Personal History

The Life and Times of Steven Russell Wassom

December 1, 2020

 

Robert E. Wassom and Elaine Russell 1942

(Note: This is highly condensed. I plan to add more stories as separate posts–stay tuned!)

Newborn 29 May 1956

I was born and raised in Tooele, Utah, on 29 May 1956. The family was having a Memorial Day gathering when my mom went into labor. In fact, for many years I always thought the reason friends came from California to visit that same weekend every year was for my birthday! No wonder I have always had a big head and high self-esteem! But they were actually coming for Memorial Day.

Nine Months

I spent all my years at 39 E. Pinehurst Ave. until I graduated from high school. It was a private dead-end road lined with beautiful tall pine trees on both sides. But over the years, wind storms knocked most of them down—including one right in front of our home that punched a hole in the roof and made the front page of the Deseret News!

With Siblings Terry, Michelle, Bob Jr.

My father Robert Earl Wassom (preferred 
“Bob”) was my hero, my dentist, a star high school and college athlete, my Bishop, and my golfing buddy. My mother Hilda Elaine Russell (preferred “Elaine”) was a beautiful angel, a talented singer and dancer, the president of the Utah Hairdressers and Cosmetologists, the ward organist forever, and another golfing buddy.

My maternal grandparents Charles Rollin “Gus” Russell and Annie Sophia “Ann” Rowberry lived right next door and were like my best friends. My paternal grandparents Leslie Earnest Wassom and Loenza Merrill Barnett lived several hours away in Garland, Utah, so I did not know them very well, other than they were kind, loving, and hard-working.

Ready for Grandma Ann’s Mother Goose Shop Fashion Show

I have posted personal histories, journals, and pictures of my parents, grandparents, and ancestors in FamilySearch.org.

Some noteworthy direct ancestors are Luke S. Johnson, one of the first Twelve Apostles of the restored church; Apostle Marriner Wood Merrill who helped found Richmond, Utah and was the first president of the Logan Temple; Thomas Bullock, who was scribe to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young; John Rowberry, a founder of Tooele and the first Bishop there; and Thomas LaFlesh Lee, another Tooele founder and a rescuer to the Willie Handcart Company.

About Three Years Old

I was the youngest child, with older siblings Terry Ann Harker (12 years older), Michelle Hansen (8 years older), and Robert E. “Bob” Wassom Jr. (6 years older). They are wonderful people whom I love dearly.

I learned to read very early—from cereal boxes while I was eating breakfast! After kindergarten, my parents had me take a test and qualify to skip first grade.

Budding Footballer

One of the early bad things I did was disobeying my mother when I was maybe about four years old. Bob and Michelle would sometimes walk to Main Street to get a treat—it was only a block west of where we lived. I started to follow them, but my mother told me I was too young and to stay home. I persisted, and she put me in my bedroom downstairs that I shared with Bob. But I had seen Bob open the bedroom window and remove the screen before, to get out, so I did the same thing! My mother caught me, and this time she tied me with a rope to the front step railing! That ended my Houdini act.

Best Friends Gary Walch & Craig Hall circa 1961

A favorite hobby growing up was building and launching model rockets. And when I watched the astronauts walk on the moon on July 20th, 1969, on TV with my recently widowed grandmother, I decided I wanted to be an astronaut. It was disappointing later to learn that I had to have perfect vision, and I wore thick glasses for nearsightedness, so then I decided to become a rocket scientist and build rockets.

Apollo Saturn V to the Moon 1969

I loved math and science, and excelled in school—I had a 4.0 GPA in high school and was valedictorian. I was elected student-body president at Tooele High School and received a number of academic awards and scholarships. I graduated in 1973 just before my 17th birthday.

My mother had me take piano lessons for about five years, and although I did not faithfully practice, I did manage to learn to play most of the hymns in church, so I was a church pianist in my early teenage years and played sometimes on my mission.

Little League All-Star 1968

Eighth Grade 1968

I loved sports growing up, such as baseball, golf, snow skiing, football, basketball, swimming, and tennis. I was a Minor League baseball player at 8 and 9 years old, Little League baseball pitcher and first baseman from 10 to 12 years old, and played Babe Ruth until I was 15 years old. I was not much of a hitter, as I was somewhat scared of the ball, but was a good pitcher until the distance went to 60 feet in Babe Ruth, and I was not strong enough to throw with much heat. I won the local football Punt, Pass, Kick competition in Tooele at age 8, then again at age 9. That year I got to compete in Salt Lake City in the regional event, and won there too! I was awarded a trip to San Francisco with my parents to have dinner with the 49’ers and watch them play the Rams (see separate posted story).  I had a hole-in-one in golf at age 13. I was not quite good enough to make the High School basketball team, partially due to my young age from skipping a grade, but I did letter in tennis. I loved playing church basketball; our Tooele 5th Ward team made the All-Church tournament in Salt Lake City. Although I did not letter in golf, I did win a few youth tournaments, including the Explorer Olympics in Magna Utah.

