David Lofgren, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Luke Kelly, April 4, 2001: Saving the legacy tape no. 209 and 210

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D VID LOFGREN of Maintenance Research and Lofgren's Nursery. I don't think I ha th _ I' ur 1 n't h the nursery card here. But I did consulting all over the United tate and what's on the back of that? Steven White. I'd better keep it. I'll figure what it' r. ut anyway, I had written a letter to the LDS Church. I had taken some pictures of som of th chapels. I had taken out a landscape architect license. I passed the test. And I'd had on four hour class in landscape architecture and I passed the state exam. Anyway, I sent this folder with these pictures of some of the chapels that were just in a mess. Grass growing this high and weeds and things. I told them, I said, "I'll come down on Saturdays and worked for free to get you a program going." Well, they hired me immediately. So for fourteen years I worked for the LDS Church Building Department, and set up their custodial and operations maintenance. And I wrote their landscape manual, and wrote, you know. Then we got the maintenance program going and they hired in a guy who'd been an engineer, Carl (?) Davis. And I think they were right. I think they were correct because I was not of the temperament. I had the skills of management. But I went up to the University of Utah to the director of the physical plant up there. Bud Cross called me, and he said, "Dave, I understand you know what you're doing?" And I said, "Oh, I hope so." I said, "Do you want to hire me?" I was thinking consultant. He says, "Well, that's what we want to talk about. Can you come up?" So I went to Carl Davis, who was then head of the LDS department that I had built and set up. And I was not bitter because his temperament was much better than mine for that type of thing. Anyway, I went up to the university, and I said, "Hey, Carl told me 'yes."'