Tomorrow, November 8 is a day that makes me think of my dad. He lived 77 years 3 months and 28 days and tomorrow I will have lived 77 years 3 months and 28 days. It is strange that I have thought about whether I would live longer than he did. We are the next generation and our kids will be the next generation and they will live longer than we do if things go the way it has for the last 100 years. Except for my brother Garth who died at an early age of a year and a half of a childhood sickness, all of Dads kids lived longer than he did and I am the last to reach his age. His children lived long lives, Ione to 95, Evans to about 88, Errol over 80 Rulan even though paralyzed the last 10 years from an accident over 80 and MaryLynn is still alive at 82 so it is not surprising to me to be where I am.
Below is a picture taken in 1948 or 49 of the High Priest Group on a picnic in Huricane, Mom and Dad are in the 1st and second row toward the middle, she has a floral print dress on, and Dad is in front of her with suspenders and no tie, he is holding a cob of corn.
Dad and Mother had a tough life in the early 1900s, Mother was a stay at home mother and Dad would never have considered her working out of the home. I knew as I grew up that when I got home from school she would be there, usually with something good cooking, bread, pies, cakes, donuts and other goodies. Dad taught school for 25 years then when Franklin Roosevelt and the Democrats came into power the spoil system gave him the job of Postmaster in our little town of Hurricane, Utah which he did for about 30 more years before retiring when he turned 70 years old. Life and inflation have changed things. The last year he was Postmaster he earned almost $6000 and although not much looking at the world today, it bought a lot in those days and they were very comfortable, not rich but comfortable.
I grew up as an only child after MaryLynn married and moved to Santa Clara. The older kids always said I was spoiled but of course that is not true.
Dad and Mother had many friends and I enjoyed when they would have someone over to play Rook and they would let me play a hand or two with them.
During my Junior and Senior years at Hurricane High School, Wayne Hinton was elected to the Utah State legislator and Dad taught his math and science classes while he was in Salt Lake City.
Dad was really a great teacher. In my tenth grade we had an algebra teacher that did not know what he was doing and Dad would teach me at home and then I would teach the other kids. If we had not had that connection I think most of us would not have learned algebra. Many of the kids that took classes that he taught said they learned more from him than the regular teachers.
I just got an email from Victor Hall, who grew up next door to us and was my really close buddy, even though he was 4 years older than me. Victor moved back to his old homestead in Hurricane after he retired as a teacher and principal in Las Vegas area and we stop and remember old times. In the email which I will quote you can see what my Dad meant to people, gruff when postmaster but soft and gentle in life.
Victors email which exemplifies all that I loved about Dad.
"Your parents were certainly exemplary people, a fact I took for granted all my early years.
Will had a sharp manner of speaking and a lot of kids were afraid of him. Clark Campbell, for example told me he always hated to have to ask help concerning mail etc. Leon really liked him as a teacher. The fact that my own knowledge of him was gained there at your house where he always seemed mellow took precedence over everything else. Once when quite young I overheard him tell somebody, "Of course we have playing cards in the home. My children and their friends are here playing where we can watch over them." "Now that's the way to think about things" I thought to myself. My only complaint was just when we had a street game going great he would decide Marylyn had knocked the boys around long enough and would call her in. She would be sorely missed. You may already know this story; Sometime in later life, he bought the home across the street where Leon Isom had lived probably so he could control who could live there. Later he sold it to Glenn Stratton, as Glenn had finally decided he wouldn't be sullying the family name by moving into the South Ward. When Strattons get ready to make a move, they MOVE! Your Dad left for the Temple on morning and the old shack was there as usual but when he returned, the old house was gone, a basement had been dug and footings etc had been prepared. It was just more than Will's old brain could process. He sought out poor Glenn and unloaded mercilessly for what seemed at least an hour. Well, Glenn somehow made it through the night in spite of all his guilt and remorse feelings. Of course your dad was there the next morning apologizing profusely and expressing deep chagrin that the sudden change had affected him so. I'm at the age where I can easily emphasize with your father. I'm well aware of somewhat similar but less dramatic events in my own life."
Will had a sharp manner of speaking and a lot of kids were afraid of him. Clark Campbell, for example told me he always hated to have to ask help concerning mail etc. Leon really liked him as a teacher. The fact that my own knowledge of him was gained there at your house where he always seemed mellow took precedence over everything else. Once when quite young I overheard him tell somebody, "Of course we have playing cards in the home. My children and their friends are here playing where we can watch over them." "Now that's the way to think about things" I thought to myself. My only complaint was just when we had a street game going great he would decide Marylyn had knocked the boys around long enough and would call her in. She would be sorely missed. You may already know this story; Sometime in later life, he bought the home across the street where Leon Isom had lived probably so he could control who could live there. Later he sold it to Glenn Stratton, as Glenn had finally decided he wouldn't be sullying the family name by moving into the South Ward. When Strattons get ready to make a move, they MOVE! Your Dad left for the Temple on morning and the old shack was there as usual but when he returned, the old house was gone, a basement had been dug and footings etc had been prepared. It was just more than Will's old brain could process. He sought out poor Glenn and unloaded mercilessly for what seemed at least an hour. Well, Glenn somehow made it through the night in spite of all his guilt and remorse feelings. Of course your dad was there the next morning apologizing profusely and expressing deep chagrin that the sudden change had affected him so. I'm at the age where I can easily emphasize with your father. I'm well aware of somewhat similar but less dramatic events in my own life."
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