An End to Childhood

I guess I was kind of excited at beginning my final year of high school. However, there were still twinges of disappointment at being a senior in high school instead of a freshman at the University of Utah. AND, although I hated to admit it, I found myself looking to catch a glimpse of Jim on the bus or walking down the halls at school. I didn't see him at church anymore because the ward had been divided and we were now in different buildings. Then it would dawn on me that he had graduated and was now in basic training somewhere in the U.S....someplace that I didn't even know. The Korean War was waging and rather than being drafted into the army, (a draft was in place at that time) Jim had chosen to enlist in the Air Force. This meant a four-year commitment and the likelihood that he would have to give up a mission for the Church. Many young men would have to do the same because there were only a small number deferments given to men of draft age to go on missions.

I should have been excited about the possibility of getting a driver's license, but I really wasn't. Actually I was old enough a year ago at age sixteen, but I had watched my dad try to teach my older sisters to drive, and it wasn't a pretty picture. I was not too anxious to go there. Dad didn't have a whole lot of patience, and cars back then didn't have automatic transmissions or signal lights. So you had to shift gears, and use hand signals when making turns. To pass the driver's test, you also had to parallel park and park on a hill...not easy things to learn. I decided I could wait a while before learning. And besides, we only had one car which Dad drove to work, and with two other drivers waiting a chance to use it, I would probably never have a chance, anyway.

The good things which I remember that year were:

• The chance to actually be a part of that year's musical production of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". As part of the Physical Education for senior girls was modern dance. Our P.E. instructor picked six girls to dance in the show. I was one. We danced as court slaves which meant we had to darken the skin of our whole bodies with this awful theatrical paint. It was horrible trying to get it off after every performance. But since I have always loved to dance, it was worth it.
• Attending my first and only school dance with my dad. It was a special Father-Daughter dance, and I really have to give it to my dad for going with me. You see he didn't dance. But what made this night so incredible was that we won the waltz contest. The only reason why is that we were the only ones actually doing a waltz step. I taught Dad really quick what a waltz step was when they announced the contest. He was scared to death, but was a quick learner. He was one happy father when we won.
• A date with Hugh Pinnock, president of our student body. Everyone loved Hugh. He was kind, considerate, sensitive and a friend to all. He recognized that I was not one of the "popular" crowd and didn't date much (actually not at all that senior year), and although everyone knew he had a girl friend, he still asked me out to a movie at the Villa Theater. Imagine how I felt being asked out by the president of the whole school. It did wonders for my self esteem. He used to call me, "Whaanita, my leetle flower." It was not at all surprising to me that he became a general authority (a member of the seventy) years later. After seeing him at our 30th class reunion, he sent me a special letter that will always be special to me.
• Being assigned by my art teacher (yes, I was still taking an art class) to design and make the crown for the queen of the Harvest dance, and to design a letter head for the Lion's Club which they had requested. I made the crown out of orange satin to look like a pumpkin (it looked better than it sounds) and I can still picture that letter head in my mind. The Lion's Club actually used it.
• Although not school related, I had become an aunt for the first time the year before. My sister, Claire, had given birth to a little girl, Maurine, who was a doll. When Easter came that April of my senior year, I found out that Maurine didn't have a frilly Easter Dress, so I stayed up all night making her one with a matching bonnet. I can't describe how I felt to see her all dressed up in that yellow organdy dress.
• Graduating from seminary, a formal affair in one of the church buildings near the school. Yes, the girls wore long dresses and the boys wore suits. I wore the lavender dress that I wore for my sister's wedding. Besides receiving a certificate we were given a beautiful pin with tiny rubies and pearls and the letters "LDS". Attached to the pin was a tiny chain and the numbers "52", the year that I graduated. I still have my pin with a few stones and the "52" missing.
• Graduating in a white cap and gown on the football field of my alma matre, Granite High School, one of the oldest high schools in Salt Lake City. No Disneyland afterwards, only a dance that I did not attend.
  
• GETTING A SCHOLARSHIP TO BYU!!!
  

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