1936-1940
When it was time for me to attend
college, Mayola had just gotten a job in Douglas, Arizona working for the
Arizona Social Welfare Agency. The
folks felt it best for me to go to the University of Arizona so Mayola would
keep an eye on me. However, she
didn’t stay long in Douglas and the next year found her in New Orleans getting
her Master’s Degree. For that
first awful freshman year, however, it was a comfort to have her nearby. I was really one lost little country
girl; the school was so big, the city girls so smart, and my clothes looked so
tacky. I survived and even though
Mayola wanted me to try for a Sorority, and outfitted me in a beautiful outfit,
after one or two invitations to their houses, I knew that I could never fit
into their life style. I declined
their bids, and I’m grateful I did, for most of the good Mormon girls lived in
the Dormitories. My monthly
allowance from home was $35.00; but when I left home Mother entrusted me with
the huge amount of $150.00 to pay my tuition, books, and first month rent. It was a sad, sad day when I told my
dear Mother goodbye, I shall never forget. I couldn’t stand to even look at her, and the tears flowed
unashamedly all the way to Tucson.
Things
started to look up for me after a few weeks. I was able to make wonderful friends who were Mormon as well
as non-Mormon. But the boys … so
many “cuties”, and many of them seemed to like me too. One engineering student, a senior,
spotted me at the cafeteria and asked me for a date. My, how excited I was.
He took me to many beautiful places, but after the end of the year we
parted as friends. I remained a
good Mormon girl and he remained a good Catholic boy. He taught me so much and seemed to enjoy the freshness of a
small town girl. There were many
boyfriends after Felix Berar, only a few held the excitement Felix held for
me.
One
important thing happened to me during my freshman year. I always felt I could accomplish about
anything I set my mind to do. I
had an idea I wanted to become a doctor of medicine, so I registered under a
pre-med course. However, I soon
found that course was Cat Anatomy, which was taught by a short, brilliant
bachelor professor, Dr. Hammon. It
was considered to be one of the toughest courses on campus and Dr. Hammon was
known to be an unrelenting tyrant.
By coincidence, I had also enrolled in the School of Music and was
taking voice lessons from Dr. Rollin Pease, a delightful person and former
Opera singer. Dr. Pease took a
liking to “little Bessie from Snowflake”, and asked me if I’d like to sing in
his Presbyterian Church Choir. He
knew I was a Mormon but had many friends among the Mormons. He offered me $5.00 every Sunday I sang
in his Church. Of course, I jumped
at the chance. Also in the choir was
Dr. Hammon, and we became good friends.
Often he brought me home after the Church service. One day he very kindly told me he didn’t
think I was cut out to be a doctor, and suggested I go into Nursing or
Dietetics. That was where I got
the idea of Dietetics I got a “B” in Cat Anatomy, but not without a struggle, I
worked terribly hard in that class.
 |
| Dr. Lowell Bennion |
Our
social life at school revolved around the activities at the Institute of
Religion. Dr. Lowell Bennion was
our Institute director for a couple of years and we all loved him dearly, then
Dr. Darrell Chase, who later became president of Utah State University in
Logan. The young people who
attended the Institute were some of the best Mormons in the Church. We were a very close group.
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