. But, all of a sudden I was in a cooking and catering career! JH: What were some of the challenges you faced when obtaining your degree? SE: I worked hard getting my secretarial degree. But when we went into the restaurant business, that was a whole new thing. The obstacles, you say? Time, skill, connections, money; starting a second family. There were plenty of obstacles. 5 JH: Do you want to go more in depth on the obstacles? SE: Well, I don't know how far you want to go into it. Lyle and I were married in 1973. He brought 3 children and I brought 2 to our marriage. After about 3 years we had our first child together, Tiffany, in 1976. She was born 10 days after we opened our restaurant. It was not an easy time. I had worked full time, "permanent", at IRS for over 10 years before we went into the restaurant business. After maternity leave I went "temporary" at IRS so I could help my husband financially and physically occasionally in the restaurant. When IRS called me back, I worked again until I got pregnant with Suzy. (We thought Tiffany should have a sibling since our other kids were older.) At her birth, maternity leave started again. I was then called back again to IRS until I surprisingly got pregnant with Kristen. After she was born, I quit IRS completely and worked full time in the restaurant while raising our 3 girls. In 4 years, we had another surprise - our 4th and last child, Todd. Our restaurant was finally getting on its feet. We didn't believe people when they said it takes about 5 years for a restaurant to get established, but it's true. We used to take our girls to work with us in the restaurant and keep them in the back room while I worked a partial shift. But after having a couple playpens back there and Kristen came along, I thought, "Oh, we can't do this anymore!" This is when we started getting daycare. It was still a struggle physically and financially. Soon a friend asked me to help her do wedding catering. That was okay for awhile but then the situation became way too consuming for what we were getting out of it. Not too long after 6 that my neighbor, Karen Fairbanks, approached me about helping her mother who was a member of the Ladies Literary Club of Ogden. Their caterer got really sick, and she asked if I would help her mother out. This was the real beginning of our successful catering business. I concentrated primarily on the catering, and my husband, Lyle, concentrated on the restaurant. This was like having two totally different businesses, but we still did everything together. The Ladies Literary Club was just wonderful to me. They supported me and helped me and challenged me, and they had connections. They were just good women, and I will be forever grateful for each one of them. When we started our restaurant, we bought it from Dixon Pies. They used to supply fresh pies every day, and we just ran our small restaurant. But when they went totally out of business we had to instantly learn how to make pies and dough and crusts and fillings while running the restaurant and caring for our still­growing family. We also had important church responsibilities. Life was hard! But my husband is a really hard worker, and I'm a hard worker too, and we also had good friends and extended families that we were willing to help us after their own day jobs. We would call on anyone and everyone to help us, and there was a lot of trial and error going on! I don't know how we ever succeeded; but; hard work pays off and eventually we kind of got it down. People were very kind, and even forgiving at times. We also had a lot of good and loyal customers as well as employees. It really took a whole team of people to help us succeed. We were blessed. JH: When was there a time that you were brave at work? 7 SE: Oh, many times. It was all just so new to me; everything was a scary challenge. You know almost everything we did was trial and error, and we made so many mistakes. I could write a book on our mistakes and what went on in the back room prior to our events; you would die laughing. You had to be brave on weekends. There was a lot of weekend work because that's when the big parties were scheduled, and they made us money. I would think about my kids at home - some were in high school and going to parties and dances, but we had big parties we had to cater so we missed a lot of those fun times with our kids. It made me so sad, but our kids have turned out great in spite of us, so that makes me very happy too. Holiday times really called for bravery. We had some excellent employees who were priceless during those seasons. We worked day and night, and I literally stayed up all night long, many times, planning the work schedules so our employees would know just what to do the next day and also scheduling the ovens so that we would have enough oven space, also the times that things needed to be cooked, or ordered for the next parties, etc. It was exhausting. I even had one girl, when I was expecting our last baby in December, who postponed going on a mission until after the holiday season because she knew how much I needed her