Faith, Family, and Getting Your Hair Done

 

Back in November Grandma called me and asked if I would be the one to read her eulogy and say a few words. Most of you know how much of a social butterfly she is and in these sunset years of life she has truly loved attending funerals of friends and loved ones and has been planning her own for quite some time. I am honored to be included on the program and thank you all for being here to celebrate and honor her.

Grandma was the type of person that if you didn’t know her that’s ok because she likely knew you. She is famous among friends and family for her ability to meet someone and connect to them through mutual friends and family members. Wherever we went she would find someone who either turned out to be her cousin’s nephew’s sister-in-law’s best friend or someone she taught at school. Grandma helped us all see how small the world truly is and that at the end of the day we are all brothers and sisters and part of God’s eternal family. I can only imagine the absolute heyday she is having in heaven right now making connections and experiencing reunions with loved ones she hasn’t seen in so long. And that is what makes days like this so sweet, knowing that there is a plan in place that affirms there is a life after this one and that our families can be together forever all because of our Savior Jesus Christ.

For Grandma faith, family and getting your hair done were life’s paramount priorities. As I’ve pondered this I’ve come to realize that the legacy Grandma has left us is her lesson that we need to take care of our faith, take care of our family, and take care of ourselves.

With that in mind I’ll go ahead and read the eulogy that she helped write. Like I said before she really has been planning this day. Hope we make her proud.

Belva June Rawson Moyle, 90, of South Ogden passed away peacefully on 16 Thursday February 2023. She was born to Frank Virgil Rawson and Della May Hull on 31 August 1932. She grew up on a dairy farm in Hooper, Utah. She attended Weber High School and served in the Great Lakes Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

                After her mission, Belva attended BYU, where she met and married her sweetie Richard Wagstaff Moyle. They moved to Iowa for graduate school after which Belva graduated from Western States Colorado in Elementary Education.

 After moving back to South Ogden, she taught at TO Smith Elementary and later taught at Washington Terrace Elementary for a combination of 27 years. She loved her many years of teaching children.

 She was very active in her many church callings and served as President of the Weber State College Faculty Wives. She and Richard served a Family History Mission in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Belva is survived by her amazing children, Wayne R (Cheryl) Moyle and Nancy (Travis) Hall. She has five loving grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard; her parents; her brother, Roger; and one great-grandchild.

 Belva will be remembered for her gift of gab. She was always social and loved to find out where people were from. If you talked to her you were either directly or indirectly related. She loved quilting, reading, puzzles and traveling.

 Her family would like to thank Fairfield Village, and Enhabit Hospice for their service and care given to her.

To close I want to share a thought my Grandma wrote to her family when my cousin Paul signed her up for StoryWorth which is a service that sends you question prompts and you respond over email over the course of a year and at the end of the year all of the answers are published in a book. I loved what Grandma wrote in response to the question What gives you peace of mind? She said “Peace of mind comes when family, friends & those around us are getting along together and are happy. When we put the concerns and welfare of family before our own. When our lives follow the teachings of the Savior, and we feel His promptings and when we enjoy the quiet moments and feel safe and loved.”

I hope that we as her family and friends can follow that counsel and take care of our faith, our families and ourselves and know we will find peace of mind as we do so.

In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Peaches

• The Pittsburgh airport has a mural of Andy Warhol (a Pittsburgh native) artwork. This cow one made me smile thinking about my cute grandma who grew up on a dairy farm in Hooper, UT (the oo's are pronounced like "hook" not "hoop")

• Being with family and watching my mom and her brother my Uncle Wayne support each other during this time of loss

• Sweet flowers from both my team at work and my in-laws. Love my family at work and at home

• Attending the temple with my family and getting to wear my Grandma's temple veil there, the same one we buried her in the next day

• My mom invited me to help dress my Grandma in her temple robes before they moved her body into the casket and it was such a sweet, tender, special experience I will never forget. I feel so blessed for the opportunity to have been back to be with family and participate in honoring my Grandma. I love her and will miss her. However I am so eternally grateful for the peace and comfort of the restored gospel and the knowledge of our Savior's resurrection that makes it possible for us to be reunited with our bodies and loved ones once again. 
• Standing in line by my Grandma's casket and listening to lots of memories about her from people that came to support her
• Services were really beautiful and everyone who spoke did a great job
• The flowers were also so pretty I'm sure Grandma loved them
• I felt honored that Grandma wanted me to read the eulogy and share some thoughts to kickoff the meeting
• Dad put a Browning sticker on Grandpa's casket and put a purple one on Grandma's casket. They were always proud supporters of Browning merch. I'll always remember Grandma wearing her favorite turquoise Browning down puffer coat in the winter

• Feeling Grandma's influence and memories close by throughout the week
• Having a job that makes pick up and head home trips like this possible I was still able to get work done at the airport, on the flight and at home which is amazing!
• Went through my Grandma's old cookbook and snapped pics of lots of recipes. The older I get the more I love old recipes

• Went to a yummy ramen restaurant with my parents and got a crazy looking cake for dessert

• Got the window seat on the plane which actually was extra comfortable to have more leg room. See crazy story about our flight out below in the Pits

• Leaving our car in the airport parking lot was a decision I'd make again and again. We literally picked up our bags first thing from the luggage carousel and walked back to our car and were out of there in a flash

• We went to dinner with both of our sets of parents on our last night home which was a lot of fun. Jeff and Amy took us to two different taco places down in SLC. They found a new Birria taco place that is absolutely delicious. Jaden and I are so blessed to have good parents
• Our niece Sloane made me another friendship bracelet. Love that cute girl!

• We were starving after our flight back so we made an online order from the Cheesecake Factory and picked up my fav Chinese Chicken Salad and S'mores cheesecake on our way home. We parked underneath a Fred Rogers building and it made me smile. I remember watching Mr. Rogers at my grandparents house all the time as a kid

Pits

• Getting to UT was crazy our flight was scheduled to leave super early on Thursday morning getting us in mid-afternoon and essentially giving us an extra half-day with family. However, there were horrible snow storms in the midwest that cancelled flights including ours. We ended up re-routing later that afternoon through NYC (which always feels horrible backtracking) and we didn't end up getting into SLC until 9:40 pm. Because our flight was rescheduled we didn't get our seats right away so when we showed up at the gate and asked for seat assignments they told us that they were slightly overbooked and there were 3 people ahead of us needing seat assignments. I was so worried we wouldn't make it for the second time but thankfully they asked us if we'd be willing to sit on the emergency row which we were more than happy to do!
• It was a quick trip in and out and hard to say bye to family so quickly
• I felt bad that Jaden was in school when the services were. Thankfully he was able to hop on calls and class virtually but it was a little bit crazy timing for him. I'm so glad he came and supported me and paid his respects to my Grandma who really did love him even if she always called him Braden