Thomas E. Stout

I had a great time at a graduation party that night. I forget whose house we were at and who invited me but it was a fun and clean (no alcohol) party. The next day I had to work and the reality of what I was going to do with my life was starting to resonate with me.

My parents told us that we would at least attend college for one year. I paid my way through all but the first quarter based on the suggestion made by Coach Jim Marshall in Sophomore health class. I went four years and dropped out having burned out taking 20 hours a quarter that last year trying to graduate with my colleagues and getting my commission as a Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenant.

Plan B was to enter the work force which I did by getting a manager position with NAPA Auto Parts in December 1978. In retrospect I should have continued my education and got that sheepskin and been able to wear that handsome uniform that I never even tried on because I didn’t feel qualified to do so. I had a great 36-year career with NAPA. I spent the majority of my career on the IT side working out of Salt Lake the majority of it with short stints in Seattle and Atlanta.

My territories over the decades were in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and Alaska. It was a rewarding career and I miss my customers but not the politics and micromanagement that gradually creeped in. I retired at the beginning of 2018 and am enjoying retirement. I got divorced a year ago after separating for 10 years. This lone wolf is through being alone and wants to find my soul mate to finish this life happy and with lots of love.

I’ve had a great life, and it could have been even better had I known back then what I know now. I believe that to be the ultimate fantasy. I think about all those paths that I never took and wondered what my life would have been like had I taken a few of them. I now realize that who I’ve gotten to know and love over the decades may never have crossed my path and that would have possibly been tragic.

We all see our mortality coming and I was surprised by how many of our classmates have passed away. It was a shock to my system when one morning in English class when I found out Rick Josephson would no longer be sitting next to me, having been killed in a motorcycle accident the previous weekend. The same thing could have happened to me along with my sister Cathy on Mother’s Day 1979. Fortunately, we both limped out of the Saint Marks hospital ER to resume our lives.

I want to pay tribute to one of our classmates whom I have thought about for decades. Those of you Wasatch Warriors will remember a tribute that Mr. Gillcrest made about him during an assembly. I want to pay tribute to David Thorup Rowley. I didn’t know him that well and only interacted with him at chess club at Wasatch.

I think about all that David missed out on being restricted to that awful wheelchair his whole life. I never gave it much thought but, if I could go back in time with the power to make the impossible happen, I would want to exchange bodies for a week to let him live the life we so easily take for granted through mine. Living in his body during that same week would have given me a taste of nothing I have ever experience in my entire life. I’m sure my class brothers would be willing to do the same and it would have benefited us all for the rest of our lives.

David, you experienced ultimate healing when you left this Earth and now for eternity live on the way you should have been able to while here on this beautiful Earth. I look forward to seeing you again when my time comes to join you and our other classmates.