Mourning the Passing of Friends: Forthcoming Funeral Services

“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.  All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” ~ Helen Keller

Forthcoming funeral services are planned for the following friends from our community. Complete versions of these obituaries may also be found in The Payson Chronicle.

Former Payson Councilman

Van Canann

Van Canann, 77 of Payson, died February 9, 2019 after a lingering illness.

“Hello, My Friend” was Van’s phone greeting to everyone for over 40 years.

Van was born October 28, 1941 in Santa Monica, California, as the eldest child of Howard Van Pelt and Gae Sorensen Canann.  His full name is Howard Van Pelt Canann II.  He spent the first 10 years of his life in Long Beach, California and then they moved to the San Francisco area.

Van graduated from San Rafael High School and went on to college at Brigham Young University.  He served a mission after his first year of college in the Spanish America Mission, serving mostly in Texas.

He met Georgia Ann Olsen at the BYU Campus Movies where both were working.  They married in May 1962 in the Salt Lake City Temple.

Van was an avid scouter from cub scout age and received Eagle rank.  All six of his sons also achieved the rank of Eagle.  He served as scout master, cub leader, and committee chairman.  He also was the recipient of the Silver Beaver Award.

Van received his BS degree and teaching certificate in 1964 from BYU and became an LDS Seminary teacher in Pocatello and Blackfoot, Idaho.  He really liked the teaching environment in Seminary.

On a summer job as a policeman in Idaho, he found a new interest.  He proceeded from this small summer experience and found a special program in Detroit, Michigan, for training police administrators.  He was hired in 1969 and advanced through numerous experiences including: patrolman in Detroit, undercover work, plain clothes investigations, Sergeant, detective and Wayne County Task Force. 

From this experience, he was hired by the state of Illinois as a special agent in the Illinois Bureau of Investigations.  He was asked when he was going to do drug buying undercover, “if you don’t smoke, drink or even curse, how can you buy drugs undercover?”  However, he was able to make the largest heroin purchase (bust) up to that date.

He also was a police chief in central Illinois and was successful in moving drug selling and use out of the county and solving many older crimes.

During the time Van was working as an agent, the family lived in Illinois and loved the experience of homesteading with small farm animals and rural living.  

In 1981, the family moved to Oklahoma City where Van was a manager of a plastics fabrication company.  He eventually opened his own alarm business there.  In 1994, Van’s family moved to Payson to care for his in-laws, George and Reba Olsen.

Van served on the Payson City Council from 1996-1999 and loved working with the city employees and council members.

He also opened his own business, Counter Strike Investigations as a licensed Private Investigator until his retirement in 2013.

Van was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints holding positions in a stake presidency, serving as bishop three times, high council, scoutmaster, teacher and more.

He is survived by his wife Georgia, his six sons, Scott, Austin, TX; Brian (Julie) Vienna, VA;  Keven (Lisa) Pensacola, FL; Roger (Josepha) Vancouver, Canada; Michael (Brandi) Cincinnati, OH; David (Erica) Bountiful, UT.  He is also survived by two sisters, Ann Canann of Oakland, CA and Carmen Rangel (Chale) of Austin, TX and 21 grandchildren.  He is preceded in death by his parent and one sister, Linda Canann.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, February 16 at 11:00 a.m. at the Payson 11th Ward LDS Chapel, 902 W. 400 N. in Payson with a viewing Friday, February 15, 2019 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm and prior to the funeral service from 9:30 am until 10:45 am at the same location.

To express condolences, visit LegacyFunerals.com.