APRIL
In April Fran quit her job at Juliettes because of her boss President Deem and found work down the street at the Auerbach's Department Store in the Credit Department. My birthday was on a Monday and we didn't do much to celebrate when I turned 27. Fran and I weren't getting along much as well. We had fallen back into the same routine of not attending church and Fran spending much of her time with her girl friends than home with me. I had Sam to keep me company. I was still drawling unemployment and working part time as a substitute teacher at East High School until I found more permanent work at Candlelight Floral in ZCMI Department Store as a delivery driver for $3 an hour. The shop was owned by Glenn Richardson. Will Geer Grandpa Walton died on April 22 at 76.
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| Glenn Richardson |
April was difficult month for us recovering from the expensive utility bills that the big house had as it was hard to heat. It was really discouraging for Fran to discover that Darrell Deem was a horrible boss and I think was a contributing factor to our fighting and stopped attending church again.
Also not being employed much I had occasion to stray into brief homosexual encounters up at the University and also cruising ZCMI Mall. I had discovered a very active men's room not far from the 100 South entrance and one time I had sex with a man who was one of the owners of Candlelight Floral located in the mall. We had oral sex a few times and he offered me a job at his shop at a delivery driver. I know he hired me because He thought I would continue these illicit picadilloes but actually after I was hired I didn't feel right continuing a sexual relationship. We were both married men. One problem being hired was the delivery van was a stick shift and I had never learned to drive a clutch. In fact Fran drove all the way back to Utah because I couldn't drive the Dodge Station Wagon. However after a few sticky situation I quickly learned out of necessity.
Dust In the Wind was one of my favorite songs from this time.
MAY 1978
I worked during the month of May primarily as a driver for Candlelight Floral, My bosses Glenn Richardson and Richard Thomas and I worked out of 366 South West Temple. I drove a van from Logan to Provo. I also delivered buckets of flowers to Albertson and Smith Food King. I kind of enjoyed my job because I had a lot of independence and I was paid every week. I don't think Fran care for her job as much as I did mine. During May we got to know Greg Stembridge our renter really well. We both really enjoyed that kid. Also Kay Wiker stayed with us for most of the time he was working at the Huddle. So with Kim, Greg, and Kay we always had a house full. In the middle of May while cutting stems of flowers at work, I cut a deep slash in my hand between my thumb an fire finger. I just wrapped it up the best I could until I got home and hoped it would mend on its own. Fran said I should have gone in and gotten stitches but I didn't want to or spend the money. So the next day on Monday May 15th when I got up my arm was so sore and stiff. I could see a dark streak running up my arm from blood poisoning. Feeling really sore and run down I Went to the Holy Cross Emergency room where they had a doctor look at it. He said that it had really festered and I had a very bad case of blood poisoning. It was too late for stitches so all they could do was give me a strong shot of penicillin and more penicillin pills to clear up the infection. The Pills had knocked me out and by Wednesday I had broken out in a terrible rash and was severely itchy. I went back to Holy Cross and they determined that I developed a server allergy reaction to the amount of penicillin they had given me and I was just miserable from the itching. The doctor gave me some new antibiotics to fight the infection and some sleeping pills to help me get to sleep at night. Well when I took them they knocked me our for 34 hours causing my breathing to become really shallow and my heart beat was really low. Greg Stembridge noticed that I was still unconscious when he was up and about and he called Fran at her work and she was so worried she came home to see about me. Mike Allred of all people actually dropped by to see me but I was so spaced out that I couldn't really visit. I slept through the next day and then I went back to the doctor's and he took me off that medicine. Eventually I began to mend on my own and by the time Fran's sister Katy and her husband Dean came to Salt Lake I was feeling pretty good and recovering. Kathy and Dean were moving from Washinton to North Carolina and stopped to see us along the way. They only spent two days with us but we had a good time showing them around the city and the university. While visiting with us, Greg Stembridge told us a story how that while on his mission, he and his companion were teaching this lady who had an obnoxious cat. One time as the lady left the room, the cat started to rub against his companion's leg getting fur on his suit. So his companion took his Book of Mormon and lightly tapped the cat on the head to make it quit. Well the cat dropped dead. Gregg