Memories of Sterling King Hixson

The following was written in May, 2013, by Robert Lee Hixson, son of Sterling King Hixson. …Been thinking about Sterling, and feeling like it’s a good time to list some of the things I remember best about him, so Kyle Sterling Allison would know more about his namesake. Above all he was a soft-spoken, soft-hearted man who devoted much of his spare time to his children, and later to his grandchildren. He never hit any of us. He loved pork & beans for lunch on Saturdays, and home made hamburgers for dinner that night. And he was more adventurous than you would suspect from his mild demeanor, choosing to circle the globe by a series of ships after his mission was completed in Holland. No planned itinerary—just striking out, going from port to port, making plans on the fly. With his final stop being Hawaii, which turned out to be his favorite place on earth. He and Ellen going back there every winter for the last couple of decades on earth, renting a condo for a month each time, sitting on lounge chairs, watching whales spout in the distance. He built a miniature golf course that circled the house, and my friends and I played hundreds of rounds on it. He volunteered to coach my Little League Baseball team. He took me fishing on wild rivers in southern Idaho. He allowed me to buy a Cushman scooter to get back and forth from high school. He taught me by example the inherent value of giving a good day’s work for a day’s pay. He taught me how to respect women, how to treasure a mate, and how to care for his elders. And he loved to listen to the Yankees on his transistor radio in the garage on weekends. He rose from the entry level in the Utah Power & Light Company to the head of his department, in charge of the flow of electricity throughout Utah and the surrounding states. An honest man! Miss him.