My mother was born on March 1, 1947. She was the only
daughter of Thomas and Blanche Valle. She had one brother named Tommy and
he was 5 years older than her. She always told me that he took such good care
of her even though she was the annoying little sister to him.
Tom told me that he and my mom took turns washing the dishes
every night after dinner. Even though it would have done faster if they
worked together, he didn’t want to get caught washing dishes with his little
sister. When my mom was very young, she, Tom and her parents would go on
family bicycle rides down Immigration canyon. My grandmother would drive
them up in their truck, then mom would sit on a seat on the back of her dad’s
bike and Tom would follow them on his bike as they rode down the canyon.
My mother loved her grandparents. Growing up, she had
dinner with them almost every Sunday. Her grandparents were very
proper. Her grandfather would eat dinner in a coat and tie.
My grandmother was a talented seamstress. She made all of
mom’s clothes. Mom always looked like a little doll with starched white
shirts, and dresses with hand embroidered piping. Mom took
after her mother in that regard. She often had a sewing project while
growing up. Before she died she told my daughter Alex that she was sorry
she wouldn’t be able to hem her pants anymore. She was always thinking of
others in that way.
Mom was also really close with her cousins growing up. She
told me that because she didn’t have any sisters, it was especially exciting
for her to play with them. Her uncle AZ and his wife-my aunt Verla has 6
children and 5 of them were girls. My mom kept in close contact with her
cousins throughout her life. They had an annual cousin’s party that she
always enjoyed attending. Mom’s mother died of breast cancer when she was
21. She missed her every day of her life.
My mother was raised to appreciate family, but also
friendships. Her parents always maintained close friendships. Every
summer when she was young, her family took a vacation to Yellowstone with
another family. They would rent a little cabin in the park. They
also took up their own bedding, dishes, food etc. One summer the family they
were going with was driving ahead of them . They had packed strapped some
of their luggage to the top of their car. As they entered Yellowstone,
suddenly a great big bear ran into the road and climbed on their friend’s car
right in front of them. As you can imagine, that left a lifelong
impression on mom.
Mom graduated from Highland High school. While in high
school, she sustained a serious ankle injury. This occurred while she was
attending a young men/women activity as a teen. They were up at Brighton,
tubing down the mountain. Someone on the tube came down the hill and hit
my mom. It was so hard it caused her to have a compound fracture.
It was a horrible injury. She had to ride all the way down the canyon in
agony. When she finally made it to the hospital, the doctors put on a
full leg cast for months. This ankle injury plagued her during her entire
life. About 10 years ago, she had a complete ankle replacement.
Then a year ago, she had a fusion.
After college, mom attended the U of Utah where she was in the
Alpha Kappa Theta sorority. She maintained lifelong friends with her
sorority sisters. She graduated with a degree in elementary
education. While in college, she and my dad met. He happened to be
dating one of her sorority sisters at the time. Eventually they ended up
going out and things clicked. Mom described my dad as the most beautiful
specimen of a man and the “brad pit” of our time. My parents married on
Friday December 13, 1968 in the Salt Lake Temple. After they got married, mom
got a job teaching 2ndgrade. She taught at a Title One
school. This was a school located in a poor part of town. Mom used
to tell us about how often kids would get lice. This was something that
she had never been around. She also came home many days asking my dad
what certain phrases the kids were using meant. My dad joined the army
while finishing graduate school. He was an officer. He and mom
moved to Georgia. Mom told us that their time in Georgia on the army base
was one of the best times of their life. It was there that they took up
golfing together. They would go out with different couples and that is
when they really developed a love of sports.
Just before mom and dad left Georgia, she found out she was
pregnant with me. She and dad moved home, bought the house that we grew
up in on County Manor Road. Then she had Matt, Liza and finally
Amanda. Mom was a homemaker, but she also did collections for
Redman Van& Storage, dads company for 20 years. She also maintained
many church callings throughout her life.
Her greatest role in life was becoming a grandma. She was
able to attend the birth of every one of her grandchildren. She loved
being a grandma. It was all she really ever wanted to do.
The past few months with mom were some of the greatest of my
life. Even though she was going through a horrible time, it was such a
blessing to be able to serve her and give something back. I am so
grateful that I was able to serve her and enjoy that precious time. Mom
felt like she lived a great life. She and dad were able to travel all
over. They had great friends. They loved their home in Monte
Luca. She had a strong testimony of the gospel, and felt blessed to have
the knowledge of eternal families.
One of the last things mom did before she died was gather our
family together one evening. She bore her testimony to all of us.
She told us that she wasn’t afraid to die. She knew where she was going
and she knew that we would be with her together again someday.
I love you mom.
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