John E. Osguthorpe, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, June 24, 2004: Saving the Legacy tape no. 667

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JOHN E. 0 GUTHORPE J 24,2004 BEC: Is that in agriculture? JOHN: In agriculture. These are awards for scholarships. I'm one of the biggest contributors to Utah State. That's not the only place I've contributed to. I've contributed to the Western Heritage Association up in Wellsville for scholarships for the Indians for the Shoshone Indians. My stepson was working as a student advisor for a school in Las Vegas, Nevada, which was all black and in poverty. I bought Christmas presents for the entire school for six or seven years just to mention a few things. That was never written down or ever told to anybody. I believe in helping the world to help themselves. We had the poorest countries in the world. The AID was working with the poorest countries in the world. Like I say, I devoted my life to helping other people. I devoted my entire life. Yet when I went to school at Utah State during the depression-! want to tell it in here­Elmer Peterson, the President then, said to me one day when I was shoveling snow out front of Old Main, "John, your hands are purple. Where are your gloves?" I said, "I don't have any." He said, "Where's your jacket?" I said, "I don't have any." He said, "All you've got on is a pair of Oxfords." He said, "Where's your boots?" I said, "I don't have any." He walked away and I thought, "Well, I blew this. He's going to fire me." I was being paid ten cents an hour to shovel snow. It was zero degrees. He took me to his office and he said, "John, you see this door back here?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Go in there. That's where all the goods that have been left, all the clothes that have been left that have been turned in and not reclaimed." He said, "They're all in there. Go in and pick out anything you can wear." For the first time in six months I had enough clothes to wear and I was warm for the first time. 8