requesting baptism. We outfitted David and sent him off to Bolivia on June 27th. Daniel suddenly changed his life, read the Book of Mormon, quit drinking and smoking, and began to attend Church. Within a short period of time he was set apart as an Elder. His fiancée Konae Williams whom he had met while working at Harmon's moved in with us. She fit into our large family quite well. During the summer Linda and Richard Knowlton, and William Dinsmoor lived with us. Our house as usual was filled to overflowing. On January 25th, Daniel's knee injured many years ago was repaired by surgery. Ruth's brother Lewis and brother-in-law Everett Call called a DeYoung family meeting to discuss their legal and financial predicaments. Melvin, Ruth's third brother, had persuaded the two to buy several marginal businesses selling house trailers and trailer hitches. They had bought the businesses without checking their indebtedness or market potentialities. Unknown to them they had bought businesses that were heavily indebted.
Struggling to keep the businesses going, Louis and Everett invested all their savings and went so deeply into debt that they were forced to rob Peter to pay Paul. Eventually they lost their credit line and were forced into bankruptcy and possible criminal indictment. Facing a long period of court cases and angry creditors, both were forced to work in the underground economy for several years. At the same time, Rulon, the youngest brother, who had purchased a travel agency also without investigating past indebtedness or current business was forced into bankruptcy and court proceedings by a bank.
I was ordained to the position of High Priest, something I felt would never happen. I suspect I was ordained because of decency. I was one of the oldest active Seventies in the Stake. I was also relieved of my Gospel Doctrine Class in Sunday School and within several months was asked to head the teaching committee of the High Priest Quorum.
During 1979 a new stake house was built. Ruth was called to serve as chair of a committee to select and to supervise the installation of an organ. Ruth and the Stake President Wayne Ursenbach, over the opposition of the church Building Committee and a large element in the stake, insisted upon purchasing a pipe organ rather than an electronic organ. Ruth supervised the installation of the organ very carefully. She remembered the botched job of installing a beautiful pipe organ in the old wardhouse. In spite of severe back pains she taught three to four piano lessons every night except Saturday and Sunday and put on a piano recital every three months. On October 13th ground breaking ceremonies were held for the stake house.
On April 16th Ruth and I flew to Reno, Nevada, and rented a car to drive to Lake Tahoe for the meetings of the Western Social Science Association. Reed Blake, this years president has taken a lot of abuse from feminist members of the society who wanted him to cancel the Nevada meeting. He refused. Many indignant groups threatened to boycott the meetings, but the majority of the threateners actually showed up. Some stayed in motels on what they thought was the California side of the line but were actually in Nevada. the obscene abuse heaped on Reed Blake, a very amiable friendly man, by the feminists turned me against them. I went after them vigorously. I read several papers, chaired a session or two. Ruth and I had a good long talk with Charles Loomis, one of the finest men I have ever known. I wished that I had done my graduate work under him rather than T. Lynn Smith.
Ruth and I, on October 29th, driving alone on13th East pulled into the left lane signaling a left turn at 8th South. Within a minute a car hit us from behind and sent us into the car in front of us. The driver, a 19-year-old girl, Roberta Senkter had lost control of her car. Both Ruth and I were taken to LDS emergency, and thoroughly x-rayed. We came out all right, but this is the fifth car we have had
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destroyed by Salt Lake City. We have been hit by Utah drivers every year that we have been here. Rick Knowlton returned from his German Mission on December 16th and David came in from Bolivia on December 29th.
On July 17th I attended a policy advisory committee meeting called by the major Chicano leaders of Utah. The meeting was chaired by Gilbert Martinez, the governor's Chicano Ombudsman, with John Medina, Jorge Arce-Loretta, and Archie Archuleta present among others. I was called to salvage Adela as the Utah Migrant Council. At the suggestion of Rick Rappaport, the Adela lawyer, a Blue Ribbon Task force was formed consisting of Solomon Chacon, Michael Weathers, Frank Cordova, myself and several others to become part of Adela's Board. Although the task force did its best to salvage Adela, it failed because in contrast to the Utah Migrant Council it never had a numerical majority on the board. Joe Alaniz, director of the program , a bar owner, with Maria Renteria his right hand shooter was able to control board activities. Within a year the majority of the Blue Ribbon Panel resigned and Adela folded.
I flew to Burlington, Vermont, on August 21th. The rural Sociological Meetings were held at the Living Learning Center of the University of Vermont. I went for many long walks in town and along the shores of Lake Champlain thinking about the history of the region. The community was quite poor and French Canadian influence was quite noticeable. The shoreline of the Lake was spoiled by tank farms and railroad lines. I visited a Morgan horse farm.. Soil here is very acid and very poor. The rural areas are depressing. This is not good farming lands. I read two papers, "Impact of the Depression Upon Washington County" and "Development Theory and the Mexican Americans."
On May 31, I flew to Houston, Texas, where I was met by an old friend Raymond Teske. He drove me over to Huntsville to speak to a conference for law enforcement officers on undocumented immigrants. The lights were so bad on the podium that I discarded my written presentation and spoke for over an hour without notes. Audience reaction was extremely good. Many Chicano police officers congratulated me on my presentation. We were taken on a tour of the Huntsville Prison. It seemed to be a tough, no-nonsense prison.
