Obituary: Grant, Laree Swenson
Born in Spanish Fork, Utah on April 28, 1924, to loving parents Emma and Nephi Swenson, she was the third child and only daughter of their six children.
The family’s work ethic saw them through the great depression with LaRee and her brothers coming of age during WW II.
While her brothers served overseas LaRee joined the workforce and put herself through college earning a Bachelor of Applied Science degree with honors in 1947, from Brigham Young University.
She was 1947 winner of the Noble Medal, awarded by the home economics department to its top student, and was always proud of the fact that she earned the highest grade in her class in organic chemistry which she chose as a science elective.
After the war she married her lifelong loving husband Willard Jay and raised four children, eventually settling in the Spokane Valley.
LaRee was active in the LDS church where she held many positions over the years.
She was also a talented gardener who created and maintained beautiful flower gardens at her homes, a skill she no doubt learned from her father and also passed on to her children and grandchildren.
LaRee also loved to travel and traveled extensively with her husband and family, including many trips to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe.
LaRee passed her wander-lust on to her daughters but especially on to granddaughter Melanie LaRee.
After retirement Jay and LaRee sold the family home in the Spokane Valley and served as LDS missionaries in Nigeria.
When they returned they bought a home in Liberty Lake where they lived together until Jay passed away in 2011.
That home was and continues to be the site of many family gatherings, the largest of which occurred each August when the extended family, including grandchildren and great-grandchildren, descended to pick huckleberries, eat homemade ice cream and celebrate their many August birthdays.
No one made a better huckleberry pie than LaRee.
LaRee was preceded in death by her daughter Holly and by her husband of 65 years, W. Jay, as well as by her parents and brothers Don, Claire, and Ross Swenson.
She is survived by son-in-law Bill Milton, daughter Cherry (Marc Shapiro), sons Finley (Hilda) and Calvin, as well as her 15 grandchildren, 17 great-grands, her brothers Ivan and Terry, and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family wishes to especially recognize and thank daughter-in-law Hilda for the excellent care and attention she gave LaRee during the last two years of her life, and also the Gummersall family for their love and care of both Jay and LaRee over the years.
A memorial service and celebration of LaRee’s life will be held Monday, August 3, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. at the LDS chapel, 23515 E. Boone Ave., Liberty Lake, Washington.
Many of the family members are also gathering August 1, at her Liberty Lake home to continue the tradition of the annual quest for huckleberries.
Jay and LaRee will be buried together in the Spanish Fork (Utah) City Cemetery on Friday, September 18, 2015.