27 July 2003 #0330.html

Andrea's 30th High School Class Reunion

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Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, Matt via hardcopy, and Brian,

cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"Matt was at EFY, and Andrea was visiting her Mom and helping her. I was only in Houston on Monday. That day was spent working on the Casey Ranch project. There was an interesting e-mail from someone I met at the University of Utah Alumni Dinner a couple of weeks ago (0328.html). He has ownership in a structural prospect he is attempting to sell in Portugal. It would be nice to make an on-site visit.

Tuesday morning I drove to IAH (Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston). I ate breakfast burritos at McDonalds after the security stuff. I had stayed up late working, and so I slept on the plane to Salt Lake, and I got off to rent a car and to meet with Bob Stanton at the Church Office Building. I got there just as he was going downstairs to eat lunch. So I bought my own lunch, and was introduced to others, who said `So are you interviewing for a job?' Bob is a geologist and is responsible for church owned mineral rights. I had put together an example of how the Infinite Grid(SM) could help keep track of assets and requirements. Bob got very excited about it, and brought in another man, responsible for $2-3 billion worth of water rights, who got even more excited. I was very pleased, and felt like I had hit a home run. Since I'm so far behind on the Thoughtlets, I'll just go to the bottom line. They are not interested. I'm not sure what I said, or why the decision. I think his boss believed I was trying to sell something to the church, and I offered to give it to them. Oh well!

From my first and probably only visit to the Church Office Building, I went up by Hogle Zoo and spent an hour with Bob Ehrlich. Showed him the work we have been doing on the pinnacle reefs on the Casey Ranch. He was suitably impressed. He showed me the work he has been doing on reefs in Illinois. I was suitably impressed. We are a mutual admiration society. It is fun whenever we get together. However, his language has become fairly course. Oh well! Then I drove down the hill to Parker Gay's office and spent an hour with him. It was fun also. I had put together some images of the reefs on the web for John Benard the night before. Here I was in Salt Lake accessing the images I put together the night before on the computer in my house behind a password. Isn't technology fun! At least when it works.

Parker showed me around the triplets office space, and I met the two boys. One of them set us up with a wireless mouse and a projection system for me to show the web pages to Parker. It was a lot of fun. Someday all of the relationships and work I have done is going to come together. To collect air mag data over Shackelford County it would cost $20/line mile, and would be a 100 mile x 100 mile survey with 1/2 mile line spacing. I was tired, from staying up too late, so I drank a coke, which Parker loved, and then I drove to Cedar City via Delta and Milford. I like the back way. However, it is not any faster. I ate a triple hamburger, greasy onion rings, and a thick black raspberry malt in Delta. Maybe because I was so tired I hit both a rabbit and a porcupine by accident between Delta and Milford. Actually had to get some wrenches out and fix some of the plastic under the car the next morning. Matt loved it when I told him.

Wednesday morning Andrea and I took on some weeds in Grandma Shirts' back yard and won. It was fun to work with her. We maybe cut them back a little too much. She kept telling folks how we went to the Morris Shirts school of pruning. Oh well! They have already grown back some. I was definitely tired by the end of the day. This was the day the U.S. forces in Iraq killed Uday and Qusai Hussein in a fierce firefight in Baghdad. I thought this was very good news. Grandma Shirts had some Shakespeare tickets and Andrea and I went to see `Much Ado About Nothing'. We were early enough to listen to Fred Adam's introduction. We saw him outside too. He had just been featured in the Church News, and the reporter had talked about his long white flowing hair. We gave him a bad time about not telling her it was a toupee. He had very nice things to say about Mom and about Grandma Shirts.

Thursday was Pioneer Day, July 24th, a state holiday in remembrance of the pioneers arriving in the Salt Lake Valley. We got up early and went to the old Rock Church for a Pioneer Day Town Meeting. It was very emotional. Especially the stories the children had written about their ancestors and the stories Janet Seegmiller told about her ancestors. It will not carry the same spirit, and yet here is the agenda:

`Prelude and Postlude Music . . . Mary Jane Seaman Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Webster Posting of Colors . . . American Legion Post 74 Pledge of Allegiance . . . Led by Ray Baumgartner Opening Song . . They, the Builders of the Nation Invocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Lunt Pioneer / Ancestral Stories . Five District Winners Adam Beacham, Abbie Larsen, Camille Heaton, Brecia Davis, Aryn Anderson (each received a $50 Savings Account from 4 local banks/credit unions) Readers: Glenn Beacham, Barbara Shakespeare Outstanding Citizens Award Kent & Cherie Myers Presenter: Charles Blackburn, Sons of Utah Pioneers 2-Year Board Member Special Musical Selection . . . Double Mixed Quartet "American The Beautiful" Keynote Speaker . . . . . . . . . . Janet Seegmiller Closing Song . . . . . . . . . Come, Come, Ye Saints Benediction . . . . . . . . . Mayor Gerald Sherrett Retiring of the Colors . . American Legion Post 74 CITATION OUTSTANDING CITIZENS AWARD FOR 2003 Cherie and Kent Meyers, your children call you blessed. Your unselfish ways, your love, compassion and caring for each of your posterity have caused your children and grandchildren to live bright and beautiful lives. They have observed your service to friends and neighbors and now they too give loving service. You are modern pioneers striving to be the best of neighbors by sharing your means and talents. Your diligence in positions of trust as teachers and leaders in your community and church have lifted and edified the minds and hearts of those whom you have taught and served. Your diligence as missionaries in Scotland reflects upon all those families from Scotland who helped settle our community over a hundred fifty years ago. Your leadership and acts of kindness as you have served in The Master Singers, The Cedar Chest Quilters Guild, The Shakespearean Festival Board, the Sons of Utah Pioneers and youth groups have helped keep the torch of appreciation burning for all that is good in our lives. You have shared your talents in music and the arts with thousands and have lifted them to do likewise. Because of these efforts and your steadfast willingness in so many ways, we honor you this day, July 24, 2003. Your pioneer ancestors are looking down on you this day. By the authority vested in me by the Board of Directors and members of the Cedar City Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers, I name you, Cherie Mae Ashworth Meyers and Kent E. Myers, Outstanding Citizens for 2003. God bless you.'


