Age 89, September 17, 2020 - Melvin Wayne Spendlove, our father, husband and grandfather dies.

 I received a phone call from Hospice on Wednesday, September 16, that dad had a urinary tract infection.  This wasn't unusual, but mom said he was a little incoherent and had fallen again and had to have the paramedics come and lift him back into bed.  Theron and I drove up that day and I went straight to Morgan.  Incoherent was an understatement; dad was totally out of it and not responding to anything.  I stayed the night with mom and Hospice delivered a hospital bed; we cleaned the back bedroom and moved him in.  He was coughing and gurgling all night.  Unfortunately, both mom and I didn't think of the morphine to keep him relaxed.  The next day, Hospice came in and and washed him and changed all the urine bags, etc.  He was comfortable and mom said she would be okay; so Adrian, Theron and I left for South Jordan.  We arrived at Adrian's and finally sat down to dinner.  Just as we were finishing, I get a call from mom that dad has gone uncontrollable, trying to get up and thrashing around.  She was frantic and so Adrian and I quickly threw stuff in the car and backed out of the driveway - just then the phone rang and it was mom- she said, don't hurry, dad just passed on.  We left and arrived an hour later in Morgan and started immediately to make funeral plans.  Walker Mortuary came and took his body; Dawain, Denzil, Susan, Rodney, Mom and I finished taking care of last minute details and then they left.  Adrian and I brought air mattresses and slept on the floor that night.  The next day, we made final arrangements at the mortuary, looked through the bank security box for any documents we may have missed earlier and got mom settled.

We had come north without many clothes, so we had to come home and prepare to return north in a couple of days.  The funeral was set for September 23, 2020, and a viewing on September 22, the night before.  Mom really wanted the viewing and I'm glad we did it.  She had so many friends come and let her talk and give her hugs, even in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

She has since given away many of dad's possessions and "new" things that were never used.  I found out one thing I didn't at once realize about my dad, he was a hoarder.  He held on tight to his possessions and bought things sometimes, just to buy them.

Mom is staying in the apartment and she will be okay.  She has a loving network of friends -- Judy Baugh, Ella, Mrs. Kelly (next door neighbor) and many, many friends that are too numerous to mention.  I can see that she is much more joyful and relaxed.  Taking care of him all these years and these past few months had really been a burden on her that none of us realized.  So glad she can now have some time to herself after 70 years.  Love you mom.

Obituary

Melvin Wayne Spendlove, age 89, passed away at his home in Morgan, Utah, Thursday evening, September 17, 2020.  He leaves behind his wife of 70 years, Deyon Eakins Spendlove and seven of their eight children:  Shanna (Theron) Schaefermeyer, St. George, Utah; Denzil (Susan) Spendlove, Henefer, Utah; Dawain (Jana) Spendlove, Clinton, Utah; Linda (David, deceased) Butcher, Clinton, Utah; Rodney Spendlove, Morgan, Utah; Diana (Lavy, deceased) Berman, Redmond, Oregon; and Lisa (Christian) Griffith, Silverdale, Washington.  Janeil Tebbs, their daughter, passed away in March of 2020.  Wayne and Deyon have 19 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren.  One granddaughter and one great-granddaughter preceded him in death.

Wayne is the son of Melvin and Della Mae (Oram) Spendlove and lived in Milton, Utah on the family farm.  He was born November 17, 1930 in Ogden, Weber, Utah.  He attended the Morgan schools and graduated from Morgan High School.  He married Deyon Eakins, August 7, 1950, in Henefer, Summit, Utah.  He worked for several years at Cream O’Weber Dairy in Ogden, Utah and then purchased his own semi-truck and hauled livestock throughout Utah, Nevada and Idaho.  After giving up trucking; he worked for and retired from Hill Air Force Base in Clearfield, Utah, where he was an airplane mechanic.

