I was born on January 1, 1928, in Oakley, Idaho, the eldest son of David M. and Winifred A. Paskett. My parents moved to Murtaugh, Idaho, then to Gannet, Idaho. When I was nine years old, they moved to Grouse Creek, Utah, where I lived until I left to complete the eleventh and twelfth grades of school in Ogden, Utah.

I’m grateful and feel fortunate to have been raised in Grouse Creek, though being the oldest I was forced to grow up quickly, as my Dad always had work to do. I remember starting school in the ninth and tenth grades a week late and also getting out a week early in order to help my Dad with some phase of farming he needed help with. At the time I thought this was great, my mother made arrangements to catch up with missed school work.

Mostly I have good memories of Grouse Creek. I enjoyed school. There were six people in my grade, myself, Delma Kimber, Lela Kimber, Eva Tanner, LaMar Toyn and Reed Frost. I remember Eva as the smartest in the class. The only teachers whose name I remember were Mr. Whitney Young, who taught grades seventh through eighth and Mae Kimber, who taught grades ninth through tenth. All my teachers were dedicated people and I owe a lot to them.

The Middle Room at Grouse Creek School
Front Row: Delma Kimber, Reed Frost, Lemar Toyn, Lela Kimber
Second Row: Dawn Frost, Eilene Warburton, Ivy Kimber, Dorothy Warburton
Third Row: Dwight Warburton, Rex Roberts, Lewis Tanner, David Paskett
Fourth Row: Max Frost, Merlin Tanner, Uknown, Fern Tanner, Irene Lee, Arlene Wakefield
Teacher: Zona Jensen Wakefield

I left Grouse Creek after the tenth grade to finish the eleventh and twelfth grades at Ogden High where I worked after school at Keeley’s Café. Arrangements were made to get out of school last period (P.E.) in order for me to keep the job. My last two years of High School were uneventful. I returned home to Grouse Creek during the summer to help my dad.

After graduation from high school (1946-twelfth grade) I worked for a short time on the Gamble Ranch (near Montello, Nevada). I thought I wanted to be a cowboy. This lasted for about six months. I then went to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad in the Signal Department working at various places between Reno and Ogden. This lasted until I was drafted into the Army (February 1951 – February 1953). While in the service I spent eight weeks at Camp Gordon in Georgia (Basic training), eight weeks at Camp Cook, California (advanced basic training), one year at Fort Monmouth, N.J. (electronics school), four months at Ft. Hood, Texas (working in communications), and four months at Fort Lewis, Washington (installing telephone equipment). I was sent to Camp San Luis Obispo, California to be discharged from the Army.

After my time in the service I returned to my job on the railroad. I worked for about a year, then went to a vocational school in Chicago to learn television repair. While there and working part-time at a hospital I met a student nurse (Sally Huntress), whom I married in September 1955. After graduating from the vocational school I started school at the University of Utah, living on the G.I. Bill and Sally’s income as a nurse at the Latter Day Saint Hospital.

While attending school in Salt Lake City, two of our four children, Darrell (1956) and Scott (1960), were born at the Latter Day Saint Hospital. Tracy (1962) and Ty (1965) were born at Valley CommunityHospital in Santa Maria, California.

I graduated in 1961 with a degree in Electrical Engineering, started work as a field engineer for Western Union out of Oakland, California in the microwave department. I spent one and a half years with Western Union then went to work for Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., at Vandenberg AFB, California as a System Test Engineer until I retired in 1990.

My parents left Grouse Creek in 1979, so my visits there are not that frequent. I own 160 acres my Dad bought from Gordon Hadfield in 1944. I purchased the property in 1981 to keep it in the family. It was called “The Bedke Place.”  As of this date (1996), it is leased to Charles Kimber.