sacrifice

Scott’s Sacrifices by Dawn Orrock I have been telling some of my children about Scott’s sacrifices over the years and realized I should be writing, not just telling. Scott and I were married on June 8, 1949. Previous to that, we both worked at Geneva Steel Company in Provo, Utah, which my father, Alma A. Anderson helped to build. I was working in Personnel, and Scott was working as a Hod Carrier, rebuilding furnaces. A Hod Carrier is someone who works with a brick layer, carrying cement and/or bricks in wheelbarrows. His work was physically very hard and hot. He had just returned from his mission in Hawaii. After our marriage, I changed my work area to Metallurgical, where I typed numbers all day long. Scott and I had cleaned up the home Mother purchased at 367 West, 1100 North in Provo. She rented it to us. It was in terrible condition. A cat had been living in their laundry room and under their stove. UGH!! Scott painted or papered all the rooms. He was a perfectionist, so I was only allowed to do the ‘grunt’ work. We only lived there about six months then moved into the old Foote home. Scott worked at Geneva Steel until he started school at BYU in September of 1949. We then received money from the G. I. Bill, Scott having been a veteran of World War II, providing us with a small amount of money each month that he was in school. I stopped work when I was six months pregnant with Lana. During the first Christmas break from school, Scott worked at J. C. Penney’s in Provo. I remember this because on Christmas Eve, all the employees were sent home with a big box of candy. We were both so excited. We never could have afforded such a wonderful gift! We were living in the old Foote home (672 East 2^nd North) with Mother, Uncle Mark and sometimes Aunt Maude and Uncle Keith. I remember Scott painting the bathroom. I sat in the doorway, reading a book to him. The story was Good Morning, Young Lady (I still have the book). It had Butch Cassidy in it--funny I would remember that. I’m sure Scott did other things around the house to help with our living there. We were there about three months. After I had Lana, Scott and I moved across the street into Cheney’s basement apartment. I remember when Scott would be working on a class assignment, he would have me look up words in the dictionary for him. He couldn’t do it because he would start reading the dictionary and couldn’t put it down! I also remember typing his assignments at night, while he tried to get some sleep. Between nursing Lana and keeping her quiet (we only had a small bedroom, located under the bedroom of the people above us), I would type his papers until two, three or four in the morning. There were times I would have to wake him long enough to have him interpret his writing for me. It is a good thing Lana slept during the day, which is when I got my rest. I am not good at remembering those years, but I do remember I was expecting Lynne when we moved up on the hill to Y Mount Village. At that time, the Village was made up of old, two story barracks, purchased from the army for housing. The Village was located just west of what is now a grocery store called Creamery on Ninth. Scott did most of his studying at the school library. I didn’t see much of him until nighttime or the weekend. Scott was always looking for extra work. He worked for the Testing Department at the Y and would give tests to students, etc. He worked for a company, which was located a few blocks west of the Provo Cemetery. He would ride his old bike down the hill after school, where he would clean the factory. Then he would pump his bike back up the hill, late at night, and be off to school again in the morning. I have often wondered how many miles it was down and back from that factory. One summer, he was able to get a little extra money by putting in sidewalks for them. They really appreciated him and his hard work and offered him a job if he wanted it. At the time, it seemed that other adult students living around us would throw my children into the air and play with them. Scott was either studying or working; he was seldom home for play. After our third child, David, was born, we were able to buy an old car from a friend. This was our first car! Before that time, I had always pushed the babies in a buggy when going places. Scott graduated from school with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in Psychology. How I wish he were here so he could fill me in on details that I have forgotten or am not even aware of! After his graduation in 1952, we had an opportunity to teach at the Indian School in Brigham City, Utah. An apartment was assigned to us, and we drove up to look at it and see how it felt. We liked the little town, but as we drove away, we started to talk and realized it didn’t feel right! We rented Mother’s home again at 367 West, 1100 North. (She was living in a little house on 8^th East and about 3^rd North.) Scott was offered a job on BYU campus in the Testing Department while he worked on his masters degree in Psychology. This was a great opportunity for him. He received his MA in 1953. The summer after Scott finished his master’s degree, he worked for the gas company, putting in a pipeline that ran along the side of the