American themes. I met informally with a group of Mexican American students who told me they encountered considerable racial prejudice in Lubbock, but that they were enjoying their university experiences. When I arrived in Lubbock, no one met me at the airport. I had to find my own way to the motel. Entering the room I turned on my television set to learn that a tornado alert had been called. Five tornadoes were prowling around the Lubbock area. I almost fled to the airport to find a safe flight out of Lubbock, but instead went to bed.
On March 3rd, our world was shattered. Ruth was driving me to the airport to fly to Albuquerque to lecture to a group of school teachers on the campus of the Albuquerque airport. On the way to the airport, I discovered a tear in my pants and turned around toward home. At the intersection of 13th East and 39th South we stopped for a red light and then proceeded through the intersection when the light turned red. A Mr. Lewis from Koosharem ran the red light at high speed and crashed into our car demolishing it and crushing Ruth's right arm. I felt like killing him. Utah drivers are among the worst in the United States. For almost fifteen years we were hit by Utah drivers every year running red lights and stop signs, speeding, or losing control of their cars. From 1968 to 1979, every car we bought was destroyed in an accident.
Ruth was incapacitated for over two years. She had to give up her graduate studies in musicology at the University of Utah, and quit her organ lessons with Dr. Schreiner. I had to cancel almost all of my consulting and speaking engagements to take care of her. David was an enormous help: kind, considerate, and caring. In contrast, Daniel rebelled, causing us serious problems. Keith also cooperated.
Unfortunately there were some obligations that I could not avoid. On April 7th, I flew down to Albuquerque to attend a Brotherhood Awareness Program sponsored by the Alianza. I was thunderstruck. Here was Reies Tijerina sitting at the same table with officers of the Albuquerque Police Department members who had raped his wife, abused his children, stolen his family savings, permitted many armed attacks on the Alianza building, and harassed Alianza members. Reies gave an excellent speech about the need for brotherhood. Dr. Sabine Ulibarri, a faculty member, at the University of New Mexico, and writer of excellent short stories in Spanish on the people of northern New Mexico gave a keynote address on brotherhood and mutual awareness. Tijerina was just out of jail and precluded from participating in Alianza affairs by rigid parole restrictions. I was not sure whether this conference was a front for other activities or the result of Tijerina's thinking during his long unfair period of incarceration. It did factionalize the Alianza.
I had just returned to Salt Lake City, when I received a subpoena to offer testimony as an expert witness for Spanish Americans opposed to the formation of a federal conservancy district in Taos county. The District was supported by the Anglo American land developers and business men of Taos and opposed by the Spanish American rural village populations around Taos as it would mean considerable land loss. The judge ruled against us but the opposition convinced the Bureau of Reclamation to withdraw from the project.
Upon returning home I was shocked by my father. He had agreed to sell the family cabin in Mt. Air to me and had accepted $500.00 as earnest money. He abruptly informed me he would not sell the cabin to me. Against the united wishes of all his children he sold it to an outsider denying us even the opportunity of buying the cabin. To this day I am not sure why he acted as he did.
During the summer a good friend, Norma Hernandez, called me in some distress from El Paso. The Anglo American stake presidency headed by President Turley had abruptly closed down
202
their Spanish speaking ward, confiscated their building funds, and ordered the members to attend the nearest English ward. He excommunicated or disfellowshipped Mexican Americans who protested. Rudy Hernandez, Norma's husband, was one of these excommunicated and she was disfellowshipped. I simply could not believe that the Church leadership could be so blind as to close down Spanish speaking wards and branches all over the Church. It was an incredibly bad policy. Many Mexican American members went inactive. Some left the Church. Missionary work among the Mexican American people was badly damaged. I wrote a letter to Apostle Faust attacking the policy and pointing out the damage that it was doing the Church. His first response was to agree with me. Then later he adopted a more ambivalent position. Years later, a church sponsored research project found out that Spanish speaking members paid more offerings in Spanish language wards and branches, held more positions, and went on more missions than did those in English speaking wards. The policy was then reversed. Today there are many Spanish language branches and wards in the United States.
Ruth spent much of 1972 in periodic fits of depression and inactivity. Slowly she gained back her good spirits, read heavily, and as her strength permitted attended church and began to plan her genealogical research. Daniel's pressure on her grew so great that after a quarrel he moved out and dropped out of high school. I suspect that if Ruth had not been in the unfortunate condition in which she was that both of us might have handled Daniel better. David won a musical scholarship to the University of Utah and graduating from high school with honors entered the University in the summer quarter. He added the University of Utah symphony to the list of symphony orchestras he played for.
Ruth's health improved during 1973. She began to read intensively and to take a greater interest in Genealogy. David did all he could to assist his mother as did Keith. Unfortunately Daniel became ever more of a family problem. In spite of his working in the tire shop at Penney's he exerted severe pressure on Ruth for money and refused to participate in family life. He tried to join the military but was rejected because of a bad back due to an extra vertebrae. The extra vertebrae forced him to drop out of the sports that might have kept him in school. He could not sit for very long and teachers were neither sympathetic nor understanding of his need to stand for periods of time during class periods. Because of my preoccupation with Ruth, I was more hostile toward him than I might have been. Daniel became in part a casualty of his mother's unfortunate accident.
My own professional opportunities were sharply circumscribed. I had to turn down many lucrative consulting jobs and invitation to read papers at professional meetings. I did not dare to leave the house. My little Center for the Study of Social Problems was merged with the Bureau of Indian Affairs headed by Lyman Tyler. As I could not travel to Washington D. C. or to New Mexico, my opportunities to secure funding dwindled. I was asked if I wanted to chair the united center that we named the American West Center. I turned down the offer, as I had little enthusiasm for additional responsibilities at this time and encouraged Lyman Tyler to take the position.
Within the department I was asked to served as chair of the Search Committee to select a chair. For some reason Rita Arzt, a very disagreeable sarcastic person, and Ray Channing did all they could to sabotage the operations of the search committee. I therefore resigned as chair. The committee committed the error of selecting a former University of Utah graduate student, Lee Bean, as the new chair. Choleric and temperamental, Lee virtually destroyed the department before his nine-year stint as department chair came to an end.
I enjoyed watching the strange antics of newly-hired, freshly minted faculty members. They were an exotic species indeed. William and Susan Gustavus divorced and both left the department.
203
William went to a school in Texas close to his family ranch, and Susan to the University of Cincinnati. Susan Gerulik came and went, unable to get along with many junior faculty. Jerry Smith circulated a memo to the department announcing his divorce and demanding that the faculty not talk about it. His wife was a very fine individual who had no trouble remarrying after the divorce. Jerry shortly married another member of the department, Marlene Lehtinen. Many rumors about the sexual, social, and feuding activities of this group circulated among both graduate students and faculty. It was like watching a Theater of the Absurd.
On the evening of January 17, 1973, I happened to enter the university library locale and found Fred Hagen, a member of the Department of Philosophy attacking the Mormon Church. I interrupted him and told him he knew little about Mormonism and even less about Marxism. Needless to say we had an acrimonious discussion. It was incredible that he would attack the Church when the legislature was sitting. He may have cost the university considerable financial support. I had grown tired of the sneers, the innuendos, and the attacks against the Church by many faculty members whose salaries were paid by Mormon taxpayers. The gentile anti-Mormonism so fashionable among the editors of the Chronicle and many faculty members irritated me no end.
