Grandpa JDB

(verbatim from Grandpa--baptized in July 1962, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)

Back in the dark ages before dirt was invented, they built meeting houses without baptismal fonts. So when I turned 8 there was some discussion about how to baptize me. I wasn't quite skinny enough to fit into a drinking glass, but they were afraid that in a bathtub, I might slip down the drain. The irrigation ditch in front of the house was a possibility, but it was dry on my birthday. So we ended up going to the Tabernacle. Back in 1962, most of the children baptized in Salt Lake City went to the Tabernacle, where there was a nice font, and a nice chapel area with about 300 padded choir seats. I was one of 50 kids baptized on July 28. I came somewhere in the middle. I don't remember much, except that it lasted forever, and there were lots of people changing wet clothing. We went home and I got 2 presents, a color by number book and a firehouse covering for the card table. I spent the whole summer in the firehouse reading books on the front lawn. It was great. I don't think I ever finished all the birds in the color by number book. I was confirmed the next day in sacrament meeting, the first person ever to be confirmed in the newly formed Garden Heights North Ward.