Nov 2, 1974
Vicki Lee Clark Stull
I want to write a personal history of some of the special aspects of my life so far. This is not going to be a chronology of all the events of my life but rather of those events that hold spiritual and emotional significance for me. An outline of specific facts, date of birth, places of residence, schools attended, marriage date, children, etc is included elsewhere. (2018 Now on FamilySearch.org.)
When I was approximately 10 or 11 years old, friends of our family sent the stake missionaries of the ?Mormon? church to teach us. In those days in the Church, missionaries did not make a a big push to teach the whole family together (or at least they did not in our case). They met with my mother and father on a regular basis. My brother and I were invited to listen but somehow not really encouraged to do so. As a result of this my brother, than about 8 years old, made sure the was absent whenever the missionaries came. The long discussions were boring to him. I was, however, interested and would set in the kitchen and listen to the discussions taking place in the living room. My mother was quite interested in what the missionaries had to say. Many of the questions she had about life after death were answered by the teachings of the gospel. My father, however, was not interested. He was polite but he didn’t even seem to hear what was being said. Although my parents were challenged to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about what they were being taught, they never did. Prayer seemed to be very awkward for them and except for one memorized masonic prayer that my father gave at the end of one of the discussions, I never heard or saw either my father or mother pray for guidance about the Church. We did, however, begin to attend Sunday School. I was sure the Church was true. I believed what the missionaries were saying and what I was learning in Sunday School. I wanted my family to join the Church. My brother, however, felt very awkward at Sunday School and didn’t like ?talking church? at cub scouts. He resented the fact that he had to get dressed up on Sunday and would rather have been hunting.
After my parents finished all of the discussions they went into the Bishop for an interview. I remember setting in the car waiting for them. I knew that they were talking to him about joining the Church. I was praying that they would come out to the car and tell us that were were going to be baptized. When they did come out of the car they didn’t say anything about what had happened. I finally got up enough courage to ask if we were going to get to join the Church. When Mom told me that we weren’t going to join the Church I just about cried. I wanted them to understand that the gospel was true and I knew that they didn’t. That hurt me very deeply.
My parents stopped attending Church after that meeting with the Bishop. I continued to go with friends but gradually lost interest in going by myself. I still felt that the Church was the right thing for me to be doing but somehow I was loosing the spirit.
My family was very close even though we were not members of the Church. We did many things together. One of the most important things we that we did together was build our home in Moses Lake, Washington. My father was working at Larson AFB in Moses Lake, Washington and we were living in Ephrata, Washington about 40 miles away. We had to opportunity to buy 2 acres in Moses Lake but no money to build a home. My parents didn’t want to go into debt so they decided to build the house themselves, paying for it as we went. It took us 3 years to complete the basement so we could move into it and another three years to finish the house and move upstairs. During those six years we learned a lot about cooperating and helping each other.
My brother and I were expected to do our share. Dad was using salvaged lumber for the siding and Terry (also called Skip, my brother) and I were expected to pull the old nails out of the lumber and straighten the nails before Dad needed the lumber or the nails. We also had to take care of the yard, keeping the weeds down, since we didn’t have the landscaping done and pick up all the scraps from the building process. Dad even named some of the left over larger scrap lumber and had us put that lumber in a special location. He would say ?this piece is called Joe and when I need him, I will tell you.? Then he would name the next one John or something else, so each piece of scrap lumber had a name. He seemed to know just exactly where he would be able to use them. Later in the building process, he would say to one of us ? ?Do you remember, Joe, or John or whatever, and do you know where we put it.? If we said, yes, he would send us after it. Sometimes, he would just go and get it himself and as he passed us he would say, ?I found a use for Joe.? and then he would proceed to use that particular piece of scrap lumber.
Money was tight and there were many times when things needed to be done but we just couldn’t?afford them. I’m sure the Lord helped us out on many occasions. I remember one of these times in particular. Mom and Dad had decided we only had enough money to do one of two projects. Terry and I wanted Dad to use the money to buy top soil so we could landscape the yard. We were tired of pulling weeds every day. Dad and Mom decided the other project was more important. I can’t remember now what that project was but I do remember that Terry and I were disappointed. We had really wanted that top soil. The day after the decision was made, I was standing on my bed looking out the basement window (we still hadn’t moved upstairs). The school bus stop was right in front of our house and I was watching for the bus. Suddenly two dump trucks pulled into our yard and dumped 2 loads of top soil in our font yard. I was really excited. I thought that Mom and Dad had changed their minds. I ran to Mom and told her what was happening. She couldn’t believe it. They hadn’t changed their minds and she was sure there was a mistake. She called Dad at work to see if he had ordered the dirt. He hadn’t and was really upset. While all this was going on they had dumped a third truck load in our yard. Mom ran out to catch the fourth driver. She told him we had not ordered any dirt and asked why he was dumping it in our yard. He checked the address on his order and found out that they had made a mistake and were dumping in the wrong yard. Fortunately for us, however, they decided that it would cost more to remove the dirt from our yard than to just leave it and get more for the people who had ordered it. Consequently, we got all the dirt we needed to landscape our yard for free. Two days later a road grater was passing by and Dad pulled him over and asked him to spread the dirt around. We were able to finish the landscaping with shovels and rakes and plant the lawn. Terry and I didn’t have to worry about the weeds any more.
