Bountiful High School
Top This!
High school was just the beginning for expression of the multitude of talent owned by classmates. In our formative teenage years many classmates "launched" and we delighted in the skills shared, whether it be sports, stage, music, art, literature, shop, and so forth. Others held back, as if in a state of gestation, waiting for the moment in time when innate skill and hidden creative talent would spring forth. On this page we celebrate some of rich repertoire of contributions and creations by classmates who, over their life or more recently in our advanced years, have allowed their inner light to shine through.
(We know we are missing 90% of classmates' contributions to our world and that we are only recognizing some. Help us with this dilemma by submitting your stuff or suggesting other classmates. We wish only to share the shear delight and elevated understanding of the real you!)
Gary Anderson
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Kirk Robinson
Protector of Wolves / Bear Whisperer
Paulette Class Birdsall
This Lady Will Teach You a Thing or Two
Stephen Rapp
Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth
When I choose an image to paint I rarely think about it. It's always a snap decision and feels like one of those word association tests I use to take. After I start I probably over think it. But now after a long enough period of painting, I'm starting to look at my collective work and asking myself, "OK, What's going on here?"
What first comes to mind is, "familiarity." These images all seem to be images I'm familiar with. When I examine the word "familiarity," I see, "family, and people I know." Those two concepts, intimacy and family are something I deeply care about. So much so, I've become this equally deep romantic for the image and the soul.
As an image maker, "content," truly is my king. And the content I chose seems to be about people I'm most familiar with. Children, parents, grandparents and friends, and of course, me. Another factor is work. An old fashioned concept of work. Whether it's a craft, or cultivating, or harvesting, I feel a great deal of nostalgia for the ideas and the images of labor, reward, work and livelihood. Values, I fear we as a people and a nation we are losing.
Gordon Irving
Jeff Laub
Monty Little
One fall afternoon in 1963 Monty Little, Rick Shea, Gregg Revell, Steve Rapp, Doug Smith, Claudia LeMay and Kenny Rasmussen thought it would be a good idea to skateboard down 1050 North. 35 miles an hour on skinny wood boards with tiny metal roller-skate wheels, no helmets, no safety padding, no brakes and no common sense resulted in numerous scrapes, bruises and a broken bone. Who would have ever guessed that the passion ignited that afternoon would propel Monty into becoming a founding father of the sport and a driving force behind World Wide Skateboard Competition.
A quote from Monty for a 2002 interview in Skull Skates History “I can still remember my first Skateboard, I made it from some old steel roller skate wheels when I was 16 back in 1963. I also remember getting high speed wobbles on that board at 35 mph and wiping out on 1050 North in Bountiful, Utah (I think the blood and skid marks are still there). Shortly after that I saw a short film called “Skate-Her Date-Her” in which the skateboarder’s all had Clay Wheels on their boards and did these incredible tricks. . . I was hooked, and still am.
Canadian Pro Am Stakeboard Association Freestyle Skateboarding Championships
Diana Elser
Fruit & Vegetable Preservation Techniques
Mirror, mirror that magnifies your skin, up close
every pore, weird growth and wrinkle, eyebrow
and nose hairs leaping with vigor. Help me!
I’m a tomato about three days past prime
nice color, don’t look too close. When you touch,
you go Oh-oh, better use this one tonight.
Still tastes okay, especially cooked with wine
for the recipe and wine for the cook.
I could be a banana too, about four days
past due, suspicious spots on the peel, but underneath
texture still firm, good color, a little mushy here and there
Or berries, mayflies of the fruit and vegetable community
ripe for a pre-pie, pre-jelly moment, then fuzzy
with mold in an afternoon.
Or a baby carrot, not really baby at all, just
the irregular old guys, pared and sanded
to baby-size, no rind, no root, a naked orangey thing
Like the friend I saw at a party who looked vaguely different
as if my age-addled neurons had forgotten how
she looked. I ask, and she says she had some dental work
done and has lost a little weight. Days later the neurons
fire and I realize - she’s pared and sanded, ready
for bagging and displaying up front.
Unlike this celery bunch – limp, already trimmed once
and refreshed in water. I’ll cut it up for soup and all of us
vegetables will be presentable and savored, because
in a stew you simmer away a lot of detail
And so it is, I put myself to soak in a hot, salty bath.
While simmering, I’ll eat a just-so peach - fuzzy, juicy
good for two days, tops. When I get out, mirror, mirror,
we’ll both be steamy, and I won’t be able to see a thing.
©Diana Elser
Does this doggerel really need an explanation? Joanie Mitchell supposedly threw away all her mirrors after she was 50. Good idea!
Rebecca Hartvigsen
Oils and Water Colors Extroadinaire
Becci Richards
The motivation for pushing kids into show business is for many parents a sorry attempt to bask in the reflected glow of fame they wished they had achieved. For Becci it was a matter of survival. Showbiz was
Hard work in showbiz has pretty much kept the family going since 1976. Two of Becci’s sons Christian and Parker Jacobs have been nominated for 18 Emmys between them. Becci herself has appeared in many commercials and TV shows. In recent years she has done voice over work for Disney, Yo Gabba Gabba and others. Those of you who followed her link and listened to her intriguing audition tape (ABOVE) will be amazed. In high school Becci had a smile that could light up a room. Fifty years later, after lots of hard work and struggle, that smile is brighter than ever!
(There are many "heroine" stories amoung the courageous mothers of our class . . . this is one we didn't want you to miss.)
Shand Stringham
It took Shand Stringham 18 years to write his first time travel novel GETTYSBURG REVISITED. In an interview Shand said “Writing a novel is hard work! I have been working on Gettysburg Revisited for the past 18 years since arriving at the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks way back in 1993. Ernest Hemingway once said something like "The first draft of anything is crap." Looking back on my first drafts and all the subsequent rewrites and revisions, I realize how right he was. I needed the 18 years to learn...”
A passion for history, experiences as a college professor and military officer plus 11 years stationed abroad in Peru, Mexico, Germany and South Korea prepared Shand with the material to weave remarkable historical accuracy into his time travel trilogy. In the novels there is even mention of Bountiful Utah and three of the characters names sound very close to Shand’s high school pals Hugh Cannon, Brent Blackham and Kent Galloway. The books are a fun read, the characters are likeable and the story is anything but formulaic with many surprising twists and turns.
Shand's books are available on Amazon Listen to John Hanks's Professional Narration
Greg Revell
John Hanks
Life can be an adventure as demonstrated by classmate John: Out of college and into the media, reporting and achoring with KSL radio and TV; invited to Washington, D.C. to run Congressional staff; nabbed as Public Affiairs Director for the McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas); and finally self-employment (currently a substitute school teach, college professor, media consultant, retirement planner, insurance agent, audiobook narrator, and Uber driver).
News Anchor and Rado Host Congressional Aid
Las Vegas Elvis Impersonator Bible Videos Actor
John's at his career peak with his gig as Santa at Fashion Show Mall (Las Vegas Strip)
Dick Johnson
Our class photographer has moved on to new vistas, subjects and events. But as our offical class photographer he remains. At this new site his wife Linda has memorialized a sample of his life's work.
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