June Holmes Garrity
2011 JUNE HOLMES GARRITY (1946)
Journalist and editor
Writer, designer and editor for the EDO Western Corporation—the publisher of the Flying Fish, an oceanographic magazine
Publisher of the Libra Scale Corporation monthly news magazine and employee newsletter
Writer and assistant editor of Kennecott Copper Corporation’s monthly news magazine, Kennescope
Office Manager at Schocker Construction
English Tutor at Salt Lake Community College
Awarded the Gold Medal Award by the State of Utah Advertising Federation
Received an “Award of Excellence” from the International Association of Business Communications
Grand Officer for Utah of the Masonic Order of Eastern Star
President of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority
Author of the books, My Nordic Loves, A Trilogy of Mysteries, The Snowflake Date, The Dilemma of Love and Ducks on the Stream
A miner in the early days of Bingham Canyon, who struck it rich was said to have struck pay dirt. Those miners would take a mule, shovel, pick and dynamite along with a drill bit and double jack and work hundreds of hours drilling, blasting and shoveling. With a combination of hard work and little bit of luck a miner might find a rich vein of gold silver of copper ore. This was “dirt” that paid him money or pay dirt. Striking pay dirt symbolizes a successful miner. Because of this, Bingham High School’s Hall of Fame is called the Pay Dirt Club. Two successful Bingham Miners, June Holmes Garrity (Class of 1946) and Gary Hatch (Class of 1982) were formally inducted into the Bingham High School Pay Dirt Club at the homecoming assembly on September 13, 2011.
June Holmes Garrity was raised in Bingham Canyon in the town Copperfield. June graduated from Bingham in 1947 when the school was located in Copperton. She was involved in many activities at Bingham High which included the Minerettes where she served as club treasurer, the Dance Club, Camera Club, Scholarship Club and school play. She remembers participating in the school’s traveling assembly and the Candlelight Christmas Program where she was the narrator one year. She credits her Bingham High English teachers; Vern Baer and Laura Marshall, with helping her develop a life-long love of English and writing.
After graduation from Bingham, she attended the University of Nevada at Reno where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and English. She would then work as a writer, designer and editor for the EDO Western Corporation publishing an oceanographic magazine, The Flying Fish, and the Libra Scale Corporation where she published a monthly news magazine and an employee newsletter, and supervised its marketing department. She would later serve as a writer and assistant editor for the Kennescope Magazine published by Kennecott Copper Corporation. For her work she would be awarded the Gold Medal Award by the State Advertising Federation and an Award of Excellence from the International Association of Business Communications. She has also worked as an office manager for a law firm and as secretary to the chairman of the Division of Community Education at Salt Lake Community College. She has been listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in America, has served as the grand officer for the state of Utah of the Masonic Order of Easter Star, and the president of the local sorority of Gamma Phi Beta. She enjoys writing children’s stories and adult fiction for magazines and would like to collaborate with an artist to create children’s books. Writing poetry for publication is one of her favorite hobbies along with traveling, photography, golf and skiing. She married the late William Garrity, has one son, John William, and one grandchild. It was our pleasure to award her with the Pay Dirt Award for 2011.