We moved upstairs when I was about 11. We loved our home and our land and it was difficult for Dad to decide to move, but he had to make that decision. Dad had worked all of his married life for the Department of the Air Force at first in Tacoma and then at Larson AFB. The base at Larson was due to be phased out and Dad decided to transfer into the Department of Defense Missile Program. The job meant more money but it also meant that we would have to move frequently.
Leaving Moses Lake was very hard for me. I had good friends there and had spent 5 years Roller Skating for the local roller skate dance club. I was just beginning to get good. I had earned my bronze medal and silver bar in roller skate dancing and competed on both the state and regional levels. I skated at least 5 days a week, from 2 to 5 hours a day. It was very difficult for me to leave skating. I felt a sense of identity on skates and when we moved I found myself feeling very much like a nobody.
We moved first to Lewistown, Montana. The closest skating rink was 109 miles away. At the time, I felt that not being able to skate was the worst possible tragedy. Now, however, I feel that our moving at that time was probably the best thing that could have happened. I think my parents felt an increased responsibility to help us stay close as a family since we were to be constantly on the move (I was in 5 high schools in 4 years), As a result we began to do lots of things as a family. The two biggest projects were our sapphire gem hunting and our coin collection. We spent a great deal of time on weekends and even free time at night digging for sapphires in the old mines in Montana. We had great times together packing dirt into gunny sacks and taking it home to sift through on the floor of our 12 by 60 ft trailer. Even though we moved a lot, I think my family really grew together during this time. I grew to respect and appreciate my brother. At times I envied his natural ability to make friends wherever he went.
I started college in Sept of 1965 at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. My parents we in North Dakota at the time and moved to Montana during the last part of my first year of college.
My first year in college was of great significance to me. It was shortly after starting college that I joined the Church. When I first got to WSU I was alone and somewhat overwhelmed by the fact that I knew absolutely no one. During my first week in school I remembered my earlier association with the Church. I decided to try to find a ?Mormon? girl in my dorm because I felt that if I could find a ?Mormon? girl I could make friends with people who wouldn’t expect me to drink or do other things that I didn’t want to get involved with. I went down to the dorm mothers office and searched through the information cards that she had on the girls in the dorm until I found a girl that listed her religious preference as ?Mormon?. I am sure that I looked over others who had LDS listed but I didn’t know what that meant. I went up to this girls room and introduced myself and told her how and why I had found her. She told me she was inactive but that she would be glad to introduce me to one of the active girls that she knew. The girl she introduced me to was engaged to one of the stake missionaries. I took all 6 discussions and read the Book of Mormon in 4 weeks. I was baptized on Oct 9, 1965 at Pullman, Washington. I was very active in the Church at Pullman. We had our own small student ward and an active institute. I learned a great deal about the Church while at WSU. I graduated from the institute in 2 years with 20 semesters hours of religion credit with a 4.0 GPA in religion and over a 3.5 GPA in my regular collage course work. The summer of my first year I stayed in Pullman and worked in the Horticulture Department for Dr. Robert Kunkle (who was the stake patriarch). It was a great summer. Dr. Kunkle was working on Potato research and I did everything you can think of with potatoes. I weeded and took chemical samples on the farm and I made potato chips in the lab and did research and secretarial work. It was during that first summer that my parents moved to Montana. The had decided to let Terry stay in North Dakota to finish High School, so they moved alone.
That move resulted in a great deal of hardship for my dad. The government charged him with falsifying his travel vouchers in the move and dismissed him from his job. He had served over 25 years with the government. The charge was false for him but their were 2 others who were charged and who plead guilty and I think there were 17 others who would have been charged if he hadn’t fought so hard.? He hadn’t falsified his vouchers and he was eventually reinstated.
The whole situation was a big mess.? He went through two trials, hung the jury on the 1st one but was convicted by the second one and lost his citizenship, his retirement and his health (when I saw him after the 2nd trial he weight less than 140 pounds and was 6’1?). Eventually it was shown that what he claimed on his vouchers were legal expenses and he had not engaged in fraud.? He was pardoned and his pension and citizenship were reinstated.? The other men were never prosecuted.
Terry and I were both told to come home during the summer of 1967, although we didn’t know why. When we got home we were told what had happened. That summer while we were all trying to help Dad overcome the shock and survive the crisis of fighting court battles and of unemployment we really grew together as a family. I came to see some of Dad’s strengths and grew to appreciate my family even more.
Both of my parents have accepted me as a member of the Church. They respect my beliefs, however, they still refuse to see the Gospel as something they need or want.? ?I have learned, through them, to let people come to their own conclusions and decisions about the Gospel and the Church.? The Lord knows all of us and in his due time all of us will come to know Him as He wants us to.
I transferred to BYU for my Junior year of school. It was less expensive than WSU and I wanted to be close to the center of the church.
This is as far as I got with my personal history when I was writing it in 1974. The following outline was part of the original document. I hope one day to finish this history but for now will publish it as it is since there is so much more in the way of journal entries and other stories to transcribe.
Outline
- Family life and Skating
- Family on the move ? close knit -things I have grown to appreciate
- College at WSU ? joining the Church
- College at BYU ? academics and growth
- College at USU ? first love, sacrifice and real conversion
- State Prison Experience
- Counseling Center Experience
- Marriage