mountains through Utah County. He really seemed to enjoy that summer; it was so different from school. He worked with some men who were really funny. He would come home and tell me all the jokes they would tell. The work was hot, hard and dirty, but the men made it fun. After he would get home and clean up, I would get the kids bathed and in their P. J.’s, ready to go off to a drive-in movie, costing us one dollar per car. I remember this summer as a happy one. Scott was being paid $31,000 a year at BYU. We were struggling financially. Our next move was to check out California, where everyone else seemed to be going. I am not going to write about our time there except to say that Scott got a job teaching fifth grade during 1954-55, which raised his salary a thousand dollars, and on the same day that he found the job, we found a house. Scott got a job selling soft water tanks after school. He never sold one, but we had one put in our home (I loved it). While out trying to sell, Scott met a man who had left the Church. As a result of their many talks and the respect Scott showed the man, he and his family returned to activity, a highlight for Scott during our time in Pomona. We stayed there about a year and then moved back to Provo in the late summer of 1955. Once more, we had to clean up the house on Clark Avenue (the name of the street on 1100 North) to be able to occupy it. That was my first experience with cockroaches. I had to call the county to have someone come to the house to spray. Horrible! The ‘little pink house’, as we called it, was built shortly after World War II. The floor plan needed help! When you walked into the living room, the first thing you could see were two doors: one looked straight into the bathroom, and the other looked straight into the kitchen. Scott made some changes by moving the bathroom door, having it lead into the utility room/hall around the corner. He closed off the door leading into the kitchen, leaving a peek hole with a shelf for the phone, which could be accessed from both the kitchen and the living room. The final door he created led into the hall where you could turn left and walk into the kitchen. Much better! Who designs these homes???? When we were expecting Kathy, our fifth child, living space was crowded. We only had two bedrooms. The small kids’ room had bunk beds and a youth bed, and our room had our bed and the crib. We were thinking of making a bedroom and living room/kitchen in the downstairs for my mother so she could move in with us, and an extra bathroom, bedroom and kitchen add-on upstairs. Our solution: Scott would dig out under the house to make a small bedroom for Mother and room for plumbing and a furnace. We would then have someone dig a hole fourteen feet out from the back of the house where the downstairs kitchen/living room would lie beneath the bathroom, kitchen addition, and 14x14 foot bedroom for the children. Digging under the house was no small job. Scott had one small window in the foundation to throw out all that dirt. Obviously, I was involved with caring for the children and couldn’t help him. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. He had to dig after work and on Saturdays. When he got to where he had to take out a major beam from under the house to continue his work, we were worried the house might collapse. That night we laid in bed, listening to the house creek, not knowing whether or not we were going to end up in the hole! It was a long night, but thankfully, nothing happened. I know Scott hired someone to lay the cement for the basement, put in the floor and do the framing and wiring. Uncle Mark built the stairs. Scott did everything else. HE WORKED HARD! I do remember holding on to the other side of the board while he was sawing and climbing up on the roof to help with the shingles. (Remember, I was expecting Kathy--not a pretty site). I don’t think Scott ever thought about my pregnancies. Maybe it’s because that seemed to be my usual state. The day I brought Kathy home from the hospital, the house was unfinished but completely enclosed. Scott also surprised me with my first clothes dryer! Plumbing and working with cement were always the hardest jobs for Scott. One night, something happened to the plumbing behind the kitchen that he had put in for Mother downstairs. It was a horrible night! I had to help him. We were both in a cramped space. He worked on it all night until he had to leave the job to clean up so he could go to work the next morning. After work, we were at it again until he finally got it fixed. I always shudder when I hear, “ Something is wrong with the plumbing!” One year, we had an opportunity to get some free bricks from a big chimney that was being replaced on BYU campus. We loaded up the little coupe (our little car) at least eight times. Scott helped with the first and second load; he then had to go back to work. It was raining hard, but I kept going back and back, filling the car and emptying it. How often do you have a chance to get anything free! I stacked them at the side of the house; then for what seemed like weeks, I hammered the mason off the bricks, preparing them for Scott to do his magic. With the bricks we had gathered, Scott made a covered patio, retaining