06 July 2003 #0327.html

My 35th High School Class Reunion

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Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, Matt via hardcopy, and Brian,

cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"We got back to Houston from Fandangle (0326.html) on Sunday, June 29th, just in time for church. I am still at Grandma Shirts, and so I'm not sure which Thoughtlet(s) I wrote that evening. I know I am really feeling behind, still.

Monday morning there was an e-mail from Pali Walia about a possible lease in Nigeria. I asked Swede, and there were several e-mails sent back and fourth over the next few days. Pali Walia did sign the confidentiality agreement relative to an opportunity south of Nigeria. The material relative to this opportunity was forwarded to him.

I thought I had signed up to have the missionaries over for dinner and to go on splits on Tuesday. Both Andrea and I were somewhat on hold, and we did other stuff. She was finishing painting the laundry room, and it worked out better. On Wednesday morning there was an e-mail from Marcus Heal, a member of the church we had met at the bar we went to in London after having dinner with Pali Walia and family. His e-mail said:

`Good to meet you and your family. Hope you enjoyed your time in the UK. Good luck with the oil project. Best regards. Marcus Heal'


I responded with:

`Marcus, It was nice to meet you also. I recently read a book about an oil man who played polo: From Prospect to Prosperity - Wildcatting in Arabia and the Rockies by Paul T. Walton. When we met you, I thought of him. Paul Walton was raised LDS in Salt Lake. He seldom referenced the church, and it was obvious he did not stay active. Hopefully this will not be your lot. There is a lot of good which can be done in real estate development. There is a lot of money which can be made. Not intending to preach, and probably because I am getting older and have seen a bit of life, I like share thoughts which hopefully help others not make some of the same mistakes I have made. Given this context I remind you of the Lord's law of money: "Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good - to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted." Jacob 2:17-19 Please say hello to my friends Ray and Tina McConnell in the Hyde Park Ward. Best Regards, Roice Nelson'


Wednesday there was an e-mail from Andy Gittins of Beau Energy, whom I had worked with the previous week (0326.html). It said:

'Roice; Hi there, was a pleasure to meet with you in Houston, thanks for everything, and the support to Barrie too. Just to update you, and repay part of your hospitality. After finally being able to load everything, we have re-interpreted all the data in Kula, we agree with your highs, and fault locations, most of your picks, and drilling location, you did a very good job, however the direction of the faults are different, resolving one of our problems and improving the play as we see it significantly, but introducing other collateral uncertainties. One of the problems we had on the play, which was solved, was that your faults where parallel to oil migration flow, basically the oil was migrating updip through Kula highs away from kula. We resolved this problem by being able to join our faults at an angle to yours, and at right angle to the direction of oil migration, allowing for a much better structural trapping mechanism. This was initially not easy to do, but once we started, everything fitted nicely, and we are much more comfortable. Hope this is ok with you, is an interpretation choice connecting the faults we had, that we feel more confident with, that a 3D will help us resolve one day. Regards Andy Gittins'


I include this e-mail message to (1) demonstrate how I am regularly challenged on my interpretations and view of the world, and (2) to stress that I think it is good when you kids challenge my view, and it gives us something to discuss until we obtain more data, like the 3-D seismic survey he anticipates and appropriate to what ever it is we want to discuss, and are able to tie down the answers better.

Wednesday night we had Elder Nelson and Elder Hock over for dinner. It was one of the nicer missionary dinners. You can tell a lot about missionaires and people by how they react to the Ken Turner paintings in the house. Because of their reaction and comments I ended up giving them a Prime Words Packet and singing 'Froggie Learns The Gospel' to them. It was a nice evening.

I stayed up too late finishing up some stuff. We left the house at 7:00 AM Wednesday morning for Cedar City and for my 35th High School Class Reunion. Rachel drove us to the airport, and she drove the stick shift. Rachel, I'm proud of you attacking this fear and overcoming it. Hopefully it will prove to be beneficial to you at some point in time. I slept on the plane. I had my first BBQ Chicken Pizza while we were at the SLC Airport. We flew from Salt Lake to Cedar, and arrived at 2:30. At 5:30 we went over to the new Heritage Center to help set up for the reunion.

