Thursday, May 1, 1975

1975 - The Beginning of OUR STORY


1975

                Roger was ending his Junior year at Morgan High School, and Gwen was finishing up  the 8th grade.  Roger was 16, soon to be 17 in  July, and Gwen had turned 14 years old the previous January.  The first memory Gwen had of Roger was on the last day of school, in May of 1975 .  She was with her friends, getting everyone's autograph in her yearbook.  We were getting ALL of the cute boys to sign our books, and I must have known who Roger Rich was, at least by name.  He was standing by the office and I asked him to sign my yearbook.  He looked at me, kind of surprised, and then he grinned and signed it.   Here it is in Gwen's words:   I remember saying "Thanks", and then walking across the hall and sitting down on the floor with my friends.  I remember looking back over at him, and he was staring at me!

                That summer, the summer of 1975, was probably the best, most fun and exciting summer of my life.   I had been kind of shy in 8th grade, and wanted to be popular SO bad, but just was SO awkward around boys.  Something happened the last part of 8th grade, I don't know what, but I gained allot of self confidence, tried out for Junior Varsity Cheerleader, (and made it!) and started being allot more comfortable around guys.  Me and all of my friends, Stephanie Preece, Christine Nelson, and Lesli Nance spent all of our afternoons  the summer of 1975 at Como Springs.  I had this CUTE TINY yellow bikini with pink polka dots, and I looked pretty good in it.   Como was a blast!  We would lay out on the cement by the 10 ft., and look at all the gorgeous boys and slather ourselves and THEM with suntan oil.  The jukebox would be blaring music, and we would flirt and laugh, and it was fantastic!!   We would also take turns walking around the pool, being substitute life-guards.  We thought we were so cool!  Looking back on it now, we were SO naive!!  Marcella Dahlquist, a girl whose dad lived in one of the cabins at Como, was there for the summer, and we all hung out together.

                Roger and Layne (his brother) and Lorin Brumley, Myron & David Kippen, and allot of other boys would come up to Como about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon.  In the morning they worked for Kippen's hauling hay, but they would always show up to Como when they were through.  I got to know Rog, along with allot of other boys that summer.  I had been elected Junior Varsity Cheerleader at the end of my 8th grade year, and would be cheerleading when school started in the fall.  I'm sure me being cheerleader had something to do with my appeal.  It was a great summer!  Besides going to Como everyday, we also had Morgala Days Rodeo, and the Fair and Rodeo, and the Demolition Derby that were allot of fun.  Marcella had a birthday party at the Como Roller Rink also, and she invited a bunch of guys and us girls.  I was so teeny and cute, and had the cutest pair of brown checked Wranglers and brown moccasins. 

                This is also the summer that my brother Mark and Roger's brother Kelly turned eight.  Their birthdays were one day apart in July, and so they were baptized the first Saturday in August.  I can remember that I didn't want to go to Mark's baptism, because I wanted to go up to Como.  Mom and Dad made me go, and low and behold, Rog and Layne were there too, to see Kelly!! Boy was I glad I went!  Also, during this summer, my little sister Tonya who was almost 5 years old, would jump off the high dive, and I can remember all the boys being so impressed at her daring to do this! 

                I also remember a stomp (dance) that the school had that summer.  It was held in the old high school gym, which is now the middle school gym.  It was great!!  I had dance after dance with allot of different boys. After that dance, Layne took me home.  Roger was with a girl named Heidi Peterson, and we went out to Roger's old blue Falcon.  Roger drove with Heidi in the front seat, and Layne and I were in the back seat.  

                When school started that fall, Roger was a Senior, and I was a Freshman.  He was #44 on the Morgan High School football team, and I was a Junior Varsity cheerleader.  We had allot of fun times.  We started getting to know each other better, and I can remember I gave him a victory kiss after one of the games, and that pretty much cemented our relationship.  I also played in the band, and we had a band contest down at University of Utah Rice Stadium in October.  After the competition, Rog drove down with Bret Kimbal, who was going with Deann Wilde at the time.  Deann had also been a flag girl in the band.  We rode home with Rog and Bret, instead of on the bus.  That was the night that Roger gave me his school ring, and asked me to go steady with him.  I was on cloud nine!!  Never mind, that I was only 14 and couldn't date until I was sixteen!  What a dilemma!   I finally talked my mom and dad into letting me date when I turned 15  years old in January, and they even let me go to a few dances with Rog before then.  We went to the Harvest ball in November, and that Thanksgiving (1975) he came to my house for Thanksgiving Dinner.  Mom and Dad had the whole Dickson clan over to their home to celebrate Thanksgiving, and also Grandpa and Grandma Dickson's 50th wedding anniversary.  My cousin, Joan Whitaker brought her boyfriend Chet Adams, and my cousin Bret Whittier brought his girlfriend Jill Francis (now Judd), and my cousin Pauline Dickson brought her boyfriend Shane Preece, and of course I had Roger.  I can remember that Roger was scooping some mashed potatoes onto his plate, and somehow they accidentally ended up in his lap!  He could have died!!  We managed to get them back on his plate, and no one even knew!  


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