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Mourning the Passing of Friends: Forthcoming Funeral Service

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. 

All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

~ Helen Keller

Susana K Johnson (Auelua)

Susana K Johnson (Auelua), age 58, passed away peacefully at home on May 12, 2023, after battling lung cancer over the past year. She will be remembered as a wonderful wife, a cherished mother, a loving nana, a dear sister, a favored aunty, and a treasured friend to many.

Susana was born January 11, 1965 in Faga’alu, American Samoa to parents Agamanu Karauna Auelua and Uatoto Te’o Auelua. She was the sixth of nine siblings, six brothers and two sisters. She lived with her family in the village of Pava’ia’i for the first fourteen years of her life. During her childhood, she actively participated in youth church activities and enjoyed singing alto in the choir. While on the island, she spent time with family, tended to chores, and helped take care of her little brothers. She attended Leone High School for one semester before moving to California with her mom and brother when she was 16 years old.

 

She became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a teenager. At 21 years old, Susana decided to serve an 18-month mission and was called to serve in Minnesota. After she returned home from missionary service, she connected with Joel Johnson, who previously served as a missionary in her family’s branch. After a few dates Susana discovered that she loved this quirky, handsome blonde guy. They dated for 9 months before getting engaged in September 1988. They were sealed in the Oakland California Temple on December 17, 1988.

 

Susana and Joel lived in Utah while Joel attended university. Susana attended Salt Lake Community College for some time but chose to work full-time to support her husband through school. In 1990, they decided to start their family and had their first-born son, Keller. Joel’s first job moved the little Johnson family to Connecticut where Susana gave birth to her second child, Lynicia, in 1992. After a short time living on the east coast, Joel’s job moved the family of four to Colorado where their third child, Dailyn, was eventually born in 1996. Susana and Joel settled in Longmont, Colorado for over 26 years. 

 

Susana was first, and foremost, a mother and a wonderful homemaker. She did everything to teach and nurture her children during their growing years. She ensured the home was clean and organized. She prioritized cooking a homemade meal and having the family eat together at the dinner table every night. She made countless school lunches and volunteered at school events when possible. She cheered on her kids in sports as they participated in soccer, hockey, basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, swim, and track. She also made sure her kids attended music lessons, youth church activities, and other social events. 

 

Susana was determined to capture memories and took many pictures and videos of her growing family. She had family portraits taken often. She enjoyed crafting and spent her free-time scrapbooking. Susana and her husband created many beautiful hand-made albums dedicated to family trips and life events. She and her husband loved traveling and invested in making memories through many family trips. Susana was known to many as the “favorite aunty” and she prioritized being present in many family events such as weddings, funerals, graduations, baby blessings, and other celebrations. She may have been considered a “shop-aholic”, but that is because she was a generous gift-giver to her friends, children, nieces, nephews, and, most importantly, her grandchildren. In the past few years, Susana became a pickleballer and enjoyed playing regularly with friends and family. She was a social butterfly and her bubbly personality drew people to her. She was a beautiful light to all who crossed her path.

 

Susana lived a life of service. She was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout her adult life. She served in many callings for the Relief Society, Primary, and Young Women’s programs. She often volunteered her time to visit and uplift women in her church congregation. Her husband served as a bishop and she fulfilled her duties to support him and the congregation with grace and strength. Susana loved feeding the missionaries (especially the Polynesian missionaries). In her empty-nester years, she housed the missionaries and made sure that they were taken care of. Susana devoted much of her time to serving in the Fort Collins and Payson temples. Susana was a faithful covenant-keeper and a strong disciple of Christ.

 

Susana found the most joy in being a grandmother. She loved her grandsons, Greyson and Kingston, and was excited to have more. She made it a point to be involved in their lives as much as possible and, as a result, was greatly loved by them. Her grandsons affectionately called her "Nana". She loved taking them on walks, playing at the park, and buying them fresh donuts in the morning when she visited. She was always looking for an opportunity to spoil them with new clothes, shoes, and toys. She made many memories with her grandkids, traveling with them to places like Disney World, Oceanside, and Bear Lake. 

 

Susana faced the most difficult trial last year when her husband unexpectedly passed away. A few months later, she discovered she had stage 4 lung cancer. She fought valiantly to stay here on this earth to spend as much time as she could with her beloved family. She was deeply loved by her family, friends, and neighbors. They are comforted in knowing that she is reunited with her husband on the other side of the veil.

 

Susana is survived by her children, Keller (Amberlee), Lynicia, and Dailyn (Storm); grandsons, Greyson and Kingston; brothers, Isaia, Mataese, Karauna, and Peaua; sister, Galovave; and many aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Joel; father and mother, Karauna and Uatoto; and brothers, Misimoa and Laisene.

