The Arizona Science Center

We had fun using the Culture Pass to get four free tickets to the Arizona Science Center in downtown Phoenix. We would probably have gone even without the free tickets, but it was nice to only pay $10 and not to shell out an additional $45.

The children had an absolutely great time. We all loved the physics room, with all the levers and pulleys. Here is Rob on a bed of nails... Robbie, Allison, and Johanna also tried it out.


Here is Allison using a system of three pulleys to raise herself, which she was able to do well. They also had a two-pulley chair, and a one-pulley chair. You have to have pretty good muscles to raise yourself on the single pulley chair. Remember your physics classes?

One of the neatest exhibits was a storm center. Everyone stood on a raised platform, and a little movie played that talked about violent weather. They showed a tornado, and the wind blew in circles. Then a thunderstorm, and the wind blew with strobe lights, and some "rain." Then lightning sparked a fire, and they added heat lamps... anyway, it's hard to describe, but the children really loved being in the storms and earthquakes.

The room they spent the most time on was the Lego Castle exhibits. It was pretty neat to see all the castles built of legos. Here is Neuschwanstein:


Here is Emily playing with the huge blocks. We had to drag her off kicking and screaming to see the rest of the exhibits.

Here are Allison and Johanna being eaten by the giant Lego Dragon:

Here is Robbie helping Emily down the slide.

Here are Dallin and Johanna dressed up in the princess and dragon outfits that they had in bins by the entrance to the "castle." The stained glass window in the background is made of transparent legos.

And last of all, here are Rob and Robbie using brainwaves to control a little ball. They had to limit their active brainwaves in order to push the ball toward each other. Whoever was able to relax the most won! Guess who won this match?

Grandpa Wessman's Letter Part 6

GRANDPA, WHERE DID YOU SERVE IN THE WAR?

I went into the United States Army in November, 1944, five months after Beverly and I had been married. We had lived in a basement apartment at 663 Cortez Street behind the State Capitol and nearly to Ensign Peak. We had my 1937 Ford tudor, but Beverly was not driving at that time, and automobiles were upon great demand due to ware requirements; consequently we sold the car so some one else could use it while I was gone in the army. We moved Beverly back to her parent’s place, and I reported at Fort Douglas, Utah for my enlistment. I was there about 7 days, having the weekend for leave before being transferred to my first training duty. I was able to be with my wife for a day and one-half, then returned to the Fort for pending assignment. I was sent by train from the D. and R.G.W. railroad station easterly to Denver, the later we travelled southeast. It was not until we had arrived in Kansas that our escort officer told us that we were destined to arrive at Camp Fannin near Tyler, Texas for our first location assignment. This was a special basic training camp, after which we were going to be assigned for overseas duty. However, on completion of the training there, I had been accepted for officer’s training and was going to travel to Fort Benning near Columbus in western Georgia. Two weeks after I had been at Benning, I received a message through the Red Cross that my oldest sister Merle was critically ill and that I should return to assist the family, inasmuch as my six other brothers in military were serving in overseas duty. I returned via Columbus and Atlanta, Georgia, flying from there to Kentucky and Chicago, where I had to await for flight to Salt Lake City. I later got aboard and continued home. On arriving at the airport, many family members of mine and Beverly’s were there to greet me; after saying “hello” to most of them, I then asked where was Beverly, because I hadn’t seen her yet. Her mother said, “Didn’t you pay attention to me when I said ‘Hello, papa’?” I then found out that Beverly had gone to the hospital and had given birth to a daughter about four hours before I arrived. This occurred on April 8, 1945. Also, the day before my sister Merle had died. I had two duties then, first stopping at the LDS Hospital to visit Beverly and my new daughter, then assisting my family on funeral arrangements. After a three weeks leave, I returned via Denver, Chicago and Columbus to Ft. Benning to continue my officer training. On August 8 I graduated with my second lieutenant commission and received orders for a transfer to Camp Roberts, California for my next duty assignment. I had a two-weeks enroute leave at Salt Lake City to spend with my new family of Beverly and daughter, whom we named Ann.

