Glen Halterman -2012 Grand Marshal
The Cedar Livestock & Heritage Festival is proud to honor Glen Lee Halterman as this year’s Grand Marshal . Glen Halterman was born in Enoch on December 4, 1926 to Millard and Pearl Halterman. He was one of 12 siblings that were raised on a 120 acre homestead in Cedar Valley. He helped his parent’s farm and raise 350 sheep and a few cows. Glen attended Cedar High School where he was a noted basketball player. In 1944 he was drafted into World War ll. In 1945 he received a letter of completion from high school (Glen notes there were only 6 boys that actually attended graduation in 1945 because all of the rest had been drafted).
Glen spent the war in the south pacific in the navy. When the war ended his ship was in dry dock to be repaired and he was told it would be 8 months before he would return home. However, there was another deployment named Operation Crossroads that he could participate in that would allow him to be home in 3 months, Glen accepted this deployment, a decision that would change his life. Glen’s new assignment was on a ship assigned to do soundings (depth readings) to help place ships and other equipment near Bikini Atoll for atomic testing. His ship was located 11 miles from the first air bomb test and 7 miles from the underwater bomb test that was done 10 days later. After the detonations, his ship steamed to the site of the blasts to help document the damage and also catch fish for testing. Of the blasts, Glen states “you have never seen anything so beautiful but so destructive.” After doing the survey work his ship was sent to Hawaii to end their mission. However, after arriving in Hawaii, the ship was so contaminated with radiation they would not let it dock, so they were sent to San Diego, where they were also turned away and told to go to San Francisco, at which point the were directed to Puget Sound where they were finally able to dock.
Glen returned to Southern Utah where he worked on the farm and married his wife Renee. After the birth of their second child Clair, Glen started experiencing health problems due to the effects of the radiation he was exposed to. He entered the hospital in Salt Lake in December of 1951 where they did extensive testing and treatment on Glen for the next 18 months. Treatments even included exposure to raw mustard gas as nothing else was working. Glen was released from the hospital in June of 1953, because doctors had given up hope; they sent him home to die. However, Glen defied all odds and expectations and recovered in 9 months. Glen worked at the Iron mines and for Bill Smith running equipment including large electric shovels for 8 years. Glen and Renee had 3 more children; Paulette, Flora and Judy, this is amazing as the doctors said it would be impossible for the couple to have children.
Glen bought his first farm in 1966 in Parowan, which included the purchase of Hal and Donna Mitchell’s sheep and forest permits in 1968. Glen went on to buy other farms and take in partners to continue to build his farming interests. Today, Glen’s son Clair and grandson Jason run 5000 lambing ewes and 1000 drys and replacement ewes in Parowan and also at Chalk Creek in Northern Utah.
In addition to farming and ranching, Glen has a remarkable record of public service; he has served on the Iron County School Board for 18 years, as County Commissioner for 2 years, as Mayor of Parowan for 4 years, on the advisory board at SUU for 24 years, on the E&I Conservation District board for 24 years, on the advisory board to State Bank of Southern Utah for 12 years, on the Iron County Weed board for 10 years, on the Planning and Zoning board in Parowan for 8 years, and in addition has served over 60 years in church leadership positions.
The Cedar Livestock and Heritage Festival is extremely proud and honored to have Glen Halterman as our 2012 Grand Marshall. He is truly a remarkable man that has lived a remarkable life.
