Thursday, May 06, 2010
CONNIE STAFFORD VAN HORN- 1953 ANNUAL EDITOR
Here is a link to a biography that I put on the internet a few years ago:
http://cvanhorn.homestead.com/Bio.html
http://cvanhorn.homestead.com/Bio.html
Friday, February 03, 2006
TERRY O'BRIEN FINALLY CONFESSES
(Terry sent out this news article in his 2005 Christmas card)
Man who sank the Mark Twain
Provo man has fond memories of working at Disneyland
By Carma WadleyDeseret Morning News Friday, October 21, 2005 PROVO —
Now it can be told. Terry O'Brien sank the ship at Disneyland.
If you read accounts about the opening of the park 50 years ago, you might read about how the Mark Twain paddle-wheel boat sank on one of its maiden voyages, but no details or the reason are ever given, because O'Brien didn't talk — until now.
"Now, I figure, what can they do to me? They can't fire me."
O'Brien grew up in Fullerton, Calif. He remembers as a teenager hearing about a new amusement park that was going to open. He had graduated from high school and was awaiting an LDS mission call, so he was looking for a job for a few months. He had worked at Knott's Berry Farm and enjoyed that, so he decided to try Disneyland.
"I remember going to a trailer parked in an orange grove to apply for a job." The park "went up in a hurry," he says. Two weeks before it opened, he reported for work.
It was fun to watch, he said, how all the employees "came in grubby off the streets. They'd go to the dressing rooms, and then you'd see an array of cowboys and Indians and riverboat pilots" all spiffied up.
The first two weeks they got to ride the rides and eat the food. "It was a wonderful job." On opening day, O'Brien got to meet Walt Disney and Art Linkletter, and lots and lots of other people. "They had hoped that 15,000 people might show up. But it was double that. People were lined up eight-wide to get into the park." It was a hot day, and drinking fountains were scarce. "Things really weren't quite finished. The landscaping wasn't done."
And everyone was still learning how it all worked — including O'Brien, who quickly learned that he needed to pay less attention to all the people and more attention to his job. One of O'Brien's first assignments was to tend the "holding pen" for the Mark Twain, the area where people waited to board the boat."They gave me a clicker and told me to let people in until the pen was full. The boat would come in and let one group off and we'd put the other group on. No one was sure just how many people would fit, so they said to try and keep it between 200 to 300."
After a few times, it got kind of boring, so O'Brien started talking to the people and the other workers as he clicked people into the pen, not paying much attention to how many there were. The boat came in, and the next group got on.
"Pretty soon, we heard the toot-toot signal that meant disaster. And everyone wondered what had happened." What had happened was that the boat, which actually made its way around the lagoon on a rail, had sunk off the track and into the mud. There were too many people on board.
"It took about 20 to 30 minutes to get it fixed and back on the rail and it came chugging in. As soon as it pulled up to the landing, all the people rushed to the side to get off, and the boat tipped into the water again, so they all had to wade off through the water, and some of them were pretty mad."
His boss came to ask O'Brien how many people he'd put on the boat. "And I said about 250. And he said, 'Well, better keep it at about 200.' Then I remembered I had the clicker in my pocket. I looked and was shocked to see I'd put 508 people on the boat. I never told anyone until now." But he did make sure it never happened again.
O'Brien worked at the park throughout the summer. He had a lot of interesting experiences there, he says. His jobs included taking tickets for the train and working as the pilot of the Mark Twain and finally on the Jungle Boat. His mission call came for Guatemala, and he left in the fall.
When he piloted the Mark Twain, he remembers, "Walt used to come into the cabin a lot to get away from the crowds. The first time, I was scared to death. I'd heard he liked things to be just so and he wasn't afraid to let people know it. But he found out I was going to Guatemala, and we talked about how hard it was to learn Spanish. He talked about an article he had read on Guatemala."
In those days, a lot of Hollywood stars came to the park. O'Brien remembers talking with Irene Dunn. When he was driving the Jungle Boat, Debbie Reynolds brought Carrie Fisher on the ride. "Carrie cried and screamed the whole time, and Debbie kept telling her to be quiet so I could give my spiel. I thought about that years later when I saw Carrie in the 'Star Wars' movies."
Jerry Lewis rode his Jungle Boat — and fell off, quite on purpose, to get some laughs.