Aunt Sara and I cried. Andrea said it was an emotional meeting for her too. I wish each of you could have been there, could know those I know who were there, and could have experienced the joy in our ancestors contributions to Cedar City which I felt this Thursday morning. As we walked outside, there was a demonstration of the wagon used to haul gravel in Cedar at the turn of the century. It was put on by Clemont Adams, my 6th grade teacher. He remembered me, and reminded me we took him to Grandpa's Farm in St. George to hunt for arrowheads. In many ways I feel like I have let you kids down, not tieing you in better to our wonderful heritage.

We spent time in the afternoon and Friday working in the yard. There was some really good butter pecan ice cream. There was an interesting e-mail which arrived on July 25th from Steve Joseph. It is about ultimate value and says:

`To realize the value of ten years: Ask a newly divorced couple. To realize the value of four years: Ask a graduate. To realize the value of one year: Ask a student who has failed a final exam. To realize the value of nine months: Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn. To realize the value of one month: Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby. To realize the value of one week: Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of one hour: Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet. To realize the value of one minute: Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane. To realize the value of one second: Ask a person who has survived an accident. To realize the value of one millisecond: Ask a person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics. Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. It's most valuable when you can share it. With great people (like yourselves). Thanks for the "Time"! (of my life) The origin of this letter (I modified it a bit) is unknown, but it brings good luck to everyone who passes it on. Do not keep this letter. Just forward it to friends.'


This seems like a good introduction to Friday night and Andrea's 30th High School Class Reunion. What a hoot. Her class is a lot more laid back than mine (0327.html). There are a couple of very outgoing folks who acted as moderators. There were not as many attending, and there seemed to be a lot more interaction. I took photos, which are at www.walden3d.com/class73/images. I definitely enjoyed the evening. Didn't know any of the folks, except my cousin Annette and her husband, and they sent their apologies and didn't show up. Oh well!

The sad part was the drive to Brian Head. Two thirds of the pine trees on Cedar Mountain are dead from a bark beetle infestation. The locals blame it on the environmentalists, who stopped the forest service from getting rid of infested trees, and now won't let them have the dead trees logged. It is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. It needs to be burned, so like at Yellowstone, the heat will crack the seeds of some of the trees. This will also get rid of the bark beetles. I predict mother nature will take care of this via a lightening strike within the next 5 years. And it seems to me this will be the best way to make up for the negative unanticipated consequences of independent decisions, particularly by those who to some degree are attempting to do good, namely the environmentalists.

I did enjoy the evening. Andrea's friends are fun. It is really nice to see the depth of feeling and support she has available through her High School friends. I'm so glad I did not grow up in the time and place you kids did. For I feel that same support from the kids I grew up with and went to High School with. And I do not see any of you with this same depth of support and friendship. Sure you have friends, and some of them are very good friends, better than most of mine. It is something I do not know how to verbalize about growing up in a very close little Mormon community in the Rocky Mountains.

When we first got to Brian Head, Andrea was off talking to and catching up with long lost friends. I ended up spending 30 minutes talking to a male classmate who is a professor in a college in Provo. He specializes in water. He was positive about my comments about condensation. Did you know that back in the 1920's there was a Federal initiative to deepen Utah lake? By deepening it, the area of the lake would shrink by half, the moss would not be able to grow in the deep water, it would become a good fishing lake, the amount of evaporation from the surface of the lake would decrease enough to double the drinking water available to Provo, and it will never happen because of environmentalists striving to keep marsh lands from being developed. He liked my idea of pumping water across the south end of the mountains on the west side of Utah Lake into Cedar Fort Valley and turning it into a garden paradise and the basis of a new type of community. Especially with a TRAX extension into Cedar Fort, it could demonstrate a way to build cities around people instead of around automobiles.

My point is the whole evening was like this brief discussion. There were interesting people, with varied backgrounds, and we had some very nice discussions. A retired policeman from Promontory Point, a programmer responsible for computer infrastructure at BYU, a 2 foot by 3 foot by 6 inch scrapbook with everything which happened from 6th grade through High School Graduation, a nice meal, an entertainer with music from the 70's and questions for each table to compete on, and all in all a good time.

Saturday morning we picked up Matt from EFY, fed him some breakfast, and I drove him to American Fork. I made it to the airport in time to turn in the car without an extra day charge, and spent the afternoon reading. The plane finally left about 4:50, and it was only 45 minutes late landing in Houston. I believe this was the trip I finished Tom Clancy's `Op-Center Sea of Fire' and Davis A. Young's `Christianity & the Age of the Earth.' It was nice to be home, and I missed Andrea.

Sunday morning Rachel spoke in Sacrament Meeting at Nottingham Country Ward. Her topic was on Eternal Marriage. What a wonderful talk. I do not have and did not request an electronic copy, and so I can not share the talk. Rachel, if you want to share the talk, or your recent paper on what it takes to be a Texan just send me copies, and I will include them in this ongoing journal of little thoughts. Once I have a search engine tied to this library, I do hope it becomes a valuable reference library for kids and step-kids, spouses and grandkids, and others whom we decide to share the web address with. Who knows when it will be valuable to be able to refer to Andrea's 30 High School Class Reunion."

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 2003 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.