A Wise Choice

When I signed up to take an oral history class during the summer of 1973, I had no idea what the class even was. I only knew that I was starting a graduate program, and my major professor Thomas G. Alexander, also assistant director of the newly formed Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University, wanted students in the class being taught by a guest professor, Gary L. Shumway from California State University-Fullerton. That class had a greater impact on the rest of my professional career than any other. I will never forget the first time I met Shumway. I was waiting for Alexander to introduce us. Instead Alexander had to answer the telephone and Shumway introduced himself. Shumway's natural enthusiasm for oral history, the class, and his beloved San Juan County, Utah was contagious. When we first met, he even knew who I was and said how pleased he was that one of Alexander's top students would be in the class. His compliments convinced me I had made the choice to enroll. That was until I went for my first field experience. After lectures, class discussions, and a checkout interview, I was convinced I was ready to go. Although I was painfully shy, I felt I had the tools to listen to people talk about their past. I was willing to put aside my fears of older people and be a part of documenting history. But things did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. First, Shumway's instructions to choose the right to find the guest ranch that we were staying at in between Monticello and Blanding, Utah put us on a logging road and eventually we tipped on our side in a ditch when we tried to turn around. Then none of the women seemed to remember the first

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