But celebrities weren't all O'Brien had to contend with. "One time, two guys who were stark naked jumped into the river and swam out to the rhino. Another time, as we passed the natives' camp, some guy had taken off his clothes as he was dancing, so you never knew what to expect."
The worst part about the job, he says, is "that the spiel got awfully old and tiresome. So, I started changing it. Every now and then Walt would come and ride the ride to make sure it was going well, and they wanted to put him on my boat because they'd been getting good feedback. But I said, 'No, I've changed the script so much, I don't know what's right anymore.' But Walt would, and he wouldn't like it."
Despite a few times like that, O'Brien grew to like and respect Disney. "He was a great guy. His language could be rough at times, but he knew us all by name." And he paid pretty good wages for the times. "I got $1.75 an hour."
O'Brien left after his first summer. But after he got back from his mission, he worked at Disneyland again for several summers while he attended Brigham Young University. Eventually, he ended up teaching pre-Columbian art at Cypress College in Fullerton. He has since retired from that career and has moved to Provo.
He still goes back to Disneyland any chance he gets. "I still love it. All those memories. All the stories."
He has only one regret. "When it first opened, they had all the cels that were used in Disney's cartoons and didn't know what to do with them. So, they put them in frames and sold them for $1 a piece. Some of them are now worth thousands. I should have bought tons of 'em."
Man who sank the Mark Twain
Provo man has fond memories of working at Disneyland
By Carma WadleyDeseret Morning News Friday, October 21, 2005 PROVO —
Now it can be told. Terry O'Brien sank the ship at Disneyland.
If you read accounts about the opening of the park 50 years ago, you might read about how the Mark Twain paddle-wheel boat sank on one of its maiden voyages, but no details or the reason are ever given, because O'Brien didn't talk — until now.
"Now, I figure, what can they do to me? They can't fire me."
O'Brien grew up in Fullerton, Calif. He remembers as a teenager hearing about a new amusement park that was going to open. He had graduated from high school and was awaiting an LDS mission call, so he was looking for a job for a few months. He had worked at Knott's Berry Farm and enjoyed that, so he decided to try Disneyland.
"I remember going to a trailer parked in an orange grove to apply for a job." The park "went up in a hurry," he says. Two weeks before it opened, he reported for work.
It was fun to watch, he said, how all the employees "came in grubby off the streets. They'd go to the dressing rooms, and then you'd see an array of cowboys and Indians and riverboat pilots" all spiffied up.
The first two weeks they got to ride the rides and eat the food. "It was a wonderful job." On opening day, O'Brien got to meet Walt Disney and Art Linkletter, and lots and lots of other people. "They had hoped that 15,000 people might show up. But it was double that. People were lined up eight-wide to get into the park." It was a hot day, and drinking fountains were scarce. "Things really weren't quite finished. The landscaping wasn't done."
And everyone was still learning how it all worked — including O'Brien, who quickly learned that he needed to pay less attention to all the people and more attention to his job. One of O'Brien's first assignments was to tend the "holding pen" for the Mark Twain, the area where people waited to board the boat."They gave me a clicker and told me to let people in until the pen was full. The boat would come in and let one group off and we'd put the other group on. No one was sure just how many people would fit, so they said to try and keep it between 200 to 300."
After a few times, it got kind of boring, so O'Brien started talking to the people and the other workers as he clicked people into the pen, not paying much attention to how many there were. The boat came in, and the next group got on.
"Pretty soon, we heard the toot-toot signal that meant disaster. And everyone wondered what had happened." What had happened was that the boat, which actually made its way around the lagoon on a rail, had sunk off the track and into the mud. There were too many people on board.
"It took about 20 to 30 minutes to get it fixed and back on the rail and it came chugging in. As soon as it pulled up to the landing, all the people rushed to the side to get off, and the boat tipped into the water again, so they all had to wade off through the water, and some of them were pretty mad."
His boss came to ask O'Brien how many people he'd put on the boat. "And I said about 250. And he said, 'Well, better keep it at about 200.' Then I remembered I had the clicker in my pocket. I looked and was shocked to see I'd put 508 people on the boat. I never told anyone until now." But he did make sure it never happened again.