help. really loved and appreciated her for that and will never forget her. During the holidays I scheduled as many parties as I possibly could because that's the time we made the majority of our money for the coming year. With careful planning, I knew we could do it. However, the scary thing is occasionally overbooking! Sometimes I would be in tears knowing we couldn't 8 possibly deliver everything I had scheduled but then felt very blessed when a person would call and have to cancel. Things always seemed to work out that way. JH: As a woman, how do you define courage? SE: Hmm. Courage, I don't know. I guess just to always be honest and do your best and do what's right regardless of the outcome. Sometimes, you know, it's hard to be honest, but it's always the best thing. JH: How did you balance your responsibilities between the workplace and home? SE: It was very difficult, but I had good kids -- fun loving, but good kids! With nine kids coming and going we all had to do our part. My oldest daughter, Kym, made it so much easier for me. She was wonderful to help out with our little kids because I wasn't there all the time. Like I said before, we were very blessed. Even our good neighbors helped out a ton. I did what I could, and I tried to make quality time when I was home. So did my husband. He was very good at that even though he worked long and hard days and into the night. He always had time to come home and play with the kids while I did other household chores. There were many times when we couldn't have family vacations because of our hectic work schedule. This was when I quit IRS and took out my retirement, and we built a swimming pool. We didn't have time to boat or go out of town, and it was one of the best investments we ever made. We had instant fun after work. Our kids loved it, and their friends loved it. We soon became "party central". 9 These were fun times, but I still had to juggle life a lot. But that's just what you do. You try and prioritize and, yes, I missed some school proms and things like that, but on the whole, I tried to be there whenever I could. Life for anyone is a hard balance. In the beginning I thought if the business became successful someday I could stay at home with my kids, but then the new challenge was keeping it successful. It's your business, and it's hard to find someone to replace what you have built with clients and employees, etc. You just have to always try and do the best you can with what life deals you. JH: What does women’s work mean to you? SE: Women's work! I think that's hard to say. There are so many things that women are responsible for -keeping the home clean, planning, shopping and cooking meals, caring for children, children's health, children's homework, making schedules for everyone, doctor appointments, and usually working outside the home. Women's work is everywhere. To survive, I think it's important to prioritize, to work hard, to be ambitious, to be loving, and to be able to make decisions. JH: How do you think women receiving the right to vote influenced history, your community and you personally? SE: It definitely gave women a voice - a good voice! Women are just as bright as men and together they can be a force for good. They notice things that men don't, and they get things done. They have brought balance to neighborhoods and businesses and the country. I think men and women are equal, and I've never felt any different. We need men, and men need women. Maybe I'm naive, but I've 10 always seemed to be able to achieve what I wanted. If you want something you just go for it. Put in the work, and you'll usually get it. I've never felt inhibited by being a woman. I don't think it's fair if a man gets paid more than a woman for the same job, but I think we are making big strides in that direction. I love that we have a vote, and I use it whenever I have the opportunity. But, I still think it's important and a privilege and an honor to raise a good family and teach them good values. SS: Okay, I have a couple more questions if that’s okay? You said that your mom was an RN when you were a child. Was that throughout your whole childhood or did she go back when you and your siblings were older? SE: We had seven children, and I never remember my mom not working! She earned her RN in her home state of Pennsylvania, moved to Utah with her family, met my Dad, and worked her entire life. With seven children to feed, I think it was a necessity. She worked hard, she cooked and baked, she served in the church, and always seemed to be busy. Even though my siblings and I had a great childhood, our home was not a peaceful happy place. There was lots of bickering and fighting and abuse and stress and ugliness and yelling. think we were mostly happy kids because in those days you left home in the morning, played all day with your friends, and then went home for dinner. I think I was oblivious of the stress that a big family can create and the tension it caused my mom and dad. They were both hard workers, but I just remember it wasn't always a happy place. 