During the school year I did manage to get down to the Coronado Room of the Zimmerman Library, University of New Mexico, to research their collections for land grant materials several times. During one of my trips, I lunched with an old friend, Patrick J. McNamara, a former Catholic priest, whom I had hired for UTEP. He did not stay long after I had left. He told me he had been trapped in a harsh department feud between the Old Left and the New Left of the 1960's. The department had expanded so rapidly that new faculty members primarily from California outnumbered the old faculty. When the chair of the department went to Sweden, the new faculty called a department meeting and deposed him. They announced that all students with good attendance records would receive 'A's. In the violent clash that resulted upon the return of the chair, the new faculty and their graduate students were forced to leave. McNamara, trying to stay out of the fighting, was attacked by both sides. He was denied tenure by the department but granted tenure by the University administration. The faculty without success protested all the way to the board of Regents.
During one trip I managed to visit the Alianza headquarters. Reies Tijerina told me that the Alianza had received a substantial grant from the national office of the Presbyterian Church over the heated protest of the New Mexico synod. I learned from several members present that the Alianza was declining rapidly in membership. Large numbers of members could not accept the shift in Alianza emphasis from land grants, education, and discrimination to Brotherhood. The grant proved the death of the Alianza as considerable discord leading to factionalism broke out over the expenditure of the grant.
A man whom I admired very much, Lieutenant-Governor Robert Mondragon of New Mexico, spoke at the University of Utah during Chicano Week. A fine guitarist and Spanish singer, he knows New Mexico intimately. We had a fine time discussing the problems of the Spanish Americans in New Mexico and possible remedies until the morning hours of several nights. El Teatro Popular de la Vida y la Muerte from southern California presented several interesting plays. Bert Corona, Reies Tijerina, Angel Gutierrez, and Dolores de la Huerta, all participated in the programs of Chicano week in early February. All were old friend and allies from the Chicano movement. Andrew Valdez was president of the Chicano Students' Association and Gilbert Ramirez was called by Governor Rampton to be his Hispanic ombudsman. Thus the year ended peaceably.
204
The most important event for our family during 1974 was David's call to the Bolivian mission. He had wanted to be called to an European mission where he could learn another language. I had personally hoped that he might be called to Argentina or Brazil. We rushed out to find all the books on Bolivia that we could and to outfit him for his mission. We bought all the items recommended by his mission president plus several extra pairs of shoes. The cost came to about $1200.00 We deposited him in the mission home on February 4th. He called us early the next morning to announce that he was running a high fever and had severe pains in one ear. We took him to Dr. Perkins of the Salt Lake Clinic who recommended that we keep him in bed for several days and dose him with antibiotics. He recovered enough to travel down to the Mission school on the B.Y.U. campus with his group. Much to our surprise Ruth came down with pneumonia and was in bed herself for a week. We had to bring David back to Salt Lake City once a week for treatment for a punctured eardrum. Gradually the eardrum cleared up. He managed to leave for Bolivia as a leader of his group of missionaries on April 17th. Little did we know that his mission would determine the course of his future life.
Daniel moved in and out during the year. We gave up trying to influence him in any way, and were able to contain his pressures on his mother. He worked for Penny's Auto Service for a few months and then went to work for a roofing company that ended when he burned himself. but he did learn how to roof a house. He got into serious problems with law enforcement agencies, but we managed to contain the damage. Keith barely graduated from junior high school although he did very well in seminary and track. Ruth continued to recover physically from her tragic accident. She did not return to graduate school but continued to play the piano every day gradually recovering her dexterity.
As Ruth was recovering, I tried to put my professional life back together. On March 7th I was invited by the Federal Civil rights Commission on Minority Education to testify on the educational needs and problems of Mexican American students. Bruce Gardiner, a former Commissioner of Education, gave a fine presentation on the advantages of bilingual education. I encountered many old friends such as Cecilia Cosca, a former student then employed in Washington, D.C., Tom Carter, Jose Rubio, Senator Joe Montoya from New Mexico, A. Vasquez from East Las Vegas, and much to my surprise former Father Casco who had left the Catholic priesthood and married. On my way back to Salt Lake City, I stopped off in Albuquerque to work in the Coronado room for several days.
On March 12 and 24, I participated in a BYU University conference on Chicano Affairs sponsored by Sidney Shreeve, an old friend of the Brigham Young University and the Chicano Mobile Institute of Utah. I spoke on cultural and social trends among Mexican Americans. Gloria Ramirez, Orlando Rivera, Epifanio Welch, and Carlos Esqueda from the University of Utah and Salt Lake City participated also.
Carlos Esqueda from California came to the University of Utah to head the Ethnic Studies Program. An abrasive product of the California barrios, he ran a very fine program but antagonized a good part of the Mexican American population of Utah. He became president of Socio and soon involved the organization in controversy.
On March 27th with travel funds provided by Carlos I traveled to El Paso. The Dinsmoors picked me up and drove me to Las Cruces. I participated in a conference on the Mexican American border sponsored by New Mexico State University. I enjoyed talking to such old friends as Charles Loomis, Carl Kraenzel, Clyde Eastmen, Julius Romero, and Graciela Olivarez.
And on June 13, Orlando Rivera, Lyman Shreeve, and I met with Dr. Christensen, a Brother Ashton and several other Church representatives to present our case against the policy of closing down
205
Spanish speaking wards and branches. I did not know how much influence we had. On June 20th I had the pleasure of listening to Cesar Chavez in Carpenter Hall speaking on the social and economic conditions of farm workers.
Santiago Anaya and Camilo Sanchez came to see me from Albuquerque on July 9th. Leaders of a dissident faction of the Alianza, they told me that the Campaign for Brotherhood had splintered the Alianza. The Albuquerque police continued to harass Alianza members and leaders. Their faction had opened a bilingual school in Martinez Town and were working for bilingual education, return of the land grants, and an end to discrimination. Considerable hostility existed between them and Tijerina. At their insistence, I flew down to Albuquerque to meet with their group on July 11th. I also visited the Alianza office but Reyes was not in. I learned that Bill Higgs had become an assistant to Congressman Hawker of California. I also took advantage of the visit to work with Jerry Holmlund of the University of New Mexico and of the Forest Service on programs designed to improve the economic conditions of the villages surrounding the national forest. I spoke to a large group of National Forest and University people on causes of the hostility of the local Spanish American population to the forest Service, land loss, and Spanish American history and culture. I urged the Forest Service to hire as many Spanish Americans as they could.
Ted Smith, Wade Andrews, and I flew to Montreal, Canada, to attend the meetings of the Rural Sociological Society in late August. I read a paper on "Causes of Poverty in Northern New Mexico". I walked into the registration room of the Victoria College where the rural Sociological Society was meeting and heard young people speaking Spanish. For a moment I had the eerie feeling that I had crossed the Mexican border. I found out that they were from Santo Domingo.
Wade and I had a fine time. We took a Greyhound tour of Quebec for only five dollars. The farm land between Montreal and Quebec was extremely poor as were the crops and the livestock. But Quebec was a marvelous town. We toured the Churches, the historic part of town, the Plains of Abraham, etc. I quite enjoyed the tour. Quebec and Montreal are two cities that I would like to know better.
Ted Smith, Keith Warner, Harold Capener, Sheldon Lowry, Bob Gray, and I explored Montreal on foot walking miles and miles. I fell in love with Montreal. We ended up in a working class French speaking music hall where we remained until late at night listening to music and watching the dancing couples. I was elected chair of next year's poverty committee. I met with Gary King, chair of the Development committee of the society to discuss methods of increasing membership among minority people.
