BINGHAM I WAS BORN in COPPERFIELD by LOWELL JENSEN

     Born in Copperfield and I Moved and Moved

Lowell D Jensen

Class of 1947

by Lowell Jensen

   I was born 31 August 1929 in Copperfield.  My mom and dad were living with my grandparents,

Charlie and Mary Winn, and I was born in their home which was in the circle.  Not long after, my folks got a a place on the” Terrace Heights” , one of those three room duplexes right behind the elementary school.  Most ever one probably thinks of me as a Copperton kid, but I started out in Copperfield.  I lived in Copperfield until I was almost seven.  I actually completed the first grade in Copperfield Elementary with Miss Hooten as my first grade teacher.  I don’t remember a lot about Copperfield.  I remember if you were lucky enough to find an empty beer bottle you could take it to the Combination Bar and get an all-day sucker.  Exploring old mine diggings was always a great adventure and probably more dangerous than I thought.

We moved to Copperton in June of 196.  I got involved in the Boy Scouts while in Copperton.   Participating in hiking and camping and other scout activities was something I enjoyed a lot.  One thing I remember was the annual swimming meet held at Camp Tracy Wigwam.  Our troop had a good bunch of swimmers we thought; but coming in second place was the best we could do.  The Copperfield troop always seemed to be the champs.  Steve Hausknecht was our best diver; the cannon ball was his best dive.  I have always enjoyed working with the scouts.  I fact I am still involved as the chairman of the scout committee.  

I started playing the trombone when I was in the fourth grade.  I took private lessons from Joel P. Jensen.  Playing in the High School band was always a lot of fun.  I didn’t like marching, just playing.  One time while participating in a festival in Heber City, our band was marching down the main street.  The drum major signaled for the band at a 45 degree angle.  I was on the first row and failed to see the signal, so while the band was marching in one direction I continued to march straight ahead.  Needless to say, Joel Jensen let me know about that. 

 We organized a little dance band in High School with Jack Knudsen and Karl Hoffmann on the trumpets, Mick Culleton on Sax, Lois Groves on piano, Chris Goris on drums and Gene Olsen and myself on trombone.  It was kind of a brassy band, but we enjoyed playing at assemblies.  Our first performance was at a High School assembly.  We only knew two numbers, so we played both of them.  The students applauded for an encore, so we played the first number over again.  We got to play at several dances around Bingham and we even got paid for playing. While I was attending LDS Business, met another trombone player that played in a dance band in Salt Lake.  The band was in need of another trombone player, so I tried out and got the job.  We played for church dances and school dances in the Salt Lake area.  We got to to play for about two months at the Avalon Ballroom out in Sandy.  The other player that got me the job  was named Kartchner ( I forget his first name) ;and as it turned out we get to see each other every five years at our High School reunion.   He’s married to Amelia Katis.

Lowell  front  2nd from  left

When I was sixteen, I was involved in a hunting accident while hunting rabbits in the hills by Copperton.  We didn’t see any rabbits so we took turn shooting insulters off the posts of an old abandoned electric fence.  It was Squeaky Coleman’s turn to fire and when he pulled the trigger, the gun failed to fire.  When he brought the gun down to eject the shell, it went off and the bullet hit me in the left hip.  My first thought was that I was going to bleed to death, my second thought was that I was never going to walk again.  However, neither of these things came to pass, but I had to wear a brace on my left foot to assist me in my walking.  I wore the brace for 25 years when I decided too see if there was a way to get rid of it.  The only solution the doctor could suggest was to have the ankle fused.  This has been a pretty good solution, except that now that I am older, I’m getting arthritis in my ankle. 

Like most of the boys in Bingham, I started at Kennecott Copper when I was 16.  I started in the track gang, but after the accident I was placed on light duty; so I spent most of my early life as a switch tender.

When I was 20, I accepted the opportunity to be a missionary for the LDS church.  I served in Northern California, most of the time north of Sacramento in the town of Redding, Chico and Yuba City.   I severed in one small town, it reminded me of the Bingham area.  It was not a mining town, it was a lumbering town, owned by a lumbering company.  The name of the town was Westwood.  Only the fronts of the buildings were painted on the main street.   The company policy was, “we’re a paint company not a paint company”.  All most everyone in town worked for the company.  I finished my mission in the Oakland area in a city called Hayward, I ran into a couple of Binghamites who were living there; Donnie Deacon and Donna Throckmorton Deacon.  It was good to talk about the good times in Bingham.

              Right after I returned home from my mission, I got a call from Fern Pett.  He said there was job in the track office as a clerk if I wanted it.  Since I had the clerical and accounting training at LDS Business College, I took the job and began my second career at Kennecott.  I worked at a variety of clerical positions at the Mine until I had the opportunity  to transfer to the Slat Lake Office in the Payroll Department.  While working in Salt Lake , I the opportunity  to take a computer programing aptitude test, so Kennecott sent me to the IBM programing school to learn that skill.  So, except for a short period as a “Cost Analyst” at the Mine, I continued my career in data processing at Kennecott until my retirement in 1989.

           

 In 1948 I met Lois Cloward, a pretty young thing from Vernal, Utah.  She was working for her Aunt at a boardinghouse on about 10^th East on Second South in Salt Lake.  Keith Cowdell was dating Lois’s cousin and arranged a blind date for Lois and I.  we dated pretty steady until the time I left for the mission.  Not long after I got home from the mission, Lois and I were married.  We’ve been together since November of 1951.  We have six children, 17 grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

            When we were first married we lived in Midvale at about 7200 South and State Street.  The rent in Midvale seemed pretty high at $50.00 per  month.  So, after about two years decided to move to Lark where we rented for &27.50 per month in hopes that we could save enough for a pace of our own.  We lived in Lark for about two years with Cal and Gwen Crump as close neighbors.  We purchased a home in Magna and moved there in December 1956.  As our family grew, we needed a larger place so we had a home built in West Jordan and moved there in 1966.  After ten years of living in West Jordan, the traffic became to busy, so we bought a place in Sandy and moved there in 1976.  After about 12 years in Sandy, we started to think about retirement.  That’s about the time we found a building lot in Southern Utah and purchased it for retirement.  We decided to go as a couple on a LDS, we sold our home and rented a place in Copperton until after retirement.  I retired in October 1989 and we left for one year on a mission to Ontario, Canada.  When we left Canada, drove right to St. George and found an apartment while our new home was being built.  We now live in Ivins.  We now live in Ivins, a small town about three miles west of St. George.  Moving around has been a great experience for us.   Over the years we have made many friends in each of the places we’ve lived.

While living in West Jordan, I was challenged to get involved in politics.  I ran for the City Councilman and as luck would have it, I won.  I found out that campaigning was a lot more fun than serving on the Council.  When I was sworn in, the Mayor said that at every meeting one half of the people are happy with the decision you make and the other half are unhappy; then at the next meeting the same thing occurs.  The only problem is that it’s never the same people that are happy and the one that are unhappy never forget.  Since that time I’ve decided to stay out of politics.  However, I do enjoy attending the city council meetings here in Ivins once in awhile. 

          I have had many wonderful times during my life and enjoy each day and the opportunities awaiting me.