Founders Week in March, 2023

 Every year in March, Southern Utah University celebrates and commemorates it's founding and the founders by a few special events. This academic year, the University is 125 years old, so they have kind of been celebrating all year long, beginning with Homecoming last fall. 

This is what WE did this year: 

Wednesday, March 29, Mike, Cindy Williams and I participated in Lunch on the Main. Several stations with free (yes, free ) food are set up all over campus. Past years have found actual old Emeriti faculty folks telling different historical stories about aspects of the founding. This year there were cardboard cutouts of different significant folks in the institution's history, but not always Founders. Like when George H W Bush came to dedicate the newly installed Centurion statues. So we listened to recordings of their stories ( in between very loud music) blasted over speakers. While eating lots of yummy food.  This took place between 11:30 am and 1:00 pm.  Let's see. . . We had pulled pork sandwiches at the Old Sorrell Statue. A Crumble cookie or snack at the Centurion statues. Spicy cheese nachos at the Sharwan Smith Statue inside the student center. It was nice to get out of the wind for a bit. It was sunny, but kind of cool. We ate and nibbled and chatted while in the noisy Rotunda. Then we went to the Library and ate Birthday cake. Yum. Then up to the back of Old Main where they gave us a "Walking Taco".  Fun!

Then we headed across the street and had a very very very long line to wait in for a specialty-type soda drink. Fun combos with historic names, made up for this occasion, I think. Mike was done walking by then, so Cindy and I left him sitting on a bench in the sunshine, sheltered from the wind by the Randall Theater and we hiked down to the Library where I checked out a book, and then we went our separate ways to our cars. I was very pleased that I REMEMBERED to drive back up to upper campus and the museum to retrieve Mike and bring him home with me! Haha.

The next day, Cindy and I attended the Howard W Driggs memorial lecture in the Great Hall. More information on our founders and supporters, some old, some newer. Like our well-beloved Ann Judd. And Howard Driggs, and that dancer lady whose name ALWAYS escapes me. (Burch Mann. I had to look this up and add in later.)  Special Collections was named after her and her daughter, San Christopher. Originally. And a couple of more folks were honored, too. Cindy and I had lunch from Chick-Fil-A after that and enjoyed another good visit.

That evening, Mike and I attended the Founders Day Banquet. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed visiting with a bunch of our friends there, including Restoration Leaders for the Paiute Tribe bands from this area, and Judge Margaret Miller. She andi Mike went to school together.

I sat next to Sage Platt, Mike knew many of the folks there. Travis Beniah Parashonts said he DID remember Mike from more than 40 years ago. I would have never recognized Travis, tho I also remember him from earlier years at SUU. We are ALL so much older!

This week we also entertained Robert and Trisha Eves for dinner on Monday, ate at Anazazi Steak house on Tuesday night for dinner while learning all about Social Security and maximizing benefits.

So, it was a BIG, full (and filling) week!

And I completed the hand quilting on my Grandma Autrey quilt. Huzzah! Now, on to binding it and two others. Plus piecing one more top to get done with my project.