O'Brien worked at the park throughout the summer. He had a lot of interesting experiences there, he says. His jobs included taking tickets for the train and working as the pilot of the Mark Twain and finally on the Jungle Boat. His mission call came for Guatemala, and he left in the fall.
When he piloted the Mark Twain, he remembers, "Walt used to come into the cabin a lot to get away from the crowds. The first time, I was scared to death. I'd heard he liked things to be just so and he wasn't afraid to let people know it. But he found out I was going to Guatemala, and we talked about how hard it was to learn Spanish. He talked about an article he had read on Guatemala."
In those days, a lot of Hollywood stars came to the park. O'Brien remembers talking with Irene Dunn. When he was driving the Jungle Boat, Debbie Reynolds brought Carrie Fisher on the ride. "Carrie cried and screamed the whole time, and Debbie kept telling her to be quiet so I could give my spiel. I thought about that years later when I saw Carrie in the 'Star Wars' movies."
Jerry Lewis rode his Jungle Boat — and fell off, quite on purpose, to get some laughs.
But celebrities weren't all O'Brien had to contend with. "One time, two guys who were stark naked jumped into the river and swam out to the rhino. Another time, as we passed the natives' camp, some guy had taken off his clothes as he was dancing, so you never knew what to expect."
The worst part about the job, he says, is "that the spiel got awfully old and tiresome. So, I started changing it. Every now and then Walt would come and ride the ride to make sure it was going well, and they wanted to put him on my boat because they'd been getting good feedback. But I said, 'No, I've changed the script so much, I don't know what's right anymore.' But Walt would, and he wouldn't like it."
Despite a few times like that, O'Brien grew to like and respect Disney. "He was a great guy. His language could be rough at times, but he knew us all by name." And he paid pretty good wages for the times. "I got $1.75 an hour."
O'Brien left after his first summer. But after he got back from his mission, he worked at Disneyland again for several summers while he attended Brigham Young University. Eventually, he ended up teaching pre-Columbian art at Cypress College in Fullerton. He has since retired from that career and has moved to Provo.
He still goes back to Disneyland any chance he gets. "I still love it. All those memories. All the stories."
He has only one regret. "When it first opened, they had all the cels that were used in Disney's cartoons and didn't know what to do with them. So, they put them in frames and sold them for $1 a piece. Some of them are now worth thousands. I should have bought tons of 'em."
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Ellen Wright Rowe - 1953 Senior Class Treasurer
E-mail from Ellen Wright Rowe (April, 2003)
hello thar!
so nice to be found and hear from so many so warmly. as you've heard and will see from the pictures my life since good ole fuhs is full of the joys, ups and downs, with many blessings of a "big family". there are 36 of us up to date and all close in love if not distance.....
the folks sold our home in fullerton and we moved to lakewood, ca. right after high school. ventured to the lido ballroom at the pike in longbeach, learned to "shag" what we would call "slow jitterbug". this is a known southern dance sooooooooooo met this southern salior boy and he stole my heart. we lived in ca. for about 10 years back and forth. wanted to get a piece of land out in the country but couldn't afford ca prices and ended up in sc in 1965 purchased 2 1/2 acres and have been here every since. really never regreated it .
the first years here when the kids were small , we had a big garden and we ( i ) had big ideas of a farm. we had chickens, pigs, no cows, deer, wild rabbits, squirrels, racoons, the cutiest field mice (ugg), a red fox (red), 30lb cat with long wiskers and poor fellow somebody cut off his tail (bobbie), and a beautiful grey female (sheba) wolf witch all became pets, much to carl's warnings and thinking i had lost my mind. the game warden gave us a visit, somebody squelled, and took red,sheba, and bobbie with warnings of the dangers of keeping wilk animals....they wern't wild to us.... and left all in tears. when it came time to slatter every time we had pork chops, fried chicken or venison some body started to cry. "i" learned quickly pets would be limited to dogs and cats. welllllllll frogs, turtles, hamsters, white mice, guena pigs, fish, parakeets -no! - snakes..... we now just have a cat, a poodle, and today carl's birthday a new yard dog, black lab..........kids please...........we still have squirrls, deer and many birds that come into the yard as we have wild berries, grapes and pecan trees (that's pecahn not peecan -this goes under the foot of the bed-) to entice them . the area is building up fast around us and i wonder how much longer we will be able to enjoy them. hunting is still very popularand deer are plentiful. the guys park their trucks in our yard and go deep into the woods behind us to hunt. we still eat a lot of venison......miss bush -wilshire junior high homed- may not have been proud, i'm not so elegant, but she would smile to know sewing, cooking,and canning are a big part of my joys in life........i'm a counted cross stitch addict.