11 SS: That makes sense. So, did you siblings go onto be like you? I mean, you’ve done so much in your life and it’s amazing how you went from being a secretary and you just moved up the ladder and all of these wonderful things. Did you siblings follow your example and your mom’s example as well or are the only one? SE: All of my siblings were hard workers. My oldest sister became a professional. She went into education and was a special ed teacher. But when she had her three children she stayed home to raise them and then went back to work later in life. My two older brothers were also professionals and hard workers; their wives stayed home most of the time but had to work occasionally to keep up. One of my younger sisters went to college a couple years, but when she got married she stayed at home and raised her six children. She sacrificed a lot as a stay-at-home mom, but I admire her because she was able to do that. I think it's tough to stay home; you go without a lot; there's not a lot of thank you's in being home; paychecks or tips are like thank you's in the working world; appreciation is nice. She has since been widowed twice and now travels a lot while doing tons of family history work. My other younger sister also went to college a couple years, worked occasionally and had four children. But, after her divorce she was killed on her way to the airport and died at age 37. She was a lot of fun. SS: Yeah, being a mother is a full-time job, especially if you stay home. SE: Yes, it is. I sometimes wonder how we work outside the home and still able to raise a family, but we do. 12 SS: So, you said that your husband and you both had children prior to this marriage, so were you married before? SE: Mm-hmmm. SS: Would you elaborate on that a bit, if you are ok with that? SE: Oh, I don’t mind. SS: Did something happen, like because you went through all of these jobs and then you started the restaurant with your current husband. Were you in a bad situation that you just had to get out of? SE: No, that's ok. My first marriage lasted almost ten years, but we started having trouble six months into it and we never recovered. Because he didn't have a degree he struggled a little at jobs, but the divorce was mostly caused by dishonesty, a loss of trust, lack of communication and impatience. We were just never that great together. I sometimes think I married too quickly because I wanted to get out my house, and I was flattered extravagantly. We had two children, Mike and Kym, but my husband and I could never reconcile our different backgrounds. We tried several times to make it work, but it never lasted. It just was not meant to be. My husband's marriage lasted a bit longer, I think thirteen or fourteen years. He also had a bad experience which ended in divorce. About three years later we met. Lyle ran a gas and service station and he did a lot of mechanical work there. I was having car trouble so I asked my ex-husband who I should take it to, and he said, "I'd go see Lyle." So, that's how we met. Shortly after that, Lyle 13 asked my ex-husband if he could date me and he was told absolutely. After we dated a couple years we talked about getting married, but he was hesitant because of his first marital experience. But eventually I made him set a date. Our kids from both our previous marriages have always gotten along. At first there was a little conflict with Lyle's oldest son and me, and then between my oldest son and Lyle. But that was just for a short time, and to this day they get along and also get along with their four step siblings. My oldest son lived with his dad a lot of the time and Lyle's second son lived with his mother most of the time, but we had all of them off and on through the years. They've all worked in the restaurant at one time or another. They would wash dishes, clean, cook, serve, and play "security guards" at night. It was fun. I'm not saying it was always perfect, but on the whole, it was great. SS: That’s wonderful. SE: It is. SS: Would you elaborate a little more on your business? I know that we touched base on it a little bit. You just mentioned that you had a lot of family that worked there. Would you just elaborate a little bit more on your experiences on things that you thought were great or not so great? Or just being a female business owner? SE: I wish I could remember over the years all the family employees we had help us. They were great workers, and we had so much fun and grew even closer when we were working together. All of our nine children worked there at one time or another; four of our six sisters and one sister-in-law worked full time; various 14 nephews and nieces helped out temporarily and eventually grandchildren; even our parents would help serve in the kitchen on big parties where we needed extra people to help dish up food. (Even the great Pete Buttschardt, our son-in-law, helped us before he started his own business!) Some were in the restaurant, some in the kitchen, and some in our baking area, and some just on catering jobs. This temporary help was always there when we were in a pinch. I was never afraid of asking for