and his companion didn't know what to do so they quickly picked the cat up and threw him behind the couch. The lady didn't notice a thing but a week later they came back to the lady's house and smelled an awful stink. When Greg and his companion returned the lady said You know I haven't seen my cat for about a week since you two were here. They went to the couch and looked behind it and exclaimed, "Look your cat must have crawled here to die!" That lady never found out that that the missionary had killed her cat. Kathy and Fran had a good time and their leaving sure made us lonesome for family. On the last day of May Dr. Heaston said that my Blood poisoning was all cleared up but the blood work still didn't show what is causing my itching still. He said I am allergic to penicillin now and should never take it again. Ghost Stories When we first moved in with Murray, Fran and I one time accidently woke him from a nap by dropping something. He woke up from his chair with a smile and said "Its good to know that there's is somebody behind the noise." We thought no more about it until after Vicky left and we were alone in the house. Sleeping upstairs, we were wakened by Sam's deep throaty growls. I got up to investigate and went downstairs to make sure all the doors were locked. As we lived on 1300 East we were worried that perhaps a drunk student was at the wrong house. However Sam wouldn't follow me down the stairs but rather stayed a the top of the landing growling down into the darkness. I went back to bed where Fran and I were wakened repeatedly by footsteps in the hallway. We moved downstairs the next morning and slept there Shortly thereafter while watching TV late at night, Fran heard a loud thump and exclaimed for me to turn the volume down so I could hear it. I said no because I didn't want to hear anymore noises that the TV could drown out. The next morning the upstairs light was turned on. After Kim and Greg moved in one evening Kim and I were talking at the foot of the stairs when an upstairs light turned on. It startled Kim who ran upstairs to see who was up there. Of course there was no one. Kay Wiker saw the bathroom water faucet turn on and off and also heard footsteps several times while he stayed with us. We never knew who the spirit was although it never seemed to be harmful just noisy. Murray's house had some interesting features like a hidden passage through the downstairs bedroom closet into the side room and had hidden compartments in the wall paneling in the upstairs bed rooms.
JUNE 1978
1 June 1978 Thursday
I felt really crummy today so I called Glen Richardson and told him I wouldn't be into to work today. I made another flower arrangement in a tea cup and made a frame for the 20 " x 24 " blow up I had made of the picture of poker players which Uncle Lee Peacock was in it. I guess Greg Stembridge will be moving out this weekend. I have to get my application from BYU completed by the end of the week. I had pancakes, eggs and bacon for my dinner and it was only about 65 degrees today. It's bee a real coolish spring. I haven't heard yet from Mom how Aunt Jerry is doing. She's uncle R.L's wife and is in intense care with leukemia an other complications. I had an intense pain over my right eye today. I don't know why but it really bothered me. Fran is still working at Auhrbachs Credit Department. She ran a credit check on herself the other day and she has an excellent credit rating.
7 June 1978 Wednesday;
Mom called to say Aunt Jerry had died. the family is really taking it hard. She will be buried next to Grandpa Williams in our family section at Rose Hill. Mom said that dad bought 4 lots there also so the family could be together.
9 June 1978 Friday
God gave a revelation to the First Presidency in the Salt Lake Temple lifting the curse of Cain and allowing the Blacks to hold the Priesthood. This is all that people are talking about. It 's very exciting. Fran made the 6 o'clock new after being interviewed on the street downtown enthusiastically cheering the news.
Additional Material
Utah was a very racist state back then mostly from the Mormon doctrine the Black Skin was a curse from God and one drop of "black blood" prevented males from hold the Mormon Priesthood and denied entrance into Mormon Temples preventing them from ever becoming Gods Blacks were not worthy for not haven been valiant in the "pre-existence" Conservative Mormon authorities like Ezra Taft Benson called the Black Civil Rights movement a communist plot. The so called Revelation was almost as much a shock as was the condemnation of polygamy 80 years ago. Critics joked that the revelation came about from the discovery of "Kinte Kunte Kimball" on President Kimball's family tree. That referenced the show ROOTS. Many of the racist Mormons simply believed that Kimball was wrong to have lifted the ban and the church still strongly discouraged interracial marriage 17 June, 1978 - Church News headline "Interracial Marriage Discouraged" in same issue which announces authorization of priesthood for those of black African descent. Sources at church headquarters indicate that Apostle Mark E. Petersen requires this emphasis.