 

A family service will be held on Friday evening, May 19, 2023 at 6:00 PM. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse, 711 South 600 East, Payson, Utah. Family members and closer friends are invited to attend the family service. A viewing will be held on Saturday, May 20, 2023, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. located at the same church building. The viewing will be followed by a funeral service at 12:00 p.m. A graveside service will be held at the Payson City Cemetery directly after the funeral service. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.walkermemorials.com.

 

SPRING LAKE HAMLET: THE PARADISE BETWEEN: “The Carters”

PHOTOGRAPHED in the early 1900s, William Furlsbury Jr and Annie Matilda Yorganson Carter with children: (front row, l-r) Alice Matilda (York), Reuben, father William F., William Warren, mother Annie Matilda, Orsen Terry, (standing behind, l-r) Charlotta (Haskell), Chasta Ann (Johnson), Peter Furlsbury, and Elmira Irene (Ahlin) Carter. Two Carter children, Samuel Sylvester and Samantha Elvira, died in infancy.

Auto wheels trill the highway between Santaquin and Payson. Roadsides spared for foot and spoked-wheel pedaling, young minds plan their rides to paradise: the hamlet called Spring Lake.

Classroom clocks tick off the minutes that crawl to summer break's grand unlocking. Straddling banana seats and 10-speeds, fishing poles in joust, the kids ride.

Some kids reel in envy of the hamlet’s permanent population, the lake only steps from their front door.

Some kids’ forebears preceded them en route to the hamlet between Summit Creek and Peteetneet. And some among them stayed.

The Carters.

This is an introduction.

May 10, 2023 Edition

 

Mourning the Passing of Friends: Forthcoming Funeral Service

 

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. 

All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

~ Helen Keller

Ivan Y HaskellJanuary 3, 1932 - May 4, 2023

Ivan Y Haskell, 91, of Payson, passed away on May 4, 2023, of causes incident to age, and complications related to an accident, while working with a colt in August of 2021.

Dad was born to parents, Lee Mearl and Nellie Youd Haskell, on January 3, 1932, the second of two children. His sister was ten years his senior. He spent nearly his entire life living in Haskellville, east of Payson, except for a couple of brief periods of time, when he worked out of state, in Nevada for the railroad, and Seattle for Boeing.

He grew up mostly an only child, due to his sister’s death from diabetes, when she was 16 years old. Dad struggled with her death for years. He graduated from Payson High School. He was always ambitious and a hard worker. One of his first jobs as a child was delivering fliers on his horse, for the movie theater in town. He always had a love for horses and cattle.

He grew up on a farm with his father and continued to farm his entire life until his horse accident. His farm was named a Legacy Farm by the Utah Farm Bureau and State of Utah. He raised quality Quarter Horses and Polled Hereford cattle. His livestock were recognized nationally at one time and had won many awards.

Besides farming, he worked in the Pipe Mill and Rolling Mill at Geneva Steel, retiring after thirty years. Dad and Mom went on to serve three missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Nauvoo, IL, Wolf Point, MT, and the MTC at BYU Provo. He also served as a temple ordinance worker for over eighteen years at the Provo and Payson, Utah Temples. Dad volunteered in many organizations, including the Peteetneet Museum, and the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. He has been a lifelong active member of his Church, serving in many callings, some of which include Boy Scout Master, High Priest Group Counselor, Ward Missionary Leader & Temple Ordinance Worker. Dad was himself, an Eagle Scout. His legacy also included multiple books, pamphlets, and papers written. He loved the history of his genealogy, community, and church, which he wrote about. Most recently, Dad and Mom were Co-Grand Marshal’s of the Payson Golden Onion Days, in 2022.

Dad met his beautiful wife, DeLowa Batty, in a Sunday School Class at the Payson 1st Ward, and almost immediately made the decision she was the one. They married in the St. George Temple, on February 9, 1952, and soon began their family of five children, Craig (Marie, deceased; Sandra), Payson, UT, Jeff (Aldean), Blackfoot, ID, Betty Ann (Bill) Murray, Rose Park, UT, Steve (Karen) Salem, UT, and Sandy (Joe) Dinkins, Salem, UT, and were foster parents to three Lamanite children, Sara Jose, Arlene McCabe, and Harry Brown. He bragged that he preselected the genders and names for all his children in order before they were born. Dad’s family was what he was most proud of, with 24 grandchildren, 55 great grandchildren and two great, great grandchildren.

Dad is survived by his wife of 71 years, his five children and their spouses, all his grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren, sister-in-law Elaine Cartwright (Randy), and two brother’s-in-law, John (Teresa) Batty, Kanarraville, UT and Travis (Debbie) Batty, New Harmony, UT.

Dad was preceded in death by his parents, his parents-in-law, Willard and Alva Batty, his only sister, Helen, daughter-in-law Marie (Craig), sister’s-in-law, Carolyn Williams and Retta Davis, and brother’s-in-law, Gary Williams and Allen Davis.