I have spent quite a bit of time over the last several months building some class web pages for this and future reunions. There is one page that talks about each of you, and if you want any changes made let me know. I'm the editor, so it is easy to change. It is at: http://www.walden3d.com/class68/2003_status/Nelson_Roice.html

The reunion was nice. It was fascinating to attempt to watch myself interact. It was like I was 18 again. Kathy Roberts came over to talk to me, and I was completely tongue tied. Didn't know what to say, and I expect she felt similarly. I mostly watched others, laughed at the jokes, took a lot of digital photos, and enjoyed the moment.

The program for the evening said:

' Cedar High Class of 1968 "No Excuses" Reunion July 3, 2003 Cedar City Heritage Center Program Reception 5:30 PM Dinner 6:30 PM Catered by "A Taste of Hawaii" Relishes, Lettuce Salad, Fresh Fruit Kailua Pork, Honey Barbecue Chicken StickyRice Carrot Cake Entertainment: "Lahaina and Kimo": Brenda Bunting Ilnickey Slide Show: Raymond Gardner Cedar High Game: Charlotte Thomson Mitchell Speaker:Harold Shirley Selection of Next Chair and Committee: Jill Carter Ellis "No Excuses Luau Committee: Jill Carter Elliss: Chair Julie Sevy Winslow: Name Tags, Photography Roice Nelson: Web Site Raymond Gardner: Slide Show, Photography Charlotte Thomson Mitchell: "Tribute" Poster, CHS game, Awards Lloyd and Linda Kenney: Decorations Alan and Roberta Blake: Check-in, Decorations Brent Sorenson: Sound and Music Heide Hansen Rindlisbacher: Calling Coordination, Networking Thanks to all who of you who really had "No Excuses" and came out!! Before you leave, please initial and make changes on the class list. Please add your personal information if you haven't placed it on the web site.'


The Class Game handout said (as filled out by Andrea):

' Class of 1968 Reunion Quiz Fill in the blanks to the Schoool Song: R-R-R-E-D, M-M-M-E-N R-E-D-M-E-N, REDMEN R-R-R-E-D, M-M-M-E-N R-E-D-M-E-N, REDMEN When the Redmen, our team, is on the game, And the whole school is fighting to guard its name, And the Reds yell like warriors as the team goes by, There's a killing in the old town tonight. When Cedar's banners are waving in triumph over the hill, And Cedars cohorts are cheering For the Reds have made their kill (Rah, Rah). This day is ours forever, let victory never fade, Then rise, rise, and cheer boys, 'till the winning score is made. Leadership: (name the president, vice-president, and secretary) Sophomore: Kim Matheson, Robert Braithwate Junior: Dale Hatch, Craig nell, Penny Avery Senior: Charles Garfield, Roice Nelson, Nancy Hafen Who was the Student Body President ... Sophmore Year? Kent Jones Junior Year? Eugene Alvey Senior Year? Mike Pratt Who was thePrinciple? (sic) Clair Morris Sports: Who was the basket ball coach? Dick Hobbs Who was the football coach? Jack Sawyers Who was the baseball coach? Dick Hobbs Who was the tennis coach? Jack Sawyers Who was the golf coach? Rex Wright Who was the wrestling coach? Rex Wright Who was the captain of the senior football team? Kim Matheson Co-captains? Randy Robinson and Mike Pratt Clubs: (Senior Year) Who was the president of the Ski Club? Tom Smith Who was the president of the Key Club? Dale Hatch Who was the president of the Letterman Club? Craig Knell Who was the president of the Pep Club? Heidi Hansen Who was the president of the Mohey? Julie Sevy Who was the drill mistress for Mohey? Terry Irons Dance Theme: Sohomore Sock Spree: Around the World Junior Prom: Somewhere My Love Preference Ball: Almost There Senior Hop: When I fall in Love Dance Royalty: Homecoming: Brenda Bunting, Jill Leonard, Heidi Hanson Harvest Ball Queen: Gaye Hunter Mr. and Miss Tip-Off: Ronnie Woolf and Julie Sevey Football King and Queen: Craig Knell and Sharon Reid Miss Sadie Hawkins: Janice Palmer Cheerleaders: 65/66: Brenda JV: 66/67: Brenda JV: 67/68: Brenda, Jill Finish the teachers names: Doug Bonzo Harold Shirley Glade Sorenson Edwin Leigh Kent Bishop Sally Hurley Melvin Baldwin Arthur Bowman Arlis Jensen Harold Boyce'


One of the disks is giving me problems, and so I do not have all of the photos and movies downloaded yet. Hopefully we will get this done in the next couple of weeks. I really enjoyed Harold Shirley's talk. It was sad the number of folks from Cedar who did not attend. Several folks who probably would not have spent time talking to me otherwise did because we had sent e-mails back and forth about their update web pages. Andrea pointed out how quiet I was. Oh well! It was probably not worth the plane fares to come to the dinner, and yet I feel good about having put the web pages together. It will be interesting to see if any of you have comments about the web pages. Hopefully I will be around to have each of you tell me about your experiences with your 35th High School Class Reunion.

