When I was 6 years old my parents decided to give my brother swimming lessons. We couldn’t afford for us to both take lessons, so I had to sit in the bleachers and watch. Finally, the day came when dad would take both Wayne and myself swimming. All the way to the swimming pool I was excited and told my parents that I was going to jump off the diving board. They told me that I had to stay in the shallow water because I didn’t know how to swim. When we arrived at the swimming pool, of course I was wearing my swimsuit, I just ran through the dressing room to the pool. Mom didn’t swim so she was seated in the bleachers watching, and dad was changing from his clothes to his swimsuit. I yelled to my mom to watch me and went straight to the diving board. She started screaming for someone to come help her son but the life guard was busy flirting with the cashier inside. My dad came running out of the dressing room, his pants half off and his swimsuit half on, just as I ran and dived / belly flopped off the diving board. I swam to the side and told dad he should get his suit on before he came in the water. I have been swimming ever since. If there is a body of water nearby, look for me somewhere in the middle of it.

When I was young probably 7 years of age I was on a swimming team. I remember that my mom NEVER missed a swimming practice or competition. On the day of my first meet I had not yet swam all the way across the length of the pool. (They always stared me in the deep end so when I got to where I could stand up, I did.) On the way to the meet my mom was concerned that I hadn’t swam the length of the pool, she told me that if I swam the full length of the pool I could have a banana split. Well when it came time for my race we were to jump in and “warm up” but I jumped in and swam the length and back again and then swam it and back again once more. Then it was time to “toe the mark” I was so tired from swimming the 4 lengths of the pool that I lost the race. My mom in her wisdom explained that it sounded better if I said I came in 4th place, after all how many people would know that there were only 4 swimmers in the race? By my own reckoning I was truly the winner because I had “earned” not one but five banana splits that day! My mom & dad were not sure I had earned them and didn’t allow me to have them all at once, but I did finally prevail and had a banana split every week for five weeks.

As a youth I joined a “Swim and stay Fit” club sponsored by The American Red Cross. The object was to go swimming regularly and to swim laps. 36 laps of the Pleasant Grove Swimming Pool was one mile. The “Official rules” gave 3 years to complete 50 miles worth of swimming. I swam an average of one and a half miles each day and finished the 50 miles on July 31, 1965, finishing a year before the deadline. There was a write up in the Deseret News with my picture. I remember that I disliked my picture but my mom saved it for me (I am glad she did). I have completed this challenge several times since.

About this time my parents enrolled my sister Cindy in a special swim class. This was a class for individuals who had emotional, physical and or mental handicaps. Cindy being deaf and having a mild case of Cerebral Palsy, was accepted in the class. I went with her because my mom was not comfortable in a swim suit

Cindy became a very good swimmer and enjoyed the swim day as much as I did. After a while I was given the opportunity to be an assistant instructor. I had the opportunity of working with several boys. One of the boys had totally lost the use of his legs. I would help him climb (using only his hands) up on the diving boards where he would sit on the end of the diving board and then perform beautiful dives. He would try to get up on the high dive, and could do so about twice then he would be too tired to climb up again. Another young boy was named Danny and all I knew about him was that he was a boy who almost instantly attached himself to me. We were GOOD friends. We always had fun together and the friendship clouded over any shortcomings or disabilities he may have had. I had this opportunity for 3 or 4 years and how I looked forward to this special swim day. Years later I was to find out that my high school sweetheart, Norma, was Danny’s sister. Sadly Danny had passed away before Norma and I started dating.

When I was 12, I prevailed on my parents to allow me to enroll in a scuba diving class provided by the American Red Cross. I thought it rather silly to be “scuba diving“ in a swimming pool but it proved a good place to practice and learn. We certified in a pond at the point of the mountain. It was a little murky pond not more than 30 feet across but, as I remember, it was said to be at least 300 feet deep. We had to descend 50 feet and be able to clear our mask and a few other things. We descended with the “buddy system” and we had to hang on to each other because the pond was so murky we couldn’t see more than 2 or 3 feet in the water. I was excited to be the youngest certified scuba diver in Utah. I used my scuba skills often while I was in the Navy and had many fun and exciting and a few scary dives.

When TediAnn and I moved to Cascade Springs I started teaching swimming lessons to the young people age 3 ~ 6 years old, so that they could play safely at the swimming pool. It is a time consuming endeavor and I didn’t make much money doing it but I sure did enjoy it. After the 3rd summer management decided that it was not worth having the pool closed for 2 hours 3 times a week for the swim lessons.

Several years ago I took up swimming laps. I swim at the Gene Fulmer Fitness and Recreation Center. One of the most attractive and personable people I have ever met, Brittany Frost, started working there at Gene Fulmer as a life guard / swim instructor. This sweet girl adopted me as her grandpa ~ what an honor to have her as a granddaughter. People told me that they have never seen anyone swim while on oxygen therapy ~ I always replied that it is the only way I could swim. Actually I didn’t breathe the oxygen while swimming because you breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose while swimming (if you didn’t blow out your nose you would get a nose full of water) so I would swim the length of the pool then stop and take 5 or 6 deep breaths with the oxygen before going back for the next length.