.wateree river (lake) is about 30 min. away where we spent a lot of time fishing, swimming, boating, skiing, and camping. nothing better than a good ole fish fry, or maybe a cat fish stew, on the river bank. people today go to the "lake" we went to the river..ha ha.. here as every where everything building up...........we're country folk, not "red necks "or "magnolia blossoms" after all i'm a true southerner, southern ca. that is..............
carl retired as a sheet rock contractor (dry wall) had our own business. worked in early 70's with kfc too many hours and not the money soo went back to construction. went to dubia, arabia in ' 78-80 helped build a giganic ramada inn there. good money.. came back to business here and work was over whelming til retirement. .....i worked 20 years in garment manufactoring industry as line supervisor and taught industrial sewing. this area was primarily textile mills and garment manufactoring, and pulp wood saw mills. mills began to close and garments are being sent to mexico and tiwan for manufactoring . saw the writting on the wall went back to school in ' 85 and got my associates degrees in bussiness management and human resources. also a brief introduction to computers........rite aid drug distribution center came to ridgeway in ' 87 lucked up and got the job as personal manager. rite aid sold out the south east and moved to west coast in ' 96 thought i was zonked.. a 61 year old woman looking for a job......yeah right....a liquor distribution came in and offered me a great pkg. , but i just didn't feel good with this. prayed about it and before i could get think more about it the boss called me to corp . and offered me a contract as long as i wanted to travel with the company to assist in opening and closing new dc's . spent 7 mo in new orleans now thats another world.....great people. i retired in ' 98. carl's health began to fail and traveling and living out of a suitcase or hotel no matter how nice gets old, and my benifits took me to medicare.
took several cruises......the one to alaska is fantastic if you haven't and get a chance gooooooooo! made a cross country trip in ' 92 came and moved mom back to live with us till she passed in ' 97 at 91.......this ole usa is a beautiful place to see also...haven't been back to ca. since. my sister lives in apache junction az about 40 miles from jo fletcher hudson.
i now spend much of my time working with the church on mission projects. we have a very mission minded church. we've been to kenya, romania, tiwan,and pastor retrete in holy lands....also do work with southern baptist conference stateside in virginia, no carolina, kentucky, and the youth just got back from miami (grandson got to go). i'm the story teller and do pantomine. anybody remember "the four stooges". i really have a blast working with people in both physical and spiritual needs . no more over seas my system won't tolerate the shots. you see i getting much more "mature". have a screwed up liver biliary chirrhosis, ( liked to scared carl to death i told him it was from inhaleing stale booze--needless to say he didn't think it was funny--i did , i don't drink poor fellow) fibra mialgia, acid reflux...joy to the world. i still teach sunday school, seniors, and am the director of "golden hearts" a group of women who do mission work locally...can't keep a good woman down!!!!!!
just rambled out fifty years of my life .......where has time gone??? when i reflect on some of my happiest memories it's with you'll the class of ' 53 at good ole fuhs--we were truly blessd and fortunate to have been part of such a terrific era . i was grived at the loss of so many of our class mates , however death is a part of life and we have a choice of a here after.......
stay happy and well.........don't forget to smile..love you all....and may god continue to bless you and yours.
ellen wright rowe
children:
carl jr. 49 - married - 2 boys 1 girl- 2 grand daughters -electrical contractor
tommy 47 -not married no children--cna demencia center, plays keyboard and sings with gospel group "the mc coy family".
nancy 46 - widowed "01-engaged- 2 boys - 3 grandchildren 1 girl 2 boys medical records office mgr.
janice 45 not married no children lives in ca...computer engineer. in rehab alcohol addiction-bypolar.........i call her a professional student 5 degrees and going back
suzanne 44- married - 3 children-1 boy 2 girls- 1/2 grandson... ..school cafeteria mgr....
sonny 43 married- 2 sons sheet rock superintendant
boyd 41 not married - 1 step son-1 daughter- cabinet maker
thats all folks
hello thar!