I spent three months at Camp Roberts, including a ten-day leave on which Beverly and I returned to Salt Lake City. My brother Richard was home also, and he took me to Los Angeles en route to a hospital where he was under treatment; I continued from there back to Camp Roberts. In December, I was shipped from Roberts on a trainload of officers going East towards overseas duty in Europe. I was at Camp Pickett, Virginia for ten days, then was transferred to Camp Miles Standish in Connecticut prior to departing by boat from Boston to LeHavre, France. We transferred by train to Germany, then I was assigned with others to Heidelberg for duty with an anti-aircraft battalion. We spent two weeks at the town of Erbach nearby being trained on the anti-aircraft equipment, then were later transferred to Heilbronn where our battalion took over operation of a discharge center; this handled receiving of and discharge of German troops being returned from different places, including some from various locations in United States. When this duty was declining, I was transferred to a 14th Infantry Regiment, and travelled to Stuttgart, Germany to serve as the assistant personnel officer. We stayed there about a month, then were transferred to Amberg, Germany, where the personnel office was located while the main troops were training and serving in the fields about twenty kilometers from Amberg. Late in August our division was inactivated and most of the personnel were returned to the states for discharge from duty. I was retained to supervise collecting and shipping of necessary records back to USA headquarters. Upon completion we travelled by vehicles to Bremerhaven, Germany, depositing boxes of records at headquarters for shipment to the states, then we returned by boat to New York City. I was originally destined to go to Illinois for discharge, but was diverted to Fort Irwin, New Jersey instead. This was favorable for me, as I invited Beverly to come back East and spend some time with me and to travel together enroute home. We spent some time at Washington D.C. and the area, to Philadelphia and New York City, then Chicago and Denver on the way. We arrived home in able to have Thanksgiving dinners with our families.

During my military duties I became acquainted with Lt. Ray Wiese from Ogden and Lt. Edward A. Bowman from Oneida, Illinois, and we travelled together enroute on our transfer from Camp Roberts to Camp Pickett. We also spent a weekend at Washington, D.C., and all of our associations provided deep friendships. I have been able to associate with them on occasions, and our friendships have continued. I have met many others in the military throught the years, and still have friendships therein.

Grandpa Wessman's Letter Part 5

WHERE DID YOU MEET GRANDMA? WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DATE?

On Christmas Day of 1943 I had been to visit with some of my friends, and while I was driving home along Sixth Avenue I saw one of my former neighbors, Mrs. Green and her daughter May, waiting at a bus stop. I stopped and offered to take them to wherever they were going. They declined at first, but after they told me they were going to a family get-together at their daughter’s and sister’s place on Diestel Road, I confirmed that I had no other appointments pending and wouldn’t mind doing their hauling for their benefit. Also, I convinced them that the busses were not running very often, so they accepted my offer. I drove them to the house on Diestel Road and let them out of the car. They invited me in to meet their family and I accepted. I was introduced to many people: the Howard J. Layton family who were hosts, the Noble family and the William Lester Glade family. After meeting most of them, I was served a treat along with others. Later others arrived to whom I was introduced, including a very cute girl named Beverly Glade. Later the families were invited to the Glade home to see the Christmas presents, and I was also invited to continue chauffering Mrs. Green and May, who are Beverly’s grandmother and aunt. I didn’t intend to go into the Glade home, but was convinced to do so after we arrived there. I spent a few minutes there, then departed. I thought about Beverly occasionally, but didn’t make any attempt to recontact her until the following September. I called her one day and offered to take her dancing, which she accepted. On September 10 I picked her up and we went dancing at the Rainbow Rendezvous Dance Hall, a special favorite dancing place in Salt Lake City. We enjoyed each other’s company, and especially enjoyed each other’s dancing. We also met another couple there, Maxine Morgan (a former neighbor of Beverly’s who was at this time living in my ward, the Twentieth) and her fiancé Wallace Tanner (who was ome on leave from his military service in the Army Air Force). We enjoyed their company, and later after they were married and we were married (Beverly and I), their first child was a son named James and our first child was a daughter named Ann; these two became acquainted many years later and were married, joining our two families.

Grandpa Wessman's Letter Part 4

WHEN DID YOU START DRIVING? WHAT KIND OF CAR DID YOU DRIVE?

When I was thirteen years old, my father one day suggested that I start to drive our family car. One day enroute from the shop, he turned the car over to me and I drove it the rest of the way home. It was a quiet day with very little traffic, and being on streets in Ogden with no traffic lights or stop signs, I was successful in getting the car started, shifting gears, and driving it the rest of the way home and into the driveway at our house. This was in a 1924 Dodge sedan, and father also later acquired a 1926 Dodge 3/4 ton wiremesh truck which I drove quite often. One time my father had driven in the sedan to the town of Malad, Idaho on a business matter; returning home he decided that I should drive the car part way, so mother and the baby (my sister Marilyn, who was about a year or two old) were transferred to the back seat and I transferred to the driver’s seat. The highway was not paved but was a graded and graveled road; on it I kept the car moving readily, but soon got going too fast--35 miles per hour--which father felt was too fast for anybody to drive, and hence he had me slow down. I drove about ten miles, which took approximately twenty minutes, then father took over the rest of the driving back to Ogden. My father’s first car was a 1916 Ford Model T, the nest one was a 1918 Dodge touring, and the following one was a 1923 Dodge sedan, however I was too young to have an opportunity to drive one of these. Subsequent cars which I owned by myself and drove were a 1929 Model A Ford sedan, a 1937 Ford two-door which I owned when I was married in June 1944 and later sold in November, 1944 when I was preparing to go into the Army for an unknown term. In 1947 after I had returned from the military and we had moved into an apartment at 644 Third Avenue in Salt Lake City, I purchased a 1937 Terraplane two-door. Two year later I sold this car to my friend James McQueen when we purchased a 1940 Plymouth sedan from Beverly’s mother and father; we used this car until 1955, at chich time we traded it in on a big 1955 Ford family station wagon. Subsequent cars were a 1964 Mercury Comet station wagon, a 1973 Volkswagen bug, and Audi station wagon about a 1974 or 1975 model, a 1973 Chevrolet four door sedan, then a 1984 new Volkswagen station wagon, on which we traded in the 1973 VW bug, the 1973 Chev sedan and the 1974 Audi wagon, leaving us with only one car. We kept this until October, 1985 when Beverly and I were in the Missionary Training Center prior to our going to France on a mission for the church; Beverly’s uncle Jack Green and his wife Peggy offered to purchase the 1984 VW wagon and they are still using it. After we returned from France in 1987, we purchased in April a used 1986 Audi 5000 four-door sedan, which we are driving now.


