Generations of tears

Family was a priority, and they started theirs almost immediately. Scott was born in 1962, Amy a year later and Charlie in 1965. Lael stayed home with the kids and John enrolled in finance courses at the University of Utah. He'd go to school, work 50 hours a week, then play with the babies, help feed them and tuck them in before he ever cracked a book.

After Charlie was born, Lael went back to work, and John joined one of his professors in the U.'s Office of Long Range Planning.

Family life and plans for their future consumed them. John was a young man with big dreams. He wanted to take what he'd learned about finance and try it out on Wall Street.

He also had the happy capacity to turn those dreams into action. After he graduated, the Askew family, five members strong, loaded everything they owned into an old station wagon and a U-Haul. They were heading for New York.

The car was so decrepit that Lael's dad followed them up Parley's Canyon to see if they could clear the first hill. They didn't. The car boiled over. "We had $300 in our pockets and big plans," Lael says now, smiling. No overheated car was going to stop them.

John had a scholarship to New York University to get his master's of business administration degree. They stayed with his aunt on Long Island until they could find an apartment in Queens. John got a job with a stock brokerage.

Weekends revolved around church. John was a counselor in his LDS ward; Lael played piano in the Relief Society, led the singing in Primary and taught in the Young Women's organization, besides doing visiting teaching.

Work and school went well. Before long, they could buy a home — their first — in New Jersey. And the babies kept coming: Julie in 1969, then Jane in 1971.

When a man who had been John's mentor moved to a prestigious company, John followed. Soon he was director of operations. One of the partners became president of the stock exchange. John became vice president of operations. He was the youngest member of the Wall Street Club, a renowned financial group.

He had arrived.

Still, he found corporate America stifling.

He decided to become a lawyer. The family returned to Utah and he enrolled at the University of Utah. History would remember his class because it included serial killer Ted Bundy.