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Show Volume XXIX Issue VI The Ogden Valley News Page 11 February 1, 2022 20 Years Ago: Valley Residents Carry Olympic Torch By Janet Hoffman Four residents from Ogden Valley participated in the 2002 Olympics torch relay— Sharon Wangsgard, Jan Retallick, Royce Dye, and Linda Ellison. Linda carried the torch in the Boston area where she is attending Harvard, completing a candidacy for a Master of Divinity. She has been at Harvard for the past three years and plans to graduate this spring. Her areas of interest in her studies are religion, gender, and health. Her focus is primarily on the effects of Christian women’s spiritual practice during a health crisis. Last spring she was elected President of the Harvard Graduate Council, which includes ten graduate and professional schools such Linda Ellison as the schools of law, medicine, and business. In July of 2000, Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy while taking a full course load. During this time she also worked as a chaplain at a woman’s health clinic while retaining her leadership position on the Student Council. Ellison received a phone call one morning while at work from a woman telling her the good news—she had been selected to carry the Olympic torch. She thought it was one of her college friends playing a practical joke. She gave the woman a hard time until she was finally faxed a note on SLOC letterhead that said, “This isn’t a joke. You really were nominated and selected!” She called her back and apologized for giving her such a hard time. The woman and Linda laughed about her unwillingness to believe. On the day of her run in Boston, she met other runners at a collection point (a place where the shuttle picked up all the runners) at 5:00 a.m. “I hadn’t gotten up that early since I last helped my Uncle Kent with the fourth of July breakfast in Huntsville Park a few summers ago. Grad students aren’t known for being early risers! But the whole experience was well worth the early morning.” Torch Bearers were bussed to Harrisville after the torch left Brigham City enroute to Salt Lake City. Olympic supporters waited in line, often for hours in the freezing temperatures, for a once in a lifetime opportunity to view the torch being carried to the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games. The 2002 Olympic Theme can be seen on the bus, “light the fire within.” Linda said they played “Chariots of Fire” in the Olympic van as they dropped the runners off at their various starting places. Her father bought her torch, which she also carried to her last check-up at the hospital, thanking everyone who helped her through her battle with cancer. Royce Dye, also of Huntsville, had to be up at 2:00 a.m. to be at his collection point at 4:30 a.m. in Provo. His wife Delores Taylor, his coworkers, and peers nominated Royce because of his positive attitude that helps to motivate others. Royce works for Delta Airlines, training people who work in Reservations and at the City Ticket Office. He was a Delta volunteer when the Swiss airline crashed. He went to Denver, Colorado and assisted the families of the deceased. He and a few of his co-worker were there for two weeks and acquired the name “Delta Angels” from the people they helped. Royce is enjoying his Olympic experiences. He is also a volunteer at Snowbasin in the Human Resource Department where he checks in other volunteers. “There are many volunteers working very hard,” Dye stated. The theme of this year’s Olympics, “light the fire within” has meaning to Royce. Royce met 15 other runners at his collection point where the first torch was lit by the original Olympic torch from Athens. After 40 minutes of instructions, stories of the torch, and how it is symbolic of lighting the torch within each of us, and a group picture, the 15 runners began their journey of a lifetime. The van could barely make its way down the streets to the yellow dots marking the places on the road for each runner to be dropped off. This was the first time Royce noticed the huge crowds lining the streets for miles, waiting in anticipation. This is when he realized how important this tradition was to other people. These runners would run three miles on Provo’s streets. The first runner started his run at 6:00 a.m. Royce was number ten. At 6:21 a.m., as he stepped off the van with his personal torch in hand, the manager yelled something like, “Ladies and Gentleman, your next torchbearer of the Olympic flame is Royce Dye!” Someone appeared at his side with a key, which he inserted in Dye’s torch, turning on the fuel canister. Then 30 seconds later, the flames jumped from the previous runner’s torch to his. Surrounded by 15 police on motorcycles with flashing lights, he started his run close behind the media van. He said he felt like he was “floating on air.” “This is the first time I have ever experience anything like that.” A quarter of a mile later he lit the next torch. “It happened way too fast.” Dye recalled. Royce’s closing statement was, “The fact of carrying the torch was an honor, but the crowd was really there to honor the Olympic flame itself, or to honor the Olympic spirit, and the people loved it! I want to give credit to my wife and family who Brad Anderson of Ogden was the were there to first individual to carry the torch support me in the Ogden area, beginning at like always.” 