Cooper Woffinden: [00:00:02] All right.

This is an oral history interview with Leo Campbell

conducted by Cooper Woffinden on April 23rd, 2023, at 4:35 p.m. in Leo's home. Can you start
by telling me when and where you were born? [00:00:19][17.3]

Leo Campbell: [00:00:21] I was born in Panguitch, Utah, on September the fifth, 1951.
Panguitch is a small community down in the southern part of Utah in Garfield County. My
parents lived in a small town of Alton, which is a small community in Kane County that has
about less than 100 people living there. That's where I grew up, and the closest hospital was in
Panguitch. So that's where I went to be born. And the doctor's name was Dr.
Duggins. [00:00:56][35.7]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:01:00] All right. So, you grew up in a really small town that was
smaller than small. Right. And so how do you like--what was a regular day living
there? [00:01:15][15.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:01:18] Oh, if I think back to my earliest memories. A regular day living
there was I'd get up in the morning, my mom would cook me some kind of cooked cereal for
breakfast, either oatmeal or cracked wheat, a mush called Zoom. And we would eat that for
breakfast usually. And then we had a few chores that we had to do. The home that I lived in, it
didn't have--the only--it didn't have an electric cook stoves. The only cook stove was wood--was
old wood stove and the only heat in the house was a--was a warm morning stove, which is a
wood burning stove. So, part of my day was always fill in the wood boxes. I had to chop wood
small that would fit in the cook stove firebox. And so, I'd chop that and and fill the wood box.
And then I, I'd have to fill the wood box for the other-- for the other stove. Of course, that was in
the--in the fall and the winter and in the spring when it was cool enough that you had to build
fires in the home. Other chores that we had to do: we always had a few animals around. We
always grew chickens or we always would--we would get quite a few young chickens. They
come in the mail in the early spring. They would mail the biddies to us and then we'd get a call
from the post office and they'd say, "Your chickens are here." And so we always had chickens to
feed, and we'd let them out in the morning and they would run around the yard. And then at the
end of the day, they would going back into the coop and we would have to close the door. We
always had to water the chickens. We--my--my mom and dad always raised a couple of pigs that
we would slaughter and and use for meat. And so, we always had pigs to feed. We raised rabbits
and we we would kill the rabbits and eat them. And so we had to cut alfalfa off the ditch banks
and or wherever we could and feed the rabbits. So we always had a few animals that we had to
feed. And then it was kind of just go do what you wanted to do for the rest of the day. We--there
were a couple of--a couple--two families in--that lived in the town where I live that had--that had
a boys that were close to my age. One of them was one year younger than me, and the other one
had was actually my cousins. There were they were twins. There were two of them. They were a
year older than me and my brother was a year older than me. And so that group of--that group of
boys made a real a--made a real troop. And we always went and did everything together. And so
we would do whatever we wanted. There was no there was no worry or cares about going
anywhere in town. The town is not on any main highways. And so there was no through traffic.
Nobody came--Nobody came to our town unless that's where they were going. And there was no
point in going there unless you had some kind of business and there was no real business there.
So we never worried about outsiders, people coming from the outside world. Of course, we never
knew about--we didn't have the--the news and the social media and everything that we do now.
In fact, we didn't even have a television until I was a senior in high school. Just and so we would
go outside and--and play outside. We would play in the ditch banks if it was summertime and
there was water running in the irrigation ditches, we would swim in the ditches. I had a--I had a
friend who had horses, and so he would let us ride horses whenever we wanted to, which we did
quite a bit. We loved to play basketball, so we would go to a--we would go to a tennis court on
the school grounds and play basketball. Quite often we would go swimming in the reservoir, the
irrigation reservoir north of town. So. We like to take our lunch out at lunchtime. We go to the
house and make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and get a pint bottle full of Kool-Aid and
walk up on the hill somewhere. There was a big rock formation on the north side of town called
Shakespeare. We'd go up there sometimes for lunch. There was a rock formation on the east side
of town, up in the foothills called Table Rock. We go up there sometimes. There was a big rock
formation on the west side of town called Sugar Rock. Sometimes we'd go up there for lunch.
They were all within a 30 minute walk. The town is a real small town in a in--a in--a valley. And
the mountains around it are pretty close to it. So within 20 minutes, we could be up into the pines
or the quakies and up into the mountains. And it was--it was wonderful because our parents
never had to worry about us. They knew that we were safe. They knew that we could take care of
ourselves. Usually about a little while before sundown, why you'd hear horns start honking in
town and that was--that was mothers telling their kids it was time to come home for dinner. So
when you'd hear the horns start honking, why, you'd know it was time to go home and your
parents would have you report in what you've done that day and and you'd go home and have
dinner. And then after the dinner mess was cleaned up, why we'd sit around the house and read a
book or play board games, or my mom and dad were very musical. They liked to--they liked to
play music a lot. And so we'd sit around and listen to mom and dad as mom would play the piano
or the guitar or the saxophone or the accordion. Dad would play the banjo and the guitar. They
liked to sing. So we would sit around and listen to them sing in the evening. And then when it
was time, we'd go to bed and that was day after day. That was--that was the fun time we
had. [00:08:32][433.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:08:34] That so--That sounds really nice. So you didn't really mention
school that much. So did you have school or what did you do for school? [00:08:46][12.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:08:47] Yes, It was a small school house in town. It had two rooms in it. And
when I first started school, the--the one room had the first, second and third grades in it and the
other room had the fourth, fifth and sixth grades in it. But didn't we didn't have a kindergarten.
Kindergarten was--kindergarten was held at that time, in the summertime and it was like a--for
like--for four weeks you'd go to kindergarten for two hours a day. But they didn't have
kindergarten in Alton, my hometown, because, well, I was the only person in town that was my
age. And so there was a small community about 20 miles from Alton called Mt. Carmel, Utah,
and I have a--I had an uncle and aunt that lived there, my uncle Ken Lee and Aunt Darlene
Reese. He is my mother's brother. And so for that four weeks that I was going to go to
kindergarten, I went and lived with them in Mount Carmel. It was only four miles from
Orderville, which is where the kindergarten was and so I went and lived with them. And the
kindergarten teacher lived in Kanab, which was further away from Orderville, but she had to
drive through Mount Carmel on the way to kindergarten so she would stop in Mount Carmel and
pick me up and take me to Orderville with her for kindergarten every day. During that period of
time, my mom actually was working in Mesquite at a--at a restaurant, and my dad was--he was
working--I don't remember what he was doing at the time, but he was not at home during the
week. He was off working somewhere during the week and only home on weekends. And so I
went and I lived with Uncle Ken and Darlene while I had kindergarten. Then I when I started the
first grade of the--we called it the Little Room, which was the one first, second and third grades.
And the big room was the fourth, fifth and sixth grades. And there was a teacher in each room.
So when I started the first grade, there were there were two kids in the first grade and I think six
kids in the second grade and three kids in the third grade. So that's how many there were in the in
that room. I went to the first grade in that room, and I went to the second grade in that room, and
I also went to the third grade in that room. And then the next year they just--they-- they--no,
wait. I went--I also went--I went into the big room for the fourth and fifth grades and then when I
went to this--when I got to the sixth grade why they--they did away with the sixth grade in Alton
and they had the sixth graders ride the school bus to Orderville. That was an 18 miles drive--ride
or an 18 mile distance-- it actually took about 45 minutes each way by the time the school bus
stopped and picked up kids along the--along the route. So I went to the sixth grade in Orderville
and then when I got out of the sixth grade, I went to the Valley High School in Orderville, and
that's where I went seven through 12 grades and that was--that was a school bus ride 45 minutes
down and 45 minutes back every day. [00:12:31][224.1]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:12:36] So yeah. Then I also had another question. So since you grew
up with a lot a-- since you grew up with a lot of animals, do--do--how do I phrase this? So do
you have--do you think that you would say have more compassion since you grew up with
animals than if you didn't? Or how do you think that affected like you in your later
life? [00:13:15][39.8]