help if it meant good service for our customers. My sister-in-law, Pat, was my right-hand person from the day she started which was probably close to thirty years. When she came, I soon put her in charge of the front restaurant; and when the catering end took off, she was always there by my side, even after her own long shift in the restaurant. The majority of the time we catered for great, great people, and our restaurant customers were wonderful and loyal. We loved being able to meet good people and to please them at their special events. Our employees knew we expected their best efforts. Hiring and firing were some of the hardest and not-so-great moments. Getting good help and then if you have to let one go, that's hard too. Especially if they're good employees. Also as I said earlier, learning how to make quality pies, hundreds of them, was an overwhelming challenge. There was a LOT of trial and error in that area. In the early catering days, learning how to cook and keep things hot and delicious for several hundred people was hard. I vividly remember catering a prime rib dinner for over 100 people in the dead of winter at the racket club. We 15 purchased bone-in prime rib roasts. They were delicious but HUGE and messy and one slice covered the whole plate so that you could hardly get anything else on the plate. Then we learned you could buy boneless prime rib roasts! That changed our prime rib catering from a nightmare to a dream come true overnight! Another nightmare happened in the early days when we catered an outdoor luncheon for the Deaf and Blind School for about 150 people. So I took 150 cups for their drinks. Well, I quickly learned you never take one cup per person! I needed more like 350 cups. There were no cell phones in those days, and it was almost a disaster trying to get more cups to last throughout the party. When you cater often for many of the same people, it's very challenging to find new recipes to make your catering interesting and surprising. Again, the Ladies Literary Club was wonderful to encourage me and challenge me. In the beginning we were very frugal in our equipment purchases - not-so-great times! My husband refused to go into debt and would nurse any piece of old equipment back to health until we could afford to buy new. In those days you could buy old four-burner stoves at the Deseret Industries. He would buy those, use them, and nurse them until they finally died. It worked for a few years until we were financially in a better position to buy the new, heavy duty commercial equipment. I think that's the problem with a lot of new small businesses - they buy all this nice equipment not realizing how hard and long it takes to get started. You have to be very frugal or you'll use all your operating capital on supplies and equipment without having any customers to pay for it. It breaks my heart to see businesses fold and their dreams dashed because of poor business practices. A 16 lot of people think being self-employed is a dream come true, but it's not the dream you think. It takes a lot of hard work and ups and downs and crashes and commitments and sacrifice. Training was another not-so-great time. It is so hard to train people to be good employees. Nobody wants your business to succeed as much as you do, and people in the restaurant business come and go, a lot. We always felt so blessed when we could keep good employees because it was so hard to train them. We hired a lot of cute high school kids both in the kitchen and to be servers. We loved them but there always seemed to be something more important than work, like getting off for a dance or getting off for their birthdays. I realize this is important for kids, but the scheduling became a nightmare trying to work around their schedules and what I needed. When I put Pat over the front restaurant she also took over the training and scheduling. I felt like million pounds had been lifted off my back when she did that because she was much more firm than I was and would give them ultimatums if they wanted to keep their jobs. She was good and they knew she meant business. SS: So being a female business owner, I know that you and your husband were in business together. Um, but were there ever any times when you had to deal with patrons, or inspectors and things like that on the business end. Did you ever feel that you were less valued because you were a woman, over your husband, like did you ever have any discrimination problems being a woman? SE: No, I can't say that I ever felt discriminated against or diminished for being a woman. I don't feel like I'm real outspoken, but I will stand up for myself and 17 present my ideas. If I made mistakes I would have to fess up and deal with them, but I never felt discriminated against. In the beginning we had a male customer get very angry with the waitress swearing that we put tuna fish in the clam chowder instead of clams. She called me and I brought him back into the kitchen. I explained that, at the time, we used a clam base but chopped chicken in it also and then showed him that we didn't even have a can