Gardner 1

A major part of Human Geography is the sense of place that we have as we become
emotionally tied to a location. As we move around from place to place, we adapt and learn and
participate in the diffusion of cultures. Each of us have ancestors who have come before us and
their trails become part of our heritage and their experiences can help us to grow as well and
their lives teach us lessons as we learn from them. This is my family migration history, including
the migrations of my maternal grandparents, my parents, and myself.
My blood comes mostly from western and northern European countries such as England,
France, Denmark, and Germany. My ancestors were immigrants from these countries to the
Americas and most converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early
years of the restoration and crossed the plains with the pioneers. That is how my ancestors came
to the west, where both my mothers parents were born and grew up, where they met, where they
have lived most of their lives, and where they now reside. First, I will recount the history of my
Grandpas travels.
My Grandpa is Roger Lee Hunt, born on April 29th, 1942. He was born in Overton,
Nevada but only because thats where the nearest doctor was my Grandpa recounts. His family
resided in Bunkerville, Nevada, on a modest farm. He was the fourth generation of his family to
live there. He grew up there until he reached 18 years of age and moved to Cedar City, Utah, to
attend college. This was his first move and says that it was a challenge to be away from family
for the first time and going from a home to a dorm with a few other young men. He says that he
had to take care of himself for the first time. Instead of wide open spaces and demanding manual
labor, he was now at a college, spending more time studying and on campus. From there he left
to serve a mission for the Church and received his calling to the New England States Mission.

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While on his mission, he spent one year in Vermont, eight months in New Hampshire,
and four months in Maine. This time the culture shock was much more apparent and certainly
more shocking. There were many things that were very different from his westerner upbringing.
The language, the pronunciation and the dialect, were particularly strange. They use very
different idioms. He told me, They would say that someone would be from away, which
meant they were from out of town. They pronounced the r sound at the end of words that ended
in vowels like window would sound like windr or fellow would be fellr. And they cut off the rs
where they were supposed to be like car would be cah, door would be doah, etcetera. He then
went on to say how in the west as an affirmation we sometimes say uh-huh, well there they
would say yeah yeah yeah but while inhaling instead of exhaling like we do as we say uh-huh.
He also said that he had to adapt to much, much, colder weather. And their cuisine was also very
different. Theyd put syrup on just everything from pork chops to snow and he was also
introduced to much more variety of seafood than he had been exposed to before. He would return
after serving faithfully in 1961.
In 1963, he returned to his education, but this time he would enter Brigham Young
University. It would be there that he met Mauna Sue Hawkes and would marry her on July 20th,
1965. They were sealed in the St. George Temple. Roger continued to study and earned his
Bachelors degree in 1966 and earned other degrees. As they had their first son was born, they
received news that my Grandpa, who was studying law, had been accepted into the Law school at
George Washington University in Washington D.C. Grandma chimed in and told me that they
drove across the country in a little black Volkswagen.
This time the differences were more political Grandpa says. It was no longer
uncommon to see political figures walking down the streets. They also said that there is much

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more patriotism because if all the history there. Grandma said it just made history come alive
for me! Meanwhile, as Grandpa worked for a Senator and my mother was born, grandma was
still getting used to things in the East. She told me how she felt so claustrophobic. She had been
used to mountains and desert, and now there were trees that overgrew everything and often
blocked out the view. Grandpa said he didnt feel very fond of it either because he felt isolated
being so far from the rest of his family and Grandmas too. He and Granma both felt very
grateful for the Church and the members, to whom they accredited their survival. Grandpa finally
Graduated in 1970 Nevada, to Las Vegas, to take the bar exam and be closer to family. In January
of 1971 he started working as Deputy District Attorney. Now the adjustment was to living in a
large city with the pollution and the crowds. Grandpa moved up the ranks and became a Federal
Judge as they also added onto their house on the west side of town. By the time they moved out
of that house, they had more than doubled its original size with the additions they had made.
In 1998, five of their six kids had moved out by now and their house grew too big, so
they moved to Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas. We moved because we needed a smaller yard,
and it was a nicer and newer house. Grandma says. That has been their home ever since, but not
their only one. They had built a cabin in southern Utah little by little for years until it was
finished in the 80s. It has since been a great vacation spot for my family with many great
memories. They moved to Kensington, Maryland in 2013 to serve a Temple Mission in the D.C.
Temple for six months. They returned to Henderson in April of 2014 and then were asked to go
on a special assignment to Sri Lanka, a small island country off the southern coast of India. They
moved to Colombo, but traveled around a lot while there to train and advise the Judicial System
of Sri Lankan government.

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Grandma called this experience extreme culture shock as they moved to Sri Lanka. It
was very different for them to live on a small island. The dress and cuisine reflect the heavy
Indian cultural influence there. They said how it was interesting to be in a culture where the mass
majority of the people are Buddhists and there are all types of shrines and temples. Apart from
the clothing and cuisine and the ruins, the country was very modern. They all spoke English but
with a heavy Indian accent, but most spoke Sinhala and Tamil as well. In August of 2014 they
returned and culturally, its nice to be home. they said.
Before she met my Grandpa, Mauna Sue Hawkes was born in Logan, Utah, on August
3rd, 1945. Her family moved to Las Vegas when she was 9. We moved around a lot. My dad was
trying many jobs, but times were hard. Sometimes I attended three different schools in the same
year. Dad finally decided to be an electricianwe moved to Las Vegas where Dad found good
work. We lived in that house until we all moved out and my parents lived in that house until they
both passed away. My Grandma told me. It was his ability that would land him a job as
electrician helping to construct the Hoover Dam, which led them to move to Vegas. My Grandma
said that it was an adjustment from the high mountains of Utah to the low and hot deserts of
Vegas. She graduated high school there and moved up to Provo to attend BYU in 1963, where
she would get set up with Roger Lee Hunt on a blind date, and as they say, the rest is history.
Grandma said. Grandpa worked at the Wilkinson Bowling alley the year after it opened for the
first time and Grandma worked as a secretary in the Maeser Building for a time. Just before
getting married, Grandpa left to tour with the BYU ballroom dance team, and Grandma moved
back to Vegas for a time to support her family by working at an insurance company. Once
grandpa returned and they were married, their stories converge.