Leo Campbell: [00:13:18] Well, I don't know about. We didn't--well, we did have--we always
had a dog for a pet and my dad like cats. So we easily had a cat or two around, but they were
never house pets. We never let them in the house and they were always just--we didn't ever really
get super attached to them like--like people get nowadays with their with their domestic animals.
And I don't--I don't know. Animals were kind of a--they were a necessity, you know. The
animals that we--that we raised were for--to help us survive, to help us live. We raised chickens
so that we could have eggs and then at the--at the end of the year, we would, we would kill the
chickens and put them in the freezer and then we would have chicken to eat all winter long. We
raised pigs and every year on thank--on Thanksgiving and on New Year's, we would kill a pig.
And my dad and mom would cut it up and cure it, put it in the freezer, and that would be--that's
what we would live on through the year. So I always thought of animals as--as a--something I
required or needed to sustain a life rather than--and I never really considered my--considered the
idea of that made me a compassionate person or not. I knew not to tor--I didn't torture animals,
and I made sure that animals didn't suffer whenever we--when we killed them, it was quick and
clean and we didn't--and they--they never suffered. And in that way, I am quite compassionate, I
think. But, I don't know. That's a really good question. I don't know if that really had any effect
on me or not. Never thought about that before. I don't know. [00:15:40][142.2]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:15:40] Okay. So another question for you is how--how did you
perceive how technology like increased from when you were a child to now? [00:15:57][16.6]
Leo Campbell: [00:15:58] Oh, my goodness. It is just--it's just not even--it's not even the same
world, you know. We had--up until I was probably in the ninth grade, I think I was probably
about the ninth grade when they put a television tower up by the town and people were able to
get television. My uncle was in the service and he would come home to visit my grandmother
and he brought her a television one time and that was about the only television in town. And I
didn't--I didn't like it when people watch television. I'd go read a book because I'm a very--I'm a
really avid reader and when I was a senior in high school, he brought her a new television and so
we took her old television, and that's when we got a television in our home. And that was--that
was the only other technology that or that you could call technology that we had, Dad had a little
transistor radio and all that radio you could pick up, at nighttime, you could pick up two
channels. You could pick up KOMA and Oklahoma City, which was a rock and roll channel and
I didn't like rock and roll music, so I never listened to that channel. The other channel you could
pick up was KFI in Los Angeles, and they broadcast the Los Angeles Dodgers and so I used to
go to sleep at night and listen to Dad's radio and listen to the Dodgers play night after night. And
as a result of that, I've always been a Dodgers fan, but we never had--I never had a chance to
watch baseball. I didn't know anything about baseball, really, except just listening to the Dodgers
play. But the technology we had, well, I guess we had--we had an old record player and we could
listen to records on the record player. Uh, my dad and mom liked--they--we lived in the country
and they like country music and that's what I grew up liking and that's what we would listen to
on the record player, but--but that was it. And it's just nowadays everybody is connected to--to
the world, to everything. When I grew up there was just very little connection to the world. The
town was so isolated. We'd go to town--we'd go to Cedar City once in a while--that's where we'd
have to go to buy chicken feed and pig feed. So we'd go to Cedar City once in a while and--and
we'd go to Panguitch sometimes to go to the dentist or the doctor and Kanab was the county seat
and so we'd go there occasionally, but not often. So I really had--I really grew up with very little
connection to the outside world and back in those days that was okay, you know, because the
outside world wasn't really--it didn't really exist for me and it didn't have to. I was perfectly
happy. I was perfectly happy that it didn't--that I wasn't connected to the outside world. But
nowadays, with technology, it's just--everybody feels like they have to be connected, and I am
guilty of that myself, you know. I have my phone and I--every day I'm scrolling through
Facebook and--and looking at my email and looking at the--at the news--news bulletins that flash
in on my phone. So I'm connected--I'm connected to anything I want in the world now. It's just--
it's just so different. We had to--we had to entertain. Any entertainment we had, we made our
own entertainment. If we wanted to have a party, we'd build a big fire in the middle of the school
ground and we'd play games running around the--running around the fire, chasing each other.
There's three or four really fun games that we'd play with big group--group games where they're
actually organized, but they appear to be haphazard. But we would just run around for hours
playing these games and it's like as I watched my children grow up and as I see kids today, if
they want to have a party why they watch a movie or something like that, you know, and it's just
so different. If I wanted to communicate with someone who didn't live in my town, I had to write
a letter and I had to wait for that letter to be sent--to get to them and then I had to wait for their
letter to get back to me. And you don't live with that anticipation and excitement anymore
because you just text somebody and within seconds you've got the answer and there's none of
that anticipation and looking forward to hearing something. I used to--people used to come and