A fitting end to the year was a trip that Ruth, Daniel, Ann, and I took to New Mexico to attend the board meeting or the Center for Land Grant Studies held in Tierra Amarilla Cooperative. We toured Arches National Monument and stopped at Monticello, Utah. Before going to sleep we walked over much of the small town. The next day we toured Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde is always the high spot of our trip. Then we traveled through Aztec, stopping to see the ruins, and through Dulce to Chama. In Dulce Apaches live in scattered huts and houses. I enjoyed returning to Tierra Amarilla. We had a good board meeting. We agreed to publish Malcolm Ebright's book on Tierra Amarilla. I was decided that John Van Ness would edit a series on land grants for the University of New Mexico Press. The next day we attended church in Taos. I met an old friend and ally, Andres Martinez. After touring Taos we drove through to Mora and then Las Vegas visiting friends on the way. Finally we reached Santa Fe. We visited all the museums and tried without success to see Peter Van Dresser. Thus the year ebbed away.
The year 1981 was a good year for our family. Daniel married Konae Williams in the Salt Lake city Temple on August 12th. Daniel had wanted to go on a mission. The stake president hesitated about calling him for months, and finally Daniel pressed him on the subject. After some hesitation, he decided that perhaps it might be best for Daniel to get married instead. After the wedding Daniel and Konae drove down to el Paso and through New Mexico. I think he was a bit disappointed in El Paso.
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Upon their return, they set up housekeeping in a small duplex about a mile away. They became very active in their ward. Both continued to work for Harmons, she in the meat department at the Redwood store and Daniel in the meat department at the Brickyard.
On January 25th the Dinsmoors visited with us. We all drove down to Manti to witness the marriage of Diane Dinsmoor to Daniel Warner in the incredibly beautiful blue room at the Manti temple. It was her first and his second marriage. He comes from the San Luis Valley, Colorado.
And on February 7th we attended the marriage of my sister Jayne's girl Cathy to Dale Hagerhorst in the Salt Lake Temple. That evening I drove down to Provo to speak at a seminar taught by Lyman Shreeve at the B.Y.U. on Mexican Americans. Ross Christensen, and my niece Linda and her husband Richard were in the audience. On the way home, I stopped at Ross's for a few minutes.
John Sorenson, an enigmatic at times ruthless friend of mine, chairman of the BYU Department of Anthropology, invited David to read a paper on the results of his Bolivian research at a meeting of the Mormon Historical society in Canandaigua, New York. We put David on a Greyhound bus bound for New York on April 18th. By May 1st he had reached New York City. He quite enjoyed the meeting, read his paper, made many useful contacts, and returned home.
Before the year was out Daniel had learned how to fly a plane. He bought half an interest in a plane and began to fly all over the region. He wanted me to fly with him but I refused. During the summer we had problems with water coming through the basement wall. Daniel, David, William, and I dug a deep trench along the wall and put in drainage pipes to drain the water out into the lawn. We also waterproofed the foundation.
On May 2nd, the United States suddenly acquired a massive volcano as St. Helena blew its top in the Cascade Mountains in a magnificent explosion that devastated several hundred miles of forest. Ash fell over a good part of the Northwest. Apparently many peaks of the Cascades are dormant volcanoes that could erupt anytime.
On October 7th David flew back to Austin. Once again he was given his old position as Dr. Adams research assistant. He accepted a call to serve in the Bishopric of the student ward. He also organized a discussion group among Mormon graduate students and was a teaching assistant for an undergraduate course in Anthropology plus writing his master's thesis.
During 1980 we had been visiting several Clarks over the age of 80 to record their life histories. It was a fascinating experience. We began first with Ellen Henderson the daughter of Timothy Clark, son of Ezra T. Clark. She had had a life of achievement. Widowed at an extremely young age, her husband had taught at the B.Y.U. She had successfully reared her family, secured a degree from Columbia University, edited a professional journal, and become a recognized authority in the teaching of reading to young children. We had visited with her twice for long interviews. The next time we went she was too sick to see us. She died in October. Ruth drove Aunt Laura Silver and her faithful daughter LaRue Bowen down to Provo to attend the graveyard service in the rain. We began visiting
Edna Erickson, another heroine. I was amazed at the tough, resilient, intelligent Clark women. My consulting life had diminished considerably by 1980. The consulting firms and anti-poverty programs that kept me on the move through the late 1960's and most of the 1970's had vanished or found replacements for me during the two years that I could not leave Salt Lake City. I attended my two professional meetings faithfully in 1980. In April 11 I flew to Albuquerque. I worked for several days in the Coronado Room and Law Library at the University of New Mexico, then faithfully
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attended, with Ted Smith, the sessions of the WSSA. Our very large land grant program that I had organized drew audiences of three to four hundred people each. My dear friend Camilo Sanchez let me use a car free during the meetings. Malcolm Ebright had arranged financing for our land grant sessions through the New Mexico Humanities Council. I was thrilled and excited at our audience and at the impact of our sessions on those who attended.
For the Rural Sociological Society I flew on August 19th to Utica, New York to attend sessions on Cornell University Campus. I was in charge of a poverty session and read a paper. I went on a tour of apple and dairy farms in the area that had trouble with deer. Both farm families had wives or other members working off the farm. It was always good to see old friends and to catch up with the news.
My Aunt Jessie died on June 26th. She was one of the last three of my mother's sisters. All of them lived unfortunate lives. The tragic death of their parents in a street-car accident was most unfortunate for Jessie, Ann, and Naomi. Aunt Jessie lived with my parents when I was a very young boy. She worked then as a practical nurse at the LDS hospital. Aunt Jessie went to Los Angeles as her other two sisters moved to New York and lived out her solitary life as a practical nurse. Once she showed me a small automatic she carried in her purse. Heaven help the man who might have been tempted to assault her as she certainly knew how to use it. We had a simple graveyard service for her in the Salt Lake Cemetery. I could not help but reflect on the wasted lives of three of my mother's sisters and three of my father's sisters.
