Bill Sanders
Morgan
So what are your first memories of the community of downtown Kaysville?
Sanders
Well, most of it is associated with the church. Because when I was growing up, everybody- Kaysville only had two wards. Well, when I was born, there was only one ward, and then in 1940, they made two wards. So everybody who lived east of Main Street was in the Second Ward. And everybody who lived west of Main Street was in the First Ward. So you knew everybody. I mean, I knew everybody as a kid growing up from here to Fruit Heights, you know? The Ravens and the Butchers and the Manning’s and the Greens and everybody up there, were all in, and I knew everybody from what is now probably, well, it would be the Mutton Hollow Road, clear down the golf course they were all in the Second Ward. So you just knew everybody.
And the other thing, growing up we just were free. And if you got in trouble, you knew that you could go into any house in the community for help. You didn’t have to worry about anybody you know, like that.
Kids in this generation, in the next generation will never see a childhood like I had.
And so, we had a scout outing, well I didn’t know whether it was a Scout or a Priesthood activity. I don’t remember for sure. But anyway, we went to Salt Air to swim in The Great Salt Lake. And so, they put all of us in the back of the feed truck, and locked the door to the back of the truck. There was no air vents in there. We drove out to Salt Air. We probably could have killed each other, you know, we could have suffocated in there, but it was the only way to get 20 kids together. So we had lots of fun.
And we- we didn’t have to date, we just went with each other as a group. So as a group of teenagers, we all go to the movies, or dances, or parties, you know. And then we would pair off and Linda and I were kind of a group together for a while. But it was not serious. You know, we just were always together. And then Vernon and Marcia Mansell had one of the first televisions in the city. So every Tuesday and Thursday nights, we could go to their house and watch TV. They had favorite programs that they wanted to watch on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so the teenagers can have Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Kids in this generation, in the next generation will never see a childhood like I had. There was no contention, you know, there was no crime. Well, every now and then someone stole candy, or stuff like that from the drugstore, but you know, it just was not the same. And we-we knew everybody I think that’s the saddest thing about progress is we have lost