Interview with Lester Gary Cottam, Downwinders of Utah Archive, July 2, 2019

Transcript (14 pages) of an interview conducted by Anthony Sams with Lester Gary Cottam at the J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT on July 2, 2019. Cottam discusses living in Kanab when he was young. Members of his family had a variety of medical issues, and Cottam talks about his own experiences with lung cancer. Cottam recounts working on his family's ranch with his grandfather and father. He also remembers being sick in elementary school during the testing period. Cottam mentions that during the time of the nuclear testing, people were led to believe that there was no danger associated with it. Cottam shares his thoughts about nuclear testing in general, and provides information about his work at the School of Medicine machine shop at the University of Utah.