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My Grandparents moved around quite a bit and have seen many beautiful places and have
experienced many different things. My parents have also had to move a few times, and have
great stories as well. My Father is Douglas Kirk Gardner. He was born in Mesa Arizona on
November 25th, 1968. My Dads family has lived in Arizona for 6 generations now if you include
me. They lived in Mesa and changed houses within Mesa when Dad was eight to have a nicer
and bigger place for the growing family. My dads family often went out to the deserts of
Arizona to ride dirt bikes and four-wheelers around New Years and would spend most of his time
with his neighborhood friends. He lived there until he graduated and entered Brigham Young
University in June of 1987 and obviously moved to Provo to attend. Many friends also came
with him so apart from the much milder summer, there were not many hard changes to make. He
quickly made friends with a girl who attended his ward named Rachelle Hunt. After many Runins, they began dating. My dad then served a full time mission for the church and was called to
serve in the Honduras, Tegucigalpa Mission, which then encompassed all of Honduras and parts
of other Central American countries. He moved around within Honduras for the two years of his
mission and said that it was very different. It would be a sunny day one second and just
torrential rain the next in the tropical nation. You could give a kid a dollar and he would climb
a tree and grab you a bunch of bananas or coconuts. He used to tell me.
When he returned with honor in December of 1989, he returned to Mesa and Transferred
to Arizona State University and continued to see Rachelle for a few months when on Valentines
Day he asked her to Marry him. They were sealed in the Las Vegas Temple in April of 1990.
They moved into a cheap triplex because it wasnt his moms house and because it was
affordable. They had to be careful in the old, run-down apartment in a rough neighborhood as
Dad put it. They moved from there to Chandler, another sub-city of Phoenix like Mesa, in

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October of 1991 to get a better environment. They would make a similar move, but this time into
a home in Mesa in 1993. Still in a dangerous neighborhood, but now with space to support a
baby-me. My family lived in that house for 7 years and then we moved to our current home in
Gilbert, Arizona. My parents and siblings still live there.
My Mom, Rachelle Gardner, was born as I mentioned earlier, in Virginia on July 14th,
1969. She lived there a very short time when my grandparents returned to Las Vegas and then
moved again with them in 74 to another home in Las Vegas. There used to be dirt just
everywhere so we would make jumps and trails for our dirt bikes and ride them all over the
desert since there werent any homes by us. My Mom used to tell us. She graduated high school
and left for BYU in June of 89 and there met, and later married, my dad. She has moved with
our family and has done an indescribably amazing job at supporting my dad and our family.
My name is Zachary Kirk Gardner. I was born in Mesa, Arizona, on the 24th of
September, 1993. From my childhood I remember that I wasnt allowed to play in the front yard
much like I saw on TV and as I grew older I understood why. Our old house was in one of the
worst crime districts of Mesa at the time, which is why once we could afford it we moved to
Gilbert. It was a hard move for me because I thought that I could never see my friends again. For
me the few miles that we moved may as well have been across the state. But I found more
friends and adjusted. Our new neighborhood was nice and the new house was beautiful. I
appreciate it much more now that I am older. I was raised in that house until at 19 years of age, I
left on my own mission. I had been called to Argentina, Neuqun Mission. I lived a while in
Provo at the MTC of course, but then when I hadnt received my visa, they gave me a temporary
reassignment to Fresno California. I was there for a short 2 months and left for Argentina where I
traveled a lot within the southernmost cities of Argentina in the region known as the Patagonia.

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There I had many life changing experiences, where I was tested to my limits and became more of
a man. On my mission I had been pondering and praying about what I was to do about schooling.
I had originally planned to return home and work and continue to explore y options with more
research, but while in the Patagonia, one day on a bench waiting for transportation, I had the
distinct feeling that roughly translated into words was like go to BYU. Go as soon as possible.
The urgency to the feeling was all that I needed and before my return from the mission in
November of 2014, I was accepted to enter BYU in January of 15.
Adjusting to Argentina was very difficult. It is extremely cold there compared to Arizona
heat and the people have a very different outlook on life. The wind was intense and blew dust
and sometimes even rocks at us. Eventually I adjusted. The food was delicious, but very heavy,
mostly pasta and meats. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I use that phrase to
describe how I learned to appreciate vegetables so much more upon my return. The Language
barrier was also a challenge, while at first I didnt speak particularly well, I have since been
confused for actual Argentines, which I take as a compliment and a testimony to the divine help
in the mission.
As I returned home it was now a different world. Much work had been done on the house
in Gilbert. My room had been given to one of my sisters so that the other could have her own and
my brother got the third upstairs bedroom, so I was given the space that used to be the office and
the space that once was a game room is now the office/workout room. I now had to speak
English, which had become very corrupted because of Spanish, and I still struggle sometimes
with idioms, grammar, and especially with spelling in English. I was home for a few months and
moved up to Provo where I am still adjusting to BYU student life with social activities and
educational demands keeping me busy.

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I am so thankful for those who have gone before me. Their adventures motivate me to go
forward and not to give up. I have learned about pursuing goals, sacrificing for loved ones,
adapting to changing environments, and to trust in God, just like my parents and their parents,
and our pioneer ancestors for decades back.