Ben Edgar Williams Journals of a Gay Activist : Spring 2nd Quarter Journal 1979 April-June

APRIL

1 April 1979 - 15 April 1979

I didn't keep a daily record in my journal during the first half of April. I can't remember why except that I was to depressed to write about my mundane life. I only started back up on April 16 after I had made a significant change by finding employment back at the University of Utah but not back in Food Service but within maintenance.

16 April 1979 Monday

I started my new job today . i work with the maintenance crew of the Special Events Center . Gary Ratliff is my boss and he's about my age and I really like him. he seems to be a really nice guy. I'm starting out at $3.71 an hour with benefits again and will work from 8 to 5. I have to leave Grantsville by 7 in the morning to drive into the city and be at work at 8. Our car is putting on about 75 miles a day round trip. Our milage was 18,035 starting today Since today was still Ester vacation Fran didn't have to teach but instead did our wash and cleaned the house. Yesterday for Easter we went over to Linda's for a ham dinner and I made a coconut Easter cake and easter baskets for each of the little kids. On Friday and Saturday, the 13th and 14th we went with Linda and Lionel Suazo out to Elko Nevada to look for a place for her to move to since Lionel is still back working at Battle Mountain. However they couldn't find anything that Linda liked so I guess maybe they won't be moving from Grantsville after all. Thursday we weren't called into work and Friday was Easter Vacation weekend. We were paid on Friday and Fran made only $65 and I made $175. Tuesday the 10th was by 28th birthday and Fra and I both worked at Harris Elementary, I for 4th grade and Fran for 2nd grade. We had really rotten days as Harris is a rotten school with a poor principal. My sister Charline called me on my birthday and we talked for about 2 hours the most we ever visited. She mainly told how the kids were and Dennis working and how mom and dad were holding up. I really had little to say at all. I didn't work on the 9th as Fran and I went into the city job hunting and that's when I applied at the U of U. While in the city we went over to Connie Newman’s house because Fran hadn't seen her in months. Linda and her kids stayed with us a whole week in March when she was made at Lionel and her step daughter Kity. that was really an awful experience

17 April 1979 Tuesday

I worked from 8 to 5 today at the Special Events Center however from 8:30 until nine however I had to attend an orientation meeting regarding my benefits. I am going to get insurance from the Family Health Plan FHP. It was a pretty day in the city. Fran is mad at Linda for some reason.

18 April 1979 Wednesday

I hate driving back and forth between Grantsville and Salt Lake. I get up at 6 so I can leave the house by 7 so I can drive in to the city by 8. I bought a university parking sticker for $12.50. Fran is pretty much on her own from 7 until I am home at 6 and can no longer substitute teach.

19 April 1979 Thursday

I worked from 8 to 5 today. Gary Ratliff told me about a house he had for rent for $175 a month over in the Glendale area. Its two bedrooms. i said we would look at it and it sounds real good. I have to work both Friday and Saturday for the play "joseph" which is about Joseph Smith. My hay fever has been bothering me a lot.

20 April 1979 Friday

I worked from 8 to 5 normal hours then 5 to 10:30 overtime so I didn't get home until real late . I hated the long drive home as I was so tired

21 April 1979 Saturday

I worked from noon until 10:30 at night for overtime and again it was almost midnight when I came back to Grantsville. I was so tired on the way home that I pulled over to the side of the road and I closed my eyes for what I thought was few minutes but was two hours! I then drove on home really sleepy. We need to find a place in the city soon. Gary Ratliff took me over to his house he had for rent and i was really disappointed in it. It was really a dump. I will let Fran see it tomorrow and see what she has to say and let her decide.

22 April 1979 Sunday

I didn't attend church today as I was so tired I slept in. Fran and I did go into the city so I could show her the house. She also thought it was a dump. We went and took Paulette Gasparac with u to go house hunting

23 April 1979-30 April 1979

We moved back to the city by the end of April after finding a cute duplex on 13th East and Bryan Street just down the road from the University. Our new address is 1568 South 1300 East. It a two bedroom place with a basement garage for $200.We had to pay first and last month rent so we had to scrap up $400 which we managed. We rent from the Busaths who own the Busath's Photograph Studio downtown on South temple. We left Grantsville with Tony and Kay Wiker helping move our furniture into a work truck from the Special Events center. Moving the piano was the biggest pain. I don't care if I never go back to Grantsville. While we were there no one but Kay and Linda very paid us any attention while here in Salt Lake friends drop by all the time. Linda wants Fran to come out to Grantsville to visit but she won't come into the city to see her our new place. and into our new place. Substitute teaching ended with my new job and Fran was now able to not work for a while. It was like I had been released from prison leaving Grantsville and Linda Suazo behind.

