Interview with Ammon

When my youngest brother, Ammon, came to my house a couple months ago, I jokingly looked him up on ancestry.com to see what we could find. (This is the kind of thing I do for fun.) For most young living people it's not much, but we did find him in the "Index to Public Records" with some addresses. Ammon then showed me his google results and pulled up an interview he did as a college freshman at Utah State University in 2014. I had already graduated and moved to Idaho by 2014, so I didn't know he made it into "The Utah Statesman" as a feature article.

Ammon told me he's a little embarrassed about some of his answers now. Understandably, because which human replies in perfectly clever ways throughout an impromptu interview. I think he was a pretty intelligent, handsome young man, who on occasion would sneak into parts of campus buildings most students never got to see. Thanks for sharing the article with me, Ammon! Note that my other brother, Aaron, was taking his usual nap on the couch next to Ammon near the International and Sunburst Lounges of the Taggart Student Center.

The Utah Statesman interviewed Ammon Hooper, a freshman in biological engineering from Hyde Park, Utah.

Utah Statesman: What’s your favorite outdoor activity in Logan?

Ammon Hooper: I like snowboarding but I don’t get to go as often as I’d like, playing soccer and ultimate Frisbee.

US: You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What book is it?

AH: It would have to be a really long book. I don’t know, I like “The Giver.” … It’s been a long time since I’ve read it, but it’s kind of like a good, dystopia movie in book form.

US: What’s your favorite song connected to a good memory?

AH: I’ve listened to “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons with my friends. We’ll get in whoever’s car has the most bass at the time and turn it up as loud as we can, so that’s a song I associate with hanging out with friends.

US: If you could live in any movie, in which one would you live?

AH: Probably something in the future where there’s amazing technology for me to use (and) you live forever.

US: If you could ask President Obama one question, what would you ask him?

AH: Would he answer honestly? I don’t really know, “What do you want America to become and what does everyone have to do for that to happen?”

US: What do you wish you could do to change the world?

AH: I’ve been kind of interested in education, how it could be improved so that everyone can be competitive, a global market. Even better than that, making it so that everyone can succeed if possible.

US: What’s the best advice you ever got from your parents?

AH: Have fun … responsibly.

US: Why Utah State?

AH: I got the dean’s scholarship here and I didn’t want to bother applying to anywhere else because it was so convenient and a lot cheaper.

US: We caught you reading The Statesman. What’s your favorite part to read?

AH: Usually whatever is on the front page, because it’s the most currently applicable. The politics ones are sometimes not fun to read, and then the comics are always fun.

US: What’s was your worst job?

AH: I worked fast food for a while. That was actually quite bad. It’s so hot and I was getting paid minimum wage, and it felt like I was working so hard.

US: Any grease burns?

AH: Yes, daily. Eventually, you just tough them out.

US: What’s your biggest fear?

AH: Probably just not succeeding at life and not being able to accomplish anything.

US: Most embarrassing moment?

AH: I was at an awards ceremony once and they were calling out names. I heard my name, so I started walking up and then I realized they had actually said “Ann” or something similar to that, so it was me and a girl and as soon as I got to the stage, I saw her and I realized, and so I just walked back.

US: Where in the world would you like to live?

AH: Somewhere in Europe where it’s warm, because I love the ocean. Every time I go on a vacation or a road trip, it’s my favorite part. 

 Eight years later, and Ammon just got back from a three-week adventure throughout Europe with his friends. He texted me, "Greetings from Tuscany," with these photos. He graduated with his bachelor's degree, and has been working as a phlebotomist and technician at a hospital while he prepares for other schooling challenges ahead. He's a sweet, intelligent, quiet yet daring young man, who I think is already succeeding at life and accomplishing great things. I'm proud of you and love you, Ammon!

Calvin and Ammon

A few years ago when I saw Grandpa Hooper's pictures as a young man, I thought about how much he looked like my youngest brother, Ammon. I tried to take a picture of Ammon in the right angle to compare, but it didn't really work. I decided to try again with a more recent picture.

Because I like to play with Photoshop, I put both of their faces at 50% opacity and overlapped  the pictures. I realized then how incredibly alike they do look. I think some of my male cousins take after Grandpa as well. I'd like to get some of them at the same angle. I'm talking about you, Jared and Tanner.

Photo of Calvin M. Hooper overlapping a photo of Ammon J. Hooper

Ammon didn't actually know Grandpa Hooper, because he died three months before Ammon was born. After a quarter of a century, my memories of Grandpa are starting to fade. What I really need to do is ask Dad and his siblings to tell us the stories again. I believe he was a machinist at Hill Air Force Base for most of his career. He was kind and loving. He loved to use tools, and had a big workshop in the basement. I didn't even know it was there until after he passed away, though. Could be because the grandkids didn't like to go near the basement laundry room because of the evil dog, Waddles. I don't think Grandpa was ever in his workshop when we came, though, because he wanted to visit with his kids.

