and celebrated the end of the fighting in Europe. We threw our books into our lockers and went downtown to the bike shop. We rented fat-tired bicycles and pumped them up the hill to Harrison Boulevard. It was a beautiful spring day, warm and sunny. We coasted downhill to the mouth of Ogden Canyon. The Ogden River was swollen with spring runoff. We sat on the cement bridge rail and dangled our feet toward the frothy roiling water. The sun draped our backs like a warm cashmere sweater. I was struggling with the awareness of what this could mean to my life personally. As long as the war raged, the future did not seem to belong to me - I felt powerless to decide what direction I would take. And the thought came swiftly - they will be coining home! The guys will be coming home! I felt very happy, joyful and at peace. Peace. "There will be no more fighting. In all of Europe there will be no more fighting." In my political innocence I felt at peace and thought the entire world felt as I did. Japan still had to be reckoned with, but in Europe there was peace. Graduation was held in the Moench auditorium on June 2, 1945. We wore formals, the formals we had not worn to dances. There were four male graduates and about 200 female graduates. Lydia Tanner was the speaker. The two years I spent at Weber College, 1943 to 1945, were very low key. I had feelings of guilt sitting in classrooms and participating in makeshift social affairs. Many of my high school classmates had been drafted, or they had enlisted. Their lives had been completely disrupted; mine had only been thwarted. Wartime Weber College had little in common with peacetime Weber College, but in the history of our school our experience was unique. At the very least we carried on traditions and preserved Weber for the day when Johnny Came Marching Home. Prance, Paradise, and Peter's Concerto Eugene S. Nye '45 Because of World War II there were only 45 men and over 400 women on campus, which made it a little difficult to have a dance, or any other boy/girl ac- tivities. Laurence Burton and Dean Hurst came up with the idea of a Po-lygamist Prance. The rules were that every guy had to take all the girls who asked him. Laurence Burton took six girls. He borrowed a van, picked up each girl, and danced with each one in turn, kissed them each good-night at her doorstep as he took them home after the dance. It was a great success! Laurence Burton and Dean Hurst also wrote and produced parodies of two plays, HMS Pinafore and Hamlet. They were well done and very funny. Throughout both plays Gerald Keogh was hanging by the neck with a big grin on his face. For a long time after he was called "Smiles." I was part of both productions. One professor thought it was in poor taste, but the rest of the faculty seemed to enjoy it. One assembly I remember was when the curtain opened showing two grand pianos on the stage. I was seated at one piano, and Laurence Burton was seated at the other. I began with arpeggios, scales, and bombastic chords - a buildup for the solo. In the silence following the introduction Laurence Burton began with the two-finger rendition of "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater"- the one every kid plays. As the solo went on I joined in, and the accompaniment got bigger and bigger and developed more and more with the solo continuing throughout. At the end of the piece, to thunderous applause, the players stood up to take their bows. I had on a full tuxedo and Laurence Burton was wearing a dress shirt with ruffles and bow tie, a tuxedo coat with tails and no pants! His boxer shorts were loud! This program has been performed on many occasions through the years, and is always a hit, because it is such a surprise with the big build-up and the simple solo that everybody has played. The bows are another surprise - no pants. I composed this number, which has since been called "Peter's Concerto." The place to meet on campus was the CI (College Inn). Frequently heard was "Meet you at the CI." Remembered faculty and staff were Reed Swenson, James Foulger, Gertie Stallings, Thatcher Allred, Pearl Oberhansly Allred, Leland Monson, and Walter Buss. And of course, President Henry Aldous Dixon, "Papa Dixon," whose dream it was to have a four-year college. Peter's Concerto 38 Following the Bus Matt Gait '45 Walter Buss, our geology professor, was taking a group of his students to the national parks in Southern Utah, Bryce and Zion. He had given me permission to take four students in my car and follow the bus, which was loaded with other students. Just as the bus was leaving the college, two of my passengers ran back into the building to get a soft drink for the trip. As we tried to follow the bus, we drove south on Washington to the intersection of Riverdale Road. We took Riverdale Road, but the bus must have taken Washington and driven the Weber Canyon Road. We thought we could catch up to the bus, but by the time we reached the Lagoon intersection, we still did not see the bus. We traveled very fast, hoping to catch the bus, but we arrived at the entrance to Bryce Canyon and still had not seen the bus. We asked the park rangers about the bus, but they had not seen it. The rangers called over to Zion Park and, sure enough, the bus was there. We then hurried to drive between Bryce and Zion and arrived in time to have dinner with the whole group. We were never more than 300 feet behind the bus for the rest of the trip. We hiked to the top of the moun- tains in Zion and the bottom of the trenches in Bryce. We had a wonderful time. We learned a lot about geology and made some good friends. Weber College was known for its excellent theatrical programs under the direction of Thatcher Allred. One of the plays presented this year was The Importance of Being Earnest. We had an excellent cast, except for me. Thatcher Allred worked overtime trying to help me perform as he wished. He was a great director, and the play was received very well by the audience. We had two or three hundred naval cadets attending Weber College. Navy officials did not permit the cadets to participate in most of the campus functions. Because there were many more girls than boys on campus this year, it was a natural to have the cadets attend one of the big social events of the year. It was necessary to get the permission of their officers for them to attend a very nice evening dance. Lou Jean Scoffield and I were given the job of pairing the girls with the cadets. Lou Jean would meet with the girls that wanted to go to the dance, and I would meet with the cadets. We would try to make a match for the dance. The dance was a great success, and both the cadets and the girls had a great time. I understand that at least three girls were married to cadets after meeting them at Weber College. Weber College did have a basketball team during these trying times, but because of gasoline rationing the team was limited in distances it could travel. We did play home and away games with the University of Utah and Utah State Agriculture College. We also played several times against a team made up from the cadets on campus. We always beat the cadets, but the University of Utah and the Utah State Agriculture College were the winners. Coach Reed Swenson was a great coach and a tremendous man. The geology bus pauses The chase car 39