“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.
Arza Curtis Page Jr.
Curtis was raised in Payson and graduated from Payson High School in 1944. He worked in the family apple orchard as a young man, spraying and irrigating along with the men.
Curtis joined the US Navy in 1944 at the age of 17, and was sent to Norman, Oklahoma to attend the Naval Air Technical Training Center. He trained as an Aviation Ordinanceman, studying all types of ordinance. He was also trained on radar systems, learning to interpret the images on radar screens. Shortly before leaving Oklahoma, Curtis was accepted into a newly opened pilot training program, but the surrender of Germany cancelled the program two days before he reported. He then reported to Orote Naval Air Base in Guam, where he spent the remainder of his service as a firefighter.
When his Navy enlistment ended, Curtis returned to Payson and then enrolled in the USAC in Logan, later Utah State University. After one year in Logan, he was called on a mission to the New England States, where he served in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. He and his companions were some of the last missionaries to serve without purse or scrip and were often the first LDS missionaries called to these areas.
Curtis returned home in 1949 and enrolled at Brigham Young University, where he graduated with a degree in Marketing in 1952. During this time, he began dating Evelyn Ellsworth, another Payson native, and in June 1952 they were married. Evelyn and Curtis had two sons, Stanley Ellsworth and Steven Curtis.
Curtis worked construction at Dugway and the Tooele Ordinance Depot while attending college. After graduating, he worked as an Assistant Bank Manager for Commercial Bank of Payson. Curtis and Evelyn moved to Las Vegas in 1953, where he worked as a Purchasing Agent for a large chemical plant. They moved to Ogden in 1959, where he worked as a Buyer for Thiokol Chemical Company. He advanced quickly, becoming responsible for contract negotiations for the purchase of all propellant chemicals for the Minuteman Ballistic Missile program. They returned to Las Vegas in 1963, where Curtis worked as a Purchasing Agent for three companies, then moved back to Ogden in 1967 to work again for Thiokol, where Curtis managed all contracts and material for the remodeling of the Clearfield Naval Supply Depot into a 1200-man training school for the US Department of Labor. He retired from Thiokol in 1978 and opened a Tunex franchise in West Valley City, which he operated for four years before retiring permanently.
In 1980, Curtis and Evelyn bought the Ellsworth family home in Payson, where they lived until their passing in 2018. Curtis loved hunting and fishing and considered Payson canyon to be God’s country. His goal was to be a good father and provider and considered his family to be his greatest blessing.
Curtis was preceded in death by his siblings Edna Page, Fred Taylor Page (Patricia), Florence Tippetts (Twain), and Louise Page. He is survived by his sister Mary Gibson (Floyd), of Fresno, California, his sons Stanley Ellsworth Page (Lanna) and Steven Curtis Page (Arlene), grandchildren Tyson Page (Courtney), Amanda Provstgaard (Thomas), Hayden Page (Crystal), Eric Page (Shaunna), Rebecca Dennis (Nicholas), Matthew Page (Faith) and ten great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, May 5, 2018 at 11 a.m. at the Payson 14th Ward Chapel, 110 South 300 West, Payson, Utah. A visitation will be held prior to service from 10-10:45 a.m. Interment will be held at the Payson City Cemetery. Services are in the care of Walker Funeral Home.
Condolences may be sent to www.walkerobits.com
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