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Utah State University. In the fall of 1958, I again enrolled at Utah State University. To avoid being drafted into the Army, I applied to re-enter the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Both the Professor of Air Science and the Commandant of Cadets were Mormons and had an understanding of the maturity one gains from serving a mission. After some initial resistance from AFROTC authorities, because I missed the second year of instruction being at Ricks College, I was allowed to join the program on probation. As I was now a junior in college, I enrolled as a third year cadet but had to take some second year courses, and I did not collect the usual small amount of money to which third year cadets were entitled.

Although I had no specific goals, the thirty-month experience in Denmark had added considerable maturity and significantly enhanced my confidence in my ability to excel. Therefore, I determined that I would become involved in all facets of university life and make the very most of the experience. I lived in the Delta Phi House with other returned missionaries and turned to the business of school and social life.

Having developed an interest for languages with Danish, I enrolled in a German class and found I had a remarkable talent for learning languages. No longer interested in playing football or even in being a coach, I followed the advice of the head of the language department and became a language major. With German as my major, I needed a minor and settled on Russian. This forced me to start learning Russian as a second quarter student without the benefit of the introductory instruction. I suspect this is one of the reasons why I never fully mastered the Russian language.

I was active in church activities and served most of my junior year in college as president of the Ward's Young Men's organization–at the time called YMMIA. This afforded me the opportunity to grow both spiritually and socially, while also causing me to to hone my administrative skills.  

In all, I was in a position to meet and date a good share of the eligible young ladies on the campus. Having figured out that I was not going to marry the girl from Denmark, I was on the lookout for the right one.

Faith. In the spring of 1959, I saw a lovely young girl in the university field house during an assembly practice. I was frankly a bit surprised to find such a pretty girl who had escaped my attention. I immediately set out to learn her name and other relevant facts. Her name was Faith Dye, but I was told not to bother because she was waiting for a hometown fellow who was on a mission. I could only respect that and therefore did not pursue my interest until I perceived sufficient encouragement for me to do so. It took only a very short time before I decided she should have all my attention. She responded positively and we began to see each other at every opportunity. By the time school was over in the spring, we had decided to get married. By mid-summer we were engaged and on September 14, President Raymond married us in the Logan LDS Temple over which he presided. I frequently tease her with the accusation that she proposed. Actually, it was me. But at one point in our courtship she did suggest rather straightforwardly that we become “pinned” or engaged to be engaged. I admit, however, that her memory differs from mine on this point.

Faith was just nineteen with only one year of college. Perhaps love itself does not require an explanation, but for the benefit of my descendants who may read this after I'm long gone, I'd like to attempt some clarification. When I first saw Faith, it was her obvious beauty that provided the attraction. She was neither large nor small, about five feet four inches tall weighing about 115 pounds, which were well distributed in all the right places. As we grew to know each other, I perceived an inner beauty and purity that transcended her physical beauty. Yet, she was often insecure and unsure of herself. This awakened my protective instincts and caused me to want to take care of her. Obviously, I had grown up with various mental images about what I wanted and expected in a wife and Faith appeared to be all those things. She was very faithful in the church and she was a farm girl, having grown up in Neola (near Roosevelt) in Utah. These things were part of the attraction.

When she first took me out to meet her parents, she was extremely nervous. Their house was less than modest, and Faith's relationship with her father and mother was more complex than I then realized. Two events from that visit deserve recording as they demonstrate Faith's closeness to the farm environment. First, not long after we arrived, her younger sister, Kay, told Faith she could not ride her horse. Before the words were out of Kay's mouth, Faith was outside, on the horse, and galloping down the road at full speed. In the other noteworthy event, she and I somehow agreed to a cow-milking contest. She won. I always argued it was because they were her cows and unused to the feel of a masculine grip; the truth is that she was better.

In addition to my feelings for Faith, I was confident she would present me with the strong healthy children I desired. These may seem like rather trivial reasons for getting married, especially to someone who is romantically inclined, but the feelings I felt for her when she was nineteen now stand in the shadow of time and have been strengthened by the years of sharing, overcoming difficulties, and being parents to our seven children.