MAY

I had to work the England Dan and John Ford Cooley Concert at 7:30 on May 1st On May 9th I worked the Johnny Mathis concert with Jay Leno After mother's day Fran's mother went to the hospital to have breast cancer operation where she had to have a breast removed. She would be 72 years old on June 2nd. On Thursday the last day in the month Roy Clark with the Utah Symphony performed at the Special Events Center. Fran was hired by Tomie Martinez at La Paloma Mexican restaurant on the corner of 4th South and Mainstreet downtown below the New Grande Hotel. She mainly works as a waitress an doing some prep work. It gets her out of the house especially when I have to work overtime. Paulette and Kent Gasparac have separated completely now but for how long who knows?

JUNE

Kay Wiker started working at the Special Event Center on June 1st. Gary hired him on my recommendation so he transferred over from the Huddle. Since I started working at the Special Center I had to work the concerts for England Dan and John Ford Cooley, Johnny Mathis, and Roy Clark for whom I got his autograph. I haven't had a thing to do with Grantsville since leaving there> tony Fillman helped us move and Gary Ratliff my boss let me borrow the work truck Mom turned 50 years old on June 3rd. When I talked to her she had a cold and said Dad has been back and forth in the hospital because of his heart

Kay Wiker

13 June 1979 Wednesday

I was up at 4:30 this morning so I go be over at Gary Ratliff’s at 5:30 to pick him up to attend the employee breakfast this morning. He lives clear across town past Redwood road at 444 Morton Drive. We were served eggs, sausage links and pancakes. The rest oof the day we didn't do much either> was off work early so I went to the genealogy library before picking Fran up at 5 at La Paloma. She fixed me chili verde burrito for dinner from La Paloma. Afterwards we went to the Tower Theater on 9th South and 9th East and saw Chevy Chase in Foul Ply for $1.50 at the &5 cent theater. We both just laughed our buns off. It was really good. It was very hot again today at 95 degrees. John Wayne died last Monday on the 11th of cancer. All the old Hollywood stars are dying off including Mary Pickford and Jack Haley the Tin man. I worked 8 hours today and ten years ago today I graduated from Rancho High School. When I last saw Jerry Smith at Christmas he said that a ten year reunion was being planned for this summer but I've never heard a word about it. He received an invitation. I doubt if I would have gone even if I was invited as the only person I'd want to see wouldn't be there but still the omission kind of hurts. I'd like to know all the gossip on everyone who went there for the past ten years wonder what ever happened to Barry Wendall, Loyd Davis, Kathy Shaw, Larry Jaeger, Bill Lyons, Fred Townsend ad especially John Cunningham. I haven’t seen or heard from him in 7 years. Its seems so long ago to be a teen ins Sunny Southern California going to Rancho Alamitos. I remember walking up to receive my diploma. I had written to read off "Edgar Beauregard Williams as a joke. They didn't know me from Adam and that proved it. Grandma and Grandpa Williams were there with Aunt Minnie as I recall.

14 June 1979-30 June 1979

I worked steady all the rest of the month, starting to get delinquent bills paid. Fran and I went to the West Valle Drive in and saw China Syndrome and the Buddy Holly Story. During the month we also saw later at the drive Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and Capricorn One. At the walk-ins we saw Walt Disney’s Pinocchio, Freaky Friday, 1010 Dalmatians and Foul Play. We had been to the show more this month than the 9 months we were living in Grantsville. Dad went to the Script Clinic in San Diego and they said he didn't have diabetes and that his heart was in good condition. On the 17th of June we a party out at Dean's Guthrie’s a coworker for all the crew and their families That as fun. I had to work Graduation and the ABC Gymnastic Meet as the big events in June. Clifford Garland was let go as foreman and Dean replaced him. The crew down here consists of Gary Ratliff, Dean Guthrie, Clifford Garland, Kay Wiker, Pat Winter and me full time. Part

time help consists of Jed Hanson, Rand Hendrickson and Jeff Chapman . Cliff is 43 years old but looks more like 33 and is a very quiet soft spoken easy going man but he's been rather moody since being demoted. Dean is only 20 years old weighing about 300 pounds and is a very good take charge leader. His mom's folks are from North Carolina while his das is from Utah. He's kind of a Jack Mormon. Pat Winter acts like Gray's side kick and had known him since high school. Gary is just great, a fun likable guy with a good head on his shoulders. If it weren't for Gary , I don't think I'd had stuck it out this far. he's a good boss and good friend.