USU Alumni Association Celebrates Hall of Honor Inductees

Utah State University’s Alumni Association honored five lifelong Aggies, including one posthumous induction, at its annual Alumni Hall of Honor induction in mid-April. This year’s honorees are Shari Badger, William and the late Vivian Brindley, Mark Faldmo and the Honorable Edwin T. Peterson.

Shari Badger

Shari Badger was born and raised in Logan, Utah. While attending Utah State University she met her future husband, Lee Badger, at a Pi Kappa Alpha and Alpha Chi Omega Christmas party. They were married in 1971 and then spent the next nine years in California and Nevada. After moving back to Logan in 1981, they bought their first grocery store in Smithfield, Utah. Shari and Lee worked together from the first day in the store. Over the years, the business grew from a small grocery operation to the current three Lee’s Marketplace’s in northern Utah. Lee passed away in 2009 from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Since his passing, Shari continues the business along with the couple’s son, Jonathan. This year, 2016, marks their 35th year in the grocery business.

Presently, Shari is the chair of Lee’s MarketPlace and serves on the board of directors for Associated Food Stores in Salt Lake City. Shari has served in the past as a financial advisor for Alpha Chi Omega and as a board member for the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater.

She is a member of Utah State University’s Old Main Society and serves on the Utah State University Foundation Board.

Shari and Lee are the parents of three children, Jonathan, Jeremy and Jocelyn. Jonathan and his wife, Shelley, are both Utah State graduates. Sitting with the huddle club in the Maverik (formerly known as Romney) Stadium for football games, watching basketball games in the George Nelson Fieldhouse, seeing musicals in the amphitheater on Old Main Hill and attending Robins Awards are early childhood memories. The time spent at Utah State as a student holds fond memories for Shari.

The dances (especially the formals), the pinnings, the football and basketball games and walking across the Quad in all kinds of weather with an Aggie Ice Cream cone are great remembrances.

“What an asset Utah State University is to our students and our community,” Shari said. “I am grateful to USU for what it has brought to my life.”

William and Vivian Brindley

William “Bill” Brindley and Vivian McCollom Brindley met at a dance at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Bill’s family had moved to Ames from Moscow, Idaho. Bill majored in entomology at Iowa State, earning a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate. Vivian was raised in Grand Junction, Iowa.

The couple arrived in Logan, Utah, in 1966 as Bill became an assistant professor at Utah State University. Vivian worked in USU’s Agricultural Education department until she took on an important role at the Sunshine Terrace Foundation in Logan, Utah.

Bill formally retired from USU in 2003 as a professor of biology but continued teaching “Biology and the Citizen” and “Evolution” until fully retiring in 2010. He taught other classes related to insecticides, insects and invertebrates while maintaining a busy graduate research laboratory.

Bill and Vivian joined the USU Emeriti Association in 2003 and Bill assumed the role of scholarship chair of the Emeriti Council recommending priorities in awarding $500 to $1,000 scholarships to entering students. By 2013 the USU Emeriti were anxious for a more important role in scholarships. Bill was then president-elect with President Jay Monson. Monson brought USU Vice President for Advancement and Commercialization Robert Behunin to a council meeting and the idea of a USU Emeriti Sophomore Scholarship was born.

Bill assisted Scholarship Chairs Dave and Deanna Winn in writing a plan for two $7,000 scholarships that were accepted by USU. The USU Emeriti Association awarded the 5th and 6th Sophomore Scholarships in April 2016.

The Brindleys loved their role at USU and said it was a fine university where faculty care about students.  The couple said Logan was a great place to raise their children Mark, Mary, Marla and Maia. They both enjoyed working with USU students and said it was extremely rewarding. Although Vivian passed away in November 2014, Bill continues to honor her legacy by enabling students to gain a higher education.

“I am honored to be here — as an outlier in the group,” Bill said. “Encourage students to get in touch with faculty during their time at USU. USU cares about its students and it is important to let them know that we care about them while they are here.”

