Elton Klebe Pierce passed away peacefully of natural causes on January 9, 2011 at The Life Care Center in Bountiful.
He was born September 3, 1927 in Wellington, Utah to Murry Elton Pierce and Thelma Ruth Worley Pierce. He was the third of sixteen children.
He married Marilyn Jane Brown in the Salt Lake Temple on August 16, 1949. Together, they are the parents of four children: Steven Lynn (Malinda), Gail (Bruce) Hunter, Lee Ellen (Ken) Stevens, and Amy (John) Boynton.
He is survived by his wife of sixty-one years, Marilyn, their children, twenty grandchildren, and an ever-increasing number of great-grandchildren. He is also survived by nine siblings: Roberta Mason, Elaine Pierce, Ellis Pierce, Asay Pierce, Josephine Pappas, Rayma Cranford, Murry Pierce, Ward Pierce, and Bene Pierce. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Howard, Robert, Garry and Curry; and two sisters Leora and one who died in infancy. Also predeceased by one grandson, David Hunter.
He worked hard throughout his life. As a child of the Depression, he had great responsibilities in his large family, which did not end when he moved to Salt Lake at eighteen.
In Salt Lake, he was employed by ZCMI and worked his way up from stock boy to stock manager. He met his wife while working at ZCMI.
Eventually, he landed a position as a dispatcher for the Union Pacific Railroad, where he worked until his retirement in 1990. In his retirement, he kept busy doing countless hours of volunteer work.
Klebe was a life-long member of the LDS Church and spent many hours as a volunteer in various capacities. He served in several Bishoprics and Sunday School presidencies, but the highlights of his Church service involved the time he spent as a guide at Welfare Square, for the Bountiful Temple open house and for the LDS Conference Center.
He loved to get involved, discover how things worked and ran, and share that love and enthusiasm with others. He had a gentle way of taking you by the hand and showing you things that were important to him. Klebe served honorably as a member of the Army Reserve for twenty-six years.
Friends and family are welcome to call during a viewing held at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple Street, Salt Lake City, on Thursday, January 13, 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. A funeral to celebrate his life will be held in the Orchard Eighth Ward Chapel, 55 East 350 North, North Salt Lake, on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 11:00 a.m., with a viewing to start at 10:00 a.m.
Interment will follow in the Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South), Sandy.
Published in the Deseret News on January 11, 2011.
Elton Klebe PIERCE |