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Family Group Record
I was the fourth and last child and only son of Dick and Mae Leigh. I was raised
in Cedar City through high school. Since then I have lived in Logan, Salt Lake,
Maryland, Tucson, Phoenix, Massachusetts, and Utah.
Allen Leigh and Judy Thompson Graduate from Utah State University
I attended Utah State University for five years and completed BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering. After graduation, I accepted employment with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Silver Spring, Maryland. This employment was chosen because of its location near Washington, DC. During my senior year in high school, I had taken an American Problems class from "Aunt" Zoe Palmer, and I had gained a desire to live in our nation's capitol. After one year in Maryland, I married Judy Ann Thompson in the Salt Lake Temple on her birthday and a couple of days after we graduated from Utah State (I had completed my MS in August 1962 but I didn't graduate until the next commencement the following June). We made our first home in College Park, Maryland. We had a great time during our first year of marriage. We were stake missionaries (teaching missionaries) in the Washington, DC Ward of the church, and we enjoyed our work with the singles who were in Washington for school or employment. In addition to our missionary activities in teaching investigators, we attended many concerts and art exhibits during the year and really enjoyed the area. After two years at Applied Physics Lab, I realized I didn't have the math skills to have a rewarding career in antenna research. I decided to return to school, and we moved to Tucson, Arizona, where I attended the University of Arizona and studied Electrical Engineering. During that year I had to write a computer program to perform a simulation of a particular EE design problem. I had never programmed a computer before, so I took a lunch-time, one-week course in Fortran II. I discovered that I enjoyed programming more than EE, and at the end of the school year, I began looking for employment in computers. I didn't realize it at the time, but that was a decision that would have great impact on my family. I accepted employment with General Electric Company in Phoenix as a field service engineer, and I traveled extensively repairing computers. I had wanted a job in software, but I accepted this hardware job with the hope that it would give me a background in computers and thus be the doorway to a software job. After 18 months, I decided that Judy and I had had enough (I wasn't home much and the stress on Judy was very high), and I told my "headquarters engineer" in Phoenix that I either got a softwarejob or I would leave the company. The company created a software job for me, and I began writing diagnostic programs to test the computer hardware. The highlight of my career with GE was the development of a system-level test to detect problems caused by interactions between different parts of the computer system, problems that were being missed by Quality Control tests. | ||
After about five years with GE, I joined Motorola Corporation and assumed full
responsibility for the development of diagnostic software for a special project to use
computers in motels. After four years, Motorola canceled the project, and I joined
Digital Equipment Corporation in Maynard, Massachusetts.
I was with Digital for 17 years and worked with diagnostic programs and diagnostic software tools, the RSTS operating system, and 10 years doing simulations of the signal conditioning performed on data read from disk into memory. For several years I attended night school at Boston University, and in 1985 I received a MS in Computer Information Systems. I left Digital under an "Engineers into Education" program so we could move closer to family. For about 10 years I taught part-time as an Adjunct Instructor at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, teaching computer science, including computer literacy, the C++ programming language, and web design. Toward the end of that teaching, I obtained full-time employment with the college as a database programmer. I worked at the college until I was 71, and then I retired.
Concerning my church assignments. I've held both teaching and leadership callings. I've never cared for the leadership callings, but I've really enjoyed my teaching callings. In addition to actual callings to teach, I've substituted many times as a Gospel Doctrine and High Priests Group teacher. I take Joseph Smith's remarks literally when he said he teaches the Saints principles of righteousness and then lets them govern themselves. As a teacher, I act more as a discussion-moderator. I ask questions and let the class members teach the Gospel principles involved with the questions.
While living in Massachusetts, I was Scoutmaster for 11 years, and I really enjoyed that calling! In fact I would say it was my favorite calling. During several of the years, I was both Scoutmaster and Blazer Leader for the 11-year-old boys. The Blazer scouts were brought into the troop as a full-fledged patrol. They would join the troop on Saturday mornings of our monthly campouts and participate with the older scouts. Because we were a small group, my Bishops let me have all three Aaronic Priesthood groups in the troop. Each AP quorum was a patrol. I encouraged the patrols to have their own activities as well as joining in the troop activities. We were a hiking troop and specialized in backpacking the numerous New England trails and peaks. I taught the scouts to govern themselves, so to speak, and I had no problems with the boys goofing off during weekly Mutual meetings, monthly campouts, or the annual camp. Here is an example of how they governed themselves. I had a 15-year old scout, whom I'll call Tom. Tom was in a military family at Ft. Devens, and his dad, a Master Sergeant, governed his family like it was an Army platoon. Tom's mother always got his camping gear ready for our campouts, and Tom just came along for the ride, so to speak. I talked privately with Tom's mother about the importance of Tom being responsible for his preparations, and she decided to give it a try. As we approached a campout, she let Tom know that she was available to help if he asked for it, but she didn't get his gear together. The result was that Tom came to the campout with a frying pan and a small receiving blanket – no tent, no food, no sleeping bag. I felt inspired to let Tom remain for the campout, and I sent him down to the campfire program that was in progress. I located my Senior Patrol Leader and said, “You have a problem!” He, in turn, located Tom's Patrol Leader and said, “You have a problem”. The PL and his assistant then solved the problem by getting Tom inside a tent with another boy and by asking the boys to share their food with Tom. The temperature was 28 (F) that night, cold enough to make it miserable for Tom but not cold enough to give him frostbite. Tom's first words the next morning were, “Brother Leigh, I'm cold”. I waited until the afternoon while the scouts were playing games, and I took Tom aside and asked him one question. “Tom, what could you do next time to make your campout more enjoyable?” He started with “A” and ended with “Z” and gave me an excellent review of good preparation. The next month Tom came to the campout very well prepared, and his mother told me it was all his doing. After that experience, Tom began to blossom as a great teenager.
