Patricia Rickers, 2016

File — Box: 2, Folder: 5

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Patricia Rickers was born in Elko, Nevada, and grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. Rickers was raised Catholic. She talks about her experiences in the Salt Lake City Catholic community, as well as her interactions with the dominant LDS Church culture in Utah. After finishing school and getting married, Rickers got a job with the Utah Tax Commission. She talks about the difficulties she faced in earning raises and promotions because she was a woman. When Rickers and her husband started having children, they decided that it would be best if she stayed home to take care of the kids. Although she didn’t pursue a career, Rickers always worked as a volunteer. Eventually, she started volunteering regularly at the Utah AIDS Foundation. She describes her responsibilities at the foundation, as well as her relationships with her co-workers and clients. Rickers talks about feeling tension between her Catholic beliefs and her volunteer work at the Utah AIDS Foundation. But after talking to a priest, she decided that she was doing the work she needed to be doing. Rickers had been maintaining memorials for being who have died of AIDS since she started working at the Utah AIDS Foundation.
Interviewed by Elizabeth Clement.

Dates

2016

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.