visit and it was always the fun thing to get friendly with the--with the girls that came to visit the
other families in town, you know, they'd come to visit their grandmother or grandfather and
you'd get friendly with them and have parties with them on the school grounds and and then get
their address. And when they went back to their home and--why you'd write them letters and--
and it was always so fun to get letters from them because, you know, there was really nothing
there as far as romantics or anything, but it was just really fun to be writing to a good looking
girl and looking forward to getting her letter and hearing it. But now it's just, you know, you text
them and within 30 seconds you got your answer back and that's it, you know. And--and the
information that's available to you now, you just--you don't--there's no reason to be confused or
to question anything, you know. If you've got a question about something, you can find the
answer. It's--the answer to anything is right within arm's reach. And--an example--an example
could be that I--I was obsessed with football. I don't know why. I'd never seen a football game.
I'd never--I didn't know anybody that played football. Nobody around my town played football.
And our high school didn't even have a football team. And--but I was obsessed with football and
I spent hours looking at an encyclopedia trying to learn the rules, figure out how to play football.
Yeah. And nowadays, you know, if somebody wonders about football, I mean, you just have to
watch a game, pick your phone up and you can find a game to watch. And--and you can answer--
you can Google your questions and you get the answer right away. You know, you don't have
to--you don't have to read page after page in the encyclopedia and then try to figure out what--
what the terms really mean that you've never heard before. And football's just an example. But I
grew up--I grew up with a certain curiosity, and I had to learn how to--I had to learn how to
glean from what somebody else said in print and type what the--what those answers were. But
nowadays, you can verbally ask the question, you can get the answer spoken to you can get it--
see it written down. And if you don't understand it in the first--on the first of--on the first choice,
you can go to the next choice on your search and read it again and understand it, and you go to
the next choice and read it. And it's just--it's just amazing that that kind of information is so
readily available. There's a few things that are not good about it, but mostly it's just it's just an
amazing thing to be able to have that. [00:24:31][513.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:24:37] So. So what do you think got you obsessed with
football? [00:24:49][12.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:24:51] You know, I've kind of wondered about that, and I'm not really sure
what it was. The back of the cereal--of cereal boxes, they had football trading cards, cut the--cut
them out the back--the back of the box was printed with trading cards and you could cut those
out and look at them. And--and it had a picture of a football player and how big he was and his
statistics and all that and for some reason--for some reason, I took one of those football, one of
those cereal boxes, and I cut those football cards out. And then I started saving those football
cards. And that's the only thing that I ever really saw or did that had anything to do with football,
because, you know, nobody around me played, nobody--I didn't know anybody that played. We
couldn't--we didn't have a TV to watch a game. It was just--but that's all I had. And--and I just
kind of, for some reason, I don't know what it was, but for some reason I just really got interested
in those football cards. And I don't know, I collected those for several years off of our cereal
boxes and I had a pretty good collection. But. I don't know. When I was--I think I was probably
in the eighth grade, my uncle that lived in Mesquite, was the high school--was the quarterback on
their high school football team. And we went to Mesquite to visit my grandma and Grandpa
Reese and there was a football game that night. So we went and watched the football game. And
when I got back home to Alton, I was the coolest guy in town because I had actually seen a
football game and nobody else in town had ever seen one. So I became the teacher and the coach
of all the kids that would get together on the school grounds to play football. All the kids--yeah.
There might have been five, maybe seven of us, you know. But I--but I was the coolest guy
because I had actually seen a football game and none of them had, you know. I don't know. It's a
funny thing. [00:27:26][154.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:27:30] So when you were growing up, you didn't have a lot of access to
the news. Do you wish you had more access or not? [00:27:39][9.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:27:40] No, I don't know, no. I think I was just fine. I think--I think I worry
about a lot that I can't do anything about anyway because I see news now, you know, it causes
me to worry and it causes me stress. I can't do anything about it anyway. And what good does it
do? I mean, it's good to be informed, but a lot of stuff that you hear, what good does it really do
you to even hear it and to even know it, you know? I don't think that--I don't think that hindered
or hampered my development at all as I was growing up. I think I was--I think I was perfectly
fine. And I outta--I outta--along with that, I should probably point out that the news it--that the
news back then wasn't as extreme and as bad as what you see on the news now, you
know? [00:28:38][58.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:28:39] Hmm. [00:28:39][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:28:39] I mean, there was no such thing back then as this--as a mass
shooting, you know and... [00:28:45][5.4]

