Dennis Baxter Oral History Transcription

Ashlyn Baxter:
It is March 21st at around 5:40 PM in Davis County, Utah. I'm Ashlyn Baxter as the
interviewer and I'm interviewing my grandpa, Dennis Baxter. Thank you for your time
grandpa.

Dennis Baxter:
You know, we'll always make time for you.

Ashlyn Baxter:
Thank you. Let's start. 1. When and where were you born?

Dennis Baxter:
Oh, I was born the 25th of February 1948 in Nampa, Idaho

Ashlyn Baxter:
2. What is your earliest childhood memory?

Dennis Baxter:
My earliest childhood memory. I don't know. In what order I remember the bathtub in my
aunt's house. It was one of those old ones with claw feet. I remember we didn't have
sprinklers. They used a flooding system. You know, your lawn was built like that (curved
downwards) and on the edges, it tilted up. So once a week you opened the gate to the
ditch and filled your yard up with about four inches of water and that watered the grass
for all week. And then I remember, let's see, they used to have about a 12- or 15-foot
metal slide in the park, but they're considered too dangerous now because kids are
woosies. And with the aluminum in the summer, if you were in shorts, you'd burn your
legs, but you could take a potato chip bag, slice it down the sides, flip it up and sit on
the back with the oil side down. And after about the third time down that slide, you could
hit mock one by the time you hit the bottom of the slide.

Ashlyn Baxter:
3. What was your favorite subject in school?

Dennis Baxter
Yeah, I don't know that I can pick a favorite. I liked a lot of them. Chemistry, math, and
English, of course. PE Oh, and shop. Yep. You always knew a good shop teacher; he
was missing at least half of a finger.

Ashlyn Baxter:
4. Do you have a favorite thing that you made in shop class?
Dennis Baxter:
I made a toolbox, you know, like you see the plumbers use that you can carry around. I
made a foot stool, a shoeshine kit, oh, giant pictures that was probably what, two feet by
three feet that were in 3D. Each layer was, you know, sticking out further than the
previous layer. So, it was an antelope on a mountain with a cloud and then it was on a
beveled frame that was on a 45-degree angle. And of course, you know, little plastic
knick-knacks, and some souvenir type stuff.

Ashlyn Baxter:
5. What is the most important lesson that your parents taught you?

Dennis Baxter:
Yeah. I guess, to do your best, to be honest, try and help others. You know, back in the
olden days, that was the John Wayne creed. You know, you helped those that were less
fortunate than you.

Ashlyn Baxter:
6. Where did you graduate from High school?

Dennis Baxter:
I graduated from the United States Army Test Data and Analysis, Dugway Proving
Ground High school. By the time you sang the school fight song at sports events, it was
halftime.

Ashlyn Baxter:
7. What is your favorite high school memory?

Dennis Baxter:
Well, I took your grandmother to the prom, but she doesn't remember it. She was on
drugs.

Ashlyn Baxter:
Care to elaborate?

Dennis Baxter:
Yeah. She'd had a penicillin shot that morning and had a reaction. So, then they gave
her Benadryl to get rid of it. She remembers getting dressed then, you know, waking up
at the end of the evening. She doesn't remember going to the dance or anything. I also
went to the BYU invitational track meet, and I finished in fourth place out of 250 runners
from six states.

Ashlyn Baxter:
8. What was your first job?
Dennis Baxter:
Oh, it doesn't exist anymore. It was a pin boy at the bowling alley. Now they have
automated it. I was nine years old, and you'd lower the guard. You'd jump in, pick up the
pins, put 'em in the rack, you know, and then jump back out, raise the guard. They'd
throw again, knock 'em down. You'd lower the guard, jump back in and finish loading all
of pins back in. Set 'em up, start over again. And I made the princely sum of a penny, a
frame. One night I made $5.

Ashlyn Baxter:
9. Do you have any funny stories that you remember from being a pin boy?

Dennis Baxter:
Well, it was on a military base. It was military payday, and the guys would come and get
drunk. Some of these guys were just, you know, about two genes away from a gorilla.
They'd take these 16-pound balls and just scream 'em down the alley and the pins
would explode and blow all over the alley. So, we would jump over the back. And
normally that was enough to get you out of the way, but on the night that the guys were
really trying, they would put enough spin on the ball that the pins just exploded, and
they'd go all out of the pit and everything and all over the backstop. So, you had to hide.
One of the kids wasn't quite thinking. He was hiding, but he had his hand up over the
edge of the thing. And one of the pins hit him in the fingers and broke three fingers. But
if there was nobody there, they let you bowl for free.