Once the rural meetings were over, Wade and I flew to Washington D.C.; he to beat the federal bushes for funding for water projects and I to research land grants at the Federal Archives. I had the pleasure of touring the newly built LDS Washington, D.C. temple, a tour conducted by Richard Call, missionary son of Ruth's sister Ann and her husband Everett.
On November 3rd, I returned to Albuquerque, invited to make a presentation on the causes of Rural Poverty in northern New Mexico and the failure of government programs to reduce poverty in the report before the Congressional Subcommittee on Rural Development. Congressman Reznick, chair of the subcommittee, and congressmen Montgomery, Goodling, Mathias, and Zwach were present. I followed the governor of New Mexico, David Cargo, and Father Garcia. I quite enjoyed the questions of members of the subcommittee and managed to strengthen the conclusions drawn by those who preceded me on the causes of poverty in northern New Mexico. I sent them a collection of
206
my articles on northern New Mexico which were included in the printed report. At the conclusion of the hearings I went over to Las Vegas to talk to the faculty in ethnic studies. All of them asked me when I was returning to Las Vegas. Once again I had a hard time containing my tears.
I worked at the Coronado room on land grant material. I encountered Ross Benedict, an old friend of mine. He took me to lunch and then over to meet his daughter Bevina, a radical student at UNM, a stone carver and jeweler. Ross had another daughter who was murdered under mysterious circumstances in New Mexico. Ross was one of the shadowy figures floating around the outskirts of the Alianza and other protest movements. I never knew who he represented.
Robert Dinsmoor was called to the North Brazilian Mission. His mother and other members of his family drove up on November 8th to visit us and to put Robert in the Mission Home. Robert served a fine mission.
The Department of Sociology visibly began to wilt in 1974. The new chair, Lee Bean, was a deeply ambitious, insecure, mercurial, and unlovable sort of man. Shortly after his arrival, he openly favored junior faculty over senior faculty in salary matters, publicly attacked the senior faculty time after time until shell-shocked, they retired into a bomb shelter, castigated them for not serving as role models to graduate students and permitted George Miller, a deeply insecure, highly neurotic individual to savage members of the junior and senior faculty. George was temperamental, malicious, unable to cooperate with anyone. Dennis Willigan and Glen Vernon opposed almost every chair after Lee Bean and stood in opposition to efforts to improve the department. I had a deep pity for all of them. Analyzing the situation, I distanced myself completely from the department, did not get involved in factionalism, and deliberately created an aura of aloofness around me. As a result I was not hurt by the deterioration of the department as so many were. I created a very rich and deeply satisfying life for myself outside the university and kept my family as far away from the school as possible.
Unfortunately during my absence from a department meeting in the fall of 1975 I was nominated to the position of chair of the RTP committee for 1974-75. Bob Gray was chosen as scribe. The two of us, for unknown reasons, determined to keep detailed and comprehensive notes of the proceedings and to issue minutes devoid of personalities. The minutes became an account of motions made, seconded, and actions taken. Several times during our meetings George Miller and Glen Vernon walked out in protest of the way the discussions were handled. I ran a very tight Robert Rules of Order type of meeting, keeping everything under control. Rita Arzt who had come up for promotion and tenure was denied both. Lionel Maldonado and Marlene Lehtinen were also denied promotion. It soon became obvious that everything that was said in the RTP deliberations was leaked by Ray Channing to the outside world in a twisted fashion.
Lionel Maldonado, Rita Arzt, Marlene Lehtinen, Ray Channing, and Jerry Smith formed a bitter faction opposed to Lee Bean, George Miller, and Glen Vernon. Ted Smith, Robert Gray, Max Carruth, and I refused to become involved in the infighting. The two factions listened to each other's telephone conversations. Offices were broken into, files rifled, keys stolen, and junior faculty intimidated.
Although I did not travel in 1975 as much as in the early 1970's, I was kept quite busy by professional and community activities. I served on the boards of the Utah Rural Development corporation, the Central City Community Center, the Granite Mental Health, the governor's bilingual council, and worked closely with Socio.
I spoke to the Latin American Student Association at the B.Y.U. on the Alianza and Tijerina
207
on February 6th. Then on February 28th I presented a tentative paper on accommodation in Utah to the Charles Redd Foundation at the B.Y.U. who published it as part of their Charles Redd Series on the American West. Ted Smith, Robert Gray, and I attended the meetings of the Utah Sociological Society at the B/Y.U. where I read a paper on conflict theory. And on March 7th, I drove to Logan to lecture on the Spanish Americans at a seminar in the Department of Sociology, Utah State University. I had dinner with Wade Andrews and his wife in their new home located on the banks of a river.
During the middle of March with travel funds provided by Carlos Esqueda I flew to San Antonio to attend the meetings of the Southwestern Social Science Association. I read a paper on the Spanish Americans, talked to many old friends, and also walked around the central area and toured the Alamo, wishing that the Mexicans had totally defeated the Texans in the Texan Revolution. I had to fly back to Salt Lake City before the meetings were over to participate in a panel discussion on Mormon Gentile Relationships organized by Gordon Harrington from Weber College. at the meetings of the Utah Academy of Arts and Sciences.
On May 1 I flew to Denver to attend the sessions of the Rocky Mountain Social Science Association. I had organized a program on Chicano Studies and one on Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico. From Denver I went on to Albuquerque to appear before the Congressional Subcommittee on Equal Opportunities chaired by Congressman Hawkins of California. congressman Benitez and Buchanan were also present. My old friend Bill Higgs was there as Hawkins legislative assistant. In my introductory statement I poured out my love and respect for the Spanish American people before a very large and hushed audience of Spanish Americans. I then discussed the causes of poverty in Northern New Mexico, the types of exploitation visited upon the Spanish Americans, and the need for land reform. I was followed by Santiago Anaya and a spokesman for the Alianza.
Upon my return to Salt Lake City, I was informed that Rita Arzt and Marlene Lehtinen had filed charges of sexist, and arbitrary and capricious treatment against Lee Bean, the chair of the Department, the college Dean, and the entire department RTP committee; in spite of the fact that the College RTP, the Dean, and the University UPTAC committee had supported the conclusions of the department RTP committee.
My old friend Ben Luebke from the University of Tennessee and his wife came through Salt Lake City. He was a radical interested in anarchist doctrines, a pacifist, and Christian socialist. I looked forward to his annual visit. He was always good for several all night discussions which I enjoyed.
During the spring of 1975, a small group of us decided to organize the Center for Land Grant Research to sponsor research into the history of the Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico and to prepare documentation for law suits designed to secure the return of the land grants. The original members of the Center were Chuck Dumars, an Albuquerque lawyer; Roxanne Dunbar, a New Mexican graduate student; Malcolm Ebright, Mora county lawyer; Sid Flores, Spanish American graduate student; Em Hall, Pecos lawyer; Lorenzo Garcia, Santa Fe resident; David Levine, Albuquerque law students; John Thorne, San Jose, California lawyer; John Walker, Albuquerque lawyer; Ron Montoya, resident of Albuquerque; Ted Parnall, law professor, University of New Mexico; Bill Piatt of Albuquerque; Betty Head, lawyer, Albuquerque; Cruz Reynoso, law professor, University of New Mexico and later member of the California Supreme Court; Richard Rock, abstractor, Albuquerque; Richard Rosenstock, lawyer in Tierra Amarillo, New Mexico; Frances Swadesh, ethnohistorian, Santa Fe, New Mexico; and John Van Ness, anthropologist. The center developed a long list of high quality publications in the area of New Mexican land grant studies.
