Life History of DuWayne G. Squire - The Teen Years

I am so glad that my dad took the time and made the effort to write his life history.  There are so many things that I did not know about him until I read this book.  He really lived an extraordinary life.  I love reading of the experiences that built him into the great man he is today!

LIFE HISTORY OF DUWAYNE G. SQUIRE continued

Written by DuWayne Squire

Typed by Verlynn Sheffield

As a teenager, I worked picking cherries, strawberries, peaches, apricots, pears, or topping cane, topping or shocking sugar beets, and, worst of all, digging ditches and hauling hay. I was also required to work for my uncles doing chores like clipping the wings of the turkeys, vaccinating them, or watering and feeding them. I helped put up fences, dig ditches, stack hay, haul loose and bailed hay, and irrigate the fields and orchards. While living with my grandparents, I was farmed out to my uncles from early morning to late night working with hardly anything to eat all day and then awarded with one or two twenty-two rifle bullets, or a dime, or, once in a while, a quarter for the day’s work.

On one occasion, one of my uncles took me over to a farm on the foothills above Pintura where we worked all day digging ditches and irrigating the alfalfa. In the afternoon, he left to go with some of his cronies for a drink and never came back, and so I cuddled up to a big poplar tree trying to keep warm as all I had on were overalls and a T-shirt. I finally got so cold that I walked about a mile up to Highway 91 that ran through Pintura where I waited some more. I finally noticed that the black-topped road was somewhat warmer than I was. So I would lie down on the road and jump up as each car passed by. Finally, at about 10:00 p.m., I began walking home and was finally picked up by a gentleman from Hurricane. My uncle never did go back to pick me up.

I am grateful that my parents taught me at an early age to conform to the principle of tithing because it has made it so much easier to comply throughout my life. While serving as bishop, I counseled with adults who struggled with the principle of tithing, and, in every case, it seemed that their parents had not been faithful in the payment of their tithes and offerings (or at least had not taught their children this principle!)

I was taught at my mother’s knee to say my prayers before going to bed, and this has been a great source of spiritual strength throughout my life. I have learned to rely on prayer to find answers to all important decisions and problems and to rely on the counsel given in the Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-9.

The Aaronic Priesthood was a good experience for me. Since I seemed to be well accepted by most of my peer group, I had ample opportunity to serve in leadership capacities throughout my Aaronic Priesthood tenure. I have tasted the sweetness of success while serving in such roles.

When I entered scouting at the age of 12, I again had a great experience. We had William Tell Gubler as our Scoutmaster and he was one of the most understanding, unselfish, kind, and great men I have ever known. He took us on some wonderful trips to such places as Pipe Springs, Cedar Mountain, Puffer Lake, Blue Springs on the Kolob Mountain, and Ferron Lake. We had some super activities and were each influenced greatly by Brother Gubler’s quiet, dignified, honest, and loving characteristics. Much to our sorrow, these attributes were recognized by others, and Brother Gubler was hired by the National Scout Council on a full-time basis, and he was moved to Oregon. He finally ended up back in the Great Salt Lake Council and was retired there in 1975 or 1976. When Brother Gubler left our ward, scouting died, and my advancement ceased just prior to my receiving my first class award.

   

Another man that was a good influence in my life was Luther Fuller. Brother Fuller took it upon himself to train those interested from our ward in the art of drama. I was very shy and scared to death to open my mouth in public. This fear carried over through my high school and college years to the point that I dared not participate in class discussions unless forced to. Brother Fuller’s firm urging that I participate in some of the drama productions gave me some courage and kept me from becoming more withdrawn and introverted. He gave me some confidence in myself and a feeling of self-worth which helped me to gradually come out of my shell when in groups or in public.  I must confess that I have not completely conquered my fears and doubts concerning my abilities and equality with other adults.

Perhaps I should digress for a moment to explain why I developed into an introvert. As I recall, I was very shy before I went to live with my grandparents, William and Sarah Amelia Sanders. I lived with them from age 7 through 13. Some of my experiences with my grandfather really gave me a feeling of worthlessness and deep insecurity. Grandfather always seemed so gruff with me that I never felt welcome or comfortable in his presence. Often times when company came to visit if I was to join in the conversation, grandfather would effectively put me down with some comment like children are to be seen and not heard. I nearly went crazy on some of those long evenings sitting in the living room with nothing to do but listen to the old clock ticking away while grandfather and grandmother were reading. I recall the embarrassment I felt in the presence of my cousins or some of my peer group when grandfather made me feel that I was a nobody. My grandmother often came to my defense, but her power was limited as she respected my grandfather and didn’t want to irritate him.