Ashlyn Baxter:
10. What was your first car?

Dennis Baxter:
Oh, a 1956 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. 2 doors with a three on the tree.

Ashlyn Baxter:
11.Then when did you join the military?

Dennis Baxter:
Right after I graduated college. Uncle Sam went, "We need you!" In November of 1970,
I got a phone call from a friend of mine that worked at the draft board. And that was
when you had draft numbers. My number had just missed being drafted in 1970. And
so, I thought I was home free, but they called up and said they didn't have enough
people for 1971. So, they were gonna draft out of 1970 as well. And if I didn't wanna
wear a funny green suit, I better do something about it. I was number five on the
January list. I already had a wife and a daughter. So, I went down and joined the air
force instead of waiting for the army. And I was one of three guys in my unit that got
their draft notice while we were in bootcamp.
Ashlyn Baxter:
12. What is the most vivid memory you have from the Air Force?

Dennis Baxter:
The most vivid? I don't know.

Ashlyn Baxter:
Then the first one that comes to mind.

Dennis Baxter:
Okay. Well, you know, I was in for 30 years. I've got all sorts of memories. I was in the
backseat of an F-15 once, and as soon as the wheels broke ground, we tilted and went
straight up. And then he's doing a loop, and you're looking up out of the cockpit, but
you're looking down at the ground while he's doing this big, giant loop. Let's see, I got to
meet some famous people. I got to visit all 50 states because of the military. I got some
recognition for some things that I did. What else? Oh yeah. I was in the black world
twice and one of them, after they go public, you can tell that you were there. I worked on
the B2 project for a little while, and the other one is if I ever talk about it, they'll take
away my birthday.

Ashlyn Baxter:
13. Could you go into more detail on what the B2 project is?

Dennis Baxter:
The B2 project?

Ashlyn Baxter:
Yes.

Dennis Baxter:
That's the Bat Plane.

Dennis Baxter:
It looks like a flying wing. It goes up like that (curved upwards) and then the tails go like
that (curved downwards). And the nickname was the bat plane because it's a flying wing
and it's created specifically so as it will not reflect a radar beam bouncing off of it. It's a
stealth bomber, and it has a two-man crew, and they can fly literally as long as the guys
can stand it. They keep refueling in the air. During the Gulf war, they would fly out of,
Missouri and fly across the Atlantic, across Africa, and then drop bombs on Iran. Then
they'd fly home.

Ashlyn Baxter:
14. How many places were you stationed?

Dennis Baxter:
Let's see. I was stationed at Hill Air Force Base three times because nobody wanted to
come there that did what I did. And grandma's parents lived two and a half hours away.
So, I'd say, well, what's in it for me? They didn't know grandma's parents were there
and grandma was very excited to come to Hill, So I'd say I want something in return for
going to Hill because nobody wants to go there. And so, they'd give me a good
assignment. So, three times at Hill, once in Texas, once in Alabama, once in Ohio, once
in Nebraska, once in Korea, and once in Okinawa.

Ashlyn Baxter:
15. What was your favorite place that you were stationed?

Dennis Baxter:
I don't know that one place was, you know, better than another. The two best bases in
the world are always the one you just came from, or the one you're just going to, not the
one that you're at. When we were in Okinawa, we were swimming in the ocean on
Christmas day. We got to go to the Philippines, Korea, mainland Japan. When we were
at Hill, you know, we got to go see family constantly. When we were in Ohio, we got to
go to Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, places where our families, our ancestors had
come from. So that was interesting. Nebraska, we used to go to university of Nebraska
football games, went to the college world series in Omaha. You know, things that you
wouldn't normally do, but we were in a place where we could go see 'em.

Ashlyn Baxter:
I know that you guys lived overseas for a little bit. 16. Do you have a favorite memory
from when you lived overseas?

Dennis Baxter:
Oh, do you have a favorite memory? (To my grandma).

Lanae Baxter:
Yeah, when mom and came.