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, May 12, 2023, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located at 1100 East 100 South, in Payson, UT. Visitation will be prior from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the church. There will also be visitation Thursday, May 11, 2023, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Walker Funeral Home, 587 South 100 West, Payson, UT. Interment will be in Payson City Cemetery, 400 North 800 East, Payson, UT.

Special thanks to Dr. Joseph Dinkins and Canyon Home Care and Hospice workers, Tom Thorton and Chelsea Gillen.

THE ENTERPRISING LIFE OF J FRANK: FULL CIRCLE

Pictured: Antique glass magic lantern slide. Unidentified.

Flip the switch. Kill the lights. Save for a solo beam dispatched to cut the dim and tell a story written in still imagery in the Payson Lions Club’s Spring Lake den temporaire. Family picture slides will rotate full-circle before the projector’s lens by night’s end and, in the end, club members will have unintentionally made connections criss-crossing time and two Payson phenoms: The near-century-old Lions Club charter and the weekly newspaper’s founder J. Frank Pickering and apparatuses fated to technology's persistent rotation.

A blank slide illuminates the pale across a movie screen brought out for the Lions Club's mid-April entertainment.  "It’s a snowstorm," jokes Ross Huff as he opens his narration and sets it in tune with the cardboard framed 35mm slides held in procession in a vintage projector.

“Click! Click!” Huff’s pictures reflect a sublime chapter from his family’s story that could be titled "Explorations in Utah’s High Uintas." History glides through the projector onto the screen. Faded blue jean relics give away the period. Signature Seventies.

A pre-teen son Rhett clutches silver finned catches connected with fishing line. Dad on horseback. Mom Pat is tending the camp.

Last month's Lions Club slide show was akin to the enterprising J Frank, Payson newspaper founder, and the storybook chapters he projected with his magic lantern slide shows.

Mourning the Passing of Friends: Forthcoming Funeral Service

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. 

All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

~ Helen Keller

RUTH RASMUSSEN CLAYSON

NOVEMBER 13, 1945 – APRIL 30, 2023

Ruth Rasmussen Clayson, 77, of Payson, passed away on April 30, 2023, of Dementia/ Alzheimer's Disease.

November 13, 1945 was a very special day for Harold Woodruff and Audrey Mower Rasmussen.  On this day their beautiful baby daughter, Ruth, was born.  She was born at home, on a ranch just north of Payson, Utah.  Ruth was always very proud of the fact that she was born on a cattle ranch.   She and her brothers and sisters had a lot of fun with their horses—Topsy, Spur, and Sweetheart.  Her best friend was the cattle dog, Sally. The family moved uptown when she was five years old.  Throughout her life, she always loved animals.

Ruth was the youngest of seven children—John (Mary) Rasmussen, Joyce (Ronald) Millett, Jerry (Carlee) Rasmussen, Karen (Rex) Steele, Janice (Don) Ledbetter, and LaDawn (Kirk) Ludlow.  She was also blessed with many wonderful nephews and nieces. She attended Payson schools and graduated from Payson High School in 1964.  She also attended Brigham Young University.

During the summer and fall of 1964, Ruth met and fell in love with Clark R. Clayson of Payson.  They married and were sealed in the Manti Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 4, 1965.  They are the proud parents of six children—Andrea (Carl) Calaway of Lindon, UT; Shelly (Tracey) Ruesch of Murrieta, CA; Timothy Clark (Krista) Clayson of Payson, UT; Emily (Brad) Roundy of Payson, UT; Jenny Ruth (John) Peterson of Woodland Hills, UT; and Wesley Clark Clayson of Tooele, UT.  Ruth and Clark are the proud grandparents of 33 grandchildren and the proud great grandparents of 22 great-grandchildren.

Ruth and Clark were always active in the Church.  Ruth held many callings, including Sunday School teacher of high-school aged youth, which she really loved.  (She brought candy bars for them each Sunday except Fast Sunday.) Ruth also served as Young Women’s secretary and Relief Society teacher and secretary, among others.   

Ruth and Clark served together for fourteen years in the South Utah County Mission of the Addiction Recovery Program of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints.  They served as participants and facilitators in the Family Support meetings and later as missionaries and coordinators of the mission.  They met many wonderful people over the years who will always be lifelong friends in this life and in the life to come.  Because of health reasons, they were released in 2020.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents and brothers and sisters—John and Mary Rasmussen, Joyce and Ronald Millett, Jerry and Carlee Rasmussen, Karen and Rex Steele, Janice and Don Ledbetter, and Kirk Ludlow.  She was also preceded in death by son-in-law—David V. Mortenson, and two beautiful granddaughters—Kaitlyn Hansen and Katie Peralta.

A viewing at Walker Funeral Home, 587 South 100 West, Payson, Utah, will be held from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. on Friday, May 5, 2023.  Funeral services will be on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mountain View 7th Ward, 681 East 500 North, Payson, Utah, at 11:00 a.m., with visitation from 9:30 until 10:30 a.m.  Interment will be in the Payson City Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Humanitarian Fund.