208
The State Department of Education and the University of Utah sponsored an Intermountain Multi-Ethnic, Multi-Lingual Conference from April 17th to April 19th for public school teachers. Carlos Esqueda, Mr. George Campbell, Utah State board of Education and Jackie Weslie of Chicano Studies were the coordinators and sponsors. The conference covered culture of the Chicano, Teaching strategies in Bilingual Bicultural Education; Early Childhood Training, Curriculum Material Development; Processes of Bilingual Education, and Evaluation Techniques. I spoke on the educational needs and problems of Mexican American children and on Mexican American history, culture, and values. It was a most enjoyable conference.
On August 19th I flew to San Francisco to attend the meetings of the rural and National sociological Societies. As usual, I checked into the YMCA hotel located in the combat zone. Ted Smith and Robert Gray checked in a few hours later. As they were at the desk, a young man in front of them requested a light for his cigarette from another man nearby who abruptly refused him. The young man pulled a knife and swung it toward Ted who hastily referred him to Bob saying he had neither match or a lighter. As the man turned toward Robert, a woman from behind the desk came out from behind the desk and took the knife away from the man and expelled him from the hotel. Robert and Ted hastily shifted to another hotel the next day. As we were walking down a street a woman begging in the street kicked Ted when he turned her down. I read a paper on the Mexican American family. Missing one day of meetings, I walked to the Golden Gate Park Museum to tour the fabulous Chinese exhibition.
My last trip during the year was to Las Cruces to attend a Chicano Students conference. Enjoyed talking to students from Highlands and UTEP. I found out that I was still remembered at both schools. I read a paper on the Alianza. After the conference, Robert Dinsmoor drove me back to El Paso. I stayed with the Dinsmoors for several days. I went to church at our old ward.
On December 11, a bombshell exploded on campus. Dr. Carlos Esqueda, who had received a Doctor of Education Degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and was head of the University of Utah Chicano Studies Program, was charged with theft by deception, and forgery. He converted university checks made out to diverse individuals to his own account. He embezzled around $10,000. When questioned, he abandoned his wife and children and fled to Mexico. He came to the University in 1972, taught educational administration, was called to be director of Chicano Studies and then acting director of the ethnic studies program. He held the office of President of Socio and chair of the Governor's Committee on Spanish speaking affairs. The Esqueda affair was not the only blow to the Mexican American community. Mexican American directors of several anti-poverty programs such as Adela, the Utah Migrant Council, and the Davis County Cap were under criminal investigation for embezzlement of government funds.
Ruth's health improved considerably through 1975. She regained almost full use of her right arm and could play the organ with almost all of her old skill. She became the equivalent of a professional genealogist, going to the genealogical library with her mother and with my sister Jerry several times a week. Dr. Harris told Ruth that she had to reduce tension and eliminate feelings of guilt over Daniel's conduct. He was now working for Reams in their meat department and for the first time was taking a job seriously. He came and went as he pleased.
David was having a very successful mission. He had become a translator and interpreter for mission authorities and was a zone leader. His letters were filled with the spirit of his mission. Keith coasted through high school doing as little as possible. A member of the football team, he damaged
209
his shoulder in a game and played little after that. The shoulder eventually required an operation. Our family increased during the year. Ronald Knowlton, Paul's oldest son had returned from a southern Brazilian mission. He displaced his younger brother Richard from his position as chief support of his mother who came under ever more serious ill treatment from his neurotic father. Richard ran away and was picked up by juvenile authorities. Richard refused to go home and said he wanted to live with us. We took him in and he lived with us as a family member during his high school years. His father contributed nothing to his support. During the summer David's close friend William Dinsmoor, having finished his mission in Hong Kong, enrolled at the Brigham Young University majoring in East Asian history. During the summer of 1976 he lived with us while working at the University of Utah bookstore. As a veteran, I was shocked at the panicky, disorganized withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. I was never sure that we should have gone into Vietnam, but once in we should have fought a far better war than we did. It seemed to me that both our civilian and military leadership was mediocre and ineffectual during the war. The anti-Vietnamese movement never attracted me. It did not really begin until middle class college students lost their draft deferment. Lacking any real understanding of the ideological, tactical, historical, and geographical variables involved it sought refuge in posturing, rhetoric, anti-Americanism, and empty demonstrations. I was embittered by their treatment of Vietnam veterans, their families, and the military in general.
The year 1976 was a reasonably decent year for the Knowltons. Ruth's health improved to such a degree that she and I decided to meet David in Mexico City as he returned from his mission. Fortunately I was on sabbatical during the 1975 winter quarter and the 1976 spring quarter. Daniel drove Ruth and me to the airport on February 24th. We flew to Los Angeles and then to Mexico City. Gilberto Lopez, a former student at the University of Utah, met us at the airport and drove us to the Regis Hotel where we were staying. Several hours later he drove us back to the airport to pick up David and his five missionary companions. David told us that they had traveled from La Paz to Peru, and flown from there to San Salvador where they were stopped by a major earthquake that closed airports throughout Central America. They contacted a Mormon bishop in San Salvador who told them he was driving a truck loaded with supplies for the Church members in Guatemala City and would enjoy their company. From Guatemala City they flew to Mexico City.
Mexico City was a monstrosity, totally different from the Mexico city I had known in 1942. The air pollution, the traffic, and the endless urban sprawl were poisonous signs of overgrowth. But we did enjoy going through the Anthropology museum, one of the finest museums that I have ever seen. During our stay we visited most of the museums in and around Mexico City, the zoo, Chapultepec Castle and Park, and the Basilica de Guadalupe. Right in the middle of our stay I was shocked to receive a telegram from Pete Gardiner, University of Utah vice president, asking me to return immediately to Salt Lake City for consultation on a Rita Arzt case. I refused, citing my agreement to lecture to George Bustamante's seminar on the border at the Colegio de Mexico.
We attended the English speaking ward and were glad to see Gene and Diane Clark Whetton and their family. They invited us to dinner. The Sunday School Class was taught by an old missionary companion of mine, Harold Brown, the Church representative in Mexico city. Curtis Whetton, their son drove us over to the campus of the University of Mexico and then to see the Juarez Academy belonging to the Church. We were in Mexico City for a week.
David returned with glowing reports from his mission president. On March 14th, he reported
210
to the ward and then enrolled at the University of Utah as a major in Anthropology. A few months later he was called on a special mission for two years to the Spanish speaking residents of the Salt Lake City area. His companion was Richard Bay, a returned Spanish speaking missionary resident in our ward.
Ruth underwent three operations during 1976. Her goiter was removed. Her uterus was scraped and finally she had a complete D and C. But in spite of this her activities in genealogy and in ward music steadily increased. She had resumed her piano teaching and the late afternoon hours were filled with curious sounds.
Daniel, although skating on the thin edge of the law, was taking his job as an apprentice meatcutter more seriously. How he managed with so little sleep, I will never know. Keith became a bathroom potato. He would arise after being called many times, enter the bathroom covered by his blanket, turn the water on in the bathtub, and them promptly fall asleep on the floor. Once we awakened him as water was seeping out into the hall. Another time Daniel in desperation removed the bathroom door to find him in slumber on the floor after several hours of possession. I doubt that he was on time more than once or twice during his entire high school experience. But he was popular with students and teachers, bored with his classes, an avid reader of books on war, collector of war games, and popular with the young ladies.
