Steven Streeper

After Poky, I attended ISC, majoring in Nuclear Physics (HA!) for one semester, majoring in Student Union, skiing and hanging out. Failing to achieve scholastic glory on such a challenging curriculum, although passing ROTC, I was banished to BYU. There too, I majored primarily in pranks and miscreancy of various sorts. I really enjoyed my time there, though, and, amazingly, passed all classes, though not well.

I'd better go to the Readers' Digest version:

Served an LDS mission to Denmark from Nov '62 to May '65, which I thoroughly enjoyed, returning to ISU, now majoring in Geology and actually passing the requisite classes.

On August 12, 1966, I married Patricia Gale Henson (from McCammon) in the Idaho Falls LDS temple. Yes, she's the Pat to whom I am STILL married after 45 years of marital bliss.

In fall of '67, I changed my major to Pharmacy/PreMed and managed to earn a place on the Pharmacy Deans' List for that year. That summer, I was drafted!! As Gomer Pyle would say, "SOOPRAAAZE, SOOOPRAAAZE, SOOOPRAAAZE!!!" Yes, it certainly was.

On Aug. 16, 1968, I entered the Green Machine and became...a KILLING MACHINE, YEAHHH!!!" At least that's what the Drill Sergeants told us all day, every day! After Basic Training, I was trained as a Combat Medic in San Antonio, followed by more advanced training as an Operating Room Technician (surgical assistant). After graduating, I got orders to THE BIG GAME...'Nam! It was a dream come true...uh huh?

I was ordered to serve at the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku. Pleiku is located in the Cental Highlands at an elevation of about 4,000 feet about 20 miles from the convergence of Vietnam's borders with Laos and Cambodia. The Ho Chi Minh trail had major entrances into Vietnam in the Pleiku/Kontum area. The Highlands are breaktakingly beautiful and have historically been the key to controlling the country. The indigenous mountain tribes of the region were called "Montagnard" by the French, although there are several distinct tribes. Because of its' critical strategic location, the Highlands were the scene of most of Vietnam's major battles, including the battle at LZ X-ray portrayed in the movie "We Were Soldiers Then".

After orientation and some additional training for about a month, I went to work in the Operating Room. I really loved working in Surgery. It was a high stakes adrenaline rush, fighting to save lives that were definitely in the balance. It meant something. While not what I'd call FUN, it was very interesting and occasionally humorous...in a gallows humor sort of way. I was amazed at all the different ways a human body can get messed up: tree falls, tiger maulings plus the usual war stuff...bullet wounds, bomb damage, napalm burns, white phosphorus burns, shrapnel, vehicle accidents, disembowelings, beheadings...you know, the USUAL WAR STUFF! If you want to know more about my adventures at the 71st, go to my Facebook page and look for 71xt Evac. I've written down several stories about cases I worked on.

After returning to "THE WORLD" (as opposed to "THE 'NAM!) in 1970, I was trained to be an instructor at the OR Tech (91D) school at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas for a year, then in June '71 I returned to complete my degree in Pharmacy at ISU. By going to school year-around, I was able to graduate in May, 1974.

I practiced pharmacy in several places, including Idaho Poison Control Center, Idaho Drug information Service, St. Anthony Hospital, and several retail pharmacies until Sept. 1980 when I decided to return to school. I was accepted into the ISU MBA program on a scholarship.

I worked from 1980 to 1987 in the computer industry, beginning while in the MBA program, teaching computer literacy and BASIC programming in the College of Business.

During this time, I wrote computer programs, designed software systems and performed business systems analysis, managing my own consulting and development business. I developed and wrote a custom program for Bannock Memorial Hospital's maintenance department that I eventually installed in nineteen small hospitals around the country.

In 1988, I was offered a full-time position with Smith's Pharmacy in Pocatello and have worked in retail pharmacy ever since.

Looking for self-employment opportunities, Pat and I purchased Lost River Drug in Arco, Idaho in August, 1998 and have enjoyed both the challenges and rewards of ownership since.

Pat and I have been actively involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints during our marriage, each of us serving in many leadership positions. We find it especially rewarding to serve with the youth. Pat loves the little ones and is currently a Primary teacher. I have served in many capacities: Scoutmaster, Cubmaster, Young Men's President, Stake High Council (twice), Stake Executive Secretary, Bishops' Counsellor, Stake Emergency Communication Specialist, Gospel Doctrine Instructor and many more. I'm currently (2019) Ward Young Men's President. This may seem strange to you who knew me in school. I give the credit to God and to my wonderful wife for having the patience to shepherd through the past 50+ years.

Many of my funny high school stories are adventures involving Wayne Whitlow. You know the kind: Rattlesnakes on desks, archery practice during quizzes, bats loose in the room, hatching maggots, tobacco smoke billowing forth from the storage room, profuse profanity directed at "stupid" students.

(Disclaimer: I haven't been able to find anyone who can corroborate the following memory...at least no one will admit it!)
One of my earliest memories of PHS was arriving there for my first day of school (or it could have been during Red and Blue days) in the fall of 1968, to be greeted by the curious sight of the boys walking around the main gazing ceilingward (is that a word?) while all the girls were staring steadfastly at the floor. "When what to my wondering eyes did appear" but hundreds of Playboy centerfolds taped to the ceiling. That was, IMHO, an appropriate introduction to good 'ol PHS!! The ridiculous AND the sublime.

Fleeting memories:

Flaming wastebaskets sliding past my classroom door!

A bank of lockers crashing down the stairway, with student inside!

A teachers' VW Bug (Isetta??) perched on the south stair landing...carried there by several STRONG dudes!

Someones' britches flapping from the flagpole and a sophomore boy desperately trying to cover up his nakedness out on the quad.

Having a milkshake at the Dairy Queen on Main St., across from the Huddle. The tradition there was dipping the straw cover in the shake and then blowing the cover onto the ceiling...the place looked like Carlsbad Cavern with all those waving stalactites...or are they stalagmites??

Cruising Main BOTH WAYS!!

Cruising Main ONE WAY and making the Main-Don's Arctic Circle -Railroad Ave loop forty times a night.

The CRACK! of a baseball being hit at Halliwell Field on a summer night.

The lonesome sound of freight train whistles reverberating down the valley.

Football on a crisp autumn evening/afternoon at Irving Field.

The Senior Dance Team doing "Chantilly Lace" at an assembly.

Moving from the Lowly Sophomore section to the Jumpin' Junior section, then, finally, to the Mighty Senior section!!

My buddies and I sitting on the front row at assemblies and simultaneously changing our identically crossed legs....HILARIOUS!! (Can you even imagine how that witty behavior would be greeted now?? YAWN!!)

These and thousands of other funny/sad/nostalgic memories fill my mind when I remember my days at Poky High. I was, and am, very proud to be a Poky Indian!