I had a few health challenges growing up. I was pigeon-toed and remember wearing braces on my legs and corrective shoes when very young. I also had nose bleeds often; at one point it was so bad that I was hospitalized with cotton packed clear up into my sinuses. I swallowed so much blood I threw it up all over my parents’ bedroom carpet. Finally, I had my nose cauterized, which was very traumatic but solved the problem. I also had my tonsils out.

I don’t mean to offend if I list my best friends and forget someone—it’s been a long time ago!  My best friends in childhood and elementary school were Stephen and Kirk Spencer, Craig Hall, Gary Walch, Jack Fandl, and Jack Ferneau. Girlfriends were Denise Morgan, Debbie Weight, and Lori Bryan.

Another bad thing I did with my friend Craig Hall:  We were maybe about six years old or so. It was late morning in the summer. We were too busy playing outside in the grassy area between our house and my grandparents’ house to come inside to use the restroom, so we came up with this great idea to go under the large beauty bush up against the east side of our house and urinate in the bushes. We also thought the basement windows needed a wash, so we directed our streams onto the windows. Little did we know that my mother was down there ironing! She looked out the window and thought, “How could it be raining on such a sunny day?” Then she saw us! Craig got sent home and I got sent to my bed for the rest of the day. My dad came home from the dentist’s office at 1 pm each day for lunch, so I knew he would come save me—he had such a soft quiet temperament and never swore. As he walked into the bedroom, I ran to him with my arms out—and he spun me around and planted his size 13 foot into the seat of my pants, sending me flying back onto the bed. I never tried to pull that stunt again!

My best friends in Junior High were Ronnie Romero and my cousin Rick Colledge.

Tooele High School Graduation 1973

Best friends in High School and the two years before my mission were Randy Jensen, Charlie Roberts, David Skidmore, Ken Spence, Stan Perkes, Keith Feldman, Jack Cruver, and Mike Seat. Girlfriends were Denise Remington, Rosan Davies, Cindy Clark from Grantsville, and Karen Rupp.

David Skidmore was a talented musician and had me take his place at the keyboard in the high school jazz band so he could play bass. We had a blast going to several competitions, including the famous Reno Jazz Festival. I couldn’t jam and ad lib like he could, but I learned to play well enough on our two songs, “Four Lean Hounds, Crouched Low and Smiling,” written by student Tim Williams, and “Who Cares About Frogs Anyway” by Skidmore.

Graduation Present from Grandma Ann Russell: Opel GT

One more moment of bad decision (there were of course many, but I have just chosen a few that stand out in my mind):  It was high school graduation night, and after the ceremony, we gathered at the Seminary building for fun and gaiety. Girlfriend Rosan was with me (she was a Junior, but we were about the same age because of the grade I had skipped). It was probably Skidmore that came up with the idea to go toilet paper the band director Roy Ferrin’s house (at least four of my friends had been in band since Jr. High). Of course we went along. We were just finishing up the deed when the police cars showed up. I grabbed Rosan’s hand and we scampered behind some bushes—but to no avail; the stern police officer found us with his bright flashlight. He went easy on us, though; he told me to get Rosan home and then to get home myself.

I accepted a 4-year scholarship to BYU and received my Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, graduating Magna Cum Laude with High Honors (3.89 GPA) in 1980 (with a two-year Church mission in the middle). After working in industry for six years, I went back to school and earned a Ph.D. In Mechanical Engineering at Utah State University in 1990. My emphasis was automatic control systems.

I graduated from Seminary and served a mission to Munich Germany from 1975 to 1977.

Wedding 8 March 1978

I met the gorgeous and extremely talented love of my pre-earth life, Debbie Jeppsen, at BYU in 1977 and took her to the Salt Lake temple on March 8 1978. She is the best choice I have ever made. We have five amazing children (Ryan, Jeff, Jon, Amy, Melissa) and fourteen cute, awesome grandchildren. (See our numerous scrapbooks and home movies for lots about them!)

