Show Steve Leatham Writes Splendid Address for Commencement Address given by Earl Steven Leatham Top Honor Student Class of 1967 Park City High School at the commencement exercises Thursday May 25 1967 Honored Guests Fellow Graduates Ladies and Gentlemen Gentlemen Gentlemen Gentle Gentle- men I am very grateful and honored honor honor- ed to have the opportunity of addressing you ton tonight i g h t. t Its It's something Ive I've been looking forward forward forward for- for ward to for almost four years It is with a deep sense of pride and thanks that I speak to you our parents I am very sure that as you look up here tonight you are very proud to say j t my son or my daugh- daugh 1 r ter And I am j just st as sure that each one of us is just as proud to look back out into the audience and say my Mom or my Dad I have the very great task of I expressing o 0 our u r appreciation love and thanks to you for helping helping helping help help- ing us reach this night At times we thought that we would never get here and you are probably wondering yourself how we made it If it weren't i for you we wouldn't even be here as a matter of fact we wouldn't be anywhere You p probably r o b a b l y think were we're lucky to be graduating from Park City High School and not the State III Industrial d us t ria 1 School Well Youre You're right We are lucky lucky to have parents lik like you Lucky to have been born in the United States of ofT T America and lucky to have had the opportunity of going to school sch sch- ool ool- No one knows better than you 1 how much work how many tears how much worry or how many hours of service above and beyond the call of duty go into giving us so many of the things we ask for and the million million million mil mil- lion other little things we take for granted I found something the other day that expresses part of my feeling tonight and I would like to share it with you It goes something like this You say you love me but sometimes you dont don't show it it In the beI beginning be- be 4 I ginning you couldn't do enough 1 J for me Now you seem to take me for granted some days I even wonder if I mean anything anything anything any- any thing to you at all I j Maybe when Im I'm gone you'll J. J I appreciate me and all the things j I I do for you Im I'm responsible J I for getting food on your table j 1 for the clean shirt you wear each I day for the welfare of our home for the thousand and one things you want and need Why if it weren't for me you wouldn't I have a car to drivel drive I Ive I've kept quiet and waited to see how long it would take for you to realize how much you really need me Cherish I me take good care of me and andI I J Ill I'll take good care of you 1 I Who am I 11 I am your mother J and dad If t The family from Dads Dad's point of view should be the best collection of people in the whole world a highly intelligent son or an angel of a daughter And how he works and slaves j I i for them never thinking of him him- self If only the rest of the family could have a little of Dads Dad's intelligence According to Mother no matter how she slaves at cleaning cleaning cleaning clean clean- ing cooking washing polishing polishing polishing polish polish- ing sewing mending or ironing we never notice it If only we would appreciate all that our mothers do for us A son thinks he has a keen family He loves everybody in it too Of course it would be benice benice benice nice if Dad were a Ii little t tl e smarter You know able to do modern algebra and tell you a little about history And tight Getting a dollar out of Dad is harder than getting out of bed bedin bedin bedin in the morning Moms Mom's a good sport she is an angel but a strict angel Do this run here stop that pick it up put it away gripes A short time ago a loving and devoted mother was bidding farewell to her son as he left home to serve two years in the army Out of a heart overflowing overflowing overflowing over over- flowing with love for his fine clean manhood and excellent spirit she told him that she would rather have him return to her in his coffin than comeback comeback come comeback back home without his honor Well what was left of him came back in a coffin with honor The nineteen year old boy along with four other soldiers was moving through the jungle in a as asea s sea search e a r c h hand and destroy operation in October 1965 pursuing a force of Viet Cong Congo Suddenly a hand grenade was thrown into the midst of the Americans The nineteen year old Private First Class saw the grenade coming i grabbed it in his hand and fell fellon fellon fellon on it to absorb the blast with his body He was killed instant instant- ly His quick action saved the lives of his four companions In remembrance of her son the g grieved r i eve d mother wrote None other can pain me as you dear can do none other can please me or praise me meas meas meas as you Remember the world will be quick with its blame if shadow or stain ever darkens your name Like Mother like Son is a saying so true the thew w world 0 rid will judge largely of Mother by you A daughter is tenderly tolerant tolerant tolerant toler toler- ant of her old-fashioned old family Dad is a lovable old man he must be thirty-five thirty or forty at least A nice fattish Daddy he is easy to persuade with a smile and a kiss Mother is just a dear but so tar behind the times and so impossible every once in a while When God made the family He must have meditated a long time The family must have food shelter and clothing so there must be a father He will also repair door knobs mow lawns and stand on stepladders The family must have care affection and guidance so there must be a mother She will be bein bein bein in charge of shopping spanking praising and worrying The family must not be dull or tiresome so there must be a aboy aboy aboy boy around to get in the way The family must not be forgotten forgotten for for- a gotten so there must be a little girl an angel who will love them bewilder them and make them so very very proud The family is a storehouse in which the worlds world's finest treasures treasures treasures treas treas- ures are kept The small pleas pleasures ures the great sorrows the hopes the loves the dreams of the world are contained within these four walls called home Though you may search the world over the far corners of de desire desire desire de- de the world for your hearts heart's sire you'll find that if its it's worth having at all it has been right at home all the time right at home with the family We will never forget many of the things that have be been n made possible by you Just small things like letting us go to a ball game or making sure we had enough money to go to a dance And then theres there's that very big problem the car You not only taught us how to drive it at the risk of your own life but now you have to worry about us getting home in one piece It is very hard for us to realize what real worry is we simply dont don't have any anything thing to worry about Probably your next biggest worry is your son and his girl girlfriend girlfriend girlfriend friend or your daughter and her boy friend You worry about where they are and what they're doing at two 0 o'clock clock in the morn morn- ing Your guess is as good as mine almost We will always remember thet the t things h i n g s we had to h have a v e and couldn't do without Things that you usually ended up paying for like our school sweaters class r rings i in n g s and graduation announcements The biggest worry my Mother had was making sure my football football football foot foot- ball and basketball suits were clean When I was a Junior my football pants weren't quite dry so my Mother put them in inthe inthe inthe the oven Well she left them there too long and the rear end was almost burned through I played the rest of the season with a scorch mark on each leg My Dad worried more about how we played football I think than the coach He was a great scout I used to go home after the games and he always knew exactly what we were doing wrong To tell you the truth he was usually right and I used a lot of his suggestions and his great coaching ability These are things I will never forget and Im I'm sure you wont won't either These words express part of how I really feel so soI I will close with a simp simple Ie Thank you and I love you nn |