of tuna fish in the restaurant. He checked the shelves and stomped out. That was another learning time for me - never use chopped chicken in your clam chowder but only clams! I don't know where we even came up with using chicken. Duh! But we never used it again. We never had problems with the health inspectors, but I remember one of our cooks hated them because of the power that they held. He was so mad when employees would scurry around when they came; he wanted to have that kind of power. We just laughed. But I never understood when people yelled discrimination because I never felt that; but over the years I can see that discrimination really is real. SS: That makes sense. You seem like you are a very strong woman and that goes a long way. SE: More than I want to be sometimes. My son-in-laws accuse their wives of being me when they start taking over and getting bossy, but I think women have to be in charge of so many things at home, at school and at work that it becomes part of their nature. We don’t always love it, but it’s there. We laugh about it, but it 18 kind of makes me feel sad because I don’t want to be known as being bossy. But, yes, all my girls are strong women. SS: That's something to be proud of. Strong women are raised and it sounds like you raised your daughters to follow in your footsteps. SE: They are all very strong women. If you know my daughter, Kym, from Roosters and Union Grill, you know that she is strong and involved in anything community oriented; Tiffany is amazing too and takes on more than I think she should while being involved in the workings of three different schools; Suzy is another one that takes the bull by the horns and just does everything, and does them well; and Kristen is not afraid of anything either - two years ago she decided to go back to college on her own and is graduating with top honors this spring in supply chain management; Lyle's daughter, Lisa, went back to college and graduated after raising two boys on her own. And best of all, these girls are all loving, compassionate and just good women and mothers. I didn't intentionally raise these girls to be strong, but it's good because we need good leaders and strong women. SS: Absolutely. Well that's wonderful. Is there anything that you would like to add that you can think of that we haven't touched base on? Any experiences or anything that you can think of maybe in your youth even or anything that maybe helped shape you? It sounds like you were just motivated from the start. SE: Maybe I was motivated more than I think. I don't feel like I was ever driven, but I just learned to take advantage of things that came my way. I always wanted to do 19 my best and be the best at what I did. I still like to learn new things and experience new things, taste new things, play games and cards and be social, and just have a lot of fun. I've been blessed with good health, so I have no reason not to be active. I did know that I never wanted to be like my mother, but I think I'm more like her than I think. She was happy at times, but I remember more sadness than happiness. She had a lot on her shoulders, and my dad was always on her about something; but she just fought right back. My dad and mom fought a lot, and I never wanted that in my marriage, so I did everything I could to avoid confrontation or fighting of any kind. I don't like contention and I shake inside to this day when people start to argue. It wasn't till much later in my life that I came to understand some of my mom's behavior. Now, after having my own challenges, I appreciate her more and more for what she endured and sorry for not showing more appreciation at the time. SS: Well what are you doing with yourself now that you're retired? Have you done some traveling or anything fun? SE: When our business finally took off Lyle and I were able to go on some great tours all around the world. Now we usually just take short trips and enjoy being home, but I'd never turn down a chance to go somewhere fun no matter where it was. We're so lucky that our kids still include us on some family trips because we LOVE being with them and our grandkids. I don't expect to go all the time but once in awhile it's so fun to be together with them. We had a wonderful trip to Cancun a couple years ago where we celebrated Lyle's 80th birthday, his 20 daughter's 60th birthday and our daughter-in-laws 30th birthday. That trip will last me for the rest of my life. We go to a lot of graduations, like four in one day; we still volunteer for the Ogden Marathon; go to recitals and soccer and football games; and we love Weber State games. We believe in local! We're slowing down more all the time and love sleeping in till 8 or 9 am, getting dressed by noon, and hitting the road about commute time to do our errands! I still enjoy my Sewing Club and Bridge Club and movies and know that my life has been good! SS: That is wonderful. Well thank you so much for coming and being a part of this project. We really appreciate you. It was wonderful to hear your story and I am going to conclude our interview at about 12:40 pm.