During 1980 the department was a ship without a rudder. Lee Bean devoted more attention to the Middle East Center than the department. It drifted without goals or direction. Under the tight fisted control of George Miller the graduate program with only two programs, demography and social organization, dwindled until it was composed only of foreign students. Enrollment in undergraduate courses also fell off. Factionalism was rife and people snarled at each other in the hall. I tended to my classes, held my office hours, and caught the bus for home. I spent no more time in the department than I absolutely had to and remained aloof from the factionalism.
Arturo Estrada, former Director of Adela Development Corporation was sentenced to from 5 to 15 years for embezzling government funds. The sentence was suspended providing he paid $1,000 fine and made restitution for moneys taken. Arturo Estrada moved, I believe, to New Mexico and became head of an anti-poverty program in Albuquerque. Esqueda was released on parole and provided services to Socio for many months. He finally returned to California.
The two most important events of 1981 were the marriage of our youngest son Keith to Tracy Searle, the daughter of relatively prosperous Shelly, Idaho potato farmers in the Idaho Falls Temple. Tracy taught first grade in the Jordan School District. She had the reputation of being a first class teacher and was quite popular with her children, their parents, and her fellow teachers. She trains beginning teachers for the University of Utah. As a result Keith will pay but half tuition. I mentioned to Tracy that I felt that I ought to pay Keith's tuition, as I felt that I owed all my sons a college education. She said that they could pay all of his college expenses. They met in the singles ward of our stake.
The other most important event was the birth of our first granddaughter to Konae and Daniel. A little red-headed girl, she was most beautiful to behold. I fell in love with her within minutes after her birth. She was not only a granddaughter but was also the daughter that we never had. As both Konae and Daniel worked from the early morning until early afternoon and Daniel had started attending the University of Utah in the late afternoon, one or the other would bring Amanda over in
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the dawn hours. We took care of her until Konae picked her up in the early afternoon. She was a beautiful laughing, smiling, happy baby who loved to be rocked, sung to, and played with. I spent many happy hours with her. Linda, who was like a daughter to us, also gave birth to a son whom they named Alan on July 28th in Provo. So we had in essence two grandchildren. I quite enjoyed the role of grandfather and intended to do all in my power to spoil my grandchildren.
Ruth's health steadily improved in 1982. She had recovered almost full use of her damaged arm. She was ward organist and taught piano and organ for several hours every afternoon. She had become a professional genealogist and would go to the Genealogical Library every chance she gets. Much to my surprise she had aroused a deep interest in genealogy in my sister Jerry whom I never thought would become interested in genealogy.
During 1981 Ruth and I visited Edna Erickson every opportunity that we could to finish her life oral history. Blind and suffering from arthritis, she lived alone. Stoical, incredibly brave, and very intelligent, she was one of the most talented, loving, intelligent women I have ever known. I began to visit Judge Rulon Clark to secure his life history. I finished editing my father's missionary journal, ran off copies for family members, and deposited the original in the Church History Department.
On February 14th Ruth and I watched installation of the new organ in the stake house. It was fascinating to watch. Ruth, I think, could have installed the organ herself. She was an expert and knew how each pipe should sound. On February 28th the stake house was formally dedicated.
Alvin Gittins, head of the Art Department died. I had known him and his wife Gwen back in England during World War II shortly after their marriage. As a young couple they were filled with love and faith in the Church. They migrated to the United States and attended the B.Y.U. where I encountered them again. They went through the temple and left the Church as a result. I never saw them again until I returned to Utah in 1968. Divorced, Alvin had become a bored, cynical, wearily disillusioned, burnt out man, a fine artist, by the way. I felt sorry for him.
On April 22, I flew to San Diego to attend the meetings of the Western Social Science Association, chaired several sessions and read a paper on the Mora Land Grant. The San Diego Zoo enchanted me, but the downtown and the harbor section were ratty and plain ugly. I enjoyed walking along the ocean front to look at fishing boats and at the ever-changing sea. I met many friends from over the West.
On August 18th I flew to Guelph, Ontario, to participate in the meetings of the rural Sociological Society. I read a paper on "Needed Areas of Research among Rural Spanish American People" and chaired sessions. I went for many walks around the community. It struck me as being a very pleasant agricultural community with little crime and a decent standard of living. Ted Smith and Bob Gray were with me from the University of Utah. I admired the bulb-domed Ukranian church. We took a tour of the fruit belt. I enjoyed the orchard and vineyards. We visited Fort Frederick and toured Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. On August 23rd we went to Toronto for the national meetings and stayed at the Carlton Hotel. I visited the book exhibits but did not attend many sessions. Prices of everything were quite high in Toronto. One evening a fire alarm went off. I grabbed all my belongings, pushed them into my bag, and fled down the staircase. False alarm. I found out that alarms had gone off in most of the major hotels in Toronto to cover a major criminal effort. We saw a Russian movie, “Nights in Moscow”. I returned home on August 26th.
The department continued a downward spiral . On January 2nd Lee Bean had lunch with the Senior faculty.
He defended his concept of a 2-tier faculty. He expressed concern over the welfare of
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Junior faculty even though he never protected them from abuse. And on January 5th Bean severely attacked the RTP Committee for not promoting Dennis Willigan. In return the committee sent him a letter of reproof. Lee Bean went off to Pakistan. Upon his return on February 26th he savaged Ted Smith and Robert Gray over their travel allowances to the WSSA meetings.