so nice to be found and hear from so many so warmly. as you've heard and will see from the pictures my life since good ole fuhs is full of the joys, ups and downs, with many blessings of a "big family". there are 36 of us up to date and all close in love if not distance.....
the folks sold our home in fullerton and we moved to lakewood, ca. right after high school. ventured to the lido ballroom at the pike in longbeach, learned to "shag" what we would call "slow jitterbug". this is a known southern dance sooooooooooo met this southern salior boy and he stole my heart. we lived in ca. for about 10 years back and forth. wanted to get a piece of land out in the country but couldn't afford ca prices and ended up in sc in 1965 purchased 2 1/2 acres and have been here every since. really never regreated it .
the first years here when the kids were small , we had a big garden and we ( i ) had big ideas of a farm. we had chickens, pigs, no cows, deer, wild rabbits, squirrels, racoons, the cutiest field mice (ugg), a red fox (red), 30lb cat with long wiskers and poor fellow somebody cut off his tail (bobbie), and a beautiful grey female (sheba) wolf witch all became pets, much to carl's warnings and thinking i had lost my mind. the game warden gave us a visit, somebody squelled, and took red,sheba, and bobbie with warnings of the dangers of keeping wilk animals....they wern't wild to us.... and left all in tears. when it came time to slatter every time we had pork chops, fried chicken or venison some body started to cry. "i" learned quickly pets would be limited to dogs and cats. welllllllll frogs, turtles, hamsters, white mice, guena pigs, fish, parakeets -no! - snakes..... we now just have a cat, a poodle, and today carl's birthday a new yard dog, black lab..........kids please...........we still have squirrls, deer and many birds that come into the yard as we have wild berries, grapes and pecan trees (that's pecahn not peecan -this goes under the foot of the bed-) to entice them . the area is building up fast around us and i wonder how much longer we will be able to enjoy them. hunting is still very popularand deer are plentiful. the guys park their trucks in our yard and go deep into the woods behind us to hunt. we still eat a lot of venison......miss bush -wilshire junior high homed- may not have been proud, i'm not so elegant, but she would smile to know sewing, cooking,and canning are a big part of my joys in life........i'm a counted cross stitch addict.
.wateree river (lake) is about 30 min. away where we spent a lot of time fishing, swimming, boating, skiing, and camping. nothing better than a good ole fish fry, or maybe a cat fish stew, on the river bank. people today go to the "lake" we went to the river..ha ha.. here as every where everything building up...........we're country folk, not "red necks "or "magnolia blossoms" after all i'm a true southerner, southern ca. that is..............
carl retired as a sheet rock contractor (dry wall) had our own business. worked in early 70's with kfc too many hours and not the money soo went back to construction. went to dubia, arabia in ' 78-80 helped build a giganic ramada inn there. good money.. came back to business here and work was over whelming til retirement. .....i worked 20 years in garment manufactoring industry as line supervisor and taught industrial sewing. this area was primarily textile mills and garment manufactoring, and pulp wood saw mills. mills began to close and garments are being sent to mexico and tiwan for manufactoring . saw the writting on the wall went back to school in ' 85 and got my associates degrees in bussiness management and human resources. also a brief introduction to computers........rite aid drug distribution center came to ridgeway in ' 87 lucked up and got the job as personal manager. rite aid sold out the south east and moved to west coast in ' 96 thought i was zonked.. a 61 year old woman looking for a job......yeah right....a liquor distribution came in and offered me a great pkg. , but i just didn't feel good with this. prayed about it and before i could get think more about it the boss called me to corp . and offered me a contract as long as i wanted to travel with the company to assist in opening and closing new dc's . spent 7 mo in new orleans now thats another world.....great people. i retired in ' 98. carl's health began to fail and traveling and living out of a suitcase or hotel no matter how nice gets old, and my benifits took me to medicare.
took several cruises......the one to alaska is fantastic if you haven't and get a chance gooooooooo! made a cross country trip in ' 92 came and moved mom back to live with us till she passed in ' 97 at 91.......this ole usa is a beautiful place to see also...haven't been back to ca. since. my sister lives in apache junction az about 40 miles from jo fletcher hudson.
