Rose and Dale Ungerman: Heritage Days grand marshals

By Patsy Stoddard
Editor

Rose and Dale Ungerman have been named the Grand Marshal’s for the Huntington Heritage Days celebration. The two are long time Huntington residents. They were married on Aug. 1, 1953. They purchased their home in Huntington in 1959.
Rose was born and raised in Huntington. She is the daughter of Darwin and Leola Mangum. She went to school at Huntington Elementary and graduated from North Emery High in 1953.
“I really enjoyed school. I enjoyed all the kids. I was involved in a lot of things. I was the president of the pep club, studentbody secretary, cheerleader, marching band and several activities. I loved school and being around people. I was kind of mischievous and I had a lot of friends. Dale was in the Navy when we married. We lived in California and moved back. We lived in Moab during the uranium boom. We came back and stayed in Huntington. We have five children, Debbie, Brent, Garth, Gordon and Rydel. We have 18 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren.
“I started working at Huntington Elementary in the kindergarten and special education department as an aide. I worked as the secretary. I loved being at the school. It was a wise choice. I loved the kids. I spent 30 years at the Huntington Elementary. Even before working at the school I was a volunteer at the school and taught PE and art classes. I was a room mother and helped with class parties,” said Rose.
Dale said, “I was born in Castle Dale to Leon and Ann Ungerman. We lived for three years in the coal camp at Hiawatha. My dad started up there in the coal mine when he was 15 years old. He was a coal miner and spent most of his time mining, but took other jobs when mining was slow. I went to school in Hiawatha third, fourth and fifth grades. Then we moved back to Castle Dale. The elementary school there was where the old city hall is now. I spent two years at South Emery High and two years at North Emery High. There were battles back then between the north and south. I joined the navy when I was 17, the middle of my senior year. I left on the fourth of January. I should have graduated from high school in 1951. After the service I worked in Price at Keller’s Market. I decided to go back to school so I went to college at night and worked during the day. When the college found out a bunch of us hadn’t graduated from high school because we went into the service, they gave us a GED test and we graduated from college and high school at the same time. This was in 1958.
“In Korea, I went on three nine month cruises. I wasn’t old enough to join when I did but my dad signed for me. When Rose and I married I had six months left. I actually came home a little early, because the Korean war ended.
“In college I took drafting and auto mechanics. I spent 43 years cutting meat. I worked as a meat cutter during the day during college and went to school at night. I worked for 15 years for Keller and then three years for Jeanselmes market. We opened Dale’s Custom Meats in 1970,” said Dale. In 2000, Dale retired for good, his son Gordon and Gordon’s sons Willie and Clark have been running the business. Ungerman’s Meats was in the yard at Dale and Roses and about four years ago, the business moved to its new location 790 North and 400 East in Huntington.
The meat shop has been in business for 47 years.
Rose said, “It’s been a good life. Now it seems like I go to a lot of doctors, my health has been declining. I’m getting to where I feel better now. I enjoy yard work. Our family and grandkids are our life. I have really enjoyed living in Huntington. I love the people.
Our ladies club has been fun. We liked to go camping and have parties. We have formed many lasting friendships over the years,” said Rose.
Dale said, “I enjoy the yard work. I miss the people coming and going now the shop isn’t here at the house. We got to know a lot of people from California to New York who came here to hunt and we’d process their meat.”
Rose said, “One really neat thing, we’re very proud of, when Dale was on the city council he was over recreation. Along with our J and J club we built the first little league field down by the school. We helped get that going. We’ve worked hard to help our city and get it cleaned up.”
Dale remembers when all the streets in Huntington were dirt except for Main Street. “I used to get stuck in the mud all the time outside of our house,” said Dale.
Rose and Dale both agree that Huntington has come a long way and it is a great place to live and raise a family. The improvements made over the years for the children of the city have been great. “We’ve watched our little city grow and it’s so nice. Another thing I really enjoyed was being an EMT. I was an EMT for 12 years. Being involved with the people and the friendships formed are fond memories. We also have enjoyed working at the temple. We’ve always been active in our church,” said Rose.
Dale remembers he even wanted to have a musical career at one time. “I went to Nashville and recorded some songs. When it came time to go on tour, we decided traveling like that wasn’t the kind of life we wanted for our family so we came home. I have played with the Val Jensen band and was in the Huntington Glee Club. I have sung at around 500 funerals and that was my musical career.”
Rose said, “We’ve done a lot of things to keep our lives interesting and meaningful. We have a pool out back and I’ve taught aquasize and opened it for swimming lessons. We used to have a number of ladies in their 80s we would help in and out of the pool. I have painted as one of my hobbies and taught classes. I guess I’ve done a little bit of everything. Our home and yard have been open for a lot of activities. It’s been fun.
Dale said he had one of the first sprinkling systems in town. He had to install a pump so the basement would quit flooding due to the high water table and he used that water to sprinkle.
They remember traveling with their friends Bob and LuRene Swinburne and how Bob taught them all to golf which they have loved. They still laugh about the day LuRene hit Bob with a golf club one day while he was giving her some golf tips. It was on accident, of course.
Rose and Dale said it is an honor to be recognized as the Grand Marshal’s of Heritage Days and they are looking forward to the annual celebration.