I lived in the same home in Paradise Utah (with the tallest pine tree in town in our front yard) until I was 18. Then I left home and went to Utah State where I lived in an old rental house with 5 friends from Paradise. Reneal Goldsberry, Linda Mair, Brenda Summers and one other girl. Reneal and I shared a double bed. One time when she had a cold, I chased her around the bed trying to put my cold cure all, Vicks Vapor Rub, on her throat. I went home for the summer and then returned to Utah State and lived in another house rental for that next school year. I spent the summer at home again then moved to Reno Nevada where I attended school in the fall of 1966 at the University of Nevada. I lived in an apartment complex in Reno with Deanna Merrill and Reneal Goldsberry.
Bill was born in Reno but his family lived in Carson City. Later the family lived in Yerington, NV and a few other places that he couldn’t remember. When the war broke out, they lived in Herlong, California until the end of the war. The family then moved to Carson City and lived in VETS housing. Later they moved to 510 East King, their home sat on about three quarters of an acre. Then they moved to the "Yellow House" and then finally they moved to Grandpa Mathews' home on Spear Street. It was located two blocks from the Governor's Mansion. Bill loved to roller skate around the Governor's mansion. Before they moved to Grandpa's house, Bill would ride his bike to Grandpa's house. He would put his feet up on the handlebars to coast. The neighbor's dog, Toddles, a Chesapeake, grabbed his leg and dragged him down the street. Bill rode his bike everywhere until he was in high school. He would ride to the swimming pool. It was a long way. There was a huge old telescope that was mounted a block from the swimming pool.
After Bill graduated second in his class in high school, he moved to Reno and lived there for a year and a half attending the University of Nevada. He was a member of Theta Chi, a fraternity. It was a wild year and a half. Then, because of such low grades, Bill decided to join the army. He was first sent to Fort Ord in California for Basic Training and then to Fort Gordon, Georgia. At Fort Gordon he learned to be a Radio Teletype Operator and learned Morse Code. The course work was about 15 weeks long. He then moved to Balm Holder, Germany and was a Radio Teletype Operator and then on to Mainz, Germany where he was also a Teletype Operator. Dad was asked to volunteer for a test which would indicate his aptitude for Computers. He maxed it and was one of two men sent to Heidelberg where he attended an IBM computer school. Bad Kreuznach Germany was his next home. Here he programmed the 8th Infantry Division 609 Calculator. He lived in Bad Kreuznach for about 2 years.
Bill returned to the U.S. and lived in San Francisco for about 9 months where he worked for IBM. He then returned to Reno to attend the University of Nevada. Through a set of interesting experiences, he gained a desire to go to church. (He was baptized into the LDS Church when he was 10. He'd always had a testimony that the church was true. He just wondered if he would have the strength to live it. His Mom was born in Tooele, Utah and was a member. But she left the church. Bill baptized his Dad, Woody, when he returned from Germany. However, Lorraine forbade Woody to attend Church.) Bill's family did not give him a foundation of religious upbringing. He was on his own. I think this contributed to his fear that he may not have the strength to keep the commandments.) Bill met Rosemary shortly after he started going to church. They were married the next August (1967) in the Salt Lake Temple.
We lived first in a nice apartment which was too expensive for us. (I remember taking pennies and nickels from Bill's "piggy bank", which was actually a huge old Bourbon Bottle, to a nearby convenience store to get bread, milk and a box of macaroni and cheese for dinner). We only lived there for a couple of months and then we moved to married student housing which was a studio apartment. We lived in the same complex with our good friends the Turleys.
We next lived in the home of a college professor who was on sabbatical leave for the year. The family left their dog, Ellen, with us. It was here, in 1970, that I became pregnant with Luke. I was so sick. There was no air conditioning and it was HOT. At one point, I laid bare-naked in the cool bathtub. Another time on the cool linoleum. That summer the Nevada Opera Company did 3 operas: La Boheme, Three Penny Opera and La Centerentella. I had a lead in the first, Bill was in the second and I was in the 3rd. We tried to keep our pregnancy a secret. But I got really sick during the 3rd opera and we told the opera director at that point. That fall we moved into a condominium in SE Reno and lived there a short while until our new home in Sparks was completed. We almost backed out of purchasing the Sparks home. Our down payment was $99 (VA first time buyer). We really had to scrape to get that money together. But we persevered.
We lived in our new home in Sparks for about a year. During this time Luke was born, I finished my Master's Degree in Vocal Performance (Master's Recital in December, 2 months before Luke was born). Bill completed all of his course work for his Master's in Mechanical Engineering. Then we moved to China Lake, CA. A desert. (I cried and cried. I had to leave my singing experiences and opportunities behind as well as the culture in Reno.) I was pregnant again. Marlies was born October 10, 1972, about 2 months after we had arrived in CA. We lived first on the base in a duplex for about 2 years. During the first few months in China Lake, Bill completed his Master's Thesis for his Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree. (RM typed it for him. It was a nightmare as much of it was columns of numbers. Dixie eventually helped me. Corrections were made with a correction tape. (a pain, much different than today’s computers). To make copies, one had to made a carbon copy. (No copy machines in that day). Mistakes had to be erased with a regular eraser. The work on his thesis was done just prior to Marlies' birth. (I have always worried that I did not get all of the numbers in the columns correct). We sent it off and Bill completed his Master's Degree. We started at China Lake with a salary of $7,000. When his Master's was completed the salary went to $9,000. We were rich!! Meantime, I began teaching at Cerro Coso Community College. This was my first choral conducting experience.
