My Portfolio

On the road…again!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Littering for a Cause   Some people overtly proclaim their concerns about conservation, environmental awareness, and anti-littering. Others practice low-key conservation and likely are just as effective, or ineffective, as the circumstances permit.  The Footloose Forester belonged to the...

Artist's rendition of Revere Health In May 2016, Revere Health will open its new campus in Salem to better serve southern Utah County and the surrounding areas.  With nearly a quarter of Revere Hewalth's Utah County patients living south of Springville, this new facility will eliminate the need for them to...

Artist's rendition of Revere Health In May 2016, Revere Health will open its new campus in Salem to better serve southern Utah County and the surrounding areas.  With nearly a quarter of Revere Hewalth's Utah County patients living south of Springville, this new facility will eliminate the need for them to...

As mayor of Salem, I would like to thank the Spanish Fork/Salem Chamber of Commerce for giving me the opportunity to introduce you to our beautiful community and share some of the highlights we enjoy as Salem citizens. Honored by SafeWise as one of the top 10 safest cities in Utah,...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Beautiful Earth, One Slide At A Time   A beautiful place, but don't ask where (one of 70 slides in a Power-Point presentation file [Rare-et-magnifique---.pps]   One of the problems in making our stories more interesting...

17 August 2010 Working in the family history center today, I received an answer to my prayer of this morning that the Lord would guide me as I worked on the family of Berend Folkers and Geertje Kramer.  I had almost completed the copying of records that had been taken from...

On the road...again!!Afghanistan to ZambiaChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek   Serendipity in the Library   Another dream last night…and another attempt at an essay today.  Most dreams are not long enough or sensible enough to savor and save as muted inspiration, but over the past few years, the Footloose...

Resting inconspicuously in my kitchen cupboard sits a small white bowl.  It isn’t an original.  It’s a substitute, a clone.  The original disappeared long ago, either in pieces in a trash can or simply vanished as things do over the course of a long life.  Being well-acquainted with the owner of...

March is a month to get to know Kenneth and Debbie Swenson.  They are both 62 years old.  Ken was born at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo.  His parents, John and JoEll, lived in Springville and that is where Ken grew up.  Debbie was born in Brigham City and grew up...

Our February Sweethearts are Erman and Maureen Stone.  Erman was born July 1941 in Mapleton at home on the kitchen table.  His parents were George and Marie Stone.  He had two sisters and one brother, and was second to the youngest of four.  Maureen was born on November 1942 in Lake...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Me Like Play Kahuku   Another dream, another opportunity to chronicle about a few of those cherished memories.  This one is about golf.  “Play golf when and where you can” was one of the admonitions that...

You Can Do Anything If You Work Hard Enough. My father grew up in a family who believed that accomplishment was tied to working hard and he carried this value into raising me.  Although education was stressed in our family, the primary driver for accomplishment was effort.  Not only would he...

     Keith received approval to enter graduate studies at the University of Illnois!  It really was going to happen!  We borrowed a farm truck from my brother, Richard Tice, and loaded it full with our belongings.  It reminded me of 'Ma and Pa Kettle" - even complete with a washtub...

Before we were married, Keith and I shared with each other our personal dreams for our lives.  Keith wanted to study brain and central nervous system function and I wanted to pursue music (especially piano music) and be able to share it with others to enrich their lives.  The time had...

On the road…again! Afghanistan to Zambia Chronicles of a Footloose Forester By Dick Pellek   Virtual Trekking With Google Earth   When Google, Inc. changed their policy in December of 2015 in regard to the open use of satellite photos within their Google Earth computer program, it opened the floodgates for...

Six weeks after our wedding, the elementary and high schools at Waldo, Kansas were dismissed for the summer.  It had been a busy time with Solo and Ensemble Music Contest, finishing the paper drives in order to purchase new band uniforms, performing the 'Pomp and Circumstance' music for high school graduation...

This is a greatly expanded chronicle of a road trip I took several years ago in a disreputable-looking old Oldsmobile.  It is probably the lengthiest story I have published on Legacy Stories.  It was simply such a grand, adventurous, "fun" trip for me that I want to preserve it in its...

As a child my family, like most American families at the time, would take a road trip somewhere during our vacation, stopping in various places along the way.  This time my parents took my sister and myself to Canada, with the obligatory stop at Mount Rushmore along the way. Once in...

Acer rubrum To Zyzyphus jujubaEssays, Stories, Adventures, DreamsChronicles of a Footloose ForesterBy Dick Pellek     Pets, Weeds, and Invasive Plants   There are so many ways to think about the animals and plants of this earth that it becomes haltingly tentative for anyone to embark on a meaningful discussion with...

The 21st birthday of a man’s oldest son begs for significant celebration.  This story relates how my oldest son and I celbrated his "coming of age" birthday. He didn’t enjoy flying and water sports had never appealed to him, so in a magnificent display of non sequitur thinking I decided that...