He and Deyon traveled much with a Good Sam’s Group and made many friends along the way.  They also enjoyed spending time camping at the Manor Lands near Mirror Lake.  They lived their entire married life in Morgan, Utah.  Wayne was an avid supporter of the Morgan High School football team and seldom missed a game both at home and away.

He is the last of his family to return home.  His brothers and sisters are:  Dean Oram Spendlove, Della Kay Spendlove Evans and Dale Spendlove.

The family expresses their appreciation to the Encompass Hospice team for their love and care during these past few months. 

There will be a viewing on Tuesday, September 22, 2020, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Walker Mortuary, 45 West 200 North, Morgan, Utah.  A graveside memorial service will be held at the Henefer Cemetery, Henefer, Utah, starting at noon, September 23, 2020.

(Obituary published by Walker Mortuary, Morgan, Utah, at https://www.walker-mortuary.com)

Please wear a face mask to the viewing.

Family Fun PIctures

 

When Tyce would visit my mother and father, he saw this semi-truck still in the original packaging and asked if he could have it.  My dad was not one for giving things away, but he did tell Tyce that when he died, the truck was his.  The day after he died, mom gave me the truck to give to Tyce.  Tyce remembered and he had a smile as wide as his face.  He has since taken it out to the original packaging, pushes it around the floor, loads animals and is finally giving this truck the joy it deserves.  No toy should stay in its packaging; it should be used by children who will remember the joy of playing with it.

Can't remember if I posted this classic family picture, but this is Adrian leaning on her Macintosh computer that she took to SUU.  She was one of the few students who had a computer and she often told us that everyone came over to use it.  Theron turned it on after all these years and it powered right up; we even found some old school files.  Now Cameron is going to SUU and he is standing behind his new MacBook, color screen, internet capable, wireless, etc.  It's a pretty powerful computer.  My, my how things have changed.  Cam, we hope you share your computing power with other students you meet; let it help you make friends - and do homework!  

   

It's not very often that I get a picture of Adrian's family; the boys are always someplace else.  But, this is Cameron's going away to college picture and Taylor going to Herriman High as a junior amid the Covid-19 pandemic.  Todd is working from home now, full-time, and looks so casual in his flip-flops.  Adrian is always working from home - what a delightful, fun, loving and happy (most of the time) family.  Love you all!!!

Can we say, "Let's lay down and take a look."  Curt bought a new trailer and he, dad and Jesse are looking at how to fix or adapt something.  It's always exciting when dad lays down to look.

Each month, Tom Garrison, our Brio neighbor takes a group on a hike around the St. George area. We have hiked Pine Valley, inner trails of St. George overlooking Dixie Red Hills Golf Course, and so forth. I had always wondered what was on the other side of 1-15 (I think north.) in the red cliffs. This month we learned how to get under the interstate and over to the Red Cliffs nature preserve. It was a very nice walk ending up at a waterfall area, cliffs for repelling and a small slot canyon.

No one is ever going to believe how many hikes are close to where we live.  This is a true paradise for hiking, biking and atv traveling. I love it.

Camping and Riding Marysvale 2020

Sometimes when you want to get out, you have to invite yourself and just tag along.  That's what we did with our Marysvale trip.  Marc and two of his neighbors and friends' families were going camping at Marysvale; we tagged along.  We stayed at the Hoovers Campground, which we love, rode the rzr, hiked a little, and did a whitewater river raft trip.  One of the friend's wife was a Hatch triplet that I helped Meridee (her mother) take care of, change diapers and feed.  What a small world.  She has grown into a beautiful young lady and mother.

It was fun to interact with our grandchildren, eat smores and get smokey by the fire each night.  On Sunday, we taught our family history zoom class and it was the first time in three months that it has rained.  The rain poured down on the bowery tin roof and we had to shout to be heard.  Interesting the things we can do now; be in the middle of nowhere and teach a gospel class.  My how things have changed in these last 8 months; who knows what else will happen.

These pictures are from the hike to Bullion Falls.  In the early 1900's there was a lot of gold mining activity in Marysvale.  These falls are just above a big mining area.

