Verl Frehner

 

Verl Frehner was born in Mesquite, Nevada in 1935 and watched with periodic interest over the years the news events of a man known as Howard Hughes. After graduating from High School, Verl eventually served in the Army and spent 18 months in peacetime Germany. He eventually attended College of Southern Utah (CSU), Brigham Young University (BYU), and Utah State University (USU).

Verl worked in the schools in Las Vegas, Nevada and while living there he made the contacts that allowed him to write the book THE MYSTERIOUS HOWARD HUGHES REVEALED. After retirement Verl returned to the town of his youth where he pursued various interests. He became involved in the decoding and translating of Indian Petroglyph stories and published three stories written by one clan of Native Americans. Verl has also assisted in the establishment and development of a new and emerging community next to his hometown.

 

PageOneLit: Where did you grow up and were reading and writing a part of your life?

Verl Frehner: My reading and writing actives were typical for a small town environment influenced by school work and the ever-competing farm work. During that time the number of people living in my community numbered about 500, with a small school library to match the size of the community. After my retirement I returned to Mesquite, Nevada and saw this community change into one of the fastest growing small cities (percentage-wise growth) in the nation.

 

 

PageOneLit: Who and what have been your greatest influences and why?

Verl Frehner: My parents, naturally! Both were hard working, raised a large family on a small budget, were committed to their children, and were top quality individuals with a far-reaching view of life.

 

 

PageOneLit: Why do you write?

Verl Frehner: I only write when the occasion merits it. Such as the preservation of history before it is lost, as was the case with this book, The Mysterious Howard Hughes Revealed. Or the decoding of petroglyph stories, revealing ancient-recorded story histories of Early Native Americans. The three petroglyph stories I have decoded since 2001 are more than two thousand years old.

 

 

PageOneLit: Much of the information in your book, The Mysterious Howard Hughes Revealed, came from a confidential employee to Howard Hughes named Chuck Waldron. How did you meet Chuck and how did it come about to write a book together?

Verl Frehner: Before my retirement I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, a city familiar to Howard Hughes. It became the location where Chuck Waldron lived after Howard Hughes died. His residence was not too distant from mine which made it possible for me to become acquainted with him. After frequent discussions concerning his inside-assistant role with Howard Hughes the decision was made to work together in writing this book about him, recording his eye-opening experiences and insights.

 

 

 

PageOneLit: Have you always had an interest in the life of Howard Hughes? Did you ever meet him?

Verl Frehner: The rush of life and its requirements only allowed me a passing interest in Howard Hughes. However, It amused me at the time that so much interest was being paid to a man with riches and idiosyncratic tendencies. Nevertheless, the media coverage did provide a very interesting and ongoing saga, and therefor I was aware of him and his various activities over a long period of time. No, I never met Howard Hughes.

 

 

PageOneLit: Aside from your numerous discussions with Chuck Waldron, how much research did you have to do about Howard Hughes to write the book The Mysterious Howard Hughes Revealed?

Verl Frehner: Once the decision was made to write this book about Howard Hughes, and for a long time after, I spent much time in researching Howard Hughes by reading the major books published about him, and reviewing many of the less authoritative ones. I also spent many hours in libraries reviewing books, magazines, microfilmed newspaper accounts of Howard Hughes, and the world events that paralleled Hughes’ news-making events.

I felt that a story of his life would have more meaning if seen against the background of other contemporary happenings. I also was able to listen to tape recordings of some of Hughes’ employees discussing their boss, which was helpful in understanding the man.

 

 

PageOneLit: What do you hope to achieve with your book The Mysterious Howard Hughes Revealed?

Verl Frehner: It seemed to me that Howard Hughes’ reclusiveness helped create a vacuum of public understanding about him. This, in spite of the tens-of-thousands of things written or said about him in his isolation years. This work will demonstrate that despite his oddities he was in most ways a normal individual. He continued to run his billion dollar enterprises, accomplishing amazing things through his hired staff. In his isolation he longed for the time when he would be able to return to United States’ soil. He had a propensity to carry on long logical, normal, reasonable, and friendly discussions with his business clientele and inside aides despite his slowly deteriorating health.

What becomes quite evident in this book is that Howard Hughes become convinced that riches do not necessarily bring happiness. He could see what his riches had done to him. He expressed desires for the normal things in life that his aides enjoyed; a family, and the freedom to move about un fretted. At times of tragedy he sincerely shared the sorrows of those around him.

In his "California" days, despite his sometimes harshness, he displayed a side of him that many did not know. For example, he financially assisted many of the person’s he terminated from his companies by continuing to pay them their regular salaries, which payments often lasted for years.

There are many things in this book that a person interested in the life Hughes will find enlightening.

 

 

PageOneLit: What has been your feedback from readers?

Verl Frehner: One week ago a well-known lecturer on the life of Howard Hughes came to my home and obtained a copy of my book. A day later in an Email he sent to me he stated: "I have scanned the book and began reading up to the first 70 pages . . . You have explained very delicate and conversational situations involving Hughes and some main ‘players’ in a most easy and non confrontational manner. I am looking forward to reading it more and more."

 

 

PageOneLit: What’s next? Any plans for another book?

Verl Frehner: My goal was not necessarily to become a writer. However, when existing information needs to be retained before it is lost, and seemingly I am the only one to accomplish that task, I feel an obligation to preserve it. This was the case about a lot of information concerning Howard Hughes.

Or, in the case of the petroglyph stories referred to above I do just the reverse. I have decoded three true Indian stories that have been lost in time, bringing them back to life, and sharing the happy, sad, good, and bad events and emotions that they experienced while living off the land.

Now to your question: I am in the process of publishing three Early Native American decoded petroglyph history/stories located in the Virgin River Basin in Nevada. The first is a detailed story about one clan’s migration, part of which took them from southeastern Utah and across the Grand Canyon. A second story recorded later is about a devastating sickness that caused illness and death to many of their clan, and what they had to do to a fellow clansman in order to overcome that scourge. The last story is taken from petroglyphs found on the world famous Atlatl Rock located in the Valley of Fire, Nevada State Park. It tells of a calamity that happed to a man and a boy on a remote hunting and training excursion. The conditions of their survival were so noteworthy and exceptional that this clan of Indians, at a later time, traveled back to the site of the Calamity to record their story.

There is evidence that these stories were written by people who lived there between 300 and 500 BC.

 

 

PageOneLit: What was the last book you read?

Verl Frehner: While I have a bookcase filed with books that I have read, I don’t remember the last book that I read.