wall, small wall around the children’s play area and a path that led around the edge of my flower bed. After accomplishing that, he got permission from the Forest Service to cut down some small birch trees in the mountains. He and the students from the Hawaiian Club got a truck, and up the mountain they went. They helped him build a wonderful fence all around our beautiful backyard. When it rained, it smelled like the mountains! Many times over the years, when I have wanted something special to be done, I would ask Scott if he could do it. His first reaction would always be, “It can’t be done.” Then he would lie in bed at night and think about it. The next morning, he would tell me to get a paper and pencil and proceed to show me how he thought it could be done! Amazing! During this period of our lives, Scott did private marriage counseling at night, in addition to his regular counseling job at the University. He seldom got home before 10:00 p.m. In addition, he did marriage counseling for the State for three years. He traveled to St. George, Price, Vernal and near the border of Wyoming. He enjoyed traveling during every season but winter. Sometimes he was able to fly to those cities in small planes. Scott would leave work early on a Friday afternoon and get home late Saturday night. Our family continued to grow. We now had eight children. Scott had seen some property in Indian Hills, east of Provo. He fell in love. I was a little hesitant. He persevered, bought some property, and we started another adventure. Our Indian Hills home on Cherokee Lane became Scott’s next challenge. We had the basement dug and enclosed and a shell built for the house. Once again, Scott had someone do the stairs, electrical work and cupboards (Uncle Mark made them.) He put up the walls and ceilings (with my help) and taped the dry wall and painted. We did have a friend hang paper for us in the foyer. We lived there for ten years and were still finishing rooms. One difficult job he tackled was to build a large cement patio off from the walkout basement. He had not worked with cement that much and had ordered too much cement to be delivered. He burned his knees as he continued to smooth and work the cement until late into the night. I felt so sorry for him. He carried those scars the rest of his life. Mother’s rental home needed a new chimney. With the bricks from her old chimney, Scott built a beautiful fireplace in the basement of our Indian Hills home. We had finished off a bedroom and sitting room for Mother in our downstairs. We loved having her there. For the first time in our marriage, Scott put in our yard in Indian Hills with David’s help. Previous to that, he had always turned the dirt for me in the spring, and I would plant the flowers and tend to them. David or I would mow the lawn and I would weed the garden. In Indian Hills, Scott put in beautiful lawns, a patio, an outside fireplace pit, a waterfall and walking stones made especially by Scott and the children. It was a beautiful yard, front and back! He still worked at BYU in the Counseling Department. He was always working! He also did marriage counseling at our home in the evenings. During every vacation, he would continue to work on our house or yard. After working at BYU for seven years, faculty could take a half year off with full pay or one year with half pay, presumably to continue with studies or write a book, etc. Scott went to the University of Utah for his first sabbatical with the intent of working towards a doctorate. For his next sabbatical, he worked at the Utah State Hospital as a psychologist. He really enjoyed that time. I remember Scott inviting patients to our home at Christmas time and Thanksgiving. Scott had a caring heart for anyone suffering mental illness. He also cared deeply for those young people he counseled. He loved them and they loved him. For one year, we owned a restaurant. Financially, it went very badly. I won’t say more about this. Scott never did finish his doctorate. I’m sure he could never have handled the stress of writing a thesis. I believe he enjoyed the classes, but he was to easily stressed to do the writing that would be required. We had ten children he had to provide for. I was working at Granite Furniture full-time. I was also expecting Steven. Scott loved working at BYU. However, his new boss insisted he get his doctorate or leave the University. We made the difficult decision to leave the University! Leaving BYU and Provo was the hardest thing Scott ever had to do. What a change that made in our lives! Scott and I looked around for another job. We traveled through Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico. He was offered a job at a high school in Las Alamos, New Mexico. This was the town where the atom bomb had been developed. Scott loved how professional the interview was and would have loved working there, but it was so far from most of our children and our mothers, who were still living in Utah. Scott accepted a job as a school counselor in Tuba City, Arizona, where a friend, Dale Tingey, suggested we look. A new high school had just been built combining the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the public high school. Another adventure was about to begin...