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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