In early April our family expanded again. Linda Knowlton, Richard Knowlton's sister, requested permission to come and live with us alleging fear of her father. After some thought, Ruth and I accepted her. She fit quite well into our overcrowded home. An extremely talented, intelligent, and charming girl she knew far more than her brothers what she wanted in life and how to get it. Besides the Knowltons, various members of the Dinsmoor family from El Paso lived with us for varying periods of time. We always had an overflowing house. In order to avoid any problems with Paul, I had myself appointed Linda and Rick's legal guardian. Linda did extremely well in high school.
Keith barely graduated from high school. As the summer began he was very restless not knowing what to do with himself. So with Ruth’s concurrence, I enrolled him in the summer quarter at the university. Much to my surprise, He became a totally different student, getting up early in the morning to go to class, doing his homework, and studying very hard. He made the comment at the end of the quarter that the university was where he belonged. From then on we had no difficulties with Keith of any kind.
My professional life picked up a little during 1976. On January 11th, I was in Albuquerque to spend a few days working on land grant materials and state court records in the Coronado Room at the University of New Mexico. I spent my evenings with old friends. I also traveled several times to Santa Rosa to visit the Guadalupe county Records and went over to Las Vegas to look at Las Vegas Grant Records.
While there I had a long talk with Ralph Carlyle Smith, Vice President of Highlands, who told me Angel was failing as Highland's president. I renewed contacts with old allies such as Eloy Ludi, head of the local employment security office; Anselmo Sedillo, county extension agent, and Peter Trambly, a member of a Mora County Hispano-Anglo family, Dorothy Beimer, and Facundo Valdez, faculty members at Highlands; Jack Landstra, former student of mine and now San Miguel County planner and Judge Angel. Every time I go to Las Vegas I leave with "muitas saudades".
On April 27th I flew to Phoenix to attend the meetings of the Rocky Mountain Social Science Association. I was chair in several sessions in Land Grant and Chicano Studies. I quite enjoyed the beautiful campus of Arizona State University. I went for many long walks. I encountered Ellwyn
211
Stoddard at a grocery store. He again gave me a long sad tale about the conditions at UTEP. I returned to Salt Lake City to find that Keith had wrecked our Mercury. Once again when we could least afford to we had to buy a new car.
In the spring a leftwing Chicano conference, The National Chicano Forum, was held in Salt Lake City, sponsored by, I think, the Communist Party. The surveillance was tough and almost no Anglos were permitted. Archie Archuleta, a Communist, and an old friend brought me in. Abelardo Delgado was there. His presence hurt him severely at the University of Utah where he was employed. Still restless, I returned to Albuquerque to work in the Guadalupe County records. I encountered Lorenzo Marquez, a former student and current manager of the local supermarket. I returned to Salt Lake City on June 11th.
My old friend from childhood days Roland Thunell died from Cancer in Ontario, California where he had spent his adult life as a high school teacher. A son taught in the Cottonwood High School seminary. Roland was one of the finest friends that I ever had. To balance news of his death, the Rubén Peña family from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, stayed with us during June conference. They had treated David very well in Bolivia. We quite enjoyed their company.
Conditions in the department deteriorated quite rapidly during the year. On August 20th, the Advisory Committee organized by the University Senate chaired by Robert R. Kadesh, Physics Department and consisting of Donna M. Gelfand, Psychology Department, and Earl Harmer, College of Education, issued a report on August 10th finding the department guilty of discriminating against Rita Arzt and Marlene Lehtinen. For months as chair of the RTP Committee, I tried without success to secure a copy of the report. The report was rejected by the university administration. Vice President Pete Gardiner was assigned the task of writing an administration reply to the report.
The fall 1976 RTP Committee, chaired by Glen Vernon, turned down Maldonado's petition for tenure and promotion. I felt very sorry for Maldonado. I personally liked him and his wife. I could never understand how he became part of the Arzt faction. I personally begged him not to be involved in departmental factionalism. His only child, a son, got involved in a bar fight and killed a man, spending many years in the Utah penitentiary as a result.
On August 26th, Ted Smith and I flew to New York City to attend meetings of the rural and national sociological societies. I was chair of the minority session of the rural and read a paper on the Spanish Americans. William Kuvleski, Ted Smith and I visited the Metropolitan Museum and spent most of a day going through the high quality exhibits. I especially enjoyed the exhibits on the early Middle Eastern and Egyptian cultures. The next day Ted and I visited the large building owned by the Church and talked to several Central American young men called on missions.
Returning home, I was shocked at Democratic Congressman Allan T. Howe's behavior. He was picked up by the Salt Lake City police for soliciting sex from a prostitute and found guilty. He refused to resign from the Democratic ticket, condemning the ticket to almost total defeat in the November elections, except for Matheson, for governor. I was shocked at the immaturity of the Utah electorate in turning out of office the third most powerful senator in the National Senate, Senator Moss. That is the sort of political naiveté that the South never suffered from. Moss had just reached the position where he could really do things for Utah.
On the University level Carlos Esqueda returned to campus on February 11 to post a $5,000 dollar bond. He pled guilty to a second degree felony in connection with the alleged theft of funds from the university. He offered to repay the money. He jumped his bond and fled to Mexico for the
212
second time. During 1976 William G. Bruhn, Director of Community Affairs and a top aid to governor
Rampton, came under ever heavy fire for (1) selling possibly bad securities to state employees; (2) forcing directors of anti-poverty programs to deposit their federal funds in a bank in which he had a financial interest; and (3) protecting project directors under fire for embezzlement of government funds. As director of the Community Affairs branch of the state government he had charge of all anti- poverty programs in the state. Gilbert Ramirez was Governor Rampton's Chicano Ombudsman and former director of the Davis County Cap. Upon leaving the governor's office, he was appointed director of the Utah Migrant Council Ben Payne was executive director of Adela, a federal funded agency to assist minority members to establish small businesses. Heads of other anti-poverty agencies tried to protest to Rampton over being forced to deposit funds in Bruhn's bank but were thrown out of the governor's office. Both Ramirez and Payne were found guilty of embezzlement and sent to the Utah State Penitentiary. Thus three major Chicano Leaders, Estrada, Ramirez, and Payne were convicted of embezzlement of government funds.
The Chicano Community was enraged by an incident that took place on May 25th. The community sponsored a major dance at the Terrace Ballroom. Two drunken Mexican Americans got into a fight just before the dance ended. Police were called and responded with dogs. The dogs were released just as the dance ended and large numbers of people exited the dance hall to be confronted by angry biting dogs and club waving policemen without any knowledge of what was taking place. The American Civil Liberty's Union agreed to take their case, and eventually a settlement with the city government was reached. It was one of the very few times that the Salt Lake City police lost control of a situation and responded badly.
My two quarter Sabbatical was very fruitful. Ruth and I traveled to Mexico. I was able to do research in government records in New Mexico and Washington, D.C. Above all, my sabbatical enabled me to miss department meetings for two quarters and thus isolate myself even more from the vicious destructive department factionalism.
On January 24th, 1977, my old Center for the Study of Social Problems ceased to exist. I had not been able to secure grants from any public agency. Almost all of my friends in the old Office of Economic Opportunity had either left government service or been transferred to old line departments. Federal funding for programs for the poor and for the minority groups became scarce. To secure funds would have meant constant traveling to Washington D.C. to lobby government departments. This I was no longer willing to do. Furthermore, Dean Procacy refused to allocate any further moneys from his budget. Thus the only university center providing services to the poor and to minority groups ceased to exist, in contrast to the many university centers and bureaus providing services to private corporations and government agencies.