On February 2nd, at their request, I met with the Junior faculty. I was quite shocked at the level of their paranoia. They had been thoroughly intimidated by George Miller and felt that they had no friends among the senior faculty. Even though some had protested to Lee Bean, he did nothing to protect them. I asked them to let me know about any further intimidation or abuse.
Julie Wolf Petrusky's resignation saddened me. A convert to the Church, she came to the university as a happy excited young sociologist. From the time of her arrival she was treated harshly by George Miller and Dennis Willigan. She married a presumably good Mormon who was not what he seemed to be. After four days of marriage she secured a divorce. Embittered at the department, at the Church, and at Utah, she resigned and moved on to California. Lauri McCutcheon and Patricia McQuorkadale were two other young women whom the department could not retain. We also lost Marlene Sway, a young women from Los Angeles whose father operated a store in a barrio. Interested in gypsies and the cultural adjustment of Russian Jews to the United States, she had problems with staff and students. Her contract was not renewed.
On July 24, Begin, a terrorist, was elected prime minister of Israel. From that moment my sympathy for Israel cooled until it was replaced by hostility. Begin was no better than many Arab terrorists and I felt that the Israeli treatment of the conquered Arabs in the occupied lands was abominable; far worse than what one would expect of Israel.
The year 1982 was marked by two very important events in the history of our family. Our first Grandson, Daniel D. Knowlton, was born to Konae and Daniel on October 27th. The second event was the granting of an M.A. degree in Anthropology to David in Austin, Texas. His thesis was an amazing three hundred pages. Daniel had decided to enter the University of Utah during the summer quarter as a nonmatriculated student. His high grades after the summer changed his status to a matriculated student. We were forced to borrow money to carry them both through the school year.
Much to my surprise the Salt Lake City newspapers during February and March ran a series of inaccurate highly inflammatory articles on the presence of Mexican American street gangs in Salt Lake City. The local police department at the same time organized several seminars for community leaders on the dangers these gangs presented to the community. Police officials from Los Angeles were brought to Salt Lake City to lecture the public on the destructive impact of gang formation in the community. They emphasized that if Salt Lake City did not now have gangs, they would. Indignant, and angry, I wrote letters to the newspapers in Salt Lake City and Ogden pointing out that Salt Lake City did not have Mexican American street gangs and given the socio-economic situation of the Mexican American population in Utah would probably never have them. I attended the police seminars and forced both the Salt Lake police and the Los Angeles police visitors to admit that they had no evidence that there were any Mexican American street gangs in Utah. The agitation over street gangs ended as fast as it had begun.
During 1982, I served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central City Community Center, as an active member of the Governor's Council on bilingual Education, and as a board member of the Utah Immigration Center, a branch of the Catholic Community Services. Archie Archuleta, Armando Diaz, and I organized it to protect the Mexican undocumented worker in the face
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of growing agitation against illegal Mexican immigrants and demands for rigid immigration controls. We sponsored on April 29th a well-attended conference on the causes, socio-economic characteristics, and benefits of the movement of undocumented workers from Mexico to the United States.
On April 14th, I traveled to Santa Fe to work on Mora Land Grant materials in the New Mexico State Archives. And then on April 21st I went to Denver to attend the Western Social Science Association meetings. I read a paper and chaired several sessions. I had to return to Santa Fe on June 1st as a subpoenaed witness to authenticate Malcolm Ebright's position as an expert on land grants in a case brought by the community of Truchas against the National Forest Service claiming the right to cut firewood on National Forest Lands once the communal lands of the Community of Truchas. David came in toward the end of my testimony, and I rode back to Salt Lake City with him.
On April 21, I flew to Denver and checked into the Cosmopolitan Hotel to attend the annual meetings of the Western Social Science Association. I read a paper and chaired three sessions, a land grant, an arid land, and a borderland session. I organized the arid land programs of three sessions and helped with others. As always, I enjoyed seeing old friends and catching up on the news. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon was a stupid act committed by a terrorist government. The reputation of Israel is forever blackened by the slaughter in the Palestinian Refugee Camps under Israeli control. The slaughter also besmirched the reputation of the Maronites in Lebanon. Israeli has become one of the many barbarous nations in the Middle East capable of committing any atrocity.
On August 4th the Utah Immigration Council sponsored a major conference on undocumented workers. Armando Diaz and Frank McDonough chaired the conference. David labored as an interpreter for the conference. I spoke on the history and background of the undocumented immigration. Manuel Cantu from the Metropolitan City College of Mexico spoke on the economic consequences of the movement and Rita Vergara Carillo from the Mexican Consulate discussed the movement from the standpoint of the Mexican Government. Peter Schey presented the social characteristics of the undocumented. In the afternoon Leonor Ramirez of the Direccion Centro de Asuntos Migratorios in Mexico City spoke on Liberation Theology. This was new to me. I firmly resolved to read much more in the subject.
Martha scored high enough on the Michigan Test on English to enter the LDS Business College which she did the end of the summer. Much to my surprise on September 25th, I received a letter from my old friend Roberto A. Mondragon, Lt. governor of New Mexico commissioning me as a colonel aide de Camp to his staff in appreciation for my efforts on behalf of New Mexican history and culture. Tears came into my eyes. This nomination represented the appreciation of the Spanish American people for my activities in the Alianza, for bilingual education and in the study of land grants.