Leo Campbell: [00:28:45] And. [00:28:45][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:28:46] And there maybe were crooked politicians, but--but they were--they
weren't prevalent like they are now. And--and things were reported a lot differently back then.
And--and--but the society, the culture--there just wasn't as much real negative stuff to say is there
is nowadays. But I really don't think that--I don't think I missed out on anything as I was growing
up by not having access to all that stuff that we have today. [00:29:26][40.0]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:29:30] So what did you do after you graduated high
school? [00:29:34][3.7]

Leo Campbell: [00:29:36] Well, when I graduated high school, I wanted to go to college. And
so I--I got accepted at a Southern Utah State College in Cedar City, which is now Southern Utah
University. And, of course, I needed money to go to college, so I--I went to Mesquite and I lived
with my grandmother Reese down there and worked in a truck stop--I worked at Mike Burners
Truck Stop. So I worked 12 hours a night for--I worked from six an--six at night till six in the
morning for about three and a half months from when I graduated high school until school
started in Cedar City, where I went for my freshman college year. [00:30:23][47.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:30:25] Mm hmm. [00:30:25][0.2]

Leo Campbell: [00:30:26] And with the money I made working at that truck stop, and I had a
small scholarship, an FFA scholarship, I think was $250--and while I was in college, I worked at
the--I mopped and--I swept and mopped the college cafeteria every afternoon, it took me about 3
hours, for the year that I was in college. So I had made enough money to get through spring
quarter. I mean, a fall quarter and winter quarter. And then I was going to--I didn't have enough
money to register for the spring quarter, so I was going to drop out. And my uncle, my mother's
youngest brother, who just passed away two weeks ago, he called--he was talking to my mother,
and my mother told him that I was going to drop out of college. And he says, "Don't let him drop
out of college. I'll send him some money." Now, he didn't have any money, but somehow he sent
me--he managed to send me $175 with a letter saying, I'm really sorry I couldn't send more, but I
had to have some dental work done. And today, $175 going towards college costs, is nothing,
you know? [00:31:55][88.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:31:55] Yeah. [00:31:55][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:31:55] But back in 1970, that was a pretty good chunk of
money. [00:31:59][3.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:32:00] Yeah. [00:32:00][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:32:00] So with that and my working at the cafeteria every day, I was able to
go through--I was able to register and go through the--stay in college for the spring quarter. So I
completed my freshman year. [00:32:14][14.0]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:32:20] What did you study while you were in college? [00:32:21][1.5]

Leo Campbell: [00:32:22] I was studying to be a radio or television announcer--broadcaster. I

wanted to go into broadcasting. I actually had a lab class that while I was there, they had a radio
station--the college had a radio station and I had a lab class, so during my college, during my
college year, I worked at that radio station for 2 hours every afternoon as the disc
jockey. [00:32:52][30.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:32:57] Did you like working at the radio station? [00:33:03][5.6]

Leo Campbell: [00:33:03] Yes, I did. I liked it a lot. It was really fun. [00:33:05][2.3]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:33:08] What were some of the stuff you would do at the radio
station? [00:33:11][3.6]

Leo Campbell: [00:33:12] I just--I played music. I played records. We had a big bank of
records and a couple of turntables and at that time, FM radio stations, the--the norm or the
protocol or the usual thing was the disc jockey didn't say much. He just played music and on the
hour, he would identify the radio station, say what time it was, and then play music for an hour
or so. That's really all I did, is I queue up one record and when the one that was playing got done,
I would start the other one and queue up the next one and when the one got done, I'd start the
other one. So I would just sit there and play records for 2 hours and then on--and then every hour
on the hour I'd say this is KCDR FM Radio 88.1 Mega cycles in Cedar City, Utah. Thank you for
listening or something like that. [00:34:12][59.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:34:12] Mm hmm. [00:34:12][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:34:15] Occasionally we would do--we would do a radio survey where we
would--where we would read through the list of questions and ask people to call and give us an
answer, you know? [00:34:28][12.7]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:34:28] Mm hmm. [00:34:28][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:34:29] Like, how often do you listen to this radio station? There's one
more--there was one other radio station in Cedar City at that time, KSUB, it was called. So we'd
ask, you know, how--how--have you noticed differences or do you listen to KSUB? I--you know,
just.... [00:34:48][18.9]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:34:49] Mm Hmm. [00:34:49][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:34:51] I don't know. Just little surveys. And then answer calls as people
called in. [00:34:54][3.6]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:34:55] Mm hmm. [00:34:55][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:34:56] But they didn't ever call in to be on the radio, it was just to answer
our questions. [00:34:59][3.3]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:35:04] Mm hmm. So what made you want to study to become a
television broadcaster? [00:35:09][5.2]

Leo Campbell: [00:35:12] Well, I had a teacher in high school who took me aside one day and
told me that I had a golden voice. I don't know where--I don't know for sure how she came up
with that idea, but she told me that my voice should be heard by all people. And she really--she
really built me up and--and I guess--I guess she convinced me because I decided I wanted my
voice to--to be heard, you know? [00:35:55][42.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:35:57] Mm hmm. [00:35:57][0.2]