I went into the Department of Sociology fulltime with many reservations. The Rita Arzt case was the most important department event in 1977. Rita and Marlene Lehtinen had brought suit against the department charging sexist discrimination. Although the college R.T.P. Committee, the Dean, UPTAC, the university-wide RTP committee, and the vice president had all supported the decisions of the department RTP Committee, the Kadesh Committee did not. Its report supported the claims of Rita and Marlene, but their report was a poor work of art and the vice president's response blew it up. So the case went to Judge Allen _______ court. The university attorney, Henry Nygard, defended us superbly. I quite enjoyed the give and take with the lawyer for the defense. Representatives of
213
university feminist and women's groups testified that Rita had systematically discriminated against girls in her classes. They testified that she was a very poor teacher who seldom returned tests or other class materials. During Nygard's questioning of Rita, she was forced under oath to admit that Ray Channing had systematically leaked confidential RTP material to selected members of the department over many years. Ray Channing from that moment on ceased to play a major role in the department. We waited for the jury to return to the courtroom when it went out with some trepidation. We were delighted when the jury found against Rita and Marlene. Bob and I waited to talk to jury members. They told us that if they could have separated the charges against members of the RTP Committee, the Dean, and the Vice President from those against Miller and Bean, they would have found the latter guilty as charged. Glen Vernon was also mortally wounded during 1977. He pleaded guilty to an obscenity charge. I learned from sources within the University security Department that university police had arrested him twice for similar offenses. I felt sorry for his wife and children. A closet homosexual, he had a fine family and was active in the Church. He also was pushed to department sidelines.
During 1977 conditions in the department continued to deteriorate. Bean systematically discriminated against the senior faculty in matters of salary, class scheduling, and access to department resources. He set up a two-tier faculty, those teaching graduate courses and those who did not, and favored the former over the latter. He claimed, falsely it turned out, that the new dean Irv Altman was pushing such a concept.
Carlos Esqueda was arrested in Fresno, California, that October by FBI agents who charged him with illegal flight to avoid prosecution. He was released on bail. According to his attorney, Esqueda had become a born again Christian. He found employment as president of a privately owned Farm workers University. And on April 21, 1977, he was sentenced by Judge Stewart M. Hanson to an indefinite term in the Utah State prison not to exceed five years. I felt quite sorry for Esqueda. He was a man of considerable talent, very articulate, and apparently committed to Chicano causes.
Governor Scott Matheson endeared himself to the Chicano community by speaking at the Chicano Awards Banquet in the month of April. Two students of mine received awards with cash stipends; Frank A. Cordova, head of the Mexican Students Association received an undergraduate student scholarship; and a graduate Scholarship was award to Armando Juarez, my research assistant. Andrew Valdez was given a professional school award.
On October 14th, a Chicano conference with the theme "Progress through Unity" was held at the Salt Palace, sponsored by Chicano Studies, Socio, and other Chicano organizations. Ed Mayer, director of Ethnic Studies and a Chicano spoke on the problems encountered by Chicanos in school and Joe Trujillo, one of the conference organizers on the problems they face in higher education. Other Chicano speakers from around the state spoke on similar themes. I made it a point to attend as many Chicano conferences as I can and quite enjoyed this one.
John Medina now worked as the Chicano ombudsman for governor Matheson and Ricardo Sanchez, an outstanding Chicano poet and former convict who grew up in South El Paso before I moved to El Paso was now a poet in residence on campus. He gave several poetry readings which I attended. We had several long talks about south El Paso.
During the first of the year 1978 I was among those selected by the Chicano Community leaders to try to salvage the Utah Migrant Council. Our committee met all during 1977 and found sufficient evidence of malfeasance and misconduct in office to fire the director Richard Martinez who later was found guilty of embezzlement and sent to jail. We hired Michael Weathers, a former Utah
214
Vista volunteer, whom I knew quite well, to replace him. The name of the organization was changed from the Utah Migrant council to the Utah Rural Development Corporation. We managed to appease the Federal Government and the agency continued to flourish under Weathers’ leadership. I became a regular board member. The corporation purchased the former Midvale City hall as its headquarters.
Around the end of September, Frank Cordova, Armando Diaz, Robert "Archie" Archuleta, the leaders of Socio and I organized a conference on the plight of the undocumented worker. the conference was entitled, "The Utah State conference in Defense of the Undocumented worker". We invited as the major speaker, Jose Angel Gutierrez, founder of the Texas Raza Unida Party, an old friend of mine from Texas. I enjoyed several long conversations with hi. As usual, he gave a fiery speech in favor of the undocumented workers. Films were shown and President Carter's immigration legislation was discussed. The conference held in the Centro Civico drew a large crowd. This was the real beginning of the Utah Immigration Project headed by Armando Diaz of the Catholic Community Services with Archie Archuleta, myself, and a number of Chicano leaders and Anglo sympathizers forming a board.
On February 19th, I rode to St. George with Craig ____ from Utah State University to give a presentation on the Impact of the Depression on Washington County as part of a series of lectures on Utah history organized by Dr. Charles Peterson. The lecture held on the campus of Dixie college drew a good audience. I managed to get many older people to talk about their depression experiences. While in St. George I managed to walk around a good part of the town. I noted that most towns south of Payson were not flourishing.
April 21st took Bob Gray, Ted Smith, and myself to the cosmopolitan Hotel in Denver to attend the meetings of the Western Social Science Association, the former Rocky Mountain Social Science Association. I chaired two sessions, a land grant session and a session on Human Adjustment to Arid Lands. Several years ago, all the social scientist members of CODAZR were brutally expelled from the organization by the directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Southwestern and Rocky Mountain Division and replaced by biological and physical scientists. In revenge I issued a call for those interested to come together this year at the WSSA meetings and effect an arid lands organization. I organized the first session for the new group. We met and with considerable enthusiasm called ourselves the Association for Arid Land Studies. Promptly, Idris Traylor and Otis Templer representing the Arid Lands Institute at Texas Tech University offered to provide office space, secretarial assistance and funding. We accepted their offer. I am proud of my little baby. It has become one of the stronger regional organizations of its type in the United States.
Both David and Keith were doing very well at the University of Utah. David majored in anthropology and Keith in political science. Both got good grades. Much to my surprise Keith had become a very fine student. Daniel showed no interest in school. He lived from hand to mouth always spending more than he earned, always on the thin edge of the law. At times he lived with us, at times not. But we never saw him at night. I might add that David worked as a night janitor at Penney's in the Cottonwood Mall for several weeks, before moving to the College Bookstore, art supplies department where he worked until graduation.
My old friend Alexander Sacuy visited us in early September with his three boys. Alexander, or Alexandre as I knew him in Brazil, had a very interesting history. A Tcherkess, he was born in the Caucasus Mountains and saw his father and uncles killed by Communist Russian troops. His mother moved the family to Kharkov and concealed their Tcherkess identity. He won a scholarship to medical
215
school in Moscow and had enrolled just as the Germans invaded Russia. He was drafted into the Russian army and thrown into combat. Taken prisoner, he was rotting in a Prisoner of War Camp when a Turkish group visited the camp to locate Russian Moslems. These were taken from the camp and put to work in German defense factories. He learned German very rapidly. When the bombing of Berlin accelerated, he deserted the factory and moved west studying English. He found the Americans and volunteered his services as an interpreter. When the war ended, the American military began the incredibly stupid and indeed criminal policy of shipping all Russian refugees back to Russia where most were either killed or sent to concentration camps. His American officer hid him out until the crazy policy ended and then helped him come to San Paulo, Brazil, where I met him. We became close friends and I helped him get a Canadian visa. Having been a member of a Communist youth organization, he could not come to the United States. He managed to enter the country later. I believe that he was recruited by the C.I.A. and sent to Turkey. He married a Tcherkess girl over there. He retired and moved to Long Beach, California becoming wealthy through his restaurant and real estate business.