On September 20th, I attended a luncheon at the Fort Country Club hosted by Dean Irvin Altman. Most of those there were faculty members in the college who had taught courses for the Granite Mental Health Program. The program over the years had pumped considerable money into the University, buying time of faculty hired to teach training programs and as payment for tuition for trainees sent to the University of Utah. Now that federal funding for the project has ended, the College wants to dump the program. I pointed out forcefully that the university had benefited from the Center in the past, and it would not be right for the University to suddenly abandon the program; one of few in Salt Lake City that trained mental health practitioners for low income and minority people. I persuaded the Dean to continue assisting the program for one or two years but no more.
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Last winter was extremely snowy. Precipitation was heavy. I worried about our roof and some roofs did collapse. We had almost four feet of snow on the roof. During this spring runoff Big Cottonwood Creek overflowed its banks causing extensive damage to property in Murray and other areas along the Creek. The City and County have never really known what to do with the streams flowing down from the Wasatch. A sensible solution would be to park them rather than to overbuild their banks and fill up their floodplains.
The department continued to drift out of control marked by severe factionalism and mistrust. Lee Bean's third term ended in failure. The dean announced that he would select a person in the department who would serve as a role model in research. He promised to follow a democratic procedure but a highly cynical department disbelieved him from the beginning. The process was a charade. Everyone knew that Wen Kuo would be selected as the new chair because he was a Chinese American, the only minority person in the department. Ironically he had just been turned down for promotion to the rank of full professor by the RTP committee. But he was a relief from Lee Bean and treated me fairly. But from the beginning George Miller, Dennis Willigan, Bam Dev Sharda and others plotted his overthrow. I tried to warn him but he would not listen. His term as department chair was not a success. On May 26th, the department RTP Committee was suddenly ordered into session by Vice President Davern probably at the request of Lee Bean, to consider Conaty and Willigan for promotion and tenure. A majority of the senior faculty approved tenure and promotion for Conaty but split 50-50 on Willigan. Davern arbitrarily gave Willigan tenure as well as Conaty, a move I am sure the administration has repented. The vice presidents have interfered several times with the RTP process in the Department, and each time the result has been disastrous. I would like to see departments protected against the arbitrary abuse of administrative power. The members of the department were quite angry, and the anger was released on Lee Bean. At his farewell party on May 28th, Bam Dev Sharda criticized Bean rather strongly and Wen Kuo responded with a more suave but still critical speech.
During the fall RTP meetings a bitter battle broke out within the senior faculty. George Miller, Glen Vernon, and Lee Bean argued that unfavorable letters of evaluation of the past year should be considered as part of this years file. I protested. I argued that each year should be treated de novo. The question was put to a vote and much to my surprise my point of view prevailed. New letters of evaluation would be sought. George Miller threw a temper tantrum and walked out of the meeting. What a sad example of a professional sociologist. There are so many in the department who behave like quarrelsome little children.
The year 1983 began with the blessing of Konae's baby boy Daniel. I had the pleasure of blessing and naming him on January 2nd at the Cottonwood Ward. On January 11, David left for Austin. Robert Dinsmoor who has finished the B.Y.U. law school will live with David in Austin while taking courses on Texas law and the court systems. On the same day that David left, Daniel was operated on for a broken wrist. He fussed at the nurses until they let him leave the hospital before he should have.
Daniel went through a spiritual and emotional collapse on July 19th. He began drinking, smoking tobacco, and marijuana. He dropped out of the University, refused to attend Church, and began drifting with some of his old friends. For over a month Daniel avoided us.
The year was a year of death and funerals. On September 7th Ruth's father died at the age of
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87. He had been a living vegetable for seven years. The family at some physical and emotional cost to themselves, took care of him at home. His wife would not have him sent to a nursing home. He had come to the United States with his family as Mormon converts at a young age. His father threw him out of the family on the Montreal docks. For years he made it on his own as best he could. He served in the army during World War I as a military trainer. For most of his life he struggled as a skilled carpenter, cabinet maker, and contractor to feed and take care of his wife and nine children. In spite of working on the thin edge of employment, he managed to send most of them on missions. He would have helped them get through the university but few did.
Edna Erickson died on August 16th, in her 90's. We had visited her taping her life history for several years. She was one of the most fascinating conversationalists I have ever known. She had a magnificent memory. She died blind. She had loved to read. She had been active in Church even though her husband had problems with some church authorities over a book he had written. She was a skilled musician, a wood worker, a political leader, and feminist in the best sense of the word. She persuaded many women in Utah to enter politics. I admired and respected her more than I have most people in my life. I had the pleasure of talking at her funeral. All of her sons were academicians. Even though she would have liked to have seen them active, none were.
And on December 24th Konae's father, Charles Williams died from a massive stroke at the age of 71. A school teacher during his working years in the Jordan School district, he and his wife had lived in Sandy all during their lives. He was a skilled lapidarist. Not having children of their own, he and his wife had adopted a large family of children removed from their mother for some reason by the State Division of Family Services. For many of the children the adoption was not a success. He gardened on the side. Born a Mormon for some reason or reasons unknown to me he and his wife were inactive all their lives.
On July 20th Keith and Tracy's baby died just days before the expected delivery, strangled by her umbilical cord. Tracy may not have received good medical care. The baby was buried in the Millcreek cemetery just a block from our house close to Ruth's father in a graveyard service handled by the family.
My old friend and ally Peter Van Dresser died in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We had labored in the same causes from the 1950's thru the 1960's. Peter had one of the most original minds I have ever known. A rocket engineer he had worked with Goddard until the military potentialities of the rocket overshadowed its scientific use. He labored as a state and city planner in diverse sections of the United States. An environmentalist and ecologist before these disciplines became popular, he wrote with brilliance on the potentialities of the Spanish American villages in Northern New Mexico. A stubborn, incorruptible man with a strong sense of honor, he would not bend. His own worst enemy, he had one of the most creative minds I have ever known.