Leo Campbell: [00:35:57] I--she was a en--she was my English teacher and one of our English
assignments was to memorize and then present 20 lines of Shakespeare from any Shakespeare
play we wanted to do. And so I chose some from--I chose a like--some lines from Julius Caesar
and--and it's the funeral--it's the funeral address that Brutus makes in Julius Caesar's funeral. And
so I was--went--on the day that it was my turn to give my presentation of these--these 20 lines
for Shakespeare, there was a lady that came to visit our English class who was--I don't remember
who she was or why she was there, but she was--one of her jobs was from the state school board,
and she was there to observe or to, uh, to, um, check something out at our school and she
happened to be in our English class that day. [00:37:08][71.2]
Cooper Woffinden: [00:37:10] Mm hmm. [00:37:10][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:37:10] And Mrs. Newby took her aside and said--I heard Mrs. Newby say to
this lady--I heard her say, "Now you pay really close attention to this boy because he has a voice
that you just won't believe. It's a golden voice that everybody ought to hear and he's going to do
so good." You know? And I don't know, it just made me--it just really built me up and made me
feel good, you know? And--and so--and so I--I had that. And then I was--I was in about--I was
in, I think. let's see, one, two, three four--I was in about five different plays in high school and I
always got the lead part in the play because I was--I--for high--for that high school, I was a
pretty good actor, you know? [00:38:11][60.7]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:38:12] Mm hmm. [00:38:12][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:38:12] And I could memorize easy and I could--I could say my parts really
well, you know, and after one of--and when I was in high school at the time, my dream was to be
a seminary teacher. And I heard one of the people from the school say to my mother after one of
the plays, they said to her, "You can't waste that talent on seminary teaching. That boy needs to
be an actor." You know? And so--anyway, all those things together convinced me somehow that
my voice was okay, that I could--that maybe I could use my voice to try and make a living, you
know? And so that's what got me interested in trying to be a radio or television
announcer. [00:39:03][51.1]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:39:04] Mm hmm. So what made you want to be a seminary teacher in
high school? [00:39:13][8.2]

Leo Campbell: [00:39:14] Probably the seminary teacher that I had. I had a seminary teacher
that was just a really, really cool guy--really neat guy. He made it--he made the lessons so fun
yet so meaningful all the time. And it didn't matter what it was about--it didn't matter what the
lesson was, if you had to read a whole book of Scripture in the lesson--in the lesson that day,
which is generally not that much fun or that interesting, this guy could make it just wonderful to
do, you know? [00:39:49][35.0]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:39:50] Mm hmm. [00:39:50][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:39:50] And he was--he was so--he was so good. I had a really strong
testimony about how important the church was in people's lives, and I wanted to be able to do
what I could to try and make people realize that--that--what was--what they could find, what was
available to them if they would embrace and--and become part of--part of the church. And so, I
have my patriarchal blessing which told me I would receive success and satisfaction as a teacher.
And putting that together with everything else, why, I decided a seminary teacher would be a
good a--would be a good profession. Plus, every seminary teacher I ever knew had a smoking hot
wife. [00:40:53][62.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:40:54] Mm hmm. [00:40:54][0.3]

Leo Campbell: [00:40:55] You know. [00:40:55][0.2]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:41:00] That plays a part in it. [00:41:01][0.9]

Leo Campbell: [00:41:01] So. Yeah. [00:41:02][0.4]

Leo Campbell: [00:41:02] Sure. You know? [00:41:03][0.5]

Leo Campbell: [00:41:04] I mean, you got to consider everything, right? [00:41:05][1.2]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:41:05] Yeah. So, uh. So where did you go on your mission? [00:41:18]
[13.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:41:19] I went to the England Southwest mission, which was headquartered
in Bristoling--Bristol, England. I actually spent about a year of my mission in Wales, which is a
little--which is part of the United Kingdom--just on the southwest part of England. [00:41:41]
[22.0]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:41:42] Mm hmm. How--did you like going through with your mission
or what did you do during your mission that really stood out to you? [00:41:55][12.5]

Leo Campbell: [00:41:56] Oh. I was very--I--I really--my mission was, well, it kind of defined
everything I am in my life today, kind of or most of what I am that I consider really good. I kind
of--I--like--It's kind of the result of the experiences I had as a missionary. [00:42:25][28.7]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:42:26] Mm hmm. [00:42:26][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:42:27] I--I gained a really strong testimony. I--I saw how people could
change their lives if they embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ. I learned that--I learned that
everybody has problems in their lives and that the--the whole point of whether you succeed or
failure is how you face those problems and how you handle those problems. Nobody makes it
through life without having problems, but a lot of people get through life just fine, and that's
because they learn how to-- how to deal with the situations that are--they come up with. I learned
that you have to accept--accept the things that come your way. Some things you can change and
some things you can't. And if you let yourself--if you let it happen, you can spend your whole
life just focusing on things that you have no control over and it just makes you miserable and
eats you up. [00:43:49][81.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:43:50] Mm hmm. [00:43:50][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:43:50] I learned that you just--you just got to be concerned with the things
that you have any control over. And one of the biggest things that you have control over is how
you respond and how you react to the things that happen in your life. And people sometimes
don't learn that lesson and it just causes them pain and grief for their entire lives. But I've been
very happy through my life by being able to just let things go that I have no control over, that I
can't do anything about, and just kind of worry about and focus on the things that I can control
and the things that I can--the things--and I--I really--I really learned that principle while I was
serving on the--on the mission. The--uh--it was cool being called where I was called because
many of my ancestors came from England and from Wales. In fact, I spent eight months in a--in
an area, and in that area was the city and the cemetery where--of the--Reese family came from.
And that's my mother's maiden name is Reese. So it was her father's ancestors. I didn't know it at
the time. I didn't--I was not concerned about my ancestors at that time. I didn't really care about
it much. I never thought about it much. But in later years, as I've--as I've looked at--at birthplaces
and dates and so forth of my ancestors, I've realized that that city, that Blackpool England was
right in an area that I was in for eight months and I could have gone to the cemetery there and I
could have seen the graves of many of my ancestors if I would have--if I of just--if I of had my
head on straight, you know? [00:46:00][129.6]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:46:03] Mm hmm. Um, so what--what's was like what you consider
your favorite part or what's your favorite story from your mission? [00:46:16][12.6]

