Linda Rowley Became a Teacher of Teachers

From an early age, Linda Monsen Rowley (’70) dreamed of being an elementary school teacher. SUU helped her reach her dream and more, as she became an educator, mentor, and teacher of teachers.

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Linda graduated from South High School in 1965. After some coaxing from an uncle, who was the superintendent of schools in Beaver County, she decided to visit what was then the College of Southern Utah (known now as SUU). Linda loved what she found on her visit: a small campus, friendly people, superior teachers, and an excellent education department. She chose to enroll at SUU, and says that decision proved to be one of the best of her life.

While a student, Linda immersed herself in academics and all that college life had to offer. She loved her education classes, worked in the education department, joined Chi Sigma Upsilon Sorority, and even participated in the homecoming tradition of mud football with members of the 5^th Dimension, who happened to be on campus for the homecoming concert. Linda was a catalyst for cooperation among the fraternities and sororities at the time, and served on a college council where she promoted Greek unity. Her years at SUU prepared her well to become a teacher, and along the way she gained stronger tolerance of others and leadership skills that positively shaped her future career pursuits. She also gained lifelong friends that still return to campus each year for homecoming.

Linda began her 34-year teaching career by running the Step Ahead Preschool with Vicki Wright Gomez, a high school and SUU friend. She taught parenting classes for the Salt Lake School District, was employed by the Jordan School District as an elementary school teacher, administrator, and facilitator of the Jordan School District/BYU Partnership. Linda also worked for BYU as a clinical faculty member and liaison where she taught courses and supervised all phases of pre-service education for the BYU/Public School Partnership. She trained and mentored many successful educators.

“My students have excelled to become remarkable teachers, authors, administrators, and to hold district and university positions,” she says. “It was my goal to be able to turn the most important position of educating children over to capable well trained professional teachers.”

While at SUU, Linda met and married Cedar City native Dennis Rowley. The couple will celebrate 48 years of marriage this year, and are the parents of three children (two attended SUU), and have eight grandchildren (one attended SUU and another is a freshman this year), and two great-grandchildren.

Family is Linda’s most important possession, and she enjoys activities with them such as “comfort” camping at their cabin at Bear Lake, golf, reading, traveling and sleeping in. She and Dennis have visited every state in the U.S., and have also visited Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Africa. She is actively serves in her church and remains involved with professional educational organizations, even though she has retired. 

Linda credits SUU for helping her define purpose in her professional life, discovering she could accomplish anything she set out to do, and that tasks have better end results when completed by a team. 

Nonagenarian, Walt Messinger, Fondly Remembers His BAC Days

At 97-years young, Walter Messinger is among an elite group of alumni who are graduates of the Branch Agricultural College, now known as Southern Utah University. With a constant smile and a strong handshake, he credits much of his good life to the experiences he had at the BAC.

Born October 3, 1920 in Beaver, Utah, of strong pioneer heritage, Walt spent the majority of his life in and around the Beaver and Cedar City areas. Growing up during the Depression and out of necessity, he learned the importance of hard work at a young age. He remembers helping the family pitch hay, deliver newspapers, cut wood, milk cows, and anything else that was needed to survive. At the age of 13, Walt began working at his father’s flour mill, the only one in Beaver. He went on to graduate from Beaver High School in 1938 with a class of 38 students.

Walt began his studies at the BAC in 1939 and faced many of the same issues that students face today. Tuition back then was $40 a quarter or semester, and while there was a shortage of student housing at the time, he found a room to rent at the Ambassador Arms Apartments with 28 other students for $30 a month, which included a bed and 2 meals a day.

The country was beginning to recover from the Great Depression and like most students of that era, Walt had to find work to pay for his schooling. There was no FAFSA or other financial aid programs like there are today, but there was the National Youth Administration (NYA), a program established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the New Deal. NYA gave unemployed youth the opportunity to work and earn money for their education and was the forerunner of future student financial aid programs. Walt’s work group did construction around the BAC campus and built six tennis courts and laid concrete sidewalks, many of which are still in use today. He also worked at the Cedar City plant that processed turkeys from Moroni, Utah.

Walt remembers only four buildings on campus when he began his studies at the BAC and the buildings were shared with the local high school. “We met more high schools girls then college girls,” Walt says. “It seems the college girls chased the upper classmen and fratmen (fraternity)”.

He enrolled in the college’s auto mechanics and welding programs and learned valuable skills that helped him throughout his life. During one winter quarter, his welding class was asked to submit a drawing and a bid to replace the fireplace grill, screen, and irons at the home of the BAC director. Walt and his partner Fay Raye won the bid, and over the following month they created a product that pleased Director Henry Oberhansley.

In 1941, Walt’s college education was cut short when his National Guard unit was activated to fight in World War II. Along with 500 other men from southern and central Utah, his unit was sent to San Luis Obispo for Army training.

On December 7, 1941, after basic training was completed, they were in the process of boarding a ship in San Francisco to be deployed to the Philippines when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Walt’s ship was not allowed to proceed to its original destination. His battalion was reassigned to the San Francisco Presidio to defend the western coast of the U.S. in the event of an attack. Walt was assigned to the Color Guard that honored many of the service men who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor and were buried in the National Cemetery at San Francisco.

Once the threat of an attack on the U.S. mainland passed, Walt’s ship was sent to Europe to take part in the June 6, 1944, invasion of France known as D-Day. His battalion was assigned to Utah Beach. When the war ended in 1945, Walt and his National Guard Unit returned to their homes with numerous injuries, but only one life was lost.

In August 1952, Walt’s National Guard Unit was reactivated to fight in the Korean War, where he experienced many more life-changing experiences. Walt grew up in an era when patriotism was what you did and one didn’t have to think twice about serving their country.

When he returned from Korea at the age of 32, Walt met a lovely young widow from Minersville, Utah, named Barbara Gressman, who had a nine year-old son named Robert. They dated on and off for two years and married in 1954. They eventually settled in Cedar City and built a modest home and resided there for 54 years. They eventually added two more sons to the family, one of which passed away at birth.

Walt had several Cedar City business ventures, the most successful being the Husky Service station on the south end of Main Street which he sold in 1981 after running it for 16 ½ years. He went on to work for the Iron County School District as a custodian for four years, retiring in 1985.

No matter what Walt did or where he worked, the skills and knowledge he gained at the BAC were always a benefit. After his final retirement, he worked at the Centrum Arena for 15 years as a “Red Coat”, which kept his ties to the University active and fulfilling.

At the age of 90, he and his wife Barabara, who passed away in 2012, moved to Riverton, Utah, to live with their son Robert and his wife Margie, and to be close to grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Despite his age, Walt’s memories of attending the BAC are as clear as when he was a student here. And being in the shadows of SUU while living in Cedar City for 54 years, was a constant reminder of the life changing experiences he had here.