The Best Years of My Life
The main purpose in these writings is to leave a legacy--an expression of my experiences, my observations and my opinions. I hope that my talent with the written word will draw the interest of many and that their reading of my labors through life will lessen their own trials and tribulations.
This story of my life is chronological but involves many flash-forwards to facilitate the expression of my philosophy--an essential element to my purpose. I recognize in these writings many great teachers that have eased my burdens and provided me with the confidence, the wisdom and the other gifts that I have acquired. As I write about the gifts I have been blessed with, the reader should recognize that my intent is not an expression of arrogance but rather an indication of how God given talents were critical to my successes in life and were the basis for THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE.
The Early Years
I having been born of goodly parents, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. 1 Nephi 1: 1
I was born in the Salina (Sevier County, Utah) hospital on August 20th 1934. I am the third child and second son of Vivian Luthella Bown and Blain Larson. Tradition has it that my parents agreed upon Donald for my first name, but the middle name was another matter. The choices were Blain or Bown and the compromise was, thankfully, an initial only "B". My older brother Keith, ten years my senior, died in our dad's arms from complications associated with the final operation to correct a cleft palate. My only other sibling is Burdie Darlene who was born in l929 and continued to roam the earth with her husband of 50 plus years, Richard LaBeau, until his death in 1998.
In my early years our family home was in the northern part of the tiny farm community of Gunnison, population approximately 1200 souls. Many of the names are different today, but the number incarcerated remains the same after more than 60 years. Our home was a two-story building with a rock exterior, a large lawn, a garden area, several sheds, chicken coups and a fenced area for livestock.
My very early memories are of cats (my sister had 20 or 30 of the beasts), chickens and eggs (my sister and I were the cleaners and casers of all the eggs produced by our chickens), milking cows, feeding lambs, Christmas gifts and playing with my cousins.
CATS: My sister was an animal lover expecially cats and because she had so many, there were naturally births and deaths. Being small, I was forced to participate in nurturing the kittens and in the elaborate funerals for deceased cats.
CHICKENS AND EGGS: We had what seemed like a large number of chickens and my sister and I had to gather the eggs and then use sandpaper brushes to clean of the gunk before placing the eggs in cases so they could be sold. Besides eggs, the chickens also afforded us many tasty chicken meals. When we needed chicken for our dinner, my dad would go to the coup and catch a couple of plump hens by the legs and take them outside where he rung their necks with a quick flip while holding them by the neck; then he used his boot to hold their heads while he pulled the head away from the rest of the chicken's body. Being young and impressionable, I picked up on this procedure and gained a form of innocent "revenge". Apparently, I though that the new kittens deserved a fate similar to that of the chicken hens. Fortunately my dad and not my sister caught me in the act or I wouldn't be here to tell this story. Needless to say no one has ever told my sister. Another episode with eggs occurred a year or so later. Apparently it occurred to me that if we didn't have any eggs, then we wouldn't have to clean them. Therefore, while gathering the eggs one day instead of putting them in the basket, I chucked them against the coup walls and watched the yoke etc. run down the walls. It was great fun until the punishment phase occured.
MILKING COWS AND FEEDING LAMBS: In my pre-school years I had a great time helping my dad milk the cows. My duties were to bring the empty milk bucket and taste the fresh milk that my dad squirted into my mouth from the cows utters. My other duty with milk was to take an old wine bottle full of milk with a nipple on it out to the fenced area to feed an orphaned lamb. I would generously allow the lamb to have a few sucks from the nipple and then it was my turn to have a hearty drink of the warm tasty beverage---a tribute to the joys of those innocent years.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS AND PLAYING WITH MY COUSINS: Christmas has always been a magical time for me. As a youngster I was very lucky because I received two gifts, one from my parents and one from my grandmother Bown (Mamo). Holidays were also special because it was then that my cousins would come to town and we would get to play together. A lot of the luster associated with these activities died with Mamo in February of 1943. On this sad occasion my sister, some cousins and I had just returned to our grandmother's house from watching Lon Cheney in the movie the Mummy to find out that Mamo had passed away---a haunting memory for many years.