I have served in the Church in many callings. I especially enjoyed serving together with my talented wife as the Stake Cultural Arts Directors from 2004 to 2007 when we did a talent show in 2004, directed the youth in the valley-wide Joseph Smith Celebration in summer 2005, honored Joseph Smith in the fall of 2005 with a musical production, and put on a musical “The Dastardly Dr. Devereaux” in 2006.

Quick Break from Scouting to Give Amy and Melissa Horsey Ride

I have loved being a Scout leader for most of my adult life and was awarded the District Award of Merit in 1997 and the Trapper Trails Council Silver Beaver in 2001. I was so blessed to have landed in the 4th Ward from 1987 to 2013 and be mentored by great Scout Leaders like Rich Clawson, Larry Grunig, and Judy Merkley. Our three boys all earned their Eagle Scout award, and the two girls earned their Young Womanhood award.

Debbie and I are currently serving as Area Temple and Family History Consultants for 24 stakes. We were also the Handcart Trek Leaders for the Smithfield 25th Ward, and led 50 youth and adults in June 2019 to Martin’s Cove in Wyoming. We led similar treks in the old 4th Ward in 2008 and 2011.

Delta IV Heavy NROL-37 at Cape Canaveral 2016

I have been an aerospace engineer/rocket scientist for 40 years, specializing in hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical control systems and actuators. I worked at AiResearch (now Honeywell) in Phoenix from July 1980 to May 1982 (about 2 years), Thiokol (now Northrop Grumman) in Brigham City until about May 2001 (19 years), Space Dynamics Laboratory at USU until April 2014 (about 13 years), and now have worked from home for 6 years for QinetiQ North America (which became Vencore, and is now Perspecta).

Current hobbies and interests are golf, snow skiing, camping, hiking, mountain biking, watching soccer while training on the elliptical, singing, theater, reading, family history, and model rockets.

Adult health challenges have included an umbilical hernia repaired in about 1990, a broken nose from Church basketball in 2000 that was surgically repaired, a surgically-repaired broken finger in 2009 from playing the Turkey Bowl at Thanksgiving with my soon-to-be-son-in-law, and a challenging year in 2014 with an inguinal hernia repaired in the spring, and a stent inserted into my heart’s 95%-blocked left anterior descending (LAD) artery in September that year. In 2019 I had the Urolift procedure to control an enlarged prostate.

“Mary” Heritage Theater in Perry Utah 1982

I did a little bit of performing growing up, acting in elementary school and church plays and singing in the Seminary Chorus, but it was not until my talented wife, who was the lead soprano in BYU Young Ambassadors, dragged me into some bigger musical theater opportunities, that I really came to love it. I played Joseph opposite her when she was the lead character in Perry Utah’s Heritage Theater production of “Mary” in 1982 (16 performances near Christmas), played Reuben twice in our stake production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” in about 1996 and again in 2011 (also playing the Baker in 2011), was the villain in the Smithfield Health Days melodrama in 1993 (Debbie was the villainess), played the father of the Flinders family in the stake production of “Saturday’s Warrior” in about 1999, played the lead villain in the stake’s “The Dastardly Doctor Deveraux” in 2006, and was an ensemble singer and dancer in the stake’s “Fiddler on the Roof” in 2014.

Parents and Siblings 2005

I have also had some memorable trips with my wife and family. We always went tent or trailer camping at least a few times every year, with our favorite spots being Mirror Lake in the Uintah’s, Tony Grove in Logan Canyon, Island Park and Sun Valley in Idaho, Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, and southern Utah (Arches, Canyonlands, Moab, Goblin Valley, Escalante, Bryce, Zion’s, etc.). We also made it to the Grand Canyon in AZ, Four Corners, Mesa Verde in CO, Mount Rushmore and the Black hills in South Dakota, etc. Bigger trips have been taking Debbie to Germany to visit my old mission in 2001, and doing a 5-week Church History Tour with the whole family and Debbie’s widowed mother in a rented motor home with the BYU alumni group in 1997 to celebrate the Church sesquicentennial. We also took the whole family to Disneyland in 1986, and we took each of our children on a trip to Florida when they earned their Eagle Scout or Young Womanhood award. The Florida trips were combined with my business trips. After becoming empty nesters, we took our trailer to Glacier National Park in Montana and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The years from 2014 to 2019 were filled with monthly business trips all over the country, and Debbie came along many times. in 2019 we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary (a year late due to circumstances) with a wonderful tour of Israel and the Holy Land, led by Daniel Rona of Israel Revealed. This was truly a highlight in our lives, to walk where Jesus walked. The scriptures now come alive when we read them.

I plan to post a number of more stories–my life has been full of highs and lows!

You Might Also Like

No Comments

Leave a Reply