Ricks College, and Lovin’ It

I feel like my life began when I started college!  I could hardly sleep because I was so excited.  I knew that I would have to support myself so one beautiful day I went job hunting.  I went to Rexburg and went from store to store asking for a job.  I was turned down repeatedly.  They said I needed experience, I thought, “How can I get experience if no one will hire me?”  I would not give up.  Finally, a little convenience store took a chance on me.  I was thrilled and worked there through the summer before college started.

I had been accepted to Ricks College and been awarded a small singing scholarship.  Classes started and I decided to major in Music, with an emphasis on vocal performance.  My courses were challenging, but I loved learning.  It felt like angels singing to me.

I will never forget my first Sunday in college.  My alarm went off.  I woke up and swung my legs over the edge of the upper bunk bed I was sleeping in.  The thought hit me.  I could lay back down, go back to sleep, and no one would ever know I’d missed church.  But then I knew that I would know.  I loved the gospel too much to stay home.  This deep commitment has stayed with me throughout my whole life.  I’m so glad I chose to go to church that Sunday.  I believe it made all the difference in the world and blessed my future.

My love for performing created a problem for me.  I had auditioned to be in a musical and the rehearsal schedule conflicted with my work.  I knew I would need a different job.  I wanted to work on campus because I didn’t have a car and had to walk everywhere, so being closer to my classes would be ideal.  I landed a job as a secretary for the P.E. Department for $1.71 an hour.  I loved it.  I ended up working for all the athletic coaches at Ricks College.  My secretary schedule was perfect.  I worked in the mornings and took all my classes in the afternoon.  I even landed a job as a secretary for an engineering firm the next summer.  I had never been happier in my life.

One funny, unusual thing happened.  I had decided to room with my best friend at the time, Debby Barnes.  Her parents owned some apartments that were very close to the college.  There were to be four of us in the apartment.  Imagine our surprise when another Debi moved in.  Three of the four of us roommates were named Debbie and we all spelled it differently.  It created a situation when the phone rang and the person calling asked for Debbie. “Which one?”  Right?

Our other roommate was her crazy cousin, Ann. he would throw some amazing temper tantrums.  I had never seen anything like it.  She would flip her bushy, long dark hair and her face would turn beet red.  She would stomp into her room and slam the door.  One time she got so mad at us that she took all of the pans and put them in the bottom of her closet so we couldn’t use them.  We all had brought kitchen items to supply our kitchen.  She had supplied the pans!

We would clean the apartment regularly so we could pass the clean checks, but sometimes the dishes wouldn’t get done—no dishwasher here.  I remember a few times when we would shove all the dirty dishes in the oven to get them out of sight so the kitchen would look tidy for unexpected company.

The opportunities were many.  I auditioned for the Ricks College Program Bureau and was selected to do many performances with them.  They would put together a variety show that would tour around the country in the spring after college was out.  The two songs I performed were my yodeling number and “MacArthur Park.”  We toured Texas and Oklahoma one year, Canada and Oregon the next.  It was so much fun.  We traveled by bus.  We even did street shows in town.  I was named Best Female Vocalist in 1975.  (Notice the signatures on the award.)

Another ugly dress story!  I was poor and couldn’t afford a fancy costume to perform in.  They borrowed a dress from the Ballroom Dance team for me to wear for the publicity photo shoot, but they wouldn’t allow me to take the dress for the performances on tour.  I knew I was on my own and would have to make me something.  I sewed it by hand because I didn’t have a sewing machine.  Don’t ask me what I was thinking when I decided that I would make an ruffly apron to wear over the top of one of my Aunt Roma’s dresses.  I guess I thought it would fit the yodeling theme.  The dress Roma had made me was made out of heavy white knit, (because it would NEVER wear out).  I made the apron out of a cotton navy print and thought I was good to go.  We were on tour and the show was soon to start when the director told me to go and get dressed.  I sadly had to tell him that I already was dressed and this was it.  The look on his face was kind of really sad.  I shrugged my shoulders, apologized and decided I would have to sing even better to make up for my costume.  Thank goodness I could really sing.

I decided to change my major from Music to Child Development and Family Relations the beginning of my Sophomore year.  I didn’t like the formal structure and the classical approach to music.  I was much more free in my thinking and enjoyed the more light-hearted performances.  When the music committee found out that I was singing with the Program Bureau they black-listed me.  So, when I auditioned to sing a solo in our college performance of the Messiah, the committee gave me the smallest part possible.  My voice teacher was so mad at them she told me to sing the part they gave me so well that everyone would wish I had sung the whole thing because I was one of the best singers that auditioned.

One of my favorite classes was Field Biology.  We got to camp and go to the mountains.  It was a wonderful break from my heavy music classes.  I couldn’t believe how wonderful it was to have a professor take us on a hike.  I stayed right with him pestering him with questions about the things we saw.  He jokingly told us that if anybody baked him a pie he would give them an A in the class.  Guess what I did — I baked him a pie and got an A in the class.  I later felt guilty and went to talk to him.  I knew I had done a less than stellar job on one of the exams and probably didn’t deserve the A.  He laughed and told me that everyone had been allowed to drop one test score.  I had really earned the A, even without the pie.

One of the most embarrassing performances of my life happened at Ricks.  I was asked to take part in the Valhalla Folk Dancers annual show.  They were going to be performing a Lithuanian wedding and needed a singer to sing the music while they danced.  There would be no other accompaniment for the number.  It was a very big deal and would be performed in the basketball stadium.  They had two people from Lithuania come to teach the wedding scene, and to coach me on the song.  It was done a capella (no accompaniment) and had to be sung in Lithuanian. (PROBLEM: I didn’t speak Lithuanian.)

I learned the music and the words and could do it.  The problem was that when the performance actually started and everyone was in costume and the spot lights were on us, my ability to sing in Lithuanian went out the window.  I sang the melody strong and confident and made up wild gibberish for words.  It tried to make it sound like Lithuanian and did an amazing job of faking it, even fooling the dancers.  But I knew two people in the audience would definitely know I had blown it–the two Lithuanians!  One of them came up afterwards, and with a grin said, “That was the most amazing Lithuanian I have ever heard!”