Keith passed his Law School Admission Test with an extremely high score that permitted him to apply to the best law schools in the United States. Majoring in political science at the University of Utah, he worked as a legislative intern during the summer and then decided to enroll at the Brigham Young University law school in the fall.
David passed his qualifying exams with flying colors in the spring at the University of Texas. As Ruth badly needed a vacation and release from the constant babysitting and tension, she flew to Austin to travel back to Salt Lake City with him. David took her on a tour of San Antonio. Fredericksburg, Abilene, where she visited her brother Donald DeYoung and his family. They then
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drove to El Paso. As her allergies acted up they did not stay, but went on to Santa Fe and then home. Ruth has worked extremely hard on the Clark family newsletter during the year. She returned home not feeling well on May 30th. On October 4th she had a tumor removed on the tendon between her thumb and index finger of the right hand.
The winter of 1982-1983 was another very bad one in which we did not see the sun for almost three months. Snow fell continuously during the winter. Spring came suddenly. The snow melted rapidly and the melt water poured down the canyons of the Wasatch Front. The soil was saturated. Dangerous mud slides swept down the mouths of the canyons and nearby slopes all along the Wasatch Front. Almost every river and stream flowing from the Wasatch mountains was in flood. Big Cottonwood flooded above and below us. Although it thundered and roared it caused little damage to our circle. Thirteenth South from State Street west to the Jordan was turned into a canal as was State Street itself from North Temple to 13th South. Substantial property damage but little loss of life.
I flew to Albuquerque on April 26th to attend the WSSA meetings. We had the biggest land grant program we have ever had. A full two days of sessions involving academicians, villagers, community leaders, and professionals. Over 200 people attended our sessions. We were given mass media coverage. I deeply enjoyed rubbing elbows with all kinds of Spanish Americans ranging from village people with limited command of English to urban militant leaders. The program was financed by the New Mexico Humanities Council David Tijerina brought me greetings from his father Reies L. Tijerina. I bought a copy of Reies' autobiography in Spanish. Bitterly anti-Anglo, it was published in Mexico. I immediately suggested that he either translate it into English or write an autobiography in English.
On June 4th, Chase Peterson, a doctor from the School of Medicine, was selected president of the University of Utah. I was not enthused by the choice. What can a medical doctor know about university administration? Traditionally, the medical school has been isolated from the rest of the campus. He called James Clayton to be his provost and Irvin Altman to be a vice-president in charge of academic affairs. Altman did not last long in that position.
One of Altman's first acts was to abruptly fire Orlando Rivera charging him with gross incompetence, reducing him to the rank of assistant professor in the Department of Educational Pshchology. Later his department was eliminated and Orlando Rivera forced to retire. The Orlando Affair was one of the worst cases in injustice that I have seen at the University. Unfortunately Orlando refused to let the Chicano leaders or myself come to his defense. Orlando has done more than most people on campus to develop a good ethnic studies program and to work with Chicano and other Hispanic students. He also developed many programs to serve Chicano youth and the poor.
Altman replaced Orlando with Afessa Adams, chair of the Department of Domestic, or as it is called today Consumer Science. Altman's protégé, Afessa turned out to be a very competent vice president and a fine administrator. However, Altman failed to consult Chicano leaders , many of whom were outraged at his procedures. Usually a search committee should have been organized with the aid of the minority faculty. Altman was given rough handling by that faculty at a meeting he called of the ethnic studies faculty.
During 1983 I served as a member of the Utah Migrant Council, chair of the Central City Community Center, board member of the Utah Migration project, and member of the governor's Council on Bilingual Education. In the letter we passed on the bilingual programs of the Utah School Districts praising some and calling others to improve their bilingual programs or lose their funds.
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Armando Diaz, Archie Archuleta, and I organized a massive lobbying effort against the Simpson Mazzoli immigration bill. We led delegations to speak directly to members of the Utah congressional delegation or to their staff. We appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss the bill. We held two very successful press conferences in which we attacked the bill and one conference on the bill for Chicano leaders. As a result of my work on the Utah Immigration Project I was invited to become a member of the Catholic Community Services.
The Department of Sociology accelerated the process of disintegration and collapse during 1983. On January 7th the College RTP Committee of which I was a member, rejected Wen Kuo's request for promotion to full professorship. The Dean overrode the committee and Wen Kuo was made full professor shortly before he became department chair. As chair he simply did not know what to do with the department. Dissatisfaction and factionalism increased. Lee Bean, George Miller, Dennis Willigan, and Bam Dev Sharda severely attacked Wen Kuo to the administration. During the January 1983 RTP meeting in the department, Ed Kick received vicious non-professional criticism from Miller, William Conaty, and Vernon. I forced a revision of the RTP statement on Ed Kick. During the spring quarter, virtually all the new candidates for the Graduate Program were foreigners from China and the Middle East. We had virtually no applicants from Utah. Lee Bean and George Miller had virtually destroyed the graduate program. They had few candidates for either the Demography or the Social Organization program, the only two majors now open to graduate students. Kent Mommsen resigned from the department on April 10th to go into commercial real estate.
Robert Kaufman and his wife Laurie came to the Department to teach Demography courses on a one-year appoint. They were to be brought in on Lee Bean's funds but he persuaded Wen Kuo to provide department support. They were good teachers and colleagues but later became involved in intense department factionalism and left the university.