Leo Campbell: [00:46:19] Oh, boy. Oh okay. We taught--we taught Peter Rabbit. [00:46:29]
[9.1]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:46:32] Huh? [00:46:32][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:46:33] Yeah. Yeah, I saw that look. I got I--I looked at the Facebook page
from my mission the other day, and there was--a someone had posted that Peter Rabbit had died.
And so I said to my wife, I said, Peter Rabbit died. And she goes like, oh so we can't have Easter
then, huh? [00:46:51][17.9]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:46:51] Mhm. [00:46:51][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:46:52] But when I was on my mission, we taught and baptized a man whose
name was Peter Abbot. [00:46:57][5.3]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:46:58] Oh. [00:46:58][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:47:01] So of course we called him... [00:47:02][1.6]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:47:03] Peter Rabbit. [00:47:04][1.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:47:06] Peter Rabbit. When I first met him I said, Do you believe in the
Easter Bunny? And he said, I've heard that before. Anyway, he's a real cool guy. A really neat
guy. First time we visited him, he--he was very active in another church--the first time we visited
him, he opened his Bible and he just bashed us with everything we said. He quoted Scriptures, he
argued, he--and it was a three hour meeting that should have only been 45 minutes. [00:47:36]
[29.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:47:36] Mm hmm. [00:47:36][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:47:37] And so when it came time to go back and visit him, I said to my
companion, I don't think we ought to go back--he sa--I said it's not going to do any good, he just
wants to argue. My companion said, no, we need to go back one more time. I'd been on my
mission for a long time and my companion was a brand new missionary and he felt like--he felt
like we needed to go back. And so he talked me into going back. We went back to Peter Rabbit's
house and we went in and sat down and he took his Bible and he closed it, set it down, he said,
"Okay," he says, "I talked all the time last night--last time I didn't give you a chance to talk." He
said, "This time I'm going to listen to you--tell me what your message is." And it was totally
different. It was a great, great lesson. He--his wife was expecting and was having some
difficulties with their pregnancy, so she--but she listened to the lessons and they became
converted. And I baptized Brother Abbot, but the doctors would not let us baptize his wife
because of the complications she was having with her pregnancy. But I--so I baptized Brother
Abbot and then I got transferred out of the area and she had the baby and then the a--my
companion baptized her and he wrote me a letter and told me--he said that Sister Abbott had her
baby. He's a little boy and they've named him Antha Leo--Anthony Leo Abbott. [00:49:19]
[101.9]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:49:22] Ohhh. [00:49:22][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:49:22] So anyway--so they named--they actually named him after me. They
gave--they gave him--they gave him my name as his middle name. And, uh-- you know, that's--
that's pretty special to me. [00:49:38][15.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:49:38] Mm hmm. [00:49:38][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:49:39] But I didn't really keep contact with him. I kind of lost track of him.
And then--and then I got the--I saw that notice on Facebook that Peter Rabbit, the vice--the
branch president from Caerphilly, which is a little town in Wales. He had passed away. So
anyway, that's--that's one of my special memories from my mission. [00:50:03][24.3]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:50:06] Mm hmm. Oh, that was--that was a really good story. So. Here's
a--just a random question. What is your favorite color and why? [00:50:21][14.4]

Leo Campbell: [00:50:23] My favorite color? [00:50:23][0.6]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:50:24] Yes. And why? [00:50:25][1.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:50:30] I really don't have a favorite color. [00:50:32][1.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:50:33] Mm hmm. [00:50:33][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:50:33] For a lot of years. Yellow was my favorite color and the reason for
that was because when I was in high school, my mom made all my--made all my shirts all the
time I was growing up and in high school. She made me a bright yellow shirt and somehow I
found some bright yellow socks that matched that shirt. And so I would wear black pants, bright
yellow shirt and yellow socks. And I was the coolest guy in school. [00:51:09][35.6]

Leo Campbell: [00:51:09] Well. [00:51:09][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:51:11] I was a legend in my own mind, you know? [00:51:13][1.9]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:51:13] Yeah. [00:51:13][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:51:16] But anyway, from that time, for a lot of years, yellow was my
favorite color because I love that yellow shirt. But as I've got older, I really--I couldn't really--I
don't know--I like browns and tans, and I quite like blue, I guess. I don't know why I like Browns
and Tans just because I don't have to worry about what else I'm going to wear because they
match everything. You know? [00:51:45][29.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:51:45] Mm hmm. [00:51:45][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:51:46] And I can wear them anywhere. [00:51:48][1.7]

Leo Campbell: [00:51:49] So I don't know. [00:51:50][1.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:51:52] Hard to say. [00:51:52][0.0]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:51:54] Okay. And then--while you were living in Wales and England
on your mission, did you like--uh--hmm--would you prefer to stay here in the States, or would
you want to, like, move there? Like, which place did you like living in more? [00:52:21][26.7]