i now spend much of my time working with the church on mission projects. we have a very mission minded church. we've been to kenya, romania, tiwan,and pastor retrete in holy lands....also do work with southern baptist conference stateside in virginia, no carolina, kentucky, and the youth just got back from miami (grandson got to go). i'm the story teller and do pantomine. anybody remember "the four stooges". i really have a blast working with people in both physical and spiritual needs . no more over seas my system won't tolerate the shots. you see i getting much more "mature". have a screwed up liver biliary chirrhosis, ( liked to scared carl to death i told him it was from inhaleing stale booze--needless to say he didn't think it was funny--i did , i don't drink poor fellow) fibra mialgia, acid reflux...joy to the world. i still teach sunday school, seniors, and am the director of "golden hearts" a group of women who do mission work locally...can't keep a good woman down!!!!!!
just rambled out fifty years of my life .......where has time gone??? when i reflect on some of my happiest memories it's with you'll the class of ' 53 at good ole fuhs--we were truly blessd and fortunate to have been part of such a terrific era . i was grived at the loss of so many of our class mates , however death is a part of life and we have a choice of a here after.......
stay happy and well.........don't forget to smile..love you all....and may god continue to bless you and yours.
ellen wright rowe
children:
carl jr. 49 - married - 2 boys 1 girl- 2 grand daughters -electrical contractor
tommy 47 -not married no children--cna demencia center, plays keyboard and sings with gospel group "the mc coy family".
nancy 46 - widowed "01-engaged- 2 boys - 3 grandchildren 1 girl 2 boys medical records office mgr.
janice 45 not married no children lives in ca...computer engineer. in rehab alcohol addiction-bypolar.........i call her a professional student 5 degrees and going back
suzanne 44- married - 3 children-1 boy 2 girls- 1/2 grandson... ..school cafeteria mgr....
sonny 43 married- 2 sons sheet rock superintendant
boyd 41 not married - 1 step son-1 daughter- cabinet maker
thats all folks
Terry O'Brien - 1953 Senior Class President
Written for a BYU Class of 1962 reunion questionairre:
Between leaving BYU several times I served a mission in Guatemala, in an Army Branch Presidency in Heidelberg, Germany, taught at the MTC and Salt Lake Mission home and Know Your Religion. With the BYU Program Bureau, I entertained troops in Asia and Europe, and later visited Israel, Egypt, and Europe. Served in a Bishopric at BYU.
Following a brief marriage, I earned my living as Professor of art and pre-Columbian cultures at Cypress College in Orange County, So. Calif, where I also taught Seminary and Institute.
Much of my life has been spent playing Indiana Jones among the jungle ruins of Mexico, Central and South America where I have visited some 250 ancient sites. I guided many groups to the ruins and wrote a book about the White Bearded God of the Americas, FAIR GODS AND FEATHERED SERPENTS. I also have given some 100 slide lectures on ancient America during Book of Mormon Times using three projectors and three Cinerama-like screens.
I created some 10 board-type games, one of which was published by the PICTIONARY and TRIVIAL PURSUIT people, and wrote several magazine articles. My latest project is a script I wrote for a full-length animated film along with 14 songs and illustrations. Major studios are currently looking at it. I’m now retired in Utah.
Between leaving BYU several times I served a mission in Guatemala, in an Army Branch Presidency in Heidelberg, Germany, taught at the MTC and Salt Lake Mission home and Know Your Religion. With the BYU Program Bureau, I entertained troops in Asia and Europe, and later visited Israel, Egypt, and Europe. Served in a Bishopric at BYU.
Following a brief marriage, I earned my living as Professor of art and pre-Columbian cultures at Cypress College in Orange County, So. Calif, where I also taught Seminary and Institute.
Much of my life has been spent playing Indiana Jones among the jungle ruins of Mexico, Central and South America where I have visited some 250 ancient sites. I guided many groups to the ruins and wrote a book about the White Bearded God of the Americas, FAIR GODS AND FEATHERED SERPENTS. I also have given some 100 slide lectures on ancient America during Book of Mormon Times using three projectors and three Cinerama-like screens.
I created some 10 board-type games, one of which was published by the PICTIONARY and TRIVIAL PURSUIT people, and wrote several magazine articles. My latest project is a script I wrote for a full-length animated film along with 14 songs and illustrations. Major studios are currently looking at it. I’m now retired in Utah.
