YOU WILL GO TO SCHOOL

YOU WILL GO TO SCHOOL!

One thing the children of Ken and Beth Summers knew-you will go to school. Mother had two sayings that applied to her children’s behavior and why they should do something she requested.
RULE #1 “That’s just the way it is.”
RULE #2 “They said it.”

Mother had lots of rules about conduct and when questioned about why we should do what she requested, she would reply with Rule #1. There was no argument. No reason had to be given. “That is just the way it is” was all that was necessary for her children to know-now go and behave as she requested. If pushed real hard, she would resort to Rule #2. When questioned on the identity of “they” she didn’t disclose that but Rule #1 still applied.

Summers children went to school unless you were sick. Mom and Dad were both very strong on this proposition. For mother, “That’s just the way it is” was a good enough reason. I suppose that is why I have 100% Perfect Attendance Certificates for the First and Sixth Grades at Monticello Elementary School. For Dad, he felt very strongly about attending school because he missed so many days when he was in high school.

Dad was a very responsible young man. For some reason, his older brother Edwin didn’t have to be away from home and herd the sheep. Dad would spend the summers as a teenager herding sheep on Saddle Creek west of Logan but also took care of the sheep during the school year. I have heard him talk of leaving the deserts north and west of the Great Salt Lake and rushing to get home for Christmas. In high school he would start a couple of months later because he was helping his father and he had to leave a couple of months early to help lamb and move the sheep. His father was sick one year and Dad took off the school year to take care of his father’s sheep outfit. As a result, he graduated one year behind his class.

When I was in high school, I was more than eager to get out of school to help Dad with the cattle and sheep but he would have nothing to do with my idea because he valued education and knew how much school he had missed as a teenager. He only relented once. The U. S. Forest Service required that our cattle be removed from our Groundhog Permit by October 15th of each year. During my senior year, Dad was In a bind and didn’t have enough help to get the job done by the 15th so he took me out of school for one day only and I helped gather up the cows at Groundhog and take them to Beaver Creek. My folks taught me by their example that you just don’t miss school.

K. K. Summers February 6,2009