Family affairs as always loomed importantly in 1977. We all received quite a shock when my father's useless Utah Sand and Gravel Stock in which he had invested so much money against my mother's wishes suddenly became very valuable. At the request of Clara, he cashed in the stock for almost half a million dollars. Clara tried to secure the money but he invested it in six-month financial notes. Realizing that he may have made a serious mistake, he contacted my sister Jerry who called me. Jerry took him to her lawyer who advised him that the stock was part of the family trust to which he had assigned all of his property over to his children reserving $10,000 for Clara. The lawyer took him to a responsible accountant who advised him of the enormous tax burden he would pay unless he reduced it to $250,000 in size. He therefore, over Clara's intense opposition, gave $3,000 to every child and grandchild in his family. Needless to say, family members deeply appreciated the checks.
The year 1977 was the year that Martha Cabezas came into our lives. She suddenly appeared in Salt Lake City without advising anyone she was coming. She managed to contact David who brought her to our home where she stayed for several weeks. Her money and camera were stolen in Los Angeles. I managed to secure another camera for her, a return ticket to Bolivia, and through the kindness of Apostle Faust a substantial sum of money to meet her needs. I did not realize at the time that this was a reconnaissance trip. She was a very shy Indian-looking girl who was to serve a mission in Bolivia.
On August 31, Bob Gray, Ted Smith, and I flew to Madison, Wisconsin and checked into a dorm on the campus of the University of Wisconsin located on the shores of a large lake. I quite liked Madison. It had excellent ice cream. I was amused at the advertising of pornographic films on the campus. I roomed with Wade Andrews. I was in charge of a poverty session in which I read a paper. On September 4th we went to Chicago by bus to attend the National Sociological Society meetings.
During the year Richard Knowlton received a mission call to the Frankfort German Mission which pleased his mother and German speaking grandmother. His farewell was held on December 4th and he entered the mission home on December 29th. Keith received his mission call to the East Lansing, Michigan Mission. Keith's farewell was held on January 9th. David played a bassoon solo and Ruth and I spoke. I was amused at the number of girls who showed up for his missionary farewell. Upon his arrival in his mission he was assigned as junior partner to a zone leader in Battle Creek, Michigan.
216
Moroni Flores, a son of Moroni Flores, Sr., called me from El Paso on January 27th to report that his father, a member of the stake high council, had been ordered by the Stake Presidency to join an English speaking branch. He refused and was stripped of his membership in the high council and disfellowshipped. Appalled by such an arbitrary and ruthless procedure, I wrote a letter to Apostle Faust relating the facts and protesting the procedure. I received a friendly, but evasive letter. The brutal , arrogant Anglo American stake presidencies of the El Paso Stake have done much harm to the Mexican American members . I suspect that if I had been living in El Paso, I might well have been disfellowshipped or excommunicated, as I would certainly have publicly protested such behavior.
On January 2nd, Ruth and I visited my sister Virginia at the state mental hospital in Provo. I noted that she had become a leader among the patients, had helped to write a patient rights code, and had developed into a promising artist. She functioned very well in a controlled environment, but alas not in the world.
Leaving Virginia, Ruth and I drove over to Goshen, Utah, to visit the community that I had studied for my master's degree. We noted the large number of new orchards between Santaquin and Goshen. The community of Goshen was still a small community devoid of shade trees, poultry, and rabbits.
As I had been suffering from a sense of hearing loss, I went to Dr. Perkins of the Salt Lake Clinic. He cleaned my ears and after a series of tests wanted to know if I had ever been in the artillery. I replied no but that as a member of a machine gun squad I had been under artillery fire. He told me that my hearing was normal except for a narrow range of sound. He told me that most men in the artillery suffered hearing losses in this same frequency.
Perhaps the most important family event of 1978 was the struggle over my father's estate. Jerry called me on April 3rd to say that she felt a strong premonition that the two of us ought to look over our father's estate. She felt that Clara and her daughter were trying to steal all that they could. We examined all the six-month certificates in which Dad had invested the money obtained from the sale of his cement company. Much to our surprise, we found that all of them had Clara's name attached as joint owner with my father, contrary to the provisions of the trust. We brought the matter to the attention of Lee McCullough the estate lawyer and to my father who professed to know nothing about it. In spite of a major tantrum by Clara we got her name off the notes. We found out as a result of our investigations that Clara had set up a joint checking account in which Clara deposited funds on which she and her daughter wrote checks. We had no idea how much money Clara had stolen over the years. Jerry and I began to take my father out to lunch once a week. He began to spend more time with his children and less with Clara. We persuaded him to have a physical. The doctor told us his heart was deteriorating. He could no longer go swimming but he ought to take long walks every day.
Hubert Humphrey’s death on January 14th, 1978 saddened me greatly. I mourned him greatly. He was one of my heroes. Few men in public life were so devoted to the poor and to minority groups. He was a source of inspiration to all of us. I hated the Yippies and all those who prevented him from becoming president of the United States. He would have made a far better president than Richard Nixon.
In the early spring of 1978 Jerry and Doris Parks, Ruth's close relatives from England flew into Salt Lake City from Washington, D.C. to spend several months with the DeYoung family. They lived with Ruth's mother during their stay. Several family parties were held to introduce them to their DeYoung relatives. Jerry had served in the English navy during World War II. He was now employed
217
as a superintendent in a salt factory in England. As David was spending the summer with us, Ruth and I were able to take them on a tour of Yellowstone and Jackson Hole National Parks. We visited my nephew Tom McKay, his wife Barbara, and their large family. Tom is an engineer at an atomic installation. In Yellowstone Park we stayed at Canyon Lodge for two nights and enjoyed our traveling around the park. The abundant wildlife as always thrilled me. Wild flowers were abundant. Returning home, we saw the Parks off to England.
On July 12th the José Pinto family from Santa Cruz visited us. They knew David quite well in Bolivia. They stayed with us for a week. They had saved money for many years to come to Salt Lake City to be sealed in the temple. They had three fine young children. His wife has a bad heart condition and may not live for many years.
David left on August 11 for Austin not knowing where he was to stay. Several days before he left I called Patriarch Paris, a medical doctor in Austin who I was informed looked after young people. He told me to send David to him, which I did. David also met William Sill, director of the University of Texas LDS Institute.
Patriarch Paris came to the United States as a very young boy with his family from Greece. The family settled down in Utah. The patriarch married a Mormon girl and joined the Church. He was disowned by his family. He became a doctor and settled down in Austin to practice medicine. A blunt, corrosive, yet loving man, he had a lot of influence over the young Mormons in Austin. William Sill, a geologist, was in charge of the seminary system in Buenos Aires. His children were growing up Argentine. So he moved to Austin as head of the LDS Institute. I believe that he also taught geology. David called us from Austin. He had found a roommate, a convert boy from Indiana, and before his first semester was over, he was hired as a graduate research assistant by Dr. Richard Adams, a prominent member of his department. Before going to Austin, David had worked all summer as a salesman in the art section of the college Bookstore.
