"Learning To Do, Doing to Learn, Earning To Live, Living To Serve" is not just the Motto for the Future Farmers of America, but the personal motto of Jay Dalley, formally of Nephi, Utah. When he first arrived at Juab High, most of his students grew up on a farm and knew more than he did, or so they thought! I spoke to one of his 6 foot 4 inch former students the other day, who soon learned the shorter Jay Dalley was no pushover, who quickly took command of us dirt clods. After winning a State Championship at the luxury Terrace Ballroom in Salt Lake, one of us stepped on a capsule that was a stink bomb that cleared the ballroom. Jay Dalley was a funster, but some body had gone too far, and I soon found Jay picking me up by the jacket and dragged me out of there. As I sat in front of his casket the other day, I couldn't help but smile as we were two peas in a pod and I swore he turned his head and smiled back at me. Kids came to respect how he grew up fetching water from a creek to help take care of the farm and a split family. His predecessor was Jim Anderson, who had a reputation for winning all kinds of Trophies for the Mt. Nebo Chapter. That came to a sudden halt when he lost a leg in a farming accident. In came a young college greenie named Jay who soon made all of us "Greenhands" for life. In 1914, Harry Beagley then Jim Anderson and Jay Dalley taught us the difference in an udder and when to utter. I felt gratitude to be taught by all, with Mr. Beagley being a substitute teacher in the 1960's. And nobody thought this short guy named Jay could play basketball, but played for the Gunnison Bulldogs; Snow College, then at BYU with Clark Greenhalgh, where one of the games was against the National Champions from the U of U. In the 1960's, one of our fun times were for the teachers to take on the High School Basketball team(who won the State Championship in 1959 and 1960. Locals snickered when Jay took the ball at the foul line and with both hands threw underhanded and would continue to make the shot. Then came the day he tossed the ball from the opposing foul line to his teams hoop and made it. "Just Luck" they shouted, so he went back and did it again. In 1964, I thought I was the best at Roberts Rules of Order and knew how to speak clearly, being properly prepared by Mrs. Lomax and Mrs. Wankier. I was the clear shot at being the Chair for the Parliamentary Procedure Team. Mr. Dalley came and told me his secret. I wasn't going to make the team! He was saving me for the next year as we had an unbeatable team. He kept his word, and we won State again, and in total he lead others to 7 State Championships and one National Championship but there was no more room at the old high school, so the Trophies were buried at the landfill, but the memories will last forever. Every person knew where they were on Nov. 22, 1963. When I asked Gary B. Jones where he was that day, he remembered well and said "The president's assassination has forever engraved upon my mind the time-line as to when Mr. Dalley was my teacher, and serves as a reminder that good and righteous people come into our lives, and make a positive difference that will forever remain. Mr. Dalley was such a man." Like my brother said, he was our FFA Advisor, but also a personal advisor, and more than once help guide many of us, including one forever brazen kid who refused to be involved in Parliamentary Procedure. That was fine with Mr. Dalley who sentenced him to hard labor-using a wheelbarrow to help fill the High School swimming pool, which was condemned. It didn't ruin that tough kid and neither did he squeal to his respected father, as he knew the father would back up the teacher. That kid learned good work ethics which may be slipping in today's world. Jay Dalley taught the same as what JFK wrote: "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on".
