Oral history interview with Ken and Marge Sowards by Kathleen Irving [Transcript]

Oral history interview by Kathleen Irving with Ken and Marge Sowards. Topics inlcude: Parents and Sowards extended family moving to Vernal; Ken's father's employment with Ashley Co-op and Continental Oil; Ken's mother coming from a polygamist family; Ken's Grandfather being a large stake holder in Utah-Idaho Sugar and lending money to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; A family reunion in Manassa, Colorado; Meeting his wife; Their children and grandchildren; Ken's in-laws; Attending school in Vernal; Playing Basketball in high school; Attending the University of Utah; Serving in the United States Navy during World War II in the Pacific; Living near Camp Wallace in Texas, right by the sea wall; Trying to stay cool in the summer humidty; Attending Harvard Graduate School of Business; Remebering important dates; What Vernal looked like while growing up: Where different businesses were located and who owned or ran them; Ken's work as a delivery boy for his father; Marge's childhhod years at Fort Duchesne and watching old movies in a garage; Interactions with Native Americans at the Fort; Effects of the Great depression on the local sheep business; Celebrating the 4th and 24th of July; Camping in the nearby mountains and going on pack trips; Ken work with his father in Continental Oil and starting his own business, Superior Tire; Expanding the business to six states; Ken facilitating sports clinincs at at the high school in exchange for taking collegiate and pro players on camping/fishing trips; Getting permission for Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce) to use slot machines for one year as a fund raiser for the hospital, softball fileds; tennis courts; swimming pool and squad cars for the Police; Ken's involvement with the Rotary Club; Twent-eight years of service on the Utah Travel Council; Ken's involvement with the Empire Club and establishing a golf course; Learning to golf; The Soda Fountain in Vernal Drug being popular in the 1950s; Belief in the philosophy of giving back to your community; Controversy with the Echo Park Dam proposal; Utah sharing the Colorado River watershed with Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, and California; Development of the Flaming Gorge Dam with help from Vernal residents: Bry Strigham, Hugh Colton, and Lawrence Siddoway; Marge's return to Vernal her senior year and meeting Ken; Dating and Marriage; A honeymoon train ride to Boston for Ken to Attend Harvard Graduate School of Business; Returning to Vernal; Raising a family; Picnics on Brush Creek Mountain; Marge's involvement with Girl Scouts, Current Topics Club, and PTA; Marge's love of art and her art collection; and celebrating their 59th anniversary together.