I was shocked at the downgrading of Leonard Arrington, Church historian, and his excellent staff of professional Church historians who had professionalized the Church history division, published a long series of excellent books and articles on Church history that improved the professional reputation of the division, and opened archives of the Church to serious students. The Church fired him as Church Historian, disbanded his staff, abandoned his publication series and sent him to the B.Y.U. as director of a diminished historical studies center. I could only surmise that Arrington and his staff had been done in by Ezra T. Benson and other conservative church authorities. but the horse was out of the barn. The field of Mormon history now included large numbers of Mormon, RLDS, and non-Mormon historians and social scientists with many publication outlets.
However, my dark thoughts about the matter were erased by the incredible announcement of June 8th that Blacks would receive the priesthood. The announcement removed an enormous black cloud that had hung over all Mormons for many years. The decision enshrined President Kimball among the greatest presidents of the Church. Even though my consulting business had vanished, I still managed two or three trips a year. I was thankful that I could spend most of my time assisting and protecting my injured wife.
On April 27th, I flew to Denver to attend the sessions of the western Social Science Association. I read two papers and chaired several sessions in Land Grant and Arid Land Studies. My papers were titled: "The Las Vegas Land Grant" and "Contributions of Sociology to Arid Land Studies". both were subsequently published. I roomed with Ted Smith. I met so many of my
218
colleagues from all over the west, whose friendship I value. I thrilled to see that our Arid Land program had more sessions and more participants than other discipline in the Association.
On April 28th, Ruth, Annie, and I drove down to Cañones, New Mexico, to attend the Board Meeting of our Center for Land Grant Studies.
Cañones is a very feisty village. Ordered by the state department of education to close its elementary school, it organized its own bilingual school. It was building a large hall with the latest in solar heating. I was glad to see such defiance of the Anglo establishment. When the meting was over, we drove over to Mora and then to Las Vegas and finally to Santa Fe before heading north back to Salt Lake City.
I was invited and accepted the invitation to become a member of the Governor's Conference on Library and Information Services. A state conference was held in 1979 just before a national White House Conference on the subject. I was also asked to join the governor's Council on Bilingual Education chaired by Elliott Howe of the State Department of Education, a man who I respected and admired.
Ruth drove me to the airport on August 30, 1978, our wedding anniversary. I flew to San Francisco to attend the meetings of the Rural and National Sociological Societies. With a little time to kill I went through the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Not very impressed. I chaired a session on poverty in the Southwest that went off very well. I read a paper on Causes of Poverty in San Miguel County. I walked all over the central district of San Francisco, Chinatown, the Chicano Barrio, and toured the museums. On September 6th, Ruth, Ann, and I again drove to Canones, New Mexico to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Center for Land Grant Studies. We traveled through Durango to Pagosa Springs and then to Espanola. I noted a small LDS chapel in Chama. I quite enjoyed the meetings. All seems to be going well. I discussed our sessions in WSSA and our publication series. Leaving Espanola we visited Abiquiu and then passed through many of my favorite villages such as Truchas, Embudo, Penasco; a small Mormon chapel here; Vadito, Tres Ritos, and others. We stopped for the night in Las Vegas. The next morning being Sunday we went to Church in the small Mormon chapel there. The wife of the branch president had Knowlton ancestry and enlisted Ruth's help in securing Knowlton genealogy. I was shocked to notice but one Spanish American there. From Las Vegas we drove slowly to Santa Fe stopping there for the night. Then the next day toured museums and visited Michael Cox and his wife.
Apart from our trip, September was a sad month. On the 17th Julia Andelin, maiden name, a very close friend from B.Y.U. days called me. Her daughter married to a Salt Lake artist had been killed along with her little girl in a traffic accident. On September 24th a neighbor and very close friend Dr. Richard Snyder died from a heart attack. About the same time William Vogler and his wife appeared in Salt Lake City as refugees from the murderous military regime in Argentina. I had known him as a young boy in Rio Quarto. He told me that his daughter, a University student had been jailed and tortured for no apparent reason by soldiers sweeping through the universities. He went to protest accompanied by a lawyer and both were arrested and tortured. Upon release he and his wife and little girl fled to the United States. His daughter was not released until the end of the accursed regime of military killers. He found employment in a woodworking plant. Although his wife and daughter liked it here, he could not adjust. The family went to Mexico, Nicaragua, and finally returned to Argentina.
The Department of Sociology went its suicidal way. During the first part of 1978 Lee Bean savagely attacked the RTP Committee without providing constructive criticism. In response, the RTP committee censured him. On June 30, Jerry Smith and his wife Marlene put the senior faculty through
219
their computer system by name and characteristics and decided that no one had the characteristics essential to the position of a successful chair. They publicized the result of their pseudo analysis quite widely. Finally, on October 27th, Dean Procacy in the teeth of the opposition of two-thirds of the faculty announced that Lee Bean had been selected department chair for his third term. This was an unconscionable action given Lee Bean's personality, temperament, and lack of managerial skills. Bean had factionalized the department, systematically discriminated against the senior faculty and permitted them to be intimidated by George Miller. And finally, on December 6th, George Miller wrote a vicious letter to Max Carruth challenging his ability and right to teach graduate classes or to work with graduate students. The senior faculty protested the attack to Lee Bean, who did nothing. The dean finally had to intervene. By this time a cold hostility had developed between Lee Bean and my self. Thus 1978 came to an end.
The most important event for the Knowlton family in 1979 was the death of my father from a sudden heart attack in the waiting room of the Salt Lake Temple on January 9th. Not even those sitting next to him were aware that he had passed away. He died apparently without pain. He was taken to the LDS hospital where the attendants called me. I let Ruth know and called Jerry who was at a meeting in the Salt Lake City Mayor's chambers and picked up Clara on the way to the hospital. Jerry and I had the body transferred to Larkin Mortuary. He had been living with Jerry for the past week. For many months he had been going to the temple every day. He told Jerry that he was considering a divorce. Jerry and I called relatives,, composed the obituary and organized the funeral. The entire funeral with the exception of one speaker was handled by the family. The chapel was filled for the funeral.
The family met at Jerry's home after the funeral for the reading of the will. It was not a pleasant occasion. My sister Jayne stood up to apologize for mistrusting Jerry and me in the matter of Dad's estate. My brother Paul insisted wrongly that there were discrepancies in the will. Clara angrily demanded the entire estate, accused by father of senility, and Jerry and me of organizing a conspiracy against her. She then got up and swept out of the house. I had David drive her downtown. This was the last time that we saw Clara. The lawyer read the will that allocated $20,000 from the estate to each living child and $5,000 to Marilyn and Tom McKay, Sarah's children. Ruth and I felt quite sad at the way the reading of the will had gone. Jerry and I were named trustees of the estate. On the way home Ruth told me that my Aunt Dagmar, mother's sister had called my father on her death bed to seek forgiveness for the malicious mischief she had cased our family.
Clara and her daughter Karen appeared in Lee McCullough's office demanding the funds of the estate. Failing here, they went to the bank where until yesterday the funds of the estate had been kept and threw a major temper tantrum in front of puzzled bank officials. Eventually Karen returned to Springfield, Missouri. Clara moved to a smaller apartment, continued to work at the temple, and several years later abruptly died alone in her apartment from cancer, disliked by virtually everyone who knew her. Her funeral was held in Salt Lake City, but we were never notified. She was buried far from my father.
In compensation, David had done so well in his first year of graduate study at the University of Texas in Austin that he not only worked as a graduate research assistant to Dr. Adams, but received a grant from the Inter-American Foundation to study the impact of conversion of Aymara Indians to Mormonism in Bolivia. It appears that representatives of a large number of Aymara Indians in Huacuyo, Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca suddenly appeared before the Church mission office in La Paz
No comments:
Post a Comment