I was born in my grandfather’s house in the little town of Roosevelt, Utah on July 10, 1933, to LeRoy and Maude Pack Wahlquist, in the middle of the Great Depression. My family was forced off our farm by the combination of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. We moved to Ogden, where my father found work as a custodian at Weber College in exchange for being allowed to attend classes without paying tuition. He became a teacher, and later a much respected school administrator. My mother was a loving and supportive homemaker. For the most part I had a wonderful childhood with my parents and two older brothers, Austin and Mark. Ten years after my birth, my sister Ann was born, bringing joy to all of us. Both my parents were dedicated Church members, and I grew up in a family that simply never missed going to church. I have followed the same path, virtually never missing except for illness or travel.
World War II broke out when I was eight. I vividly recall the first news about Pearl Harbor, and remember going to the Ogden train station when the national guard was mobilized, and hundreds of Ogden boys, including two of my cousins, left for military service. They were sent off by a band, many flags and speeches, and a huge throng. I also vividly recall listening to a radio account of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, watching our school flag lowered to half-staff with the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the prayers for the success of D-Day (June 6, 1944), and the elation for both V-E Day and V-J Day, ending the war.
After graduating from Ogden high school in 1951, I attended Weber College, then a two-year college, and graduated in the last class that attended at the old campus near downtown before the new campus was completed. By then the Korean War was on, and I was drafted. I did not seek a deferment. The war unofficially ended the very week I finished basic training, and my orders were changed from Korea to Ft. Benning, Georgia, where I spent almost two years. While there I served a part-time mission, leaving the base two nights a week to go proselyting.
Following my army service, I was called on a mission to Sweden, for 2 ½ years (1955-58), where I served as a branch president in three branches, since there were few members, and even fewer priesthood holders. I then served as the mission finance secretary in Stockholm.
On returning home, I attended the University of Utah, getting bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history and political science. My first full-time job was teaching U.S. and world history at Ogden High School, an assignment I loved. While there I was awarded a scholarship to Harvard (1962), where I obtained my doctor’s degree in school administration. I was hired by Granite School District in 1964 as an assistant principal at Skyline High School, then in its second year. After two years, I was named social studies supervisor at the district office, replacing Carlos Asay, who had been named a general authority. From there I was appointed principal of Kearns High School, which was under construction. Kearns was a wonderful assignment, but after three years, I got drafted to open Cottonwood High School which was to open in a year, as an innovative new school. I designed a program that used bloc scheduling, so each class met for a two period bloc every other day. While it was unique to Cottonwood at the time, it is now the schedule used by most high schools in Utah. Later in my career, I opened a year-round elementary school, Thomas W. Bacchus, in Kearns, and was also assigned at West Kearns and Hillside elementaries.
In 1976 I was called by a bishop of a singles ward who asked if I would substitute teach a class. There were about 75 young people in attendance. The bishop said, “All right, girls, this is Reed Wahlquist, and he’s single, too. So look him over.” Chris Dorn, a young, pretty redhead took him up on the offer, and I ended up taking her to Cottonwood’s first junior prom. We married that year and had three wonderful sons, now grown with families of their own.
During my career in education, I served as president of the Granite Association of Secondary School Principals, president of the Utah Association of Secondary School Principals, and board member of the National Association of Secondary School Principals; president of the Granite Association of Elementary School Principals, and president of the Granite Association of School Administrators. I also spent two years at the Utah State Office of Education, working as an administrative assistant. Upon retirement, I was invited to work at a computer firm, I-O Corp. for three years.
Most of my life has been centered on the Church. I was very often asked to speak at sacrament meetings and firesides. These talks have numbered 530, including over 270 sacrament meeting talks. I’ve taught Sunday school and priesthood classes most of my life; I kept track over the years, and I have taught some 1,870 Church classes. I’ve also been to 54 temples around the world, and have been to all fifty states and 77 countries in my travels.
I volunteered at the LDS Humanitarian Center for eight years, teaching English to immigrants and refugees, an assignment that deeply touched me. Later, I worked in the Salt Lake Temple for five years, serving on the recommend desk and in the baptistry. For five years, I served on the Murray City Historical Preservation Committee. It has also been a privilege to volunteer dozens of times for Church welfare assignments.
Aside from teaching (mostly elders, high priests, gospel doctrine, and youth classes), I have also served in two bishoprics (once as a counselor, and once as executive secretary), and on the high council. For three years I served a part-time mission at the Wasatch Juvenile Detention Center, where I worked with a number of boys to help with reading, academics, and mentoring. For the past five years I’ve been serving a part-time mission in the Salt Lake City East Mission, where I inspect missionary apartments. I am now in my fourth year of volunteering at James E. Moss Elementary, helping a few sixth graders become better readers.
My hobbies have been skiing and hiking (when I was younger), classical music, travel, collecting first day covers, and reading. I simply love reading, and last year read my 3,000th book since high school, including a great many of the classics. I served on the Church curriculum writing committee, working on two family home evening manuals, Teaching: No Greater Call, and a gospel essentials manual for use in areas without the whole Church program. I also served on a committee to draw up recommendations for a program for young single adults. This led eventually to the creation of YSA wards and branches.
Rheumatic fever as a child kept me out of sports, but in high school, my debate partner and I won the state debate championship. I also played the clarinet in junior high and high school band, sang in choirs at Weber College and the University of Utah [Maurice Abravanel was the conductor], and have sung in ward choirs most of my life. My wife Chris and I divorced after 31 years of marriage, but we are both extremely proud of our great kids and (so far) eight grandkids. I am now 86, and currently serving as the Young Men’s president in the ward. I’ve enjoyed unusually good health for most of my life. All in all, life has been incredibly good to me.