According to my dad, about the time I was entering school, I was saved from a fate more horrible than death when he took "poor sickly Don from his mother's apron strings to help with the farm chores". I didn't particularly like to work but being out on the farm, having my own horse and eventually my own team of horses was not only a great experience but invaluable in teaching me responsibility. In retrospect, the greatest blessing was the opportunity to learn how to work to complete an assigned responsibility, and then to feel the satisfaction of a job well done. These opportunities and experiences were key elements in the development of my character and in the joy and satisfaction I have gleaned throughout this life.
My dad and I did nearly everything on the farm together. In every sense of the word I became his right-hand-man. We worked together successfully, but farming was not the thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life. My dad recognized this early on and in his way gave me some excellent advice. "You're a lazy little so you better study hard in school and become an engineer so you won't have to work." Receptive to good advice, I never forgot that council and I did study and even went beyond engineer to become a research physicist. It should be noted that my dad loved to swear and as a result my mind has every swear word he knew solidly engraved in its memory bank. This makes for a real challenge to keep from blurting profanity whenever anger impulses arise. The key is to control the anger.
As the years have ticked by I have come to recognize the true importance of parental example. My delayed recognition of the impact my dad's example has had upon me was probably the result of my resentment of the discipline and work that he forced upon me. I am sad that it took me so long to appreciate his conributions and what a great teacher he was, but I am grateful that I have finally realized the positive impact his example has had upon my character.
My dad was an honest hard working individual whose word was his bond. Although endowed with a temper and a swearing tongue my dad loved animals, small children and the underprivileged. As a youngster I remember vividly his kindness to Navajos who he hired to weed our sugan beets. I remember standing in the shadows as he gave the Navajos a sheep to slaughter. I timidly watched him sit with them by the campfire, communicating with sign language, as they made blood pudding and roasted the sheep. I remember another summer when we had German war prisoners, who were housed in nearby Salina, come and weed the beets. Dad was the only farmer who had the quality of character to treat these men with respect and kindness. My dad judged others by their character and not by their station---He was truly no respecter of persons (a virtue he shares with our Savior).
My years growing up in Gunnison seemed to revolve around school and farm experiences. I have always enjoyed school and the learning process and did reasonably well especially in mathematics and related subjects. At the tender age of five I memorized the times tables. I credit this innate skill with numbers along with my strong competitive spirit as the catalyst for my success in school and for my life long motivation to learn. I remember vividly the good feelings associated with my success in spelling bees and arithmetic competition. I was also an avid reader as a youngster. I enjoyed science fiction and even wrote my own space adventure at age thirteen. Love of learning has always been paramount in my life. I have always loved the sweet taste of success inherent in gaining understanding. However, it wasn't until my marriage, that I received the catalyst that motivated me to excel in subjects other than mathematics. As I have matured, I have come to realize that even the immense satisfaction that has come to me from the learning experience is dwarfed by the rewards that come through sharing my understanding with others.
As I consider my behavioral characteristics, I find that my life long experience has strong foundation in dreaming. Most things that are truly important to me have involved impossible dreams, improabable dreams and meaningful success. Illustrations of this process are my success in tennis as a younster and my on going progress in golf. In Junior High and High School I dreamt of one day playing on the U S Davis Cup team---even to the extent of playing out the matches point by point in my mind. This was clearly an impossible dream but nevertheless lead to a moderately successful high school and university tennis career. As a youngster, I remember spending the time dreaming whenever my horse and I drove the cattle to pasture and when I was involved in routine efforts such as mowing hay, weeding beets or shoveling ditches.
Logan, Marriage, and My Career
We moved to Logan, Utah in 1947 so that my mother could be near her recently married daughter. I attended Logan schools and my dad and I spent summers in Gunnison taking care of the farm. After completing my studies at Logan High School, I decided to stay in Logan and work. My dad had bribed me with a car to work the farm the previous year but that was the end of my farming in Gunnison. Looking back the benefit of working on the farm was priceless. However, through the eyes of a 17 year old, the forced labor and camping out in a sheep camp were awful experiences and so a sadly diappointed father met my selfish demands.