Leo Campbell: [00:52:22] No, I would--I would prefer the United States. [00:52:24][2.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:52:26] Mm hmm. [00:52:26][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:52:26] At that time, in Wales and England, they considered themselves the
most--the most advanced country in the world. But it was interesting because it seemed like in
the places that I lived in--in the--where we lived, we would live in a--we would just get a room, a
bedroom, and then the--the landlady would feed us dinners in her kitchen and we would use her
bathroom for--use the bathroom and just have a room to sleep in. But in the places that I stayed,
it seemed like people would either have a telephone, they might have a car, they might have a
refrigerator, but very seldom did they have two or three of those three things, you
know? [00:53:24][57.5]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:54:02] Yeah. [00:54:02][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:54:03] And uh, a lot of them didn't have a refrigerator. The milk man
brough milk to them every morning. Anything else, they'd go to the market everyday and get
what they needed for that days groceries. So I don't know. I didn't like--I didn't like the national
health system, the--where a--at that time, it's--it's--this is--this was my perception and this is
what--this is what people would say: if a doctor was a really good doctor, he would go set up a
private practice somewhere and he wouldn't be part of the national health system. So when you
went to see the doctor, almost always you would get somebody from Pakistan, somebody from
Bangladesh, some immigrant that couldn't hardly speak English, may have been a fine doctor,
but you couldn't really communicate with them, you know? [00:54:54][51.0]
Cooper Woffinden: [00:54:54] Mm hmm. [00:54:54][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:54:56] And I didn't I didn't care for that very much. So I didn't really care
for that. And then, I didn't care much for the climate there. There's a lot of rain, very humid. I
came from a place where there's very little rain and there were humidity was almost nonexistent,
you know. [00:55:17][21.4]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:55:18] Yeah. [00:55:18][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:55:19] So--so yeah, I would definitely--I definitely would not of--I would
not want to live there rather than in the United States. [00:55:29][10.9]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:55:32] Okay. And so then another question I had--umm--trying to

remember what it was--ummm. What was your favorite part about living in like
England? [00:55:53][20.6]

Leo Campbell: [00:56:01] I like the breakfast they fed you. [00:56:03][1.7]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:56:03] Mm hmm. [00:56:03][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:56:04] It's always the same. You have a fried egg, canadian bacon, baked
beans, and stewed tomatoes. [00:56:11][6.6]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:56:15] Mm hmm. [00:56:15][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:56:16] They were good. It's always hot, you know? [00:56:17][1.4]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:56:18] Yeah. [00:56:18][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:56:20] I don't know, but that might have been my favorite part. I enjoyed
the history there because every place, every--every place you were, there was someplace there
that was so old, you know? [00:56:33][13.2]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:56:34] Mm hmm. [00:56:34][0.2]

Leo Campbell: [00:56:35] Like Stonehenge was in-I was stationed in Salisbury for a while.
Stonehenge is right next to that. I was in Caerphilly and right out my vow--right out the window
of my--of my digs, I could see the Caerphilly castle, which is a great big old castle with a moat
going around it, you know? That was cool. The--there was always something to see. The
churches, the old churches, you'd see churches that would been built in the 1400s or 1200's or
something like that still in use, you know. And it was-- those were--it was really cool to go in
those places. So the history that--the history in every place you went was fascinating. That
maybe was one of the things I enjoyed most about--about the country, because wherever you
were, there was just--there was some place to go where--that was really old and had a really,
really significant story to it. Really interesting history to it, you know? [00:57:40][65.4]
Cooper Woffinden: [00:57:44] Mm hmm. And then what did you do after your mission when
you came home? [00:57:48][3.9]

Leo Campbell: [00:57:50] When I got home from my mission, I--the first thing I did is I got a
job kind of as a laborer, help with some people that were building homes and building houses in
Kanab. [00:58:04][14.4]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:58:06] Mm hmm. [00:58:06][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:58:06] So that was 45 minutes from Alton, so I had to drive to Kanab and
back 45 minutes every day. So I worked there for a while and after I'd worked there for, let's see,
I come--came home in October so I--I worked there for probably two months. And then the
people I were working for said, we're going broke, so if you need a job somewhere, I mean, so
you need--probably ought to find a job somewhere else. [00:58:35][29.2]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:58:38] Mm hmm. [00:58:38][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [00:58:38] And they were building a power plant out in Page at that time and so
one of the guys I was working with said, I'm going to go out to Page and take a test, see if I can
get hired out there so come with me. And I said, no, I don't want to live in Page. And he says,
well, just come with me. Come give--be with me so I don't have to go alone. And I said, okay, I'll
ride out with you. So we went out to Page. It was on a cold winter's day. I said, I'll just wait here
in the car while you take the test. He said, oh, come on in and take the test with me. He says you
don't need to wait out here in the cold. And I said, yeah, okay, I'll come. So I went in and took
the test, and a couple of days later they called me and said, come out and take a physical and if
you pass the physical, why will--we want to offer you a job. They never did call him and offer
him a job. So I went out to Page and I said, I don't really want to go out there, but I'll go take it
the physical and see what happens. And I went out there and everybody says, you'll never find
any place to live. They were--they were in the middle of the construction of the power plant so
there were like 5000 construction workers in Page. [00:59:52][74.1]