During the month of June Fran and I were living still at 355 South 1300 East in Sat Lake City as kind of care takers for the house. Greg Stembridge , our renter and friend moved out around the 15th, fearing that he might not find a place in the fall. Shortly there after the Van Wagoners informed us that the were putting the house up for sale. So we started looking for a new place to move for ourselves. Kim Richardson wanted to stay until August but we told him that he had to move because the house was being sold. If it would have been Greg asking we would have let him stay as long as he wanted but Kim was always kind of an inconvenience for us. He was never very considerate and always demanding. Fran and I kept our jobs at Auhrbachs and Candlelight Floral, taking the bus to work every day to save the wear and tear on the car as it was our only vehicle anymore. For $5 we could buy a buss pass and ride the bus all month as much as we liked . In the last half of the month Fran and I were delighted when Mom an dad came to Salt Lake to see us on their way to Texas. They brought with them Grandma Williams and Aunt Minnie. We had plenty of room in Murray's 5 bedroom big house. We had grandma sleep downstairs as she couldn't climb the stairs but other than that we all fitted in that big house just fine. Although mom did have an encounter from the ghost that haunts Murray's house, the first night she stayed here, She was aware that Grandma was up, sitting downstairs as she saw a light on down there. When she had to get up to go to the bathroom she also went down stairs to see if Grandma was all right since Grandma was on medication for her heart and had to take oxygen. As she was sitting with grandma downstairs, visiting , at 4 in the morning, she heard someone walking around upstairs . She remarked to Grandma saying "Edgar must have gotten up." Then the steps descended down the stairs and mom was saying "Edgar , Edgar is that you?" several times with out a response. Mom was surprised and frightened not to see or hear anything but footsteps on the darken stairs. Frightened by now, she didn't want to alarm Grandma and said she was going back to bed and hurried upstairs to join dad in bed. So frightened was she by this experience that she wouldn't even go to the bathroom at night without dad getting up and going with her. The following morning after the first experience she looked at me at breakfast and said is there something about this house you need to tell me, so that is when I said the house makes noises but they are harmless. Besides this experience we all had a good time. The cherry tree in the back yard was baring fruit and we ate the cherries for much of the time. We also had a nice BBQ steak dinner with home made ice cream the last night they were with us. The weather was beautiful the entire time Mom and Dad were here. Fran and I were able to talk Grandma into letting Minnie stay with us instead of leaving with her to Texas. So when mom and Dad left with Grandma, Minnie stayed with us.
Additional Material
9 June, 1978 – An LDS First Presidency letter instructs that interviews of married persons "should scrupulously avoid indelicate inquiries," yet also emphasizes: "Married persons should understand that if in their marital relations they are guilty of unnatural, impure or unholy practices, they should not enter the temple unless and until they repent and discontinue any such practices." This reverses position of First Presidency prior to Spencer W. Kimball's ascendancy.
22 June 1978- All Gay people were encouraged to wear green on Gentle Thursday as part of Gay Pride Week at the University of Utah
24 June 1978 A Gay Pride Fair was held 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Northwest Multipurpose Center 1300 West 300 North. The Rev. Robert Waldrop, Metropolitan Community Church, 2555 Highland Dr. and spokesman for the Salt Lake Coalition for Human Rights said that, “Gay people have been forced to come out visibly in order to defend themselves against the slander, abuse, and discrimination of straight society” The Salt Lake Coalition for Human Rights believes that Civil Rights and human rights are absolute-that they cannot be denied to one minority without endangering the rights of all he said.”
29 June 1978 Bob Crane the star of Hogan's Heroes was murdered at the age of 49.
Songs played a lot on the radio were You're the One that I Want, Andy Gibb's Shadow Dancing, Gerry Raferty's Baker Stret Bonnie Tyler's It's a Heart Ache and Abba's
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