Does Kacy's face tell you how the hike was going?

We started out the raft trip at the company across the street from Hoovers.  The owner was just new this year and did his best to take care of our large group.  Here we are getting ready to raft.

This is down at the river just before we pushed in.

Now this is what I call relaxation on a water bed.  Kacy is totally alseep.  Tyce is loving every minute of this adventure.

Marc, Brittney and all the kids took a 5-mile bike ride on Marysvale's great bike trail.  The started near our campground and ended up at the old railroad tunnel.  Theron and I drove down to meet them and then "drove" them home.  You don't want to do 10-miles.  Kacy had just learned to right her bike without training wheels

A Trip to the Mine after all these years - July 18 - July 26

Before Theron and I were married, he introduced me to the family mine (Ironmask 2) on Moseby Mountain located up Paradise Road in the Uintah Mountains outside of Tridell.  We took a trip to fish at Dry Fork and then rode the rough road to Blanchett Park.  Adrian was just not quite a year old when we took our first family trip over July 24th holiday.  This trip was sleeping and living in a tent.  Soon after, we bought a used tent trailer and used it every summer until they closed the mine (1990).

 Getting water from the spring.

The rzr turned into a four-seater - safety strap and all.

Curt and Marc spent their youth holidays sliding down the dump hill, hiking to the hole in the rock, trying to find the blowhole, walking to the sink hole, riding the quaking aspen horse and running all day.  Adrian did much the same, but she was usually saddled with things Katiann liked to do.  Still, it was a fun time each year.

Theron helped Kendall and Grandpa (Neal) Schaefermeyer muck out the mine blasts and hauling tools, chains, saws, dynamite and whatever they needed.  He pushed a lot of mine cars from the inside to the outside and back to the inside to be filled.

Grandpa Neal had hauled a small 10 foot by 12 foot cabin up for he and grandma to stay in.  They had dug an outhouse hole and even piped spring water down for us to have continuous running water.  Sometimes, they would drape a canvas around three trees and we would have a shower room.  Every night was a fire and stories or songs.

Because everyone was getting older and they hadn't found the vein of gold they were after, they closed the mine by dynamiting the front entrance closed.  That was in July 1990.  This year was the first time in five years that we have been back as our entire family which now includes spouses and grandchildren.  Curious people have dug a small entrance hole that you slide down to enter the mine and then you can walk back to the end.

Theron, Adrian and I left Henefer after Janeil's memorial service on Saturday and drove to logger's park.  We were there about a week; everyone else came up July 23 and stayed to July 26.  We explored the area and scoped out all the things to do.  It was really a quiet time.  We knew after everyone came, it would be noisy and it was - but what joyful noise it was with kids running, throwing rocks in the stream, and just having fun.

We all had trailers to stay in, Curt brought a quad and we had our rzr.  We stayed at logger's park at the top of the mine road entrance.  These were three great days remembering, recreating all the kids sliding down the mine dump and all the grandchildren.  Getting water from the spring.  Cutting a large pine tree down and chopping wood.  Hearing stories from Kendall and Carol.  (Kendall stayed two days and slept in the back of Aubrianna's pickup truck which Kati and Aubie and Cash slept in a small tent.)  Carol and John stayed in a hotel in Vernal and drove up everyday.

Adrian and I found some fool's gold in Roosevelt and so all the kids panned for gold in the stream and went home with a chunk of fool's gold.

 All our "he" men with computer hands got a few callouses from chopping wood and of course Curt dozed while Kendall talked on.

It's still quite a view from up on top!

Who knows when the next time will be that we "go to the mine" as a family.  We enjoyed every minute of this trip and hope our grandchildren learned a little about how their parents spent their childhood time.  Memories!!!

 It's not a Schaefermeyer outing to Roosevelt and Vernal without going to the Dinosaur Quarry where Great-grandpa William Schaefermeyer worked with Earl Douglas to mine dinosaur bones.  Note how we all have masks this year - the Covid plaque is still alive and well.