After high school I attended Utah State University. My work experiences in Logan were centered on the University. My first job was with Dr. Keller of the Agronomy Department whose son was a tennis player. My assignment was to help in the Greenhouses and on the Agricultural Experimental Farms. My recreational pursuits as a pool shooter and ping-pong player also gained me part time employment in the game room at the Student Union. However, after about a year, I managed to get myself fired by neglecting my duties.
A blind date after returning home from ROTC summer camp in 1955 was the beginning of a major change in my life. This chance meeting sowed the seeds of a romance that will last forever. Some who have monitored our marriage and have seen our continual bickering would question my enthusiasm about my marriage, but marriage is much more than a relationship between a man and a woman. In our case the marriage was built upon a foundation of commitment. Our commitments were genetic in nature, i.e. we were both too bull-headed to throw in the towel. Intimacy was also invaluable in bonding us together expecially through difficult times. This also lead to a substantial posterity and produced a bond of love to re-enforce our commitment.
In 1956, as a senior, I started my teaching career teaching math and chemistry labs. I will never forget the math experience because it was the year Don Larsen pitched the first and only perfect game in the World Series and the year, though petrified by the experience, I overcame the fear and learned the joy of sharing my knowledge with others through the medium of teaching, in this case plane geometry.
In 1957, after completing my BS in chemistry, Mary, our little baby Doug and I took a paid vacation to El Paso, Texas where I served six months of active duty in the U S Army. While there, I briefly considered staying in the military but, in the end, we decided to return to Utah State to do a Masters Degree in Chemistry. For the next two years I taught math, chemistry labs and physics labs during the school year and did some laboratory work for the Agronomy Department during the summers. While at Utah State we added Susan to our growing family.
In 1959 Lori joined our family and I began my qwest for a PhD in physics at B Y U. I taught math and physics labs during the school year and spent the summers as a Research Assistant doing preparatory work on my doctoral research. It took ten years but I finally completed my higher education goals in June of 1963 by then Todd had been added to our flock. The previous year was extremely busy since I was employed as a full time instructor teaching math (salary $4400 per annum); I was completing my research and writing my dissertation; and Mary and I were traveling all over the country on interview trips. The interview trips were great, a gaggle of mini-vacations culminating in a very nice job at the University of California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The 1962-1963 teaching experience was fantastic; I was able to teach algebra, trigonometry, analytical geometry, differential and integral calculus and differential equations. In the differential equations class the average age was the same as mine, but the students were patient with me and didn't give me a bad time.
In July of 1963, I began my 30 year career as a Research Scientist at a National Laboratory in Livermore, California. Looking back this was an unbelievably satisfying journey. I was doing something I loved to do and getting a paycheck each month for enjoying myself. What a deal. My responsibility was to do experimental research at high pressures using shock waves. Most of my work was done on geologic materials. My wife told those that asked what I did, "my husband uses explosives to blow up rocks, frozen dirt and other things." Most of my research had application in understanding wave propagation from nuclear explosions and was used in treaty negotiations for the Threshold and Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaties. It was in Livermore that we added Troy and Rick to our family and then decided that six was more than enough responsibiliy for one mother.
My research provided a unique opportunity to travel the world to scientific meeting in such diverse places as Siberia, Sweden, Israel, Canada and England. In addition, I spent a year doing sabbatical leave research at the Julius Kreshnitz Mining Research Centre in Indroopilly, Queensland, Australia. The year 1982 in Australia was, for a variety of reasons, the best year of my life. This adventure marked a new beginning to my life, the significance of this change I discuss in greater detail elsewhere in this document.
In 1988 my sweetheart Mary encouraged me to embark on another adventure. This new adventure turned out to be very enlightening. I spent three years as an advisor to the Office of Arms Control at the Department of Energy in Washington, D C. Mary spent her time in the east running tours for friends and family members who came to visit us; while I was busy doing nothing at D O E headquarters. Bureaucracy is a pathetic example of human nature at work. The natural man wants something for nothing and government officials, whose only desire is re-election, satisfy that need by creating yet another give away program and the bureaucracy to administer one more taxpayer drain. I would like to express our appreciation to all tax payers who read this for the three years of paid vacation that they funded and I and my wife so greatly enjoyed.