Charles “Chuck” Eatinger Bynum, 80, passed away Saturday, October 29, 2022. He died peacefully with Lois at his side.
Chuck was born September 10, 1942, in Mt. Pleasant, Utah to Donna Maurine Eatinger and Hugh Bynum. He attended Wasatch Academy where he played football and graduated in 1960. After high school, Chuck moved to Los Angeles, CA to attend NIT Technical Institute and work at Bonanza Airlines (which after a long history of mergers and name changes is now Delta Airlines).
While living in Los Angeles, he met Lois Ann Odefey, a flight attendant also working for Bonanza Airlines. Chuck graduated from NIT in Mechanical Engineering. Chuck and Lois were married on September 14, 1963. They briefly lived in Reno, NV before Donna called needing help on the family farm, so they quit their airline jobs and moved back to Mt. Pleasant. Chuck later worked as a travel trailer salesman and then took a job working in the coal mining industry where he stayed for 30 years. Chuck enjoyed watching his three children: Dawn, Alana, and Heath thrive in school, sports, 4-H, and rodeo.
Once he retired from coal mining, he decided to start his own trucking company, operating first just in Utah, then expanding to Arizona. Chuck and Lois moved to Salt Lake City where Dawn’s family was living at the time, to be closer to their granddaughters.
Retirement came and the warm sunshine of Arizona was a little nicer than the cold snowy winters in Utah. Even though he lived in Arizona, his heart never left his small hometown.
He loved fishing, boating at Lake Powell, traveling, and spending time with his grandkids and great-granddaughters.
Chuck is preceded in death by his mom Donna Maurine Smith, brother Myron Frandsen, and his sister Charlyn Austin. He is survived by Lois Bynum, his children Dawn Buxton, Alana Favela, Heath Bynum, their spouses respectively, 4 granddaughters, one grandson, and two great-granddaughters.
Graveside services are being planned for the spring/summer of 2023 in Mt. Pleasant, Utah.
Peel and boil potatoes (6 medium sizes for a large kettle of soup). Salt and cook until tender, drain, and mash. Beat in 1 egg and a small amount of cream, add flour until mixture leaves the pan, and add to boiling soup 5 minutes before serving.
Hamilton Grade school 5th grade, 1932 - 1933
Front row lf to rt: Marland Zabriskie, Shrol Erickson, Billy Hansen, Buddy Christensen, Arthur Oldham, Que Barton, NewelNelson, Phil Squires, Allen Olsen, Rex Christensen, Blain Shelley
2nd row lf to rt: Alice Johnson, Jane Brittan, Miriam Candland, Carol Anderson, Geraldine Staker, Llavon Draper, Mareen Tidwell, Florence Peterson, Barbara Beckstrom, Lavon, Cambron, unk, Mary Hafen, Mayre Mckay, Betty Jensen
Back row lt to rt: Andra Sorenson, Mary Kathrine Christensen, Elaine Sorenson, Beth Lund, Alma Johansen, Evelyn Jensen, Fern Olson, Hilda Roberts, Charles Rutishauser, Kenneth Johnson, Wayne Peterson, Boyd Johansen, Lon Simons, Cataract Olson Marsden Allred, teacher
A shoemaker, by no fault of his own, had become so poor that at last he had nothing left but leather for one pair of shoes. So in the evening, he cut out the shoes which he wished to begin to make the next morning, and as he had a good conscience, he lay down quietly in his bed, commended himself to God, and fell asleep. In the morning, after he had said his prayers, and was just going to sit down to work, the two shoes stood quite finished on his table. He was astounded and knew not what to say to it. He took the shoes in his hands to observe them closer, and they were so neatly made that there was not one bad stitch in them, just as if they were intended as a masterpiece. Soon after, a buyer came in, and as the shoes pleased him so well, he paid more for them than was customary, and, with the money, the shoemaker was able to purchase leather for two pairs of shoes. He cut them out at night, and next morning was about to set to work with fresh courage; but he had no need to do so, for, when he got up, they were already made, and buyers also were not wanting, who gave him money enough to buy leather for four pairs of shoes. The following morning, too, he found the four pairs made; and so it went on constantly, what he cut out in the evening was finished by the morning, so that he soon had his honest independence again, and at last, became a wealthy man.
Now it befell that one evening not long before Christmas, when the man had been cutting out, he said to his wife, before going to bed, "What think you if we were to stay up tonight to see who it is that lends us this helping hand?" The woman liked the idea and lighted a candle, and then they hid in a corner of the room, behind some clothes which were hanging up there, and watched. When it was midnight, two pretty little naked men came, sat down by the shoemaker's table, took all the work which was cut out before them, and began to stitch, sew, and hammer so skilfully and so quickly with their little fingers that the shoemaker could not turn away his eyes for astonishment. They did not stop until all was done, and stood finished on the table, and they ran quickly away.
The next morning the woman said, "The little men have made us rich, and we really must show that we are grateful for it. They run about so, and have nothing on, and must be cold. I'll tell thee what I'll do: I will make them little shirts, coats, vests, and trousers, and knit both of them a pair of stockings, and do thou, too, make them two little pairs of shoes." The man said, "I shall be very glad to do it;" and one night, when everything was ready, they laid their presents all together on the table instead of the cut-out work, and then concealed themselves to see how the little men would behave. At midnight they came bounding in and wanted to get to work at once, but as they did not find any leather cut out, but only the pretty little articles of clothing, they were at first astonished, and then they showed intense delight. They dressed with the greatest rapidity, putting pretty clothes on, and singing,
"Now we are boys so fine to see, Why should we longer cobblers be?"
Then they danced and skipped and leaped over chairs and benches. At last, they danced out of doors. From that time forth they came no more, but as long as the shoemaker lived all went well with him, and all his undertakings prospered.
The first lighting ceremony on Temple Square was held in 1965 when nearly 15,000 people gathered to watch former Church President David O. McKay push the button to light 40,000 lights. During the ceremony, President McKay said, “Our minds tonight should be on the babe of Bethlehem, whose coming into the world Christmas morning reminds us all that we each should have in our hearts the love of Christ.” Although there is no longer a formal lighting ceremony on Temple Square, the lights continue each year as a reminder of the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
A memorable occasion associated with the old church is the first public celebration of Christmas, started by Dr. McMillan. In speaking of it, one of the pioneers says: "Here we saw the first Christmas tree laden with presents from eastern missionary barrels, and here the children saw the first oranges which they thought were yellow apples. They tried to eat them with the peeling on, and they threw them down when they found them bitter. It was then the teachers showed them how to peel their first oranges. The tree, illuminated with wax candles, created a picture the like of which we had never seen before. It supplied the topic of conversation for many a day after, and so many modern customs were brought here through the medium of the church and school that have served both to entertain and instruct its patrons."
The question has been asked "What year was this held?" As to the year the church was used to celebrate Christmