Mary DaSilva: Hello, my name is Mary de Silva. And I am here with my father Thadis Box.
Thad Box: And I'm Thad Box. I'm 94 years of age. And we're now in Logan, Utah.
Mary DaSilva: Tell me a little bit about where you were born and who the important people were in your life.
Thad Box: I was born in Llano County, Texas, I lived there most of my life. Where we live we had no telephones. We had no electricity. Very few of the houses had running water in them. We got water either from the river, or a creek, or a well that we dug.
Mary DaSilva: And what did your mom and dad do?
Thad Box: They were farmers; lived off the land. The day I was born, my grandfather's cow had a calf. And so they gave that calf to me. So I've always owned livestock.
Mary DaSilva: What kind of education did you have?
Thad Box: A lot of people lived in the area, they just didn't have many schools or anything. So there wasn't much of an education system in Texas when I was a kid. Always been a curious person and mother could read. Once we found out that there was a library that we could get books, we had a book in front of us every night. We would light the kerosene, and mother would read a chapter.
Mary DaSilva: How did you end up going to college coming from the background that you came from?
Thad Box: My parents were wanting me to go to college and what really got me into education was being drafted in the army. Now, I didn't want to be the bottom of the bunch. And that stayed with me for a long time. And I wanted to go into agriculture.
Mary DaSilva: You ended up moving to Utah.
Thad Box: First time I saw Utah there was a national meeting of range management open Idaho, and I was in college down in Texas. And to get there we came through this area. One of our students went stop in and talk to his alma mater professor -- Stoddard famous for range management -- was head of that program. And that was the first time I'd ever had any indication to this college here in Logan, Utah. Then one day, I got a call from Stoddard and he asked me if I wanted to go to work up here for him. And so Jenny and I put our kids in the car and an old trailer behind it and came up to Logan because this climate up here, and the people, and the mountains -- they had captured me the first time.
Mary DaSilva: Eventually you became the Dean of the College of Natural Resources. What are some of your favorite memories of working at the university?
Thad Box: Oh, watching other people grow. No doubt about that. To see somebody that's struggling and not knowing where they're going or what they're doing -- find themselves. And that was one of the things I've tried to teach: "You're an individual." That's where the fun is as a teacher.
Mary DaSilva: And now you have several grandchildren that are all young adults. What advice would you give to your younger generation?
Thad Box: Get out there and see what the world is like. Don't hide yourself.
Mary DaSilva: Because your life would have been much different. Had you just stayed on the farm in central Texas.
Thad Box: Oh, much different.
Mary DaSilva: We really won the lottery to be born into this family and we're just so lucky to have you and mom raise us. Just so fortunate to be together.
Thad Box: Thank you. That is an important thing, is to be together and do things that are important that you can see, that make either that person or the world better.
Mary DaSilva: Thank you so much.
Thad Box: Well, thanks for asking me.