After about two years in base housing, we moved into our newly built custom home in Ridgecrest. Ridgecrest was the small town that was next door to the China Lake Naval Weapons Center where Bill worked. We lived in that area for a total of about 5 years. Becky and Tim were born there. Richard and Twila Bird were our neighbors. Although Richard died a number of years ago, we still see Twila and love her so much. In fact, we love the whole family.
After 5 years in China Lake, Bill got a job at Indiana State University in Terre Haute Indiana. We lived in a wonderful home South of Terre Haute in a custom housing area. (Not like today's subdivisions that have cookie cutter homes.) It was one of my favorite houses. There was a wonderful brick fireplace that kept us warm in the winter. We loved watching red Cardinals and Blue Jays dart from tree to tree with the white snow in the background. There were about 300 acres of forest behind us that looked like the Sacred Grove. Our next-door neighbors were LDS. The Dad was in the Bishopric. (Bill was called as the President of the Elder’s Quorum). They had 4 kids. Some similar in age to our family. Bill and Bob would drive to Priesthood together and then Carolyn and I would come along a little later in her Volkswagen Van with the 8 kids. The van had no heater so we would wrap blankets around our kids. While living in Indiana, the church meeting plan was changed. Sacrament, RS, Priesthood and Sunday School were all combined into a single block. That was nice. It allowed us to just travel to church one time each Sunday. It was a ten-mile trip each way. Ben was born in Terre Haute.
After 2 years in Indiana, Bill left the education system and went back to work in Industry. We moved to Brigham City where he worked for Morton Thiokol. We were there for 10 great years. During this time, we added Deborah Ruth to our family. (We also had an Native American son, Chris Sloan, who lived with us for two years.) I had the opportunity to direct several musicals for the Stake. Bill was, once again, the Elder's Quorum president. Debbie was born in Brigham City. Number 6 for us. Wow, neither of us had thought about how many children we would have. Now we had six. We were never sorry. We were delighted. Another very nice thing was that in moving to Brigham City we were just 30 miles from my parents in Paradise. My Dad loved having us so close after years of being separated from his kids. My step Mom, Arlynn, had family in Paradise, but we knew Daddy was sure glad to have us so close. I began teaching at Weber State University. I loved it. I spent 10 years there.
After the space shuttle exploded in space, the fault was placed on the rocket fuel motors built by Morton Thiokol. Bill eventually lost his job. The loss of his job was a ripple effect of the Space Shuttle tragedy. However, he worked in a different division than Rocket Motors.
After 16 months of being humbled and beat up a bit, Bill landed a job in Spanish Fork. Teleflex was the new company and he was the new General Manager. We felt like the windows of heaven had opened and dumped all of the blessings in our front yard. We purchased a wonderful home on Grandview Hill in Provo. Luke soon left on his mission to Australia. (Marlies would leave on her mission to Austria about two years later). I started teaching part time at BYU and Bill began his new job. He had a car provided and stock options. It was a dream come true. He travelled a lot, primarily to the far east, middle east and Europe. But the pressure of the job was very intense. The company was based in Pennsylvania. Easterners knew that Utahans knew how to work, but they didn't think we were very smart. Crazy!!!! After 5 years of downsizing, the company was sold and Bill was again without a job.
His next job took us to Ontario, Oregon. It was very hard for me to leave BYU. I had established a good reputation there as a teacher of voice and had been given many opportunities to teach classes and more. But the family needed to move and so we did. We found a smaller home in Ontario. It was comfortable and I enjoyed it. While Bill worked in Fruitland ID as a GM for a portion of his new company, Woodgrain Moldings, I took two teaching positions. One at Treasure Valley Community College and the other at Fruitland Middle and High School. I grew in both experiences. Tim, who lived with Luke in our Grandview home in Provo, left on his mission to the Dominican Republic while we lived in Oregon. Lorraine also moved there and lived a short distance from our home. Deb and Ben attended the Oregon schools. Ben was a successful football player and wrestler. Deb was into band. She played the flute.
Two years were all we lasted in the Oregon/Idaho areas. We headed back to Utah where Bill and Luke had opened a Manufactured Home business. Marlette was the supplier. (Ben left on his mission during this time). We lived in Orem for a short while and then moved to Lindon where we lived in one of the Marlette manufactured homes. I took a job in the Alpine School District at Oak Canyon Junior High School and returned to teaching at BYU for two years. Bill and Luke were a great team, but eventually the company folded. Luke left to go get his MBA at Colorado University and when he and Amy returned, they lived in the basement of our Lindon home. Eventually that home was sold and we moved to our present location in Springville.
Rosemary Mathews
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