I was with Digital for 17 years and worked with diagnostic programs and diagnostic software tools, the RSTS operating system, and 10 years doing simulations of the signal conditioning performed on data read from disk into memory. For several years I attended night school at Boston University, and in 1985 I received a MS in Computer Information Systems. I left Digital under an "Engineers into Education" program so we could move closer to family. For about 10 years I taught part-time as an Adjunct Instructor at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, teaching computer science, including computer literacy, the C++ programming language, and web design. Toward the end of that teaching, I obtained full-time employment with the college as a database programmer. I worked at the college until I was 71, and then I retired.
Concerning my church assignments. I've held both teaching and leadership callings. I've never cared for the leadership callings, but I've really enjoyed my teaching callings. In addition to actual callings to teach, I've substituted many times as a Gospel Doctrine and High Priests Group teacher. I take Joseph Smith's remarks literally when he said he teaches the Saints principles of righteousness and then lets them govern themselves. As a teacher, I act more as a discussion-moderator. I ask questions and let the class members teach the Gospel principles involved with the questions.
While living in Massachusetts, I was Scoutmaster for 11 years, and I really enjoyed that calling! In fact I would say it was my favorite calling. During several of the years, I was both Scoutmaster and Blazer Leader for the 11-year-old boys. The Blazer scouts were brought into the troop as a full-fledged patrol. They would join the troop on Saturday mornings of our monthly campouts and participate with the older scouts. Because we were a small group, my Bishops let me have all three Aaronic Priesthood groups in the troop. Each AP quorum was a patrol. I encouraged the patrols to have their own activities as well as joining in the troop activities. We were a hiking troop and specialized in backpacking the numerous New England trails and peaks. I taught the scouts to govern themselves, so to speak, and I had no problems with the boys goofing off during weekly Mutual meetings, monthly campouts, or the annual camp. Here is an example of how they governed themselves. I had a 15-year old scout, whom I'll call Tom. Tom was in a military family at Ft. Devens, and his dad, a Master Sergeant, governed his family like it was an Army platoon. Tom's mother always got his camping gear ready for our campouts, and Tom just came along for the ride, so to speak. I talked privately with Tom's mother about the importance of Tom being responsible for his preparations, and she decided to give it a try. As we approached a campout, she let Tom know that she was available to help if he asked for it, but she didn't get his gear together. The result was that Tom came to the campout with a frying pan and a small receiving blanket – no tent, no food, no sleeping bag. I felt inspired to let Tom remain for the campout, and I sent him down to the campfire program that was in progress. I located my Senior Patrol Leader and said, “You have a problem!” He, in turn, located Tom's Patrol Leader and said, “You have a problem”. The PL and his assistant then solved the problem by getting Tom inside a tent with another boy and by asking the boys to share their food with Tom. The temperature was 28 (F) that night, cold enough to make it miserable for Tom but not cold enough to give him frostbite. Tom's first words the next morning were, “Brother Leigh, I'm cold”. I waited until the afternoon while the scouts were playing games, and I took Tom aside and asked him one question. “Tom, what could you do next time to make your campout more enjoyable?” He started with “A” and ended with “Z” and gave me an excellent review of good preparation. The next month Tom came to the campout very well prepared, and his mother told me it was all his doing. After that experience, Tom began to blossom as a great teenager.
I'm presently serving in the church as the Membership Clerk, and I'm enjoying
that calling because it doesn't take a lot of time and I can do it on my schedule. (Note:
the years have passed, and I'm currently (2017) teaching the 11-year old boys in my
ward.)
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The Allen Leigh Family -- !975.
Children, left to right, are Tova Ann, Allen Chad, Sara Beth, and Jonathan Seth.
Children, left to right, are Tova Ann, Allen Chad, Sara Beth, and Jonathan Seth.
Judy Ann Thompson was the first of six children to come to Arthur and Bergliot Thompson. She attended public schools, graduating in the first class at the new Highland High School in Salt Lake City. She attended Utah State University on a scholarship. We met during the summer of 1962 when she moved into my student ward for the summer.
I've been a runner for over 40 years, and my running blog is http://oldmanrunning.org If you're interested in my experiences living in Cedar City (and elsewhere) as a youth, see my book called "A Geezer Looks Back". The book is available via my bookstore at http://lulu.com/spotlight/allenleigh
Cover of My Personal History
The cover of the book shows my wife, Judy, holding my first child, Chad. They are standing in front of the cabin on Cedar Mountain that was used when I was a boy. I would go on the mountain to help my dad with his sheep. I remember lying in bed at night and hearing mice run through the cabin. |
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