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Show LEU an i 1 IRL | Senior Center’s trip to Wendover hits big, even if the winnings don’t reflect it Jean Croasmun, Courier staff Sometimes. it pays to get away from “There are so many new people. I went on Tuesday to vote and | didn’t know » Heber for a-day. Literally..See how the one of them,” says Leah Lindsay. other half lives. Few would deny that Wasatch County is a very livable place, despite its rugged topographic shell. It’s livable because of the people. Recently, the seniors of the Heber Valley took a road trip, an overnighter, across the border to Nevada. Not necessarily to win big, to mortgage the house and score a huge payoff. Just a chance to get away from it all, take a few risks and appreciate everything. at home. In a nutshell, experience Wendover. The following stories are their testaments of time, told by those who have more time today to rélax than they probably had during all the years it took ~ then there was a theatre we owned them to grow wise. They relay these stories on the way to win, and_lose, and door to the store,” says Maude -Miller, a transplant from Wyoming, and next his wife Mary, Derry. “We all had to help. I’d take tickets in enjoy themselves. ‘for a little. while inne ~ the theatre and we'd play the records. Sometimes we’d get so wrapped up in Wendover. England ‘Maude Derry in Park City and. Joyce. Coleman Craig putting - in time at. the Homestead. “Our father taught school in Tabiona,” says Maude Derry. “He took a wagon from Midway to Tabiona. While my father was there, the government opened the land, 40 acres for anyone willingto homestead. My father didn’t homestead, but some of the miners walked from Price for land and stayed just long enough to she says. | Boer to keep it,” “Our dad oe the store i Mca Back the show.” SS Rex ee Betty Cummings sit in ie back of the bus, along with the other rowdies, John and Mary Miller. Not really trouble-makers, at least not by today’s stan- dards, but there’s still that sparkle in their eyes that says they chose the back of the bus for a reason. “His mother got me to write to him when he was in the service,” says Betty Cummings of her courtship with Rex. “He came home and six months we were married.” later, In John the seats behind them are a native of Newcastle, thought John harmless enough to follow over to America. John — the movie, we forget to turn the record. Rose Hoye, Bice Cnleceas Cri. aa Our dad would” take a scteen to Maude Derry are sisters, now all” ene a Wallsburg and. we'd have showings in within two blocks of each other. i the rec hall. of the church. It was such Midway. But there was a time when. they e fun. Kids. would ‘i mb rides with us to were scattered, Rose Hoyt in Wyoming, ey who Miller surveyed the Jordanelle, worked for the Bureau of Reclamation, and even drove a truck for a while. “I got four cents a mile and | remember thinking | _was getting rich, making $140 a month,” John Miller says with a laugh. “I moved away for ten years. When I first moved back, I knew everyone. Now, no one waves. They build ten foot high ‘> fences that say keep out. I say fine, keep out. New people come in and try to change things. I don’t want to change,” says Evelyn Mills, who has spent all but those ten years of her life in the Heber Valley. “I have a friend who sold her place and moved to Salt Lake and then moved back to Heber. Now she says if -she had known that it had changed so much, she’d have never moved back.” Even local politics reflect change. Winning and Wendover As the bus pulls into Wendover, the carefree atmosphere turns almost giddy. “Smell that?” asks John Miller as the bus crosses the state line into Nevada. “Thats sin;” he says, smiling.. While each person onthe bus is unique in background, today, they all have one thing in common. They’re here to play the odds. Dora North was the big winner last trip. She won $1000 ten minutes before the bus was going back home. Most of the others weren’t so lucky. “We like to play the slots, quarters and WENDOVER continued on, page 17 MUU AUT LARC A Short Trip To Strike It Rich In Wendover Evelyn Mills, one of the Wendover trip’s big Center. sets herself iis fal sion with the casinos staff, walks away with 300 big ones. a healthy bonus. " For just a eaaal 50 cent investment, Mills, ei at some discus- | |
