Teresa Dee Meyerhoeffer Christensen's Life History : High School Years

My family...mom, dad, Chris, Steve and Jason on my birthday at Clayta's trailer in Ketchum, Idaho with a birthday donut on my pinky finger.

High School 1974-1977

I was a Bruin. I went to Twin Falls Senior High School and that large bear was our mascot. The building is still there, but has been added on to include a new auditorium and more, but it was a large, accommodating school of about 1200 students back in my day. Seven is my favorite number and I graduated in 1977. Our graduating class was over 400 students and I was one of 8 or 9 Valedictorians graduating with a 4.0 grade point average. Still an honor even if shared I suppose.

My first memory as a incoming sophomore was the start-of-the-year dance when an unknown upperclassman asked me to dance and was such a good lead partner I felt like I was floating around the floor. I have never danced that well previously or since. My brother Chris came in to pick me up early from the dance to go on a family trip to Caldwell, Idaho for my brother Steve’s all-star baseball tournament. Chris had packed for me. Who knows why I had him do it, but I arrived with only a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a swim suit top for the weekend. His excuse was “that was all I wore all summer anyway”. I suppose he thought it humorous, but I was mortified. Needless to say, I have always packed for myself since that day and often make lists for myself and others so not to forget key items needed with this event in mind :-).

My sophomore year I ran cross country and track. Cross country was to keep in shape for track. I was not a distance runner. I remember even hitch-hiking one practice, but most days I ran the country roads, canals and grade to the falls or did a combo of running and walking at least. One day on the practice bus one of the coaches came up to me with his keys in his hand and asked me “what he needed to do to turn me on”. He was trying to get me to be a more motivated runner, but of course the boys on the bus had a field day with that quote for some time. Our girl's team actually won state that year. Not because of me. My goal was to not walk any of the 3.1 mile course, but I was the 7th girl on our team so I participated and shared the honor. I was still a fast sprinter, but one senior girl could beat me and I did not handle that well. I even false started one race and was not allowed to compete. I could not cope with not being the best and did not run track after that year. I regret it as an adult, but was too concerned about what others thought of me at that age and was not comfortable unless I excelled. So silly, I missed out on a lot.

Fall of my sophomore year I kept stats for the football team on the sidelines. I often did stats for the basketball teams too. I undertsood sports well having grown up with a dad and brothers who all played. Kenny Samac taught be how to drive a manual stick shift car out on country roads. He would run along side the car while teaching me. I guess I really was a scary driver. He was such a nice young man, but I never reciprocated the feelings which he had for me which was sad. I hope he had a good life.

In January of that year I was hanging out down by the gymnasium trying to hitch a ride home so I did not have to ride the bus (all my brothers had cars in high school but I did not get one until my senior year which I shared with my brother Chris who was a sophomore, he got to kept it when I started college so I rode a bike to school in college). I had spoken with Roger Christensen at a few youth basketball games our brothers, Steve and Jared, played in. His dad Larry coached them that year and Roger had seen me in gymnasiums when he refereed youth games and my dad coached. He offered me a ride home, but first had to present his book report. Also his friend had gone to get gas to fill his car. When we eventually got to my house Roger asked me to go to the dance after his basketball game the next night (January 11, 1975). Then he got stuck in our icy driveway on his exit.

The Bruins lost in double-overtime and I waited for Roger to shower and come out after the game. He could not find his car in the parking lot and had to go back in and ask his “cousin” who had ridden with him where he had parked. I guess it was hidden between two buses. He did not really like to dance, so we mostly talked and then he took me to a late dinner afterward, near midnight. He ordered pancakes, onion rings and root beer at Big Boy's Restaurant. Memorable in itself. (From my journal: After the game I went to the dance with Roger. Boy did I have a blast. The band wasn't very good, but my company sure was. We went to Big Boy afterward, the whole time he was such a gentleman and so fun to be with...It is funny how someone just happens to like someone else. It seems Roger and I were made for each other. But he is kind of shy. It's too bad he doesn't feel the same. That always creates a problem). Roger said I kissed him goodnight that night on my front porch, but I think it was pretty mutual.

From my journal four days later on 1-15-1975: "Roger is so different. He is everything I am looking for. He has a nice personality, not stuck on himself, always joking around and really refreshing. He is about 6'2", good looking, and plays football, basketball, etc. He is about two years older than me, comes from a really neat family, and to top things off, is an active member of the church. Can you beat that. This is ridiculous I know, I can't imagine what has come over me." I guess I knew I liked him right off.

We dated the rest of his senior and my sophomore year. We went to the Sweetheart Ball with his friends Craig and Sheri Day (pictured) and to many other events including the Seals and Croft Concert in Pocatello, Idaho which we had to be towed home from. We rode in the car being towed by his dad and the rope kept breaking, so we got home very late. My parents were not very strict with me about curfews or really much of anything. After we had been dating for about 6 months and Roger was getting ready to go off to BYU, he confessed he had had a serious girlfriend that he had spoken about marriage with. I confessed I was not really a member of his church although I had been attending since before he met me. He said we needed to do something about that and I wrote my father a letter sharing all the reasons I wanted to get baptized. I received permission and Roger baptized me shortly before leaving for BYU the summer I was 16 years. (See story in "Conversion" section).