Now for a few brief family events of 1983. My niece Linda and her children stayed with us during the summer. Her husband was doing geological field work in Carbon County. Bruce Clark, my good friend and cousin, was forced to resign as Dean from the Brigham Young University having reached the age of 65. I was president of the Ezra T. Clark Family Association and with Ruth's help and that of many others had a very successful two year term in office in which Ruth took responsibility for issuing a very fine newsletter. Much to my surprise my polygamist uncle Horace Clark agreed to permit me to tape a very frank life history.
The events of the year: The brutal Israeli invasion of Lebanon appalled me. Begin is one of the most savage killers in recent Middle East history. The Bureau of Immigration tried to entrap Armando Diaz in a criminal proceeding charging perjury. We managed to force INS to drop all charges, criminal or otherwise and secured the replacement of the existing Salt Lake City head of INS who was transferred to the Virgin Islands. The Destruction of the American Embassy in Beirut and the subsequent blowing up of the marine barracks seemed to be examples of the incredible naiveté and stupidity of American officials from the president on down. The invasion of Grenada seemed to demonstrate flaws in communications between branches of service and in mounting the invasion. I went through a senior faculty review in the spring. Another facade to keep the administration happy.
The environment in the department of Sociology worsened during 1983. If I had been ten of fifteen years younger, I would have done my best to leave. Wen Kuo was in a hopeless position. Bam Dev Sharda, George Miller, Dennis Willigan, and Lee Bean did all they could to pull Wen Kwo down. He on the other hand, was unable to defend himself and incurred the disfavor of the administration.
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Although I did stay out of the factionalism, I supported Wen Kuo as best I could. In spite of my best intentions, I became involved in several department struggles.
A search committee had been formed in the department chaired by Dennis Willigan to find a replacement for the Kent Mommsen position. Mommsen taught several courses in Black Studies and his replacement inevitable would have to teach minority courses. Willigan, the other demographers, some younger faculty, and Jerry Smith were in favor of giving the position to Robert Kaufman, a very personable demographer well-liked in the Department but with little experience in minority studies. I was on a sabbatical and determined to stay clear of the fighting. but Dennis Willigan was forced to resign as chair of the search committee although staying on as committee member. The Dean required that the committee chair to be a member of the department involved in minority studies. Alas, I was the only member of the department so qualified. Wen Kuo called me in to ask me to take the chairmanship. I said that I had no interest in the position. The Dean exerted some pressure so I reached a bargain with him. If I took the position, the college would pay all expenses for a week of research in the New Mexican archives in Santa Fe and one in Washington, D.C. So with many misgivings, I took the thankless job.
And a thankless job it turned out to be. The majority of the committee and of the department faculty passionately demanded that Kaufman be given the position, as he had finished the temporary term for which he was hired. I pointed out to them that the position required someone with experience in minority affairs and that we might antagonize Ethnic Studies, the administration and minority communities if we did not fill the position with a minority person or at least someone with minority experience. At one emotional faculty meeting I pointed out that those fighting for Kaufman were like Custer riding to a certain defeat. Dair Gillespie savagely attacked me for using the Custer metaphor. I responded by a strong defense pointing that I had Indian blood and that the only thing wrong with the Custer defeat was that there were so few of them. Gillespie shot off like a rocket, demanding an apology, claimed to the Dean that I had insulted her to such a degree that she could not sleep, eat, teach her classes or do research. I assured both the Dean and Wen Kuo that I had no intention of feuding with her. The Dean asked me to delineate the nature of the factionalism in the department, which I did. He told me that a Middle East Sociologist who had come to lecture at the Middle East Center was amazed at Lee Bean's negative comments about the department.
I wrote a very strong memo to the Dean about the Gillespie affair and at the last moment decided not to send it. Someone stole it from the department staff office, made copies, and slipped it under the doors of diverse faculty members. I suspected that Dennis Willigan was responsible. At the same time Lee Bean much to my surprise, wrote a memorandum to Ted Smith, chair of the executive committee, demanding that I be censured because the stolen memo was on department stationary. So I fired a memo to the executive committee requesting that Lee Bean be censured for bad mouthing the department.
The Search Committee had just about reached closure on two candidates for the Mommsen position, a fine young Spanish American sociologist and Anglo girl, a specialist in American Indian Studies when much to my indignation the recruitment process was cancelled. For this I had been pulled off my sabbatical.
The department was to be reviewed by two external and two internal reviewers. The first reviewer, a Karen Mason from Chicago, a demographer selected by the Graduate Dean, wrote a scathing attack on the senior faculty urging that all be fired. Evidence is strong that either one of the
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Demographers in the Department or one of their students in Chicago influenced her before she came to the University of Utah. Some of her other comments on the graduate and undergraduate programs had merit but were obscured by the tremendous battle over her negative comments about the senior faculty. The second external reviewer, Blalock, wrote a much more favorable account of the department although criticizing the narrowness and rigidity of our graduate programs. The passive response of Wen Kuo to the coming of the evaluators and his failure to prepare a comprehensive analysis of the department for the reviewers led to his being forced to resign.