Dennis Baxter:
Oh yeah.
Dennis Baxter:
Great Grandma Ivie and Grandma's sister came over to visit. This was the first time
they'd ever left the United States. And they're trying to come through customs, and you
know, do you have any cigarettes? Oh, we don't smoke. Do you have any alcohol? Oh,
we don't drink. Do you have any pornography? Oh, we don't- And then they just froze.
They couldn't think of anything to say. We took them to the tea house of the August
Moon, and grandma went nuts because she saw a cockroach because in Okinawa the
cockroaches are about six inches long. And so, she started screaming, thinking it was a
mouse and one of the Geisha girls came over and caught the cockroach, came over
and said, "See, it's a cockroach, not a mouse," and opened it up and of course,
grandma goes nuts. And then, because she was the oldest lady in the building, she was
afforded the honor of dancing in this, procession. They got people out of the audience,
and they put little horse heads tied to their waist and they sort of galloped around the
room. And she just thought that was the greatest thing in the world. We never told her
that was the dance of the prostitutes. Because once a year in Okinawa, the girls who go
into prostitution, do it to support their families. Well, Japanese customs says that once
they do that, they're no longer part of the family, but the mothers still wanna see what
happens to their daughters. So, once a year they have the parade of the prostitutes,
and the girls all get dressed up in finest gowns and everything and they walk through
the town in a specific area and all the mothers line the streets so they can see their
daughters.

Ashlyn Baxter:
17. I'm backtracking a little bit, but how did you meet grandma?

Dennis Baxter:
That was way back. You know, when we used to ride dinosaurs to school, grandma,
and her parents moved out to Dugway when she was in seventh grade, but they got
there like a week after school started. So, she came in the first morning after she
checked in at the office and came into the first class. She came in and naturally, she's
embarrassed. Her face is red because she's late. She's the new kid. And that's when I
saw her. And then two years later, my parents moved out where her parents lived, and
we were next door neighbors for the next couple of years. And then we went away to
different colleges and then we came back and then I tried to kill her one night.

Ashlyn Baxter:
Can you elaborate on that?

Dennis Baxter:
Yeah, we came home from the different colleges, and we decided we were gonna go to
the Tooele Christmas parade. So, it's 35 miles from Dugway to Tooele. We drove over
there, and we waited, and the streets were lined with people. And then pretty soon you
hear badadadadumbump and here comes the Tooele Army Depot, Marching Parade.
So, the flags come by the band comes by, and then a fire engine comes by with Santa
sitting on the back. That was it? You know, we'd already driven 35 miles, you know?
Well, we still got the rest of the evening. Let's go into Salt Lake and go to a movie. So,
we went to the romantic Motor View Drive-in. And it was so cold that they had propane
heaters. They put the heater in our back window, and we drove in, found a place to
park. And then I went to get, you know, goodies at the snack bar and I came back, and
the windows are rolled down and grandma was like uuhuhuh. The flame had gone out
and it pumped the car full of propane. So, I went and got a new one, and came back. It
got so cold that night that we had to move the heater up into the front seat instead of the
backseat.

Dennis Baxter:
Yeah, the front window. And it burned a hole in my brand-new winter coat.
So, you know, grandma and I have all sorts of stories like that.

Ashlyn Baxter:
18. What's what, speaking of those stories, what's probably your favorite or the
one that's like the funniest to you?

Dennis Baxter:
When we were in high school, we went to over to Tooele, to a function for the school
and they were having a carnival day out at the fairgrounds. And so, we went there. And
we were gonna ride the scrambler together. And I don't know what grandma was doing.
She stopped at the gate and she's, dorking around with her purse or something. And the
guy's waiting, you know, cuz he can't lock us in until she gets there. And he goes, your
wife always this slow? And I went, yeah. I didn't know I was being prophetic.

Ashlyn Baxter:
19. What position did you retire? In the military?

Dennis Baxter:
Say that again?

Ashlyn Baxter:
What did you with, what position did you retire at?

Dennis Baxter
Rank?

Ashlyn Baxter:
Yeah. Rank.

Dennis Baxter:
Okay. When I joined, I was an airman basic because they only wanted pilots and
navigators in the air force at that time.They had plenty of other people, but I walked out
the door as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Ashlyn Baxter:
20. Do have any stories from your wedding day?
Dennis Baxter:
Well on our wedding day. The night before, you know, grandpa and grandma Baxter
were supposed to come down to Provo. So, I left work at Dugway, went there to the
Holiday Inn where they were supposed to be, and they said, no, we don't have any
reservation for 'em. And so, I spent the next hour and a half calling every hotel in Utah
valley and finally called back to this one and they said, yeah, they just checked. The
reservation had fallen over the edge of the guy's desk. And it was caught between the
desk and the wall. So, I spent the night with them in the hotel. That night grandma's, you
know, getting ready and everything. And she goes to bed and before she falls asleep,
she goes, oh, I don't have a veil. So, she got back up and started making her veil.

