My Portfolio

Success in the workplace can sometimes be measured in sales, upward mobility, specific accomplishments or a body of work.  It can also be defined by the intangibles such as personal development, education or consistency and reliability. Success is a Journey, Not a Destination My workplace has been in the classroom spanning...

Carroll E. Adams, the son of Delos and Hannah Peterson Adams wrote this poem and it is descriptive of the generation that was born about 1910-1930.  The anecdote given here shows the humor as well as the wisdom of this generation.  Carroll's father and my grandfather, William Albert Adams were brothers...

I have been extremely fortunate throughout my work life and career.  I have never been layed off or fired from a job.  Although my chosen profession is teaching, it has never been financially lucrative and has been supplemented by doing family history and genealogical research.  However, there have been many choices...

Various jobs and careers were had from the time I was out of high school until the present time.  My first paying job was working at Thiokol where solid rocket fuel was made and tested for the NASA rockets.  I worked in the rocket propellent casting can cleanup.  I liked the...

When I finished my college education at Utah State University in 1968, I had to wait until graduation in 1969 since there was only one graduation each year and I had a summer class to take before I could meet graduation requirements.  My first assignment was in Mountain View, Wyoming on...

FFA Motto: Learning to Do; Doing to Learn; Earning to Live; Living to Serve During my ninth grade year at Bear River Junior High School, I registered for Agricultural Science and became a member of the Future Farmers of America organization.  The four years that I participated in the program were...

In the spring of 1972, I had signed a contract with Brigham Young University Genealogical Research Center to direct American Research.  The research was done by students who were taking classes in research methodology and doing actual research on various problems that had been commissioned by individuals and family organizations.  This...

As I describe a proud moment that involved members of my  immediate family, the event I have chosen is the birth of my first child, our daughter Chantel. At the end of July and beginning of August, I was involved in teaching at the 8th Annual Genealogical Priesthood Research Seminar held on the...

My paternal grandmother, Virginia Brann Adams, was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Tremonton, Utah during the 1940s and 1950s.  Since I had shown "promise" in oration and public speaking, I became involved in the WCTU Speech Contests during the mid 1950s at about the age of...

The day started out like most school days.  I got up early and had a good breakfast, and did my fifteen mile commute to Centennial Middle School where I taught eighth grade integrated science.  But this was not a normal school day, for the students were not at school.  Provo School...

Willemke de Jong, the subject of this sketch, was born Willemke Steenblok to Tallegien (Talligje) Steenblok on November 21, 1844 in Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.   She was Tallegien's second daughter, according to records found in Groningen. Willemke Steenblok de Jong, about 1927 Willemke must have had a very hard life.  Her...

Antoon Thiessens, ca 1927 (age 79 years) Antoon Thiessens, the subject of this sketch, was born January 28, 1848 the fourth child by the second marriage of Hendrik Thiessen or Thiessens.  Hendrik was a tailor by trade.  His mother was Grietje Bulthuis, and he was born in the norther Dutch city...

I have lots a acquaintances, but a true friend is a treasue!  Laurel is one of the few acquaintances I have that I would consider a true friend. In the 1980s, I was teaching at Farrer Jr. High School in Provo, Utah.  Bruce Evans and I had been the mainstays in...

I returned from my LDS Mission to The Netherlands in December, 1965 and continued my studies at Utah State University. Having really struggled with the freshman year of college before my mission, I was coming back near the level of probation. My mode of transportation was a bicycle and this posed...

This has really been a difficult one to come up with in my memory banks! When I was in eighth grade--the grade that I have taught every year of my teaching career--I wonder what the outcome would have been if my ability to read well hadn't been taken from me! This...

  This is not the best way to get rid of a goat!

Growing up in the country on a farm, I had driven tractors and trucks ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.  In fact, I don't recall when I didn't drive.  My first "real" car--even though it belonged to the family, was a two-toned Bel Air Chevrolet.  The body was a...

So many teachers have affected my life and directed me toward my destiny.  Who was my favorite teacher--the one that impacted my life the most then, as well as now?  Could it have been my second grade teacher, Mrs. Pulsipher, who used apricot pits as manipulatives to help me learn to...

Growing up on a farm was much different in the 1950s and 1960s than it is today.  With six siblings younger than I, there wasn't much time for either music or movies.  The local movie theater was in Garland, about five miles away.  I'm sure I attended some movies, but nothing...

  I graduated from Bear River High School in May, 1962 and had received two scholarships through my activities in Future Farmers of America (FFA).   One was a Union Pacific Scholarship and the other dealt directly with agriculture, as I recall.  My intention was to go to Utah State University, the...