Once again the Department went through the facade of selecting another department chair. Bam Dev Sharda and Dair Gillespie were perhaps the strongest candidates. I was in favor of Ted Smith. But long before the process started the Dean had made up his mind to appoint Dair Gillespie as chair without ever investigating her qualifications She was one of the worst possible choices for the position. Before the year was out, Dair was strongly embroiled in hostilities with her former supporters Dennis Willigan, Lee Bean, George Miller and Bam Dev Sharda who thought that he should have been given the position. Emotionally neurotic, unstable, malicious, pugnacious, and without any vision for the department, she quickly alienated almost everyone. She seemed to go out of her way to create controversies with virtually every member of the department. As a result of all this, I had as little to do with department affairs as possible. I did not attend faculty meetings, refused committee assignments, and kept my mouth firmly closed as increasingly savage and bitter controversies tore the department apart.
The spring and fall RTP Committees were equally bitter and destructive. In the spring of 1984, John Collette in spite of the full support of the Mormon faculty, was denied promotion. As a supporter of Dair Gillespie, he was savagely attacked by Lee Bean, George Miller, and Glen Vernon. Unfortunately Collette blamed Robert Gray, the committee chair, for his failure and attacked him. Sharda was finally promoted to the rank of full professor. William Brustein and Lauri Krivo, wife of Robert Kaufman, sailed through their informal reviews. O'Shansky, a demographer, was approved but received two negative votes. Miller and Bean exploded in temper tantrums. The minutes of the RTP Committee leaked in spite of rigid precautions. I suspected either George Miller or Dennis Willigan. A copy of the minutes was sent to the Dean with Ed Kick's signature forged to the route slip.
Now to turn to family subjects. David passed his Ph. D. Prelims at Austin in February. He secured a department scholarship of $5600 which we supplemented. On April 21, David told us that Dr. Adams had given him assurance that he would find the funds to support David's research efforts in Bolivia for his dissertation.
Daniel resigned from Harmons June 1. His resignation sharply reduced their family income and caused serious financial problems. Daniel was at a loss. With his computer he hoped to develop software for meat supermarket departments. He also worked at a newly designed plastic storm window. He seemed to have little interest in returning to the University. As usual Ruth and I had the children half of every day.
On April 25 I flew to San Diego to participate in the annual meetings of the WSSA. Our three land grant sessions drew a very small audience. I chaired borderlands and arid lands sessions that did somewhat better. To me San Diego is an unattractive city. I managed to talk to a number of old friends.
On August 12th Keith quit Harmons. He and Tracy moved to an apartment complex in Orem. He begins his career as a law student at the Brigham Young University law college. He gasped
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a bit at the work load but adjusted rapidly. Tracy shifted from the Jordan to the Alpine school district. On August 18th Ruth, David, and I set out for Texas in two cars. We drove quietly all day stopping for the night in Farmington, New Mexico. I walked around Farmington. It seemed to be a thriving community. Once a small Mormon farming village, it has become a major New Mexican oil town. I liked the Navajo influence. From Farmington we drove to Aztec to see the Indian ruins once again and then on the Santa Fe. Because of the Indian fair we had to drive to Albuquerque for a motel. Returned to Santa Fe the next morning. Ruth bought some jewelry. I worked in the State
Archives for several days while Ruth and David visited museums and art galleries. We left Santa Fe on August 23 and drove eastward through the plains of New Mexico. Passed through the towns of Encino, Vaughn, and Fort Sumner. all of the Plains communities with the exception of Santa Rosa seemed to be partially abandoned in the stages of ultimate decay. The Comanches may yet have their revenge. We stopped at Lubbock for the night. The next morning we drove to Abilene, a Texan town which we liked. We visited Ruth's brother Donald and his family for several hours. David left us in Lampasas to drive to Austin while we proceeded on the Bryan and College station. We arrived in the early evening. While Ruth rested I was taken by William Kuvlesky to a reception at the home of James Kopf who was retiring. I encountered many old friends such as
Mike Miller, Scribnick, and others. The next day I read where two students had died from heat exhaustion while being hazed by a fraternity. Several other people had also died in the incredibly hot humid weather . I presented my paper on Reies Tijerina to a very large audience and then Ruth and I after looking over the Texas A and M Campus returned to Austin. We met David at LDS Institute. He took us to the Taller of Amado Peña, a Mexican American artist who had galleries in Santa Fe and Taos. I quite liked his work. David bought an expensive print for his mother's birthday. We loaded our car up with David's belongings and set off for Abilene stopping with Ruth's brother for two days. Marge, his wife, gave us a most interesting tour of the surrounding area. Donald is a member of the bishopric. From Abilene we drove to the Motel 6 in Albuquerque.
The next day Ruth and I went to work in the Coronado Room on land grant material at the Zimmerman Library. At noon we got up to get some lunch. As I walked down the steps I felt very nauseated and sat down. The nausea did not stop. The librarian of the Coronado Room called the paramedics who put me in a stretcher and deposited me in an ambulance. I felt embarrassed being carried through the Zimmerman Library on a stretcher. The moment I was prone the nausea left. They took me into emergency. As I laid there awaiting medical attention, a Dr. Edward Bernstein in charge of emergency came up, recognized my name and immediately took personal charge. They checked me over thoroughly and told me something was not right with my heart, but they could not find what it was. I was sent to intensive care where doctor after doctor came in to conduct special tests. I told Ruth to go back to our motel. I felt so sorry for her having to sleep alone in a strange motel.
I passed a most interesting night. The majority of nurses were Spanish American. When they found out I could talk Spanish we had a party in my room talking about them, their lives, hopes, and dreams. Toward dawn an English Mormon nurse came in. We had a long talk about England. During the night a Dr. Hashimoto visited me with a retinue of doctors, interns, and medical nights. For almost an hour we talked about witchcraft in northern New Mexico.
Dr. Bernstein with a Dr. Rice came in to see me the next day. Dr. Rice is married to a Spanish
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