Mark Faldmo

Mark Faldmo grew up in Bountiful, Utah, and graduated from Bountiful High in 1969. He graduated from Utah State University in business administration in 1975. While at USU Mark met and married Beverly Thompson from Idaho. Beverly graduated from USU in 1973 with a degree in political science. In college, Mark was on the USU track team coached by Ralph Maughan, competing in middle distance races. Mark has stayed close to the USU track program and each spring the team hosts the annual Mark Faldmo Invitational. Mark and Beverly have four children, all of whom are graduates of USU.

“The most important thing I came away with from USU was my wife, Beverly,” said Mark.

Mark’s entire professional career has been in the travel business. He jokes that his travel career started on his 6th birthday when his parents and family sailed from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii, after his father had been asked to relocate to construct what is now Brigham Young University Hawaii. While in Hawaii, his mother fell in love with the tropical paradise and after returning home, she started a travel agency. Her agency, Faldmo Tours and Travel, specialized in escorting groups to Hawaii and other destinations worldwide. Upon graduation from Utah State, Mark and Beverly joined his parents in the travel business. Since that time they have been involved as owners and executive officers of several different travel companies including their current business, Columbus Travel.

Mark has served as chairman of Carlson Travel’s National Advisory Board, the second largest travel company in North America. Mark also served on the Agent Advisory Board of Walt Disney Travel Company. He is a past president of the Bountiful Area Chamber of Commerce. Mark has traveled worldwide throughout his career and has been instrumental in advising and managing the travel needs for individuals and businesses throughout the Intermountain area. Columbus Travel hosts a weekly radio show on which Mark frequently appears. He also makes frequent television appearances promoting travel and worldwide destinations.

“I appreciate the care from the faculty I received during my time at USU,” said Faldmo. “I loved the broadening of opinions I received from my education.”

Edwin Peterson

The Honorable Edwin Peterson was born in Logan, Utah, in 1957 to Zetta B. and Edwin L. Peterson, USU graduates in 1938 and 1937, respectively. He literally grew up on the Logan campus, his father being a professor and he being a proud graduate of the Edith Bowen Laboratory Elementary School.

Ed graduated from Logan High in 1975 and entered USU that fall as a member of the USU Football team, Army R.O.T.C and USU Honors program. He pledged and became an active member of Sigma Chi Fraternity his freshman year. During his junior year, he interned in the office of Sen. Jake Garn in Washington, D.C.
 

Ed received a bachelor’s Cum Laude from USU in 1979, and then went on to receive a law degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1982. After law school, Ed served four years active duty as a captain in the U.S. Air Force as a judge advocate. He has served as deputy Uintah county attorney, an assistant Utah attorney general in the child protection division, a pro tem district court judge in the Third District Court in West Valley, Utah, and as the Murray City prosecutor.

Prior to serving as a prosecutor, he was in private practice in Salt Lake County for 27 years. Ed was the president of the USU alumni chapter of the Uintah Basin for several years. He was appointed to the Eighth District Court in September 2009 by Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert. Ed is currently the presiding judge of the Eight District Court serving Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties.

Ed is grateful for the expanded presence of Utah State University in the Uintah Basin. Citing support from USU President Stan L. Albrecht and Vice President Rob Behunin, Ed said that the continued presence of the university has helped build a sense of community in the Uintah Basin.

Ed’s fondest memories of USU are too numerous to adequately mention, he said. Intramurals on the Quad, classes from outstanding instructors and the friendship of fellow undergrads come to mind. His remembers his father pinning his Gamma Kappa of Sigma Chi pin from 1933 on him in 1976, and then, in 2013, Ed had the honor of pinning that pin on his son who is currently a USU undergraduate.

“This is family — this is home,” said Ed. “You never lose the Aggie blue if you’ve been on this campus.”

President Albrecht provided closing remarks for the event.

“Congratulations to our honorees,” President Albrecht said. “We are a great university because of all of you. There is never a bad time to be an Aggie.”

The Alumni Hall of Honor recognizes alumni and friends of USU for their unselfish devotion and service to USU and the USU Alumni Association. A maximum of four awards are presented annually. Nominees may be graduates, former students or friends of Utah State University. For more information or to nominate someone for the award, see the website. 

Contact: Jacoba Poppleton, 435-797-8072, jacoba.poppleton@usu.edu