HOW FAR DID YOU GET IN SCHOOL, AND HOW DID YOU LIKE IT?

I graduated from Weber County high school in 1935, attended the L.D.S. Business College full time for several months, then continued some classes therein on Monday and Thursday nights to improve my accounting technique. After returning from my was army service, I returned to my accounting duties at the Mountain Fuel Supply Company; to assist, I was also taking accounting classes at nights at the University of Utah, and I did so for several years.

How did I like school? I always enjoyed going to school; the classes were favorable to me, and I always enjoyed the teachers I had. Our family became enlarged up to a total of eight children, I transferred occasionally at Mountain Fuel to other jobs, and I also was attending drill meetings at nights with Reserve Army associations to which I was attached. These conflicted to my completing my university record to a point where I could possibly have acquired at least a bachelor’s degree. My record there indicated that I probably had acquired one-half of the necessary hours. My total formal education training was always enjoyable to me.


HOW BIG WAS YOUR SCHOOL?

My elementary schools were of usual sizes--approximately from 30 to 40 students per class. They started with the Franklin School in Provo, then to the Pingree School, the Madison School, the Washington School, and back to the Madison School in Ogden. Subsequently I attended the Burch Creek Junior High School in South Ogden; this was a smaller school, having about 25 students in the class I attended. I later went to the Weber County High School for three years, which was a fairly large school in Ogden, Utah. The L.D.S. Business College was a moderate one, but the University of Utah was a very large school for comparison.

Grandpa Wessman's Letter Part 3

DURING THE 1920’s AND 1930’s, WHAT DID YOUR FAMILY DO FOR ENTERTAINMENT?

Due to our large family, we spent most of our time being associated with each other, and likewise, due to the frequent moving of our family, we had plenty of friends with each other in the family. Some of us would acquire a neighborhood pal here or there on occasion. But mostly we were associated together with family-members. We the boys liked to play with marbles, tops, or other toys, and we did so considerably. We liked to go to the movies; our father and mother encouraged us to go to these, as they were very interesting and enjoyable. First of all, the movies were the silent type; however late 1928 and during 1929, most of the theaters acquired sound equipment so the new sound movies were available. We enjoyed this improvement tremendously. As a family, we did many things together. One of the principal ones was learning to swim. Our father was a remarkable swimmer, and he felt that we should all learn to swim as soon as possible. He used to take us swimming very often, and he taught us many things about being a good swimmer. If we became discouraged about our swimming, he used to demonstrate to us how much we could learn by his swimming very fast or by swimming underwater from one end of the pool to the other. We would then continue to improve our own swimming. We used to go to see local parades on holidays or other occasions, and we used to go to the canyons often for family picnics. Going for family over-night sleeping was very seldom, as it was too difficult to take a large family with many blankets for such events. We liked to play games with each other--out in the front yard, or in the house with card games, checker games, or other commercial games which we received for Christmas or birthdays. We all enjoyed reading books, and used to do a lot of it, as well as reading newspapers.


WHAT WERE SOME PRANKS YOU PULLED ON APRIL FOOLS OR HALLOWEEN?

I do not remember the April Fool pranks particularly, but the Halloween events I can remember. My older brothers took me with them when I was quite young, but at that time we spent our efforts in ringing people’s doorbells, then running and hiding so that the person answering the door would find no one there. We used to laugh with each other when we saw the door open then slam shut. Another favorite was to try to place a tin can full of water on someone’s screen door so that when someone opened the door the person opening the door would become splashed upon. That usually wasn’t very effective--we probably got splashed upon more ourselves while we were attempting to place the tin can upon the top of the door.


HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU GOT YOUR FIRST JOB, AND WHAT WAS IT?

I have previously answered this question earlier in my notes herein.