My grandfather suffered greatly from sugar diabetes and rheumatism and perhaps that will justify his actions concerning me. I often wonder if I haven’t developed these feelings in my mind because of a few very embarrassing situations which remain so vivid in my mind, but, try as I might, I find it difficult to stir warm feelings toward my grandfather. I do hope that he will forgive me and that I can be honorable enough to completely forgive him in every way for the real or imagined hurt I have felt.

Another man who left deep impressions upon me was our great seminary teacher, Ivan J. Barrett. His wit, wisdom, love, and insight into the problems of youth made him a great source of strength and an aid in my decision making.

In my high school years I lived with my parents and helped dad on the farm and for most of the summers I was able to get a job with Wayne or Reed Wilson. By the time I was 16, I was able to earn enough to buy me a Model-A Coupe. I learned to drive when I was about 14 since Wayne and Reed would have me hauling fruit in the fields or loading hay and cane. I remember one day when I was about 14 or 15 after working nine or ten hours, Wayne told me to run home and change as he wanted me to go into Salt Lake with him to deliver a load of the fruit we had picked and sorted that day. When we got to Fillmore, we had a hamburger and a shake. From then on, Wayne fell asleep about every mile. As he began running off the road, I would reach over and turn the steering wheel bringing the truck back on the road. After a while, he told me to drive. At that time my driving experience consisted of sitting in the truck while it was stopped and play-shifting the gears or driving up through a field in low gear as someone loaded hay seed or hay on the truck. I remember I ground the gears once in a while and did a little weaving but got along quite well until we came into Scipio where there was a 90-degree turn as you entered the main street in town. I only slowed to about 40 miles an hour when I went around that turn, and the truck went up on two wheels. Needless to say, Wayne was wide awake from then on, and he drove on into Salt Lake.

I knew that if Dad ever found out that I was driving, he would be greatly disappointed since he was a highway patrolman trying to get people to obey the law, but, at the insistence of Wayne and Reed, I kept driving, and they soon had me driving up-town on errands for them. I was always petrified while driving around LaVerkin. One day when they sent me and one of Wayne’s young sons up to the store to buy something, I stopped a block and a half away and made Wayne’s son, Kent, walk to the store while I turned the truck around. It was on a narrow road with a big open ditch on either side of it. I had the truck crosswise in the road when guess who came driving along in his truck? You guessed it! There sat Dad waiting for me to get turned around and out of his way. If looks could kill, I would have been fried to a cinder. Dad never said anything until I got home where he expressed his great disappointment in me. I felt terrible! When I got back, I told Wayne that from then on I would not drive on the open road until I got my driver’s license.

I had a ball in high school, and my grades reflected it. My first date, as I recall, was a girl’s choice date with Ramona Gubler, whom I liked. It consisted of meeting at the school bus stop, riding the bus together to a school dance, coming home on the bus, and saying goodbye at the bus stop.

I later had a girl’s choice date with Venice Whitney where I rode the bus to the function at school and met Venice in the entrance hall. After the dance, I said goodbye to her and boarded the bus. I later dated Venice for a few months while I was in the ninth or tenth grade. Several times we sat in the car in front of her house until near day break while I was trying to get up the courage to kiss her. I never did!

I think the evolution of my association and subsequent marriage with Helen is extraordinary and so I will relate the events of this relationship beginning with my first recollection of her existence. While I was in junior high school, I had a lot of fun playing around with Fawn, Helen’s oldest sister, and some of her friends. Fawn was a year ahead of me in school and since she was nice to me we used to play around and tease each other at the school bus stop and on the bus. Fawn was a flirt with most of the boys and, of course, we were never a pair and we never dated.

My earliest recollection of Helen was when her mother didn’t have time to brush and comb out her very curly hair, so she would send Helen up to the bus stop to have Fawn fix her hair. I must admit that I didn’t appreciate the interruptions! However, Fawn soon out grew me and was dating the big boys and so Helen’s sister, Ramona, who is my age, began teasing around with me and we did go on a couple dates to the school dances. We would meet at the bus stop and sit together on the way to the dance and again on the way home. We then said our goodbyes at the bus stop as we left to go to our own homes.

STAY TUNED for next week when you can read about one of the best love stories of all time...Helen & DuWayne.