One of my favorite memories was when a bunch of the grandkids were at their house, and we started messing with the garage door opener to see if we could figure out the code. Grandpa was inside, and could hear us pushing the buttons, but he never thought we'd guess it. Well, persistence was on our side, because some of the random numbers we chose ended up raising the door. Grandpa hurried out to rush us away, and he changed the code right then.

Grandma (Ruth) Hooper never learned to drive, so he would take her everywhere she needed to go until he got sick. Their youngest, Fred, also had major health problems with his kidneys, so for a few years, they had to drive him to the hospital for blood tests and treatments regularly. Grandpa kept a journal for part of that time.

September 2, 1993 Today is our catch up day. That is we don’t have any doctor’s appointments or blood draws. I will have to get the patio ready for Saturday along with catch up on some of the jobs around the house. Ruth is wanting to get Fred’s old car fixed up so Marylou can have it. She seems to think getting it to run is all it will take. But that is just a start, it will need tires and work on the front end, probably brakes. I don’t have any idea how much it will cost to get it fixed up so it will pass inspection. I hooked up the battery charger to the battery and it needed to be charged. So while it was being charged I went out and put up the tarp so we will have a little more shade for our picnic Saturday. Fay and Richard stopped by, it was good to see them.  

September 3, 1993 Today is Fred’s day we have to head for the hospital to have blood drawn. Went by pretty good, was back home by 8:17 a.m.. Then we were able to eat our breakfast. I decided to level out the stove. It really needed it too. But before I got it finished Ruth wanted to go to Wonder Bread, so I still have that job to finish up. Got the stove leveled up ok. Fred has a pain where his incision is and that has me worried. It seems like every weekend he has something wrong lately. I sure hope it is nothing serious. With it being Labor Day weekend it will be hard to find anyone to help us.  

September 4, 1993 Today we got up and took care of Fred’s vitals and he was having trouble with pain in his legs, so I spent the morning rubbing his legs to try and get them to stop hurting him. Dennis and Michele got here about 12:30 p.m.. It was good to see them. Susan and Rob and Nathan came next. Then Kent arrived a little later. Dale and his family arrived shortly there after. It was sure nice to have most of the family together again. I had hung a tarp from our back patio and with it it gave us enough shade so we would put out the two tables to eat on and it made it quite nice. I sure wish Fred had of felt better so he could have enjoyed it also. We missed having Don and his family along with Marylou’s family. Other than that we had a really nice time. Later in the day Kent, Dale, and I spent some time on the computer trying to learn how to use my hand scanner. We was finally able to scan a picture of Ruth into the monitor and it looked pretty good. I will have to learn more about it before I can get it to print out a hard copy.

 

I did find some collected memories that I'm sure Uncle Rob and Aunt Susan posted on familysearch.org, in addition to the journal entry. In the memories, I found this one from Grandma Hooper.

He really loved his grandchildren. Just a couple weeks ago he said that he hated to be leaving the grandchildren. He also regretted that he wouldn’t get to see the new grandkids that would be born in August [Ammon]. He loved to hold the grandkids in his lap and play with them. The kids would all love to climb on Grandpa.

Ammon, USU Graduate

My youngest brother, Ammon Hooper, recently graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree in biological engineering from Utah State University. He plans to continue on with school to get into the medical field. Since he decided not to walk, we celebrated together at a meeting place between the people at the top of the state and those of us around Salt Lake. (We threw an impromptu graduation ceremony for my dad at one point, complete with a neon orange poster board cap, because he regretted not walking to get his diploma when he earned his bachelor's degree. He warned Ammon it might happen to him, too.) He's a hard worker, and we're very proud of him. We love you, Ammon!

 

Ammon's Visit

My brother, Ammon, came up for a visit between our little vacations. He was so helpful with Miss V, especially when we rode in the car. Zak and I aren't that exciting, but we had fun with Ammon, playing some games, going for walks, and driving past the turbines.

Feet make the best toys.

Annual Battle of the Century

While visiting my parents, I noticed a Born Loser comic taped to my parents' door. The comic boy was playing catch by himself. My brother had written, "To Dad, Sincerely, Ammon." Dad finally decided it was time for their "Annual Battle of the Century." With several inches of snow (December in Utah) they decided catch wouldn't be doable, so they attempted hitting snowballs with a bat until moving on to a white flying disc-because, you know, that's easy to spot in the snow. Dad and Ammon both love to joke and tease, but seeing them play and laugh together portrayed the heart of Christmas. Their own "Cat's in the Cradle" moment.

They only hit Dad's observatory a few times.

Ammon has skills.

They don't watch dish tv from 1980. Dad uses it for radio astronomy.

Dad "nudged" Ammon into the snow.