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holes and pounded down until it was tight. Doing all this required real
skill in the boilermaking craft. The holes in the patch and the holes in
the steel vessel being repaired had to match precisely, which was very
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– one simply placed the patch and then welded its perimeter. Welding
at this time was in its infancy and was looked at with scorn by the boil-
ermakers. However, boilermaking as a craft had developed to its limits;
the metallurgy and the skills of the welder were slowly evolving to re-
place most boilermaking.
My Dad had graduated from LDS Business College, won an ap-
pointment to a clerical job in the Postal Service, and worked there for
a year while saving his money to pay for a mission. He was called on
a mission by The Church to England and spent two years there. Upon
his return, he trained as a boilermaker in Grandfather’s shop and later
became a partner with Grandfather.
My Dad had a great love for people. He had a deep concern for
their welfare. It was as natural as gravity for him to take an active role in
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feelings. At that time, Salt Lake City was divided into four political
“wards.” By the 1920s, Dad had become the leader of the Democrats in
the Third Ward, which comprised the northwest section of the city. He
had been born there, lived there, and knew hundreds of people there.
In the 1924 political season there were two events important to
the subsequent developments in our family:
1. William H. King ran opposed in the Democratic State Convention
for the party’s nomination for United States Senator. The contest
in the Convention proved to be very close and Senator King was
behind in the voting. Dad swung the votes of delegates in the Third
Ward to favor Senator King. King thereby won the nomination and
then won the subsequent November election.
2. A successful mining engineer and inventor named George H. Dern
sought election to become Governor of Utah. Governor Charles
Mabey, a Republican, sought reelection. I love the slogan someone
devised for the Dern campaign – “We want a Dern good Governor,
and we don’t mean Mabey.” Dad supported Dern’s election, and

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