Calvin played the trumpet in Austin High School Marching Band. He loved music and even took his trumpet the college with him.

Another random memory... He would show me his profile and say," Don't you think I have a prominent nose?" He thought that was a great feature he had.

To bring in some extra money I substituted a couple of days a week. I preferred the High School as "Mr. Pierce" was the one most of the kids had as a math teacher. Because the kids respected him, they behaved for me. Each day he would tell the kids "Mrs. Pierce is subbing for ... and you better be nice to her or you will get it from me!" They knew he loved them but was serious as he loved his wife also.

I vaguely remember a trip we took out to Utah. There was a crazy rainstorm, so we had to stop at a hotel in either Nevada or Utah. I was happy we got to stop because I was then able to dive into the treat that we had-yogurt with sprinkles. I know this memory doesn't necessarily have to do with Dad, but it's a memory I have of when Dad was still alive.

Kind of random, but Calvin said he usually received inspiration while in the shower.

When Spencer was just a little baby we took a trip to the San Francisco area. WE went to visit my former roommate and her husband. They lived in Alameda. We decided to go to China Town for dinner. It seemed like there were not very many children around and everyone stopped us to "look" at the baby. We sat down to order and the waitress commented how cute Spencer was. She looked at Calvin and then exclaimed "How did you do that with one arm?"(meaning have a baby). Almost in unison we all answered," It doesn't take two arms!" We had quite a laugh about that.

Calvin had a swimming pool at his home while growing up. He always told the story of how he learned to swim. His dad and brother threw him in the middle of the pool and yelled"now swim".

For his Eagle Project he recovered all the seats in the choir loft at church. This building always held a special place in his heart as his grandfather was the first bishop in that building. Scouting was very important to him and one thing he treasured was going on the worldwide scout Jamboree. I believe it was in Finland. He loved that experience.

Hugs and Kisses

Dad was a very affectionate person.  He would always hug us and hold us when we were kids.  He always made sure that we gave Mom a hug and a kiss before we went to bed.  I think that his family was very physically affectionate because his siblings always give good hugs when they come to visit.  I remember that Uncle Glade called them abrazos.  However, Mom doesn't always appreciate public displays of affection.  I remember one time when Dad kissed Mom while they were in the kitchen in our house in Riverside.  Mom tried to push him away because she felt awkward because all of us kids were in the room, but Dad wouldn't have it.  He held tight, kissed her and said, "I want my kids to know that I love my wife".

British Isles

I remember that Dad made a list of goals he wanted to accomplish before he died.  He made it shortly before he passed away and had it hanging on the wall in the office by the computer.  I want to say that he had about 10 goals on the list.  They were all ambitious goals that would have taken a lifetime to achieve.  I think that Dad always had great aspirations in all aspects of his life and had confidence that he could achieve great things.  I remember only one thing on the list, and it was to take the whole family on a trip to the British Isles.  I think I remember this goal because I thought that isles was a fun word, and I had no idea why he wanted to take us there.  Now that I am older, I would guess that he had this goal because he wanted to visit all of the Pierce family history sites with his family.

Stake Softball Game

Although Dad had only one fully functional arm, he was still very active and enjoyed playing sports. I was always impressed at what we was able to accomplish with only 1.25 arms. I remember him teaching me how to swim and I also remember going to stake softball tournaments. I remember him playing pitcher. He would pitch with his right arm while dangling his glove over his small non-functional arm. I don't exactly recall how he transferred the glove from his left arm to the right one ( for some reason I remember him flipping it off of his bad arm and somehow getting it onto his right arm). However he did it, I was always extremely impressed at how positive he always was with his bum arm. I never once heard him complain about it. He played basketball with us and did basically everything, so his disability never seemed much like a disability, but more like a challenge.