534 Harrisville Road near the Wal-Mart Super Center. THE DIGGER I’m taking appointments for the spring, I do the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. PLANT TREES. CLEAN UP FOLLOWER BEDS. BUILD ROCK WALLS. TAKE ROCK WALLS DOWN. DIG PIPE LINES, ELECTRICAL, AND GAS LINES. 6. BUILD STORM DRAINS. 7. DIG POST HOLES. 8. DIG AND LEVEL BUILDING LOTS. 9. ANY AREA THAT NEEDS LEVELING GIVE ME A CALL. 10. CAN PREPARE AREAS THAT NEED ROAD BASE. DON’T WAIT! CALL ME FOR TIMES AND DATES. CALL DAN AT 801-332-0052 Eden Coffee & Cocoa Celebrates Twentieth Year in Business Drew Johnson first opened his specialty coffee and hot chocolate espresso bar inside Valley Market in early 2002. He states, “The long and winding road has taken us to serving coffee twenty years in Ogden Valley. It’s been such a pleasure and honor to have been able Drew in January 2002 inside Valley Market, soon after opening his new coffee and hot chocolate espresso bar. He later built the building next to Valley Market. to have my life here with you in this beautiful valley. I truly cherish every day. There are so many people to thank—too many to list, but from my heart I thank you all.” Drew Johnson today. Create Your Own 2002 Olympic Winter Experience! By Tele Tony Twenty years ago, Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. It was a wildly successful event that introduced Utah to the world stage, but I missed the festivities by five years, arriving in 2007. Fortunately, the Olympic Legacy lives on in the mountains of Utah, allowing those like me, who weren’t present in 2002, to recreate the Winter Olympic experience in our own way. While we can’t duplicate the thrill of seeing the world’s best athletes competing at the pinnacle of the sport, we can explore the mountains, snow, and ice around Utah in homage to the event twenty years ago as we cheer on Team USA in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Celebrate the 2022 Olympics - Start your own Olympic experience this year by visiting some of Utah’s Olympic sites: 1. Visit the 72-foot steel and glass Olympic cauldron in the park at the south end of RiceEccles Stadium at the University of Utah. 2. Check out the Utah Olympic Park Museum, which boasts interactive exhibits highlighting historic performances and memorabilia from the 2002 Games. You can also view the Nordic ski jumps looming over the complex. 3. Ride the bobsled at Utah Olympic Park. Want to raise your heart rate? A trained pilot will take you on a high-velocity Snowbasin’s Allen ride down the Peak Tram track in a once- in-a-lifetime experience feeling the g-forces that the world’s best sliding athletes experience. 4. Tackle the champion mogul course at Deer Valley. It’s one of the steepest, most sustained mogul runs you’ll find. The immaculate bumps it boasts are home to annual World Cup mogul competitions. 5. Ski the Grizzly Downhill at Snowbasin. It starts at the top of the Allen Peak Tram. Skiers from around the world pinned their Olympic speeds on its precipitous slopes and intimidating rollovers as part of the 2002 Game’s slalom course where Bode Miller made his legendary run that secured him an improbable silver medal. 6. Go XC skiing at Soldier Hollow. Located in Wasatch Mountain State Park, it was built to host the cross-country events—biathlon, cross-country, and Nordic combined. Today the groomed trails are perfect for both world-class athletes to train on and recreational cross-country skiers to enjoy a few laps while enjoying the beautiful views of the Wasatch Back. 7. Try ice skating at the Utah Olympic Oval. Located in Kearns, it was home to the Olympic speed-skating events in 2002. Today the public can come and enjoy one of the two international-sized ice sheets that are ringed by the 400-meter speed skating oval. Nine world records were set here during the 2002 Games. 8. Lap the Olympic half pipe at Park City Mountain. Park City Mountain introduced halfpipe snowboarding to a wider audience with the first Olympic even in 2002. Americans Ross Powers, Danny Kass, and Jarret Thomas swept the podium in impeccable style. If you’re not up to trying it out, you can at least take a gander at it from a lift ride up the 3-Kings Chairlift to see where the historic performances went down. See if you can experience all eight activities. Try doing it in style by also sporting one of those iconic 2002 Olympic volunteer jackets you can sometimes find floating around on eBay! Let’s party like it’s 2002! Eden Coffee & Cocoa Twenty Years and Still the Best! No political BS . . . Just good coffee! Open 7 days a week 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. 2555 N Wolf Creek in Eden next to Valley Market. |