After the reunion, Randy, Andea, and I walked over to The Pastry Pub and said hi to Heather. Randy and his family were staying at Grandma Shirts, and Andrea and I stayed with Aunt Sara and Uncle Des.

Friday morning we got up and went for a run. Andrea and I were indecisive about which way to go, and so she finally had me go one way and she went the other. I went over to statues by the Centrum and read each of the plaques. Then I walked across campus and up by the science building where I read the placque on the statue about Sister Unthank, the lady whose feet were amputated after being frozen coming over Wyoming with the Martin Handcart Company. There were tears in my eyes as I realized once again what a special place Cedar City, Utah is and how blessed I am to have my 35th High School Class Reunion here.

When we got back we showered and walked over to Main Street and 200 South, where Aunt Sara had saved us nice seats to watch the 4th of July Parade. I took a digital photo of each entry in the parade, including several digital movies of the firetrucks and police cars with sirens blaring. I did the same thing for the 24th of July, Pioneer Days of 1847 Parade yesterday. Expanding on the suggestion in the previous Thoughtlet (0326.html) that we have a family reunion next summer in Cedar City, this will give those of you who have never been to a Cedar City Parade real data for making a choice as to whether you would rather be here the 4th or the 24th of July. Hopefully I can read the mini-CD and get all of these photos loaded for those interested in reviewing them.

After the parade we walked down to the park and ate snow cones, talked to some of Andrea's debate students, listened to the Country Western Music Program, took digital photos, and hung out. Aunt Shirley and Uncle Willis Gurr were there, and we spent some time talking to them. It was a nice morning. Randy cooked hamburgers on his Mom's grill for dinner. It was nice to spend some time with his family. Andrea and I went to see 'A Servant of Two Masters' in the evening. Beautiful weather, nice family, and a version of Shakespeare making fun of cell phones. It doesn't get any better than this. We saw Fred Adams and made fun of the nice article in the Church News talking about his wavey white hair. He is trying to raise $6 million for the next stage of his expansion of the Shakespeare Festival. I would like to help him, if it were tied to taking advantage of the geologic heritage of Southern Utah. We will see what happens.

I spent most of Saturday, July 5th reading Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Sea of Fire by Jeff Rain created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieezenik. I enjoy the Op-Center books. There was no sex, no four letter words, and little violence in this book. It was interesting and thought provoking, particularly regarding the use of the web for information searching and data retrieval. There is relevance to things I am working on.

In the evening Andrea and I went to see the musical '1776.' It is a first class musical and shows by how narrow of a margin our country came into being. Entropy, the fact everything is falling to a state of maximum disorder, teaches The United States of America should never have happened. Levity, the opposite of Entropy, or basically the idea that organic life is always becoming more complex, says it should. The musical demonstrates what a narrow line here is between these two trajectories.

Sunday morning, July 6th, I got up and went to Priesthood meeting in the valley. My cousin Susan Howe's husband is the High Priest Group leader. Uncle Ted and Aunt Vanna were in Seattle for a grandchild's baptism. Paul and Lynn were on the mountain with the sheep. So I was not able to see any family. There was a nice quote in Priesthood meeting which I wrote down:

`The gospel takes us from self-centered to gospel-centered.'


Then I went up town to the Cedar 7th Ward with Andrea, Grandma Shirts, and Randy and his family. There was some good advice in sacrament meeting:

'Remove the smoke screen and talk about problems not just symptoms'


Maybe the flood of words in these Thoughtlets are a smoke screen. I hope not, and I hope I don't drown any of you. The idea is to collect enough data we can do some pattern finding and find patterns and turn it into information, make this information easily accessible to each of you, and then hope you will choose to use it and learn from the mistakes and lessons of the past. Maybe this collection of information, knowledge, and hopefully wisdom can become another output of my 35th and subsequent High School Class Reunions."

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 2003 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.