I am presently a septuagenarian. For the better part of my life, I have trodden a path with William Wines Phelps (1792–1872) near my side. How did my intimate relationship with such an interesting and eccentric man come about?
I am a war baby, the first child born to my war-veteran father and my war-industries working mother who married in the Salt Lake Temple at the tail end of World War II. My father took employment as a law enforcement officer connected to the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1952 Dad was transferred from Salt Lake to noted railroad hub North Platte, Nebraska. As Latter-day Saints, we met as a small branch in a house. Beginning in the fourth grade, my parents got me started with piano lessons with an aim to help me become an accompanist in the various church auxiliaries in the branch. As the years progressed and our...