About us

I am the son of Jim Sawdey, 87th B. My dad was one of the “three letter men” who was part of the initial cadre of the 10th that formed up in Ft. Lewis, Washington and trained on Mt. Rainier. He later trained at both Camp Hale and Camp Swift and took part of the invasion of Kiska Island in the Aleutians before heading to Italy. During his time in Italy he was wounded three times and received the Bronze Star for his heroism. He was discharged in 1945 as a Tech Sergeant. After the war he headed west to California from his native Minnesota, where he began working at the construction of Shasta Dam, and where he met my mother, Elinor (Meier). Both my sister (Rosalie) and I were born in Redding, California, though we spent most of our growing up in Sacramento where my dad completed his career as a power plant electrician at Folsom Dam (USBR).

After graduating from high school in Sacramento, I went on to achieve my bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies at UC Berkeley, graduating in 1974. After a bit of wandering around, I found myself headed to Salt Lake City, Utah for a job and the opportunity to ski that famous Utah powder snow. Ultimately, I married and from that marriage I am the proud father of two boys, Justin and Evan. After 7 years working in the environmental field, I navigated a major change of direction for my career by earning a Masters degree in Medical Biophysics and Computing. This led to a long career with 3M Health Information Systems Division. In my career at 3M I first worked as a software engineer, and eventually took on a variety of management roles, ending my career as a business development manager.

I retired in 2014, and am now enjoying the life of leisure with my wife, Cissy Wolff. I spend my ample free time by staying active; biking, hiking, and skiing in all of its forms (alpine, alpine touring and cross-country). Despite ‘punching my fun tickets’, I also commit a fair amount of my time volunteering. I currently serve on my church’s Board of Trustees, volunteer at the Natural History Museum of Utah, and of course, now serve as the President of the 10th Mountain Division Descendants.

I can state without hesitation that the biggest legacy that I carry from my father is a love of the outdoors. My best memories of him center on the skiing, camping and fishing trips we shared.

My association with the 10th began with my father’s stories. He loved to recount the challenges and escapades of training at Mt. Rainier and Camp Hale, but he was understandably reluctant to talk about combat. Given that he was wounded three separate times, I can only assume that he saw plenty of things that he did not care to relive. He ‘drug’ me to the first veteran’s reunion at Vail where I saw him happily catch up with his comrades. He and I went to other reunions as well and it was at the Sun Valley reunion in 1995 where I heard the first rumblings of a 10th descendant organization. Not surprisingly, he declined my repeated requests to go on one of the Italy trips by simply saying that he’d seen enough of Italy.

It really wasn’t until my father’s passing in 1999 that I became involved with the Descendant’s organization. I can only say that I felt compelled to do something to help preserve the legacy that he was so obviously proud of. My involvement began with attending the local chapter events here in Utah, and that led to taking over as director of that chapter. Six years ago I was asked to be part of Denise Taylor’s slate of officers for our national board of directors and was elected to the position of Senior Vice President. With Denise’s tenure complete, it is now my turn to assume that responsibility.