May 1953. Four years of struggle. I was 20 years old, acquired a wife and a college degree. I cleaned every building on the UW campus during my four years, some times holding down three or four part-time jobs. Went to work at the Half-Acre gym at 11:00 p.m. after intramurals, then 12 blocks down town to the phone company and then back to my room on 12th st. by 2:00 a.m., then up for class. I was chewed out many times for nodding off in class. Notwithstanding, it didn't seem like a big deal. I received no help, but always felt I could survive another week, another month. I loved school. Mother wrote to me every week for four years. Sometimes her pen drifted off the page when she fell asleep when writing. She earned the degree every bit as much as I did. It was always sad that Dad had to stay home with the cows. Velna made my accomplishment possible in many ways. She was 16 when I went to Laramie, 19 when we married. She was the bright light that saved me. Along with her mother's cooking. We never really worried whether we could make it. We left for the University of Michigan three years later with a three year old, a two-week old, no job, no money, no place to stay. And we were bold enough to think we could make it. So we finished nearly eight years of college without borrowing a cent. I just think it was the Wasden and Blood family mettle, absorbed in the genes and never mentioned openly. You just did what you had to do and then figured out the next step. And then you did it. Now I am just simply lazy. But I really find it hard to believe that Velna and I were so naive that we thought we could do what we did. We had many guardian angels along the way. I don't know how I got so distracted posting this photo, taken by the west door of the LDS Institute, our home away from home for dozens of poor Mormon kids just like me who figured out how to get through college and went on to become physicians, dentists, professors, teachers, scientists, ranchers, and mothers. We were a mutual support group, finding each other jobs, bolstering each other up when needed, and we became a tightly knit family. We all survived. I never intended to be so wordy, but I might as well go ahead and post it.
7 comments:
I wouldn't have missed getting to read this for anything. Tender thoughts about an amazing time in your life - I love the insight, the optimism that told you it was all possible, and the example you were to all of us. So, in spite of (or because of) the years of teasing, harassment, picking on younger and older siblings, you have accomplished amazing things with your life. You are still a wonderful example of what can be accomplished when you believe you can do what you need to do. Love you lots.
PS This photo is new to me. Everyone looks so young. Were you really only 20 years old?
I had just turned 18 - this was a major time for me because Dwight got me two jobs that allowed me to begin my college career in the fall of 1953, after working all summer. Thank you, Dwight, you really paved the way for me. (Was I ever really that young?)
Your life is the perfect example of how when you take that step into the darkness the light appears. I always knew you had grit from the beginning when you ventured to Laramie with nothing, and as I said in my story you just figured it out as you went along. I'm glad you wrote this because it's always good to remind ourselves to have that courage and faith and to believe in ourselves and what we could accomplish. You are a wonderful example to all of us.
Sisters dear, I really didn't post this to get accolades, but which are, nonetheless, wonderfully appreciated. It was just that this moment in time, on the west door of the LDS Institute, was perhaps the most significant seminal moment in my life up to that time. The odds of getting a University degree and surviving those difficult years had reached a final point. And I haven't realized just how crucial that point was until posting this picture. That is the wonder of reconnecting with our photos and our past. Thank you, but give more credit to yourselves for enduring my years of sibling abuse.
Oh, we do. :0)
For my 2 cents worth, this is like writing something wonderful, putting it away for years and then reading it again and being not quite able to believe that you actually did it. Believe, Dwight, you did it! We are so glad that you didn't know better or that you couldn't do it.
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