The Highlands Hello: Neighborhood News

December 18, 2023

Merry Christmas. Wishing you peace and love this Christmas. There’s an added feeling of friendship and caring at this special time of year. We are blessed to be among good friends and neighbors here in the Highlands.

Spotlight on John and Sue Waycuilis! John and Sue moved into the beautiful white brick home at the top of Weber Drive in 2021. But their stories began in the Midwest. At an early age, Sue developed an adventurous spirit and left her small town in Ohio after high school for an all-girls college in Virginia to join an equestrian program. She then developed a love for skiing and wanted to venture to the West. One of her professors said, “Don’t stop in Colorado, but keep going further west to Utah if you want the best snow.” So she did and landed a job at a Park City ski resort. She then went home to Ohio to continue her studies at Findlay College in business. While there she met John who had completed chemical engineering degrees at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, and was working for Marathon Oil Company. At first they were good friends, but Sue liked the fact that John was smart, good-looking, and was skilled so he could actually do things – unlike many of the boys she knew. Marathon Oil informed John that he was being relocated to Texas. So in one week they decided to get married, got their blood tests (which were required at that time to get married), met with the Justice of the Peace, and loaded up for West Texas where they lived for 8 years and where their first son, John Joseph Waycuilis III, was born. While there John moved up in the company and Sue taught high school accounting courses. Marathon Oil then informed them they were being transferred to Louisiana where they lived for 4 years and where their 2^nd son and last child Paul was born. Their final move was to Texas where John took a corporate role, did extensive international work in Japan, Qatar, Scottland, Egypt, Lybia, Tunisia, etc, and completed his 38-year career. They still have a home on Mustang Island near Corpus Christi where John loves sailing, windsurfing, and kite surfing. Sue continues to ride her horses here in Mountain Green, John consults part-time, and they both love the mountains and skiing. They feel lucky to be living in the Highlands and are grateful for the good neighbors and friends they’ve made. Sue says, “We feel like it was meant to be. We certainly have been blessed to be here.” We’re grateful to have John and Sue in the neighborhood!

Congrats to Danny & Maddie Peterson! Congratulations to the happy couple, Danny & Maddie, who were recently married in Hawaii. They purchased the Nance’s home on Meadow Circle. We look forward to building friendships over the years as neighbors -- and wish you all the best!

Spotlight on Momo, Rava & Pabu. (Contributed by Emily Cox who lives on 6182 Highland.) We lost our beloved German Shepherd, Bella in March 2022, and we’re still morning her loss. She was the best dog ever! She lived a great and healthy life and lived to be 14 years old! But we are so grateful to have her 3 best friends still. Momo is 13 and is the floofy grey cat. Rava and Pabu are the twinners. We adopted Momo from our friend and neighbor, Kim Harames. She is part Russian blue, and we think that dad has some Maine coon in him. As a kitten, Momo would do full Nelsons on Bella’s head. They were such good friends! Pabu and Rava are sisters. These two were actually rescued in Tooele and fostered by our loved and old neighbors Clark Mower’s niece. It was a buy one get one free day at the rescue, so Dave was a little shocked when he was prepared for one new kitten, and we brought home twins 🤪 all three of our kitties love each other and we’re so grateful. Our three kitties are completely indoors, which is a good thing because they all have the disease called stomatitis which is an extreme form of gingivitis in cats. The only cure is to remove all their teeth. So we have three toothless chubby cats. They’re healthy, happy and enjoying all of the good food they couldn’t eat before! We love our babies!

A Little History: Did You Know? This picture of the Highlands was taken in 1972.

Prior to 1840, little is recorded about Mountain Green; however, mountain man Osborne Russell left an interesting account of a visit he made there. During 1839-40 Russell wintered on the lower Weber River in what is now Uintah. On January 10, Russell, while hunting elk, made his way up the Weber River into Mountain Green, using a horse trail high on the canyon side. After spending the night, he went north over Trappers Loop to Ogden Valley. His description of coming to Mountain Green follows: “The route was very difficult and in many places difficult traveling over high points of rock and around high precipices on a trail just wide enough for a single horse to walk, in about 10 miles I came into a smooth plain 5 to 6 miles in circumference . . . [Mountain Green].”