Brushes With Fame

Many moons ago, while attending Brigham Young University, I loved to read The Student Review. It was not technically a BYU newspaper, but it was a fantastic (if a little irreverent) satire on BYU/Utah/LDS life. There was a section that I found hilarious, called "Brushes With Fame", where people would list their connections to someone famous. I've always wanted to make my own list. And yes, I even have my own version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon! I would also submit that every Mormon has Six Degrees of Donny Osmond.

Let me explain some LDS (Mormon) lingo for you...A "ward" is the basic congregation in my church. It is geographically based, much like a high school would have boundaries, and there are usually around 300 people in attendance. Depending on the number of members in any given area, the ward boundaries can be large (several towns/cities/counties) or small (a few blocks--like in Utah). Where I live, it is roughly the same size as our high school boundary. This is why people can "move in" or "move out" of my ward. Make sense? Here we go:

*Edited to add: Please read my siblings comments at the bottom...they clarify my mistakes. :)

In 1984, I babysat for a family who went to see their friend, Peter Vidmar, win the gold medal in gymnastics in the LA Olympics. A few years later, Mr. Vidmar moved to my hometown in CA, into my ward, and taught my brother in the youth group.

I babysat for Brian Nash, who as a child, was on the TV show Please Don't Eat the Daisies.

For two years I lived in one of the towns where Footloose was filmed (Spanish Fork, Utah). It still looks pretty much the same. Those big "Roller Mills" are still in Lehi--another little Utah town. That's where Kevin Bacon did his rockin' dance/gymnastics/angry teenager routine.

See, I told you I had a Kevin Bacon link.

My sister babysat for Donny Osmond's kids (I was unavailable that day) when his family lived in CA in the '80's. He and his family were in my ward at the time.

And there's my Donny Osmond link.

Former NBA player, Adam Keefe, went to my high school and sat next to my brother in science.

One of my sisters won the "Big Deal" on Let's Make a Deal.

Another of my sisters went on Scrabble. She didn't win.

My younger sister went on Win Ben Stein's Money. (I knew I would miss something. I have 5 sisters.)

Louis Sachar signed my copy of Someday, Angeline when he visited my elementary school in about 1983, before he was famous. It's a really great book--I've always loved it.

My third grade teacher, Jenni Samuel, is married to Dave Kunst, who is in the Guiness Book of World Records for walking around the world. She drove the car in front of him across the entire Australian continent, at 3 mph. Now that's love!

Will Ferrell grew up in my hometown and went to the same high school as my oldest sister (about 12 or 13 years later, though).

I know Christmas Jars author, Jason Wright's brother, Jeff.

When my brother lived in LA, several famous people attended his ward--Gladys Knight and Larry King (his wife is LDS) attended a couple of times.

My friend from high school was roommates at Harvard with Gary David Goldberg's daughter. Remember "Sit, Ubu, sit. Good Dog-Woof!" at the end of Family Ties? Ubu was her dog.

My kindergarten friend, Eric Anderson, is a very talented actor on Broadway, and he has had appearances on several TV shows, including Law and Order.

My husband's best friend, Lance, finagled his way onto a movie crew to shoot a film with Justin Long and John Gries. Straight to video, I think...

The drama teacher at my high school was personal friends with John Stamos, who often came to visit.

I know someone who was on First Lady detail in the Secret Service for Laura Bush.

Gleaming the Cube was filmed at my high school. That Christian Slater--he's a dish! My friends all got to be extras, but alas, I was one year too young.

Lucas was filmed at my college friend's high school. RIP, Corey Haim.

My younger sister had her picture taken with Corey Haim. Maybe Corey Feldman, too? (Nope, it was Christian Slater. Sorry--those '80's babes have me all mixed up.)

My friend served Larry Hagman while waiting tables in Virginia. He tipped her very well.

My husband's college roommate is Senator Orrin Hatch's nephew.

My husband's business partner is married to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's daughter (who is also my friend and fellow mom of 6).

This same business partner goes on hunting trips with his father-in-law and former V.P. Dick Cheney. Don't worry. Mr. Cheney hasn't shot anyone we know.

Matt Salmon, former US Congressman from AZ, is in my ward.

So now I feel like I have as much authority to speak on celebrity as People Magazine, don't you? What are your brushes with fame?