Bill & DeAnn (Diane)

May 21, 2009


Dear Pope Family:

Hearty and happy summer greetings from Western Wyoming. We hope you are all fulfilling your dreams and creating new ones. Summer has officially arrived in Cokeville – it happened last Sunday about 2:00 PM. For the 60 days prior to that, temperatures had varied, generally landing somewhere between 36 and 39 degrees depending upon if the sun was up or not (of course). Then, just after church last Sunday, DeAnn looked out of our kitchen window and discovered something wrong with the thermometer . . . . . . . .82 degrees it said – I believe it must have lost it’s mind for a lack of work during the previous few weeks.

As of this writing, I am sitting on a 56 passenger Blue Bird, snub nosed, bright yellow school bus in Pocatello, Idaho patiently awaiting the re-entry of 85 lively elementary students. Yes, it is a 56 passenger bus but when you are dealing with 47 – 68 lb. bundles of joy, school teachers can get a bit creative. When they load this thing, it sort of reminds me of loading the cattle trucks on the ranch – line em’ up, yell at em’ a lot and scare the Hell out of em’. The only thing we lack is a shaker jug and several hot shots. The mess they leave behind when you unload them is similar as well.

I have learned by experience that the operator’s area of your average school bus is a “racket trap”. The acoustics in the front of these buses would rival that of the great tabernacle on Temple Square. I haven’t actually tried the pin drop routine yet, But – I can assure you that the shrieking, squealing din of 16 pre-puberty adolescents, most of which are not old enough to wipe the milk off their whiskers, is just enough to electrify your brain to at least 76 amps into the red zone (insanity range).

When I was a robust lad of about ten years of age, we lived fifteen miles from the school house. We traveled to school on a large yellow school bus not unlike the beast that I am driving today. We had a portly old gentleman by the name of Joe Mahelish that was our bus driver. He was a great old guy. There was only two mysteries about him that I always scratched my head about . First - the phenomenon of my brother Milt, when mounting the steps of the bus, would inquire of old Joe – “ How are you doing Joe?” Old Joe would then raise his arm, gaze at his watch and proceed to announce the exact time of day. I always thought that was curious behavior and this little ritual was repeated over and over but Milt seemed to be the only one who asked that particular question. Second was that fact that once that big bus went into gear, old Joe never seemed to raise his head or even acknowledge that there was anyone else on the bus. He seemed to gaze out the windows as if he was actually enjoying himself – the reason I was amazed by this was due to the fact that all He - - was breaking loose inside the bus and it was every man and woman for themselves. In all the years that I rode that bus, I can count the number of times that he even attempted to manage the violence that was occurring on one hand. I wondered at the time how he could sit in the front of that bus in complete serenity, oblivious to the projectiles flying around through the air and the shrieking and hollering that was going on. Then one day, when I was about a Junior in High School, I noticed Joe, just prior to departure, reaching up and turning off both of his hearing aids. So that was it! Suddenly, the mystery was solved for me. Now, at the ripe old age of forty-five, I not only know why he had hearing aids in both ears, I also know why he turned them both off!!

The bus driving has actually been a very good thing for our family as DeAnn and I have been able to travel to several of the games that Roland and Bethaney have been engaged in.
Like each of you, we are trying hard to focus on optimism in spite of what we see and hear about going on around us. Generally speaking, we have decided that it is a good idea to avoid turning on the TV (particularly the news) if you want to maintain any degree of optimism. I have found that I can turn on the news about every nine weeks and stay pretty well up to date. We are thankful that the State of Wyoming seems to be staying pretty stable in spite of the recession. The only change that we are seeing is the oil and gas companies dialing back significantly while they observe the actions of congress with nervous skepticism.

Kallie Kay is knocking out another semester at BYUI – she is a king this round as Grandma and Grandpa Briggs dropped of their trusty little white car for her. Nothing like wheels when you are in college. Logan is re-adjusting to his surroundings after returning from his mission a couple of weeks ago. He is registered to attend Snow College in Ephriam, UT this fall. Roland and Bethaney are very busy with sports camp preparation and summer jobs. Adrianna just continues to campaign for permission to ride her bike to and from Kindergarten “ all by herself! ”

So all is well - we extend our very best wishes to each of you

Bill, DeAnn and family