Hello, I’m Dellas Monore Dustin, welcome to my life!
I was born in Driggs, Idaho hospital on October 20, 1941, to Monroe Dustin Jr. and Vera Jean Dewey Dustin. It was during the middle of World War ll.
We grew in a small farmhouse in Cedron. Here I am at about age 5 with Erroll my brother and who was 3 and with Eva Mae was 1 at the time.
Mom and dad added 3 brothers and 4 sisters to our family! I was first, then there is Erroll, Eva Mae, Wesley, LaRane, and Robyn, with Todd and Sherri being born after this photo.
I grew up in Cedron, located in Teton County, Idaho. Here I am with my dad, Monroe Dustin Jr. I was about age 11, with my brother Erroll. This was about the year 1950.
My dad, Monroe Dustin Jr, raised his family in the country and we built a dairy. We milked Holsteins and farmed alfalfa, potatoes, and barley.
I served as a missionary in the Western States Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The mission training center was in SLC. Before leaving, all the families gathered in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for the last goodbye before they left. Robyn his sister who was 5 years old, recalls how neat it was to see all the missionaries walk across the stage.
In the fall of 1961, I enlisted in the 116th Engineer Battalion, a unit of the Army National Guard based in Idaho Falls, ID. I then went to Fort Ord California for basic training.
Upon returning from basic training, I worked and went to Ricks College, getting my Associates’s degree from 1962 to 1965.
The following is an account of when Dellas and Nancy met and dated and were married.
In 1966 we were in the same LDS church ward at BYU. However, Dad was going home every other weekend for accelerated guard drills for the National Guard. I had not had much contact or interaction with him so I really didn’t know him.
Somewhere around the first of May, 1966, I had been studying in the quiet part of the Student Union Bldg (At that time called the Wilkinson Center). I was on my way back to class and he was going the other direction and he stopped me. He asked me if I would go to Stake Conference with him the next Sunday and explained that he was in the same ward I was in. (Those wards were really big at that time). I figured if he was in my ward and we were going to church I was probably safe. So I agreed.
When I told my roommates I tried to describe him because I didn’t know his name. One of the girls said, oh I think I’ve seen him. I think his name is something like Dustin Drearden. Kind of a funny name. So when he came to get me and there were a couple more roommates in the room I said I would love to introduce you but I’m not sure I know your name. So he told me his name and I introduced the girls.
From then on he managed to find me on campus when I was studying. He would call me and get me to go get a root beer at the AW root beer.
On weekends he wanted to go for a ride up the canyons around Provo.
One weekend he took me to SL to Bratton’s Seafood Restaurant. I was a little hesitant at first. Partially because he wasn’t coming to Church much and I wasn’t overly impressed that he had red hair. There were a lot of red-haired people in mom’s family and some weren’t that good looking. Growing up I imagined someone who was tall, dark, and handsome. (
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The school year ended and he left to go to Alaska to work for the summer and I stayed in Provo and took a couple of summer classes so he asked me if I would write to him while he was gone. I agreed and we continued to get better acquainted.
When he came back from Alaska it was Labor Day weekend and he stopped in Boise to meet my parents and see me. He didn’t return to BYU right then but took a job in the Forest Service inspecting and marking diseased trees that needed to be cut down.
He came to Provo every other weekend to see me. One weekend when he came down, the weekend of Homecoming, “BYU 53-W was playing Texas Western 33 -L.”
Dellas proposed that weekend and I said yes, and the rest was history, as they say. I went to Victor, Thanksgiving Weekend to meet his family and we were married the next January.
Right after our marriage we moved to the Salt Lake Area and obtained jobs. Our goal was to work for a year and save as much money as possible so that we could both continue our education at BYU the following year. After the year was up we enrolled for the Spring 1968 semester at BYU, excited to be back in school.
During this time I had still been active in National Guard responsibilities. When I met Nancy in the spring of 1966, I was attending accelerated guard drills in Idaho every other weekend. Not long (mid-March I believe) after we began our Spring semester at BYU in 1968 we received notice that the 116th guard unit was being activated to prepare to be sent to Vietnam.
I reported in early May, not having time to quite complete the semester’s work at BYU. Our unit was quickly sent to Fort Lewis, WA to prepare for departure to Vietnam. We found out that if you had less than six months of your six-year enlistment to serve, you did not have to go to Vietnam. I had six years and 14 days left on my enrollment, so off we went.
After the women and children of the soldiers arrived in Washington, they were allowed to either have base housing or secure their own housing off base. For most of our group, we decided to obtain housing in Olympia, WA. Base housing was known to not be very pleasant and the families would not be close together.
About 30 days after we were sent to Fort Lewis, Wa, we were allowed to have our families come up and spend the rest of the time with us before we were deployed. We were training until the end of August at Fort Lewis, and then we were allowed about ten days furlough to return home and spend time with extended family before deployment. On September 10th of 1968, we flew out en route to Vietnam. It was a sad day for our family members. There were about 55 Father/Son combinations and several brothers that went together to Vietnam to serve our country.
My unit was assigned to build airport runways by night and clear landmines by day that the Vietcong had snuck in and planted at night. We landed in the Cam Ranh Bay area in the southern coastal area of Vietnam. We spent some time in the Ho Chi Minh City area. I was a squad leader there.
I and my brother Erroll were separated and Erroll was assigned duties further North in the Forest area so that if there was an attack on one location a family would be spared from losing two sons at that same time.
My parents had both of their oldest sons there, and their oldest daughter’s husband served with a different unit in another area of Vietnam at the same time. So every Sunday they would fast and pray for their safe return. It was a scary time for them and for us at home.
The events that unfolded were very warlike in nature, and I didn’t like to talk about it too much after I came home. One story I did relate to my family was about one of the Vietnamese men that came on base to cut the Soldier’s hair about once a month. After a few months of cutting hair one night, there was a raid on the compound, and quite a few Vietcong were killed. When they checked on the casualties, they found the man who had been coming into the group and cutting their hair.
I was very fortunate to be able to return home after my enlistment period was over. The rest stayed for a full year. I was happy to be home, because my first-child, Darren, was born on February 18, 1969.
The unit deployed was quite large but there were only a few casualties from our group. I truly believe that the faith and prayers of family and friends to our Father in Heaven protected them through this dangerous time.
After I graduated from BYU in business, I began my working career. I first worked for Big O Tires, and then for Les Schwab. While working in sales for these tire companies, i and my growing family lived in Hailey, Idaho, Weiser, Idaho, Mtn Home, Idaho, and Boise, Idaho. I further worked in Pocatello and then eventually retired in Idaho Falls.
Dellas and Nancy raised 6 children. Darren, Brett, Mark, Kevin, Teresa and Curtis. They spent many Saturdays fishing and getting treats!
Dellas has always been an outdoor enthusiast. He has had a fishing/Hunting license all of his life. He has hunted deer, elk, caught many fish “his favorite fishing site was palisades reservoir, followed closely by Blackfoot reservoir.”