Lanae Baxter:
I forgot to make the veil. I forgot to hook it onto a little crown made of pearls.

Dennis Baxter:
And so, you know, she's up doing that. And we got married in Manti. So that was a two-
hour drive. Well, it was a two-hour drive from Provo. It was like a three-hour drive from
Dugway. But I got up the next morning and went over and looked at the clock on the
wall and the alarm was supposed to have gone off at five. And I looked at it, couldn't
quite see it. So, I went back, got my glasses, came back, and looked at, I went, oh
geez! The alarm didn't go off. So now it's like six o'clock. So, I woke my parents up, you
know, and we're all getting ready. We went out and I told my dad I'll drive. So, he got in
the backseat, I got on the freeway and opened all four barrels. We were screaming
through Spanish Fort canyon, and then through Ephraim headed for Manti. When you
could see the temple on top of the hill, grandpa said I was slowing down. So, he looked
up over the seat to see how fast I was going. And I was just coming back down under a
hundred. I was 10 minutes late to the church. Of course, Grandpa Ivie said he's jilting
you, let's go. So, he's trying to drag grandma out of the building so they can go home.
You know. And then my parents walk in. Meanwhile, I have to go to park at the end of
the world and then run back up. So, I get back in there. *Panting* We got married and
then we went out and of course, all of the friends are gone. The family's gone and my
mother wanted a few more pictures. So, we stayed there. When Great grandma Ivie
started to leave, she grabbed grandma and says, let's go. Grandma says, mom, I don't
belong to you anymore. She stayed with me, and we took off well, going over a hundred
miles an hour, sucks up a lot of gas. On the way back down, we ran out of gas in
Spanish Fort Canyon. So, we got out, my dad flagged down these two little old ladies,
and they were gonna give him a ride of the service station. They got three miles farther
down the canyon and they ran outta gas. So, he got out, flagged somebody else down,
went down to a service station, borrowed a gas can, got some gas, gave this guy 20
bucks to run him back up. Put it in our car, put some in the little old lady's car, went
down, filled the tank. Then we got down to Provo for our luncheon, supposedly, but we
were like an hour and a half late. We scarfed up the food. And then we took everybody
over to our basement apartment to show 'em where we were going to live. When we
were there, Grandma Ivie says, oh, I've got some mail for you. She gives this stack of
letters. And one of 'em is from BYU housing. It said, you have been accepted into BYU
housing, but you must let us know before 5:00 PM on September 6th.

Dennis Baxter:
We went, mom, how long have you had this? Oh, for two weeks. But it was so
important. I wanted to hand give it to you. Well, it's now a quarter to five. So, grandma
and I run out, jump in the car and we scream through Provo, we get up to the housing
office, and we just get to the front door and the lady's coming around her desk to come
lock the door. So, we tell her who we are, we're there. She says out of the gazillion
apartments that are on campus, there are two left. One's a two bedroom. One's a one
bedroom with study. I said, what's the difference? She said, the one bedroom is $5
cheaper a month. We'll take that one. Then we went back, and we spent, let's see, we
spent one night in a hotel, the next night we had to drive out to Dugway, for the
reception. We came back, spent one night in the basement apartment. Grandma woke
up and she had bug bites all over. So, the next day I just moved everything up to BYU in
the apartment on the campus, drove to Salt Lake and gave the guy the key to the
basement apartment back and said, we can't live there. She's just getting eaten alive by
bugs.

Lanae Baxter:
We don't know what kind, whole bunch of bug bites.

Dennis Baxter:
That was our wedding and our first and second home. Our first home we lived in one
night.

Ashlyn Baxter:
21. What problem did you think would have been solved by now?

Dennis Baxter:
I would've hoped that people would have learned how to get along with each other by
now. Like what's happening in Ukraine. Somebody always wants to usurp somebody
else's power. Let's see, we had to do a talk one time on conflicts. Since World War II,
there have been like 140 conflicts that you don't even count because they're just
skirmishes and everything. This is probably the biggest one since World War II.
Although Vietnam, but why can't they cure the common cold? We got rid of Polio, and
everything else, but now we got Covid, and it just keeps mutating. Utopia always
thought we'd get to the point where we could take care of the poor, and the sick, and the
needy, and that's never gonna happen because people always look out for themselves.
There's more of those then there are looking out for others. And ya know, where's my
flying car?
Ashlyn Baxter:
That's all I have. Thank you again for your time grandpa.

Dennis Baxter:
Okay sweetheart.