Cooper Woffinden: [00:59:52] Mm hmm. [00:59:52][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [00:59:52] And was--there's--Pages is only a city--only a city of 5000 people at
that time, so it was impossible to find someplace to live. So when I drove into town, I stopped
the first service station I come to and got out to fill my car up with gas and this lady comes
running out and she was actually from Alton, and her husband owned that station. And so she
comes running out and talking to me. What do you doing--why--why are you here? And I says,
well, they offered me a job at the power plant, but I says, I don't think I'll ever find any place to
live. And she said, my bishop has a trailer he rents, and the people that are living in it are moving
out this week and I'll bet he would rent it to you. And I'm like well call him and see. [01:00:39]
[46.8]

Leo Campbell: [01:00:41] Even. [01:00:41][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [01:00:42] And so she called him and he goes--return missionary huh, yeah,
we'd love to have him, yeah, you bet, tell him he can move in tomorrow. So just like that, I was
in Page working at the power plant, and I stayed working in power plants for my whole working
career. And it's really weird because I was like--I was saying the other day, I've never had to look
for a job, you know? [01:01:08][26.2]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:01:09] Mm hmm. [01:01:09][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [01:01:09] I didn't really even want that job when I got it, but yet it turned out to
be a great career for me, and I ended up in a job that I really love and had, you know, spent
almost 40 years in it and--and I wasn't even looking for it when I found it. So figure that out, you
know? [01:01:28][18.4]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:01:32] And then this is the last question. How did you meet
Grandma? [01:01:35][3.3]

Leo Campbell: [01:01:37] How did I meet her? [01:01:37][0.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:01:38] Yeah. [01:01:38][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [01:01:39] Oh, gosh. Well, we were playing pickaboo--peekaboo at a party one
time. Sorry. I have a cousin who is going to school at Dixie College and JoAnn's a-- JoAnn's
friend who'd she'd gone to high school with, who had been her good friend through high school,
was going to college at Dixie College, and they met and got engaged and decided they needed to
set us up for a blind date. [01:02:15][35.4]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:02:16] Mm hmm. [01:02:16][0.2]

Leo Campbell: [01:02:16] So this this gal asked JoAnn to be her--one of her bridesmaids at her
wedding reception. And the guy, he asked me to emcee the program at the wedding reception.
And so I come up here to Delta, to the wedding reception, and when I came through the wedding
reception line, the bridesmaids had all got ready for me. [01:02:44][28.3]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:02:45] Mm hmm. [01:02:46][0.2]

Leo Campbell: [01:02:46] So as I came through, I--I said--shook hands with my cousin,
congratulations, gave the bride a hug and turned to face the bridesmaid--bridesmaids and they all
had these wax red lips on, you know, kissing lips. They're all standing like that, waiting for me.
So I went through and licked all their lips and the one that tasted the best... The next day, they
had a wedding reception down in Alton and JoAnn came down to that wedding reception as a
bridesmaid. Her mother and her father and her grandpa brought her down. She came down with
them and at that wedding reception, it was the custom in Alton on the wedding reception, you
always had a dance. And so we started dancing and we spent the night dancing getting to know
each other, talking to each other, you know. [01:03:52][65.8]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:03:52] Mm hmm. [01:03:52][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [01:03:53] So that we kind of--kind of a blind date. And it was all downhill
from there. I uh--she was working in Cedar City at the State Bank of Southern Utah at the time,
and I was, of course, living out to Page, but we kind of made arrangements to see each other. I
said, well, I'll come to Cedar City and see you. And so we kind of dated a couple of times and
she asked me to marry her, and I did. [01:04:30][36.7]

Leo Campbell: [01:04:34] Yeah. [01:04:34][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [01:04:36] Actually, I--we had--we had only dated three or four times, actually.
I'd seen her a few times, but she invited me to come up here. So I came up here one weekend and
when we were driving home, I said to her, how long do I have to go with you before I can ask
you to marry me? And she says, one month and three days. And I said, well, how long have I
been going with you? And she said, one month and four days. [01:05:05][28.4]

Leo Campbell: [01:05:07] And I said. [01:05:07][0.2]

Leo Campbell: [01:05:07] Oh, well, will you marry me? And she says, Yeah. That was
it. [01:05:12][5.2]

Shelly Woffinden (Leo's Daughter): [01:05:16] And it's almost 50 years later. [01:05:18][1.7]

Leo Campbell: [01:05:18] And it's almost 50 years later. [01:05:20][2.0]

Shelly Woffinden (Leo's Daughter): [01:05:21] Almost. [01:05:21][0.0]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:05:21] Mm hmm. [01:05:21][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [01:05:23] But it was like right from the moment--no--I mean, right from that
moment it was--I mean, I don't know, people say, how do you know you're in love? Or how can
you tell, you know? And--and that's hard for me to answer because I don't really know that I
really felt that love like you think of love, you know? [01:05:44][21.6]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:05:45] Mm hmm. [01:05:45][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [01:05:45] But what I felt and what it was like is I just felt so comfortable. It
just felt so good together, you know? And--and that's kind of what we've always had, is it's just--
just so comfortable and so right and so good to be together, you know? [01:06:01][15.9]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:06:02] Mm hmm. [01:06:02][0.1]

Leo Campbell: [01:06:03] And I know that's love. I mean, but it's not--that's not how you would
normally define or or try to describe love, but that's--that's what it is, you know? [01:06:14]
[11.3]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:06:14] Mm hmm. [01:06:14][0.0]

Leo Campbell: [01:06:14] And that's how it's always been. It's just like--it's just like--we just--
we just need to be together. We're--that's what we are, you know? So... [01:06:24][9.6]

Cooper Woffinden: [01:06:24] Well, I thank you for the time to answer my questions and
yeah. [01:06:24][0.0]

[3724.0]