Sweetheart Ball 1975 at the Day's home.

During the 1st semester of my junior year Roger was attending BYU, so we talked on the phone and he came home every other weekend. I was involved with school, but probably not as much as I should have been. I sat in the halls at lunchtime and talked to a friend Dave Morris. He used to tease me about joining a church with a prophet named “Joe Smith”, but later as adults he visited me and he had also joined the LDS church. I was called as Primary Chorister so every Wednesday I wore a dress to school and walked to the church afterward to do my calling. I was teased about that too, good-naturedly.

I loved math, especially Algebra and got 100% on a National Algebra test. Geometry was not my favorite. I also loved English and was a member of Inscapes Creative Writing Class my Senior year with Mrs. Dudley that printed a book of our compiled works. She was a memorable teacher who died not too long after we graduated. She would give us a prompt and put on music and let us write. I remember listening to Dan Fogelberg and writing some pretty crazy stuff. I still love to write and have started a few books but have never had the confidence or experience to finish them.

Every fall all three years of High School at Homecoming time I was voted to be one of the four girls in my grade to ride in the Homecoming parade on the hood of a car as part of the Homecoming Court running for Homecoming Queen or Princess . And every year I walked out onto the football field at halftime of the Homecoming game and every year I did not win. It was an honor, but embarrassing too.This year Roger sent me flowers and said I “would always be his queen”. Pretty romantic for that guy. It touched my heart.

Roger came home from BYU and attended CSI his 2nd semester so we could date before his mission. He told me since he was in college he would not attend a high school dance with me. I told him if he would not go to the one formal dance, I would go with someone else, so he went, begrudgingly. Hopefully he had some fun. I did not want to miss out on all high school experiences. I probably did miss some, dating someone in college, but I thought I was so old.

The summer between my junior and senior year Roger left for the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission. I was dutifully writing him as good girlfriends and neurotic communicators do and he wrote me a “Dear Jane” letter. He said he saw too many missionaries devastated at the loss of their girlfriend and wanted to focus on his mission. His trainer would listen to a cassette tape of his girlfriend’s voice and cry every night. Well I kept writing him and he would write back a paragraph monthly of his testimony. In the meantime I started my senior year.

I was elected Student Body Secretary and got to work with student government. A junior boy whose brother Pat Donnelly was in my class, was my campaign manager and in his campaign speech he said “She looks like a girl, thinks like a man and walks like a dog”. He was supposed to say “works like a dog”, but everyone thought it was funny so perhaps that helped me win. My old buddy who had been in most of my classes since grade school, Jay Dodds, was elected Student Body President. I always said he and his girlfriend looked like they jumped out of a church video. I have never seen him wear jeans, but he was a nice, easy to respect, young man who ended up working with my brother Jason at a bank. We went to some fun conferences and had a good year. I went to the Christmas Dance with another buddy, Dave Morris. I still didn’t really date anyone else even though I was sort of dumped. Roger had me writing the girlfriend of one of his companions who was pretty crazy and ended up moving in with an old boyfriend. It was an odd time.

I mainly remember Inscapes class with Mrs. Dudley and Government with the football coach Mr. Almquist where I wrote a very inappropriate paper about relocating people with alternate lifestyles to an island to live. The coach loved it. I had Mr. Busbee, another coach, teach my science classes and I always worried about him because he was single and I saw him at movies alone, so I dropped some treats off at his house anonymously. Mr. Depew a history teacher (whose wife had been my grade school librarian) and my English teacher Miss Alban were dating and always nice to me. I don’t remember a ton about my senior year. Ironically I remember most about my sophomore year. But I stayed pretty solid and graduated with honors. I received the State of Idaho Academic Scholarship where I could go to any college in Idaho and receive what was a large chuck of money back then for four years ($1500 a year is not much today, but my tuition was only around $300 a semester) This payed for my schooling and books with money left over (since I lived at home).

Some High School Awards:
Valedictorian
Student Body Recording Secretary
Voted "Miss Gullible" by my classmates. (Not really an honor, but funny I suppose.)
Altrusa (ServiceClub)'s February girl of the month as a sophomore (for keeping stats for basketball and football teams, Pep Club, Spanish Club and Girl's League member)
Representative at Girl's State as a junior (setting up a mock government experience)

I wish I knew what would be of interest about my teenage years. I was insecure like most teens, not girly since I grew up with all brothers and did not understand the whole complicated girl-interaction-thing. Thus I did not have many girlfriends, but more guys that were friends since it was easier to relate growing up with all brothers. Now I need and adore my woman friends. Glad I grew up and learned that skill.