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Approximately 6 months before Papa passed away, Ann asked him if he would be willing to record some of his life stories on video tape. The result is 2 hours of video tape where Papa (GrandmaB by his side) tells stories from his birth through his professional career in Little Rock. The video was taken by Ann over two days on October 12th and 13th 1991. I have broken the video into 10 segments that are each approximately 10 minutes long so they can be viewed easily over the web. Make sure the sound is turned up on your computer and click on one of the Segments below to view its video. The video segments below have been optimized for Windows Media Player version 7. This is a free plug-in that can be downloaded from Microsoft's website by clicking on the following link: Windows Media Player |
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| Video Segment | Description |
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Segment 1
of 10 8 Min 23 Sec |
Papa describes his early childhood in Manti, Utah including being born at home with the assistance of a mid-wife and then being placed in the oven to keep him warm. Early memories of the home he lived in and the relatives (including his grandparents John Carlos & Eva C. Dack, uncle Arch & Aunt Vie) and friends that lived close by. |
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Segment 2
of 10 9 Min 44 Sec |
Papa describes the summers he spent herding sheep in the mountains west of Fayette for his father and Uncle Lester. One of his main jobs was camp cook and he spent months at a time in the mountains with his horse, gun, fishing pole and his dog. He describes early memories of his father (Grandpa Roy) and the relationship they had as Papa grew up. |
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Segment
3 of 10 15 Min 30 Sec |
Papa describes the foods they ate at home and the way they were prepared –lots of meat hanging in the cellar that was generally cooked to a crisp; Granny would bake 5 – 6 pies at a time, baked bread every other day and always had cinnamon rolls in the kitchen. Papa describes Granny as the “sweetest person that I ever knew who never had a bad thought”; working very hard around the house (waking up at 4:00 am in the Winter to heat water and do laundry before making breakfast) and making her own laundry soap out of excess drippings. Papa recalls Grandpa Roy’s and Granny’s involvement in the church and then gives a brief description of each one of his sisters. |
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Segment
4 of 10 14 Min 9 Sec |
Papa describes elementary school in “The Old Red Building” and names every teacher – especially his 2nd grade teacher that said she would “rather come to school without shoes than without a handkerchief”. Then to the “White Building” for junior high and on to Manti High School where he wore a shirt and tie everyday and played on the basketball team. He describes the weekend nightlife in Manti (dances at the Old Mill Stream outdoor dance floor) and recalls the friends he would pal around with. An interesting side story is when he painted the entire inside and outside of the Model A Ford of a man that was painting some rooms in his family’s house. |
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Segment
5 of 10 10 Min 34 Sec |
Papa’s first years in college at Logan, Snow and then San Luis Obispo majoring in agriculture to become a Country Agent (because the County Agent in Manti made $250 per month and worked outdoors) and then a machinist. Working for 27 cents an hour and sneaking food from the cafeteria – or living on rhubarb when money ran out. Describes having his appendix removed at a lady’s house who “had an extra bed” and having to return the family’s refrigerator to pay for the operation. Papa describes what he was doing when he first heard the US was at war in 1941 and his process for enlisting in San Francisco as a Navy pilot. |
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Segment
6 of 10 17 Min 40 Sec |
Papa’s training as a pilot from Colorado to Kansas to California to Florida working his way up to flying the Navy F4-S planes from aircraft carriers. Crashing in the Okie Nokie swamp and being rescued from alligators. Papa describes the details of his assignments to protect his ship convoy (timing of take offs, radio signaling, alignment of ships to land) and recalls ignoring instructions to fly towards land when he knew he wouldn’t have enough fuel. He describes his memories of the Battle of Manila Bay where 3 kamikaze pilots targeted his ship – the last one succeeded to hit the ship so close to Papa that he “saw the whites of his eyes”. |
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Segment
7 of 10 13 Min 30 Sec |
More stories about his days as a Navy pilot including returning home with the body of Dutch Jensen (a Utah friend) who was killed flying next to Papa just after takeoff. Papa, now 24 years old, was out on assignments for 3 – 4 months at a time living on Spam and pineapple juice. Papa tells of losing his tailhook and being flipped over to avoid crashing into other parked planes on the carrier. Then one of his buddies was so nervous after being shot at on a mission, when he finally landed he had thrown up in both gloves. However, a couple of his favorite stories include dropping a bomb in a swimming pool on a large Japanese estate in the Philippines, and shooting a cow while flying a Hellcat in Texas. |
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Segment
8 of 10 12 Min 36 Sec |
After flying 75 missions, Papa served in various non-combat positions until the war ended. With $300 separation pay (he used to buy an old Studebaker) he headed back to Logan by himself to finish his degree in agriculture. Set up by a frat brother, Papa met Mom for the first time under the clock in the Old Main Building on campus. Mom had “many” boyfriends and Papa had to work his way up from #4 to be able to offer her his Sigma Nu fraternity pin in the Spring of 1945 while parked by the amphitheater – not exactly a text book proposal, but it worked. Papa tells a funny story about showing the engagement ring to Grandma Forrest and having her say “oh she won’t like that, you better get her a Platinum one”. |
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Segment
9 of 10 11 Min 5 Sec |
Papa and Mom spent the summer engaged but Papa was an assistant professor at Colorado A&M and Mom was a kindergarten teacher in Tooele - Papa says “that was a miserable Summer”. Papa describes their first apartment in Fort Collins, taking care of Ann. Papa and Mom tell about driving to North Carolina to pursue a Ph.D. and arriving with 23 cents. In Raleigh, Mom worked for $75 dollars a month taking care of 20 kids in a nursery from 8:00 to 6:00 everyday. They describe life in student housing (paying $12 per month rent), Mom’s pregnancy with Jean and how they made ends meet. |
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Segment
10 of 10 9 Min 5 Sec |
Papa describes the work for his PhD and receiving the E.G. Moss Fellowship at North Carolina. Then he and Mom talk about Papa’s early professional career starting as the head of the soils department at the University of Wyoming (where Bob was born), then to Phoenix to work for Olin as an agronomist (where Roy was born) and then on to Little Rock (where John was born) where Papa ultimately retired as the business director for the Agricultural Division of Olin Corporation. |