a a Plaza named for former president! 7; Center to be memorialized t : (Continued from page 1) organized, with all his specimens labeled with name, date and place. During his career he did field work in glacial geology in Wisconsin and in the Uintah and Wasatch Aaron W. Tracy was the last president to serve while Weber was a church school and the first when it became a state institution. mountains of Utah and extensive He was president for 13 years, from 1922-35, during a span of years that presented many critical ‘problems, including the transfer of the college from the Church of Jesus work in the study of ore deposits in the western states. He also made a detailed geological study of the Archean formation and igneous intrusions in the northern Wasatch mountains, which entailed the microscopic study of thin sections of many rocks collected. During the summer vacations he traveled widely, including trip to Christ of Latter-day Saints to the State of Utah in 1933. During the depression of the late 20’s and early 39’s, President Tracy found part-time jobs for students and set up a system that enabled the Spain and to Mexico City to attend an International Geological Congress. He gathered specimens of college to accept farm produce in lieu of cash for tuition to keep the doors of the school open. gold, silver, zinc, mercury and other ores on these trip for his collection. He had worked, as a boy of 14, in the mines of Park City and it was He worked to bring recognition to many activities of the college, from the arts and sciences, forensics, sports. The forensic program was raised Aaron W. Tracy to national prominence under his administration. He also started theater activity and supported a his grave monument states simply ““Scientist-Scholar-Teacher-Friend.”’ Milton Mecham (Continued from page 1) selected for Alumni Award McKinley High school. Later 16 Hawaiian ballplayers came to play for Dean Mecham at Weber during ‘48-49. “They were great football players,’’ he said. Following his coaching at Weber, Dean Mecham became director of placement and veteran’s coordinator, stepped off the buses everyone Dean of Men, Registrar and Dean of Admissions and Records in 1962. “I’ve seen the enrollment grow from about 1100 to the present 11,500, and from a junior college to a four-year degree-granting institution, pipe and of course we didn’t know it. It’s pretty safe to say if we hadn’t stopped to help them we would have had a horrible experience ourselves. “It was bitter cold- we climbed back on the buses, rolled down all the windows and drove to Fillmore where everyone was treated and the pipe was fixed. “Naturally the players were 3 weakened but we beat Pasadena 7-6, a fine climax to what could have been a disaster,’”’ Dean Mecham said. Dean Mecham also reflected on the purchase of two black Larkin Mortuary family cars and two long-bellied, 15-passenger Chevrolets painted blue and affectionally dubbed the “Blue Gooses.”’ “Everywhere we went in those cars a crowd of students would surround us. They thought for sure we were the Maffia,” he chuckled. “One of our faithful fans who went _ everywhere with use was John Gaz, - chairman of the automotive department. He fixed whatever went wrong with one of the vehicles and saw to it that we got where we were going. . .our insurance policy! We didn’t have money to do it any other way in those days.” Playing football was for ‘‘fun’’ and one of the highlights was taking the team to Hawaii to play the Alumni of : Page 2 | 1928 to travel to Honolulu fora ~_ game with McKinley of Hawaii. A native of Marriott, Weber | County, Mr. Tracy taught in the Weber County School District for 1 years. He graduated from Brigham J, Young University, where he majori# in English and history, and did | graduate work at the University of Chicago. His doctoral thesis, on the © The history of the old Salt Lake Theater, ha fills 18 typewritten volumes. , and Pp He served three two-year terms a) sree representative in the Utah _ the Ss Legislature. | barre _ aware | inthe Understand values - || that muti o Students need a great | produ | Bhave I 4 systems in today’s world so they| Purch can better understand others er knowledge of varying value who have different systems, Dr. | Malcom Sillars, dean of the E uN College of Humanities at the University of Utah, told the WSC School of Humanities Forum. c u Students need to be given the ‘We set up a boxing ring in the gym night after night, week after week, to raise money to buy buses and cars for our teams use for travel. ‘We purchased two 1942 C.I. surplus buses to travel to California to play Pasadena Junior College in the Rose Bowl. We came upon a car that had gone off the road and stopped to assist them. As we started toppling over like flies. apparently asphyxiated. “The bus had a faulty exhaust oat approval for the football team of vocational training and competitive through this work that he became interested in Geology. Dr. Lind died in June, 1944 an competitive athletic program, giving and had the privilege of working with four great presidents, H. Aldous Dixon, William P. Miller, Joseph Bishop and Rodney Brady. and association with the athletic department all these years, either as a coach or as a faculty representative.”’ Dean Mecham was present when they organized the Big Sky Athletic Conference and has worked with three “‘excellent’’ athletic directors, Reed Swenson, Dale Gardner and Gary Cromtpon. Students who have attended Weber State College have always been first class, Dean Mecham believes, and considers it an opportunity to be probably the first to meet and greet them as they come to the campus. “I watch them come as fine, new freshmen and receive diplomas four years later. It has been a source of great enjoyment for me. Students have come back after graduation and told me how grateful they are for the experience and for the excellent teachers they have had,” Dean Mecham said. ‘T’ve enjoyed coming to work every morning. Every day has been a challenge and I have thoroughly enjoyed the individuals I’ve associated with in my work. They have contributed greatly to my life and the life of my family.” His wife is the former Marjorie White who grew up in Perry. They attended Box Elder High School together and were high school “sweethearts.” They are the parents of three children, Roy, Steve, and Mrs. Dennis (Patricia) Wood, and have 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. ‘In the years to come I’m looking forward to watching Weber and still participating in all the activities. I’ve watched every building on this . campus being built and witnessed heartaches, struggles, joys and great foresight and leadership.’’ “lve watched ... heartaches, struggles, joys and great foresight and leadership." Heartaches included the traumatic time when Governor Lee wanted to give the college back to the LDS Church. The faculty, staff and community joined together to fight that decision. They had to acquire signatures from all over the state. Joys. . .simple things like knowing everyone when there was a faculty of 60 and assemblies every day with instruction and entertainment such as musical numbers, plays, election campaigns... intellectual tools to identify value systems. In what they i. read and hear they must look for © definite statements of belief, key | words expressing the intellectual direction of the others thinking, L Q ~ C | etc. | ft Too many people tend to think | U that their own system of values is carefully reasoned, while some one else’s values are largely emotional, and for that reason p bad. Ins _ concer Value systems usually are - find tl adapted to changing situations, — _ people not totally discarded for others | totally when strong outside pressures ; basic | arise, Dr. Sillars said. _ +energ) Those engaged in the arts, | / have literature and language areas are) SUBSE in the forefront of value changes, | 8eneré hence the humanities are most | 4Fe en important today, not lesssoas those in scientific studies often | Bec | Under say, Dr. Sillars asserted. those thing: ~ will b Weber State College |) Comment eed Editor: Arlene Wilson | P that t Second-class postage paid at Ogden, Utah published four times a year in October, January, April and June by the Department of College Relations, 316 Adminstration Building, Ogden, Utah 84408. = J) alcohe “ A, energ “+ b : purne The COMMENT is mailed to alumni, a faculty, staff, business community and it friends at no charge. i make (USPS 791-360) “Postmaster: Forwarding Postage Guaranteed. 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