Back in 1971 as part of the last class I took before graduating from Weber State, I did a series of oral histories. One of them was with my 88-year-old Great-grandmother, Lettie Hammon Stoker. From this interview I learned many things.

One of the stories she told me was about when she was a teenager. She said she had arranged with her parents to go for a sleepover at a girlfriend’s home.

Unknown to most of the parents, the girls had set up for some boys to come by in a buggy and pick them up. So off they set to go from Roy to Ogden. In those days the trip took them around the Sandridge and into Ogden.

While they were passing through the railroad yard and maneuvering over the many sets of tracks, one of the switching trains hit the buggy, doing some damage. So the sheriff’s department came out to write a report.

The deputy took all of their names and told them they would need to come to court and testify. Grandma said she felt if she did this her parents would find out she had gone out with the boys. So, she decided she would just not show up.

However, much to her surprise, about a week before the hearing here came an officer with a paper requiring her to go to court. Then her father found out the whole story. He told her it was her civic duty to go to court, and he took her in the wagon to be sure she did.

From this I learned it does not matter whether the time period or the age. Teenagers are always the same.

Ben Reeves