For some people, a vacation is an escape from everything.
For others, it’s a chance to spend time with family in a
unique location or to brighten the lives of the less-fortunate.
Five Marriott School faculty members talk about family
adventures that filled at least one of these goals.
John Richards, managing director of the Rollins eBusiness Center and associate director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, and his family visited Hong Kong and China in June 2005 as guests of the Seastone Foundation.
The foundation organizes annual pilgrimages to orphanages and hospitals in China. It brings a group of doctors, nurses, and families from Utah County on a medical mission to perform needed surgeries. The annual affair is connected to the Shenzhen Lions Club—the world’s largest Lions Club chapter.
After a brief stay in Hong Kong, the family traveled to mainland China to assist with the medical mission.
“Visiting China and helping others changed our lives,” Richards says. “My children saw firsthand how we are all children of God.”
Two summers ago, Richard Dalebout, associate director of the School of Accountancy and associate professor of business law, put his hobby of walking to the test. He, along with his brother, Bill, and his two sons, decided to cross England on foot. The men started on the west coast and finished twelve days and 191 miles later on the east coast. To go along with the celebratory tradition, they dipped their toes in the water upon completing their trek.
Dalebout, who served a mission in England, first thought of crossing the country on foot while director of the London Study Abroad program. Years later he saw an article in National Geographic describing how others had walked the distance. At that point Dalebout asked himself, “Why don’t I just do it?”
Each day the men walked between ten to twenty-two miles, depending on the terrain and weather conditions. They stayed at bed and breakfasts along the way and despite eating a “full English breakfast” every morning, Dalebout says he was still able to shed about ten pounds.
Though coordinating seventeen different schedules is an enormous task, Lee Radebaugh, professor of accounting, says it is all worth it if the result is quality family time. The Radebaughs aim to get together at least twice a year to vacation. Last spring, they visited Rocky Point, Mexico, in addition to their (almost) annual trip to Disneyland.
However, Radebaugh takes no credit for all of the organization that goes into such excursions. He says his wife is the mastermind behind the planning. Despite Radebaugh’s plans to travel with the executive MBA trip to China, he and his family still hope to spend time this summer at their ranch in southeastern Utah.
Andrew Holmes, associate professor of business management, and his family visited San Pedro Sula, Honduras, twice in 2005. Though it was family vacation time, a major goal was to find a way to be of service to those in need. During their most recent visit, they carried 1,500 pounds of clothes, shoes, medicine, games, and books to more than one hundred fifty orphaned children.
Holmes says he and his family were fortunate enough to spend three days with orphans, where they witnessed extremely poor living conditions, lack of adequate garments, and few educational opportunities. Despite the circumstances and a significant language barrier, he says the Honduran children were a delight to be with.
“We played games, shot hoops, lost at soccer, made bead necklaces, and were taught how to play Honduran checkers,” Holmes says. “As a family, we were given the opportunity to learn of the great commonalities that exist among all of us.”
Steven Thorley, professor of finance, and his family decided to take their 2005 Thanksgiving holiday south of the border. The Thorleys, along with a number of other families from their neighborhood, drove to La Gloria, Mexico, just south of Tijuana, to build more suitable homes for less-fortunate families.
The convoy left their Orem neighborhood in cars filled to capacity with power tools. Local LDS and Catholic churches advised the families as to where their services would be most effective. Using donations from within the local Mexican community, materials were purchased, and the Thorleys worked with two other families to construct one of the homes.
The entire group of about fifty volunteers slept in less-than-comfortable accommodations on the floor of a local church. Thorley says he was astounded by how hard his kids were working, given the conditions. “I spent more time working alongside my family in that week than I had in years,” he says. “My kids would shoot me if we didn’t go back and do it again next year.”
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Article written by David Andrews
