Hair Piece Hilarity

Katy, 14 years old, Fall 1993

Mom & I visited Utah when I was a freshman in high school. I had never been on a plane before and I was so excited. I know we must not have had a ton of extra money, but at the time I didn’t notice; I was too caught up in being on a grown-up trip with Mom.

We stayed with one of Mom’s old friends from Ohio. Kathy Horn? She lived in South Salt Lake, a single mom living in a tiny house with three or four kids. The house was a little bit in the ghetto, and not kept up very well. Fortunately, we didn’t spend too much time there – we were out seeing the sites most of the time.

Mom & I slept in a small, very cluttered bedroom shared with Sister Horn’s teenaged daughter. She snored. Loudly. A lot. She snored so much that Mom and I, who were sharing a double bed, shook with silent giggles until our sides ached.

We went to BYU and other spots around Provo. We saw Dale & Barb Kohli who were living in Roy. We spent a lot of time in downtown Salt Lake on Temple Square and around all the Church buildings.

In the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, we saw the movie Legacy. As we left, quite sobered by the sacrifices of faithful pioneers, we ran into Bishop and Sister Walkenhorst and their son Brett. We knew they were in the area checking out BYU with Brett. We were hoping to run into them, but were quite surprised when we did.

Bishop Walkenhorst, who had always been bald for the seven or eight I had known him, suddenly had a full head of hair. Thick, dark, wavy, luxurious hair. Mom, being the classy and tactful person she is, carried on a conversation normally while I glued my gaze to the floor and tried to keep from bursting out laughing. Finally, Mom ended the conversation. The Walkenhorsts went up the staircase toward the Legacy Theater while we went the other way. We weren’t too far away when we burst out with great belly laughs. We laughed the whole way down the stairs, clutching our sides, gasping for breath, barely able to stand. I’m sure Bishop heard us. Oh well. It was funny at the time.