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.

Arthur (Ted) Nielsen

Our father / grandfather, husband -  has rode ahead, leaving us with an American tapestry of sweat stained hats, worn out gloves, saddles, bridles, hammers and saws. All wrapped together with baling twine and barbed wire.  Arthur (Ted) Nielsen passed us by on March 6, 2019, in a painless exit from this life. It was fitting as he had endured much.

Ted was born in Loa, Utah, May 7, 1931, to Anton Arthur Nielsen and Evangeline Potter.  He grew up as a boy on the hungry slope in Payson. He lost his mother at age four. Ted and his kid brother, J. M., kinda helped their father build the house on the South end of town by the mouth of the canyon.  It is the house he remodeled in ‘74’. It is the house where he passed away.

Ted lived a life big, bold and full.  He attended local schools and graduated from Payson High.  In the summers he worked for Bamberger Ranch from age 13 to 19.  Along the way he attended College, entered the army service where he was severely injured in a car wreck..  Ted married our mom, Joan Wood in January of 1953 and together they raised five children in the house on Fifth East.  Joan passed away in 2009 and Ted married Beth Braithwaite in 2012.

Our father Teddy was a singer, boxer, arm wrestler, chicken fighter, football player for Dixie College, farmer, union carpenter, race horse breeder, owner, trainer, and an avid reader with a colorful memory of his experiences.  He was one of the original organizers of the Payson Horse Racing Association. He loved fast horses!

Our dad is survived by Beth, his children John (Margaret), LuAnn Wignall, David (Deborah), Marian (Christina) and Nancy.  Beth’s children Julie (Dixon) Fairbanks, Richard (Carolyn) Braithwaite, Jeff (Chris) Braithwaite, Roger (Kim) Braithwaite, with sixteen grandchildren and 35 great grandchildren.

Please bring your hugs and memories to join us for a celebration of his life / open viewing will be under the direction of Walker Mortuary, Tuesday March 12, 2019, from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM followed by a funeral service beginning at 11:00 AM.  The location is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 11 South 600 East, Payson, Utah.