Dorothy Paramore Deaver

June 30, 2015
Hi to all my classmates. I am so sorry to miss our 55th class reunion this year but I have all my children and grandchildren home. I have a son and his family who resides in Singapore and they only get home once a year so my priority is to catch every minute with them. This week has been full of fun and great joy. I think of all the great times we had as classmates and continually wonder how the years have passed so quickly. I have such fond memories of those times at Provo High. In spite of numerous health issues, I continue to work at the homeless shelter in Salt Lake (The Road Home) and invite any of you to come for a tour if you are in Salt Lake. Working at The Road Home continues to be my passion and love. It is such an amazing job and is a daily reminder of all the many blessings which I have in my life. I see so many people who are suffering and I am thankful for the wonderful community in which we live which provides so much support and help to those struggling with homelessness.

Since my last update, my daughter was married to a man with three children so I am now the proud grandmother of nine GRANDchildren. Life is great and I send my very best to each of you. I will miss being at the reunion.

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After graduation from Provo High School, I attended BYU and met my husband Cameron Deaver and received my Mrs. Degree in 1961. We stayed in Provo for a year while he finished his education. He was then drafted in the military service for three years. We spent two years of his military service in Italy and our oldest son Cameron was born six weeks prior to our rotating back to the states.

After his military service, my husband decided he wanted to spend a few years with his family in his home state of North Carolina so we decided we would move there for a few years. Of course, we ended up living there for almost thirty years and I loved every minute of it. Living in the South was a great experience and I loved raising my children in a state that is incredibly beautiful, close to both mountains and spectacular beaches. The opportunities and challenges for growth in the church were amazing and I believe my children embraced the church wholeheartedly while living in the South. All my children have served missions and three of my children have been married in the temple. My two other children are still single.

After almost thirty years of marriage, I was divorced in 1990. I was employed as a manager with IBM and transferred to the Salt Lake IBM Marketing office in 1993. In 1996 I retired from IBM and worked with a national consulting firm as an office manager and marketing associate. Ten years ago I decided I wanted to get into a non-corporate work environment and started working at the homeless shelter, The Road Home, here in Salt Lake City. It is one of the best decisions of my life. It is now my passion, my love and my blessing to be in this humble environment on a daily basis. Every day I come home grateful for all that I have. I see families in such dire need and our agency, in collaboration with many other agencies in our community, provides hope, assistance and an opportunity to overcome homelessness to so many who come through our doors. During the winter months, we sleep around 1,000 individuals every night. There are so many opportunities for service here that I feel like I’m on a full time mission. I work as the Executive Assistant to the Director of the agency and plan to work until they close the lid on my coffin. If any of you are ever in Salt Lake and would like a tour of the shelter, please give me a call or stop by. 819-7318

I have dated a lot, been in love a few times in the past twenty years and almost got married again about seven years ago. Fortunately, I recognized the uncertainty of that relationship before we got married and called it off just in time.

The joys of my life are of course my wonderful, loving, and devoted children, their spouses and my five grandchildren. I know I am loved every day of my life because of my family, friends and my faith. I have always remained strong in the church and have held some very challenging leadership positions. I’ve had numerous challenges to overcome in the past fifty years. During the past five months I've had two major surgeries and sustained a brain injury during a recent fall. However, with the tender love and support of my family, I have survived them all. I owe my life’s attitude, strength, persistence and joy to my wonderful parents, my siblings, my children, my faith and to the many dear friends throughout my life, most especially to those of you who influenced my life through our crucial high school years.

I can’t wait to see you all again.

One of the things I've missed most about my high school days was singing with the Hi Five Quintet. Singing with those wonderful friends helped me to overcome my shyness.

My favorite dance/assembly was of course our Jr. Prom - Bali Hai. My second son and his family have lived in Okinawa for the past five years and they recently visited Bali and sent pictures back. The countryside was absolutley incredible and flooded my heart with memories of working on the art background for the assembly. Of course, the best part of the assembly was seeing the guys dressed up in skirts and coconut breasts! Maybe they could do a repeat performance for our reunion. Let's put Steve Bullock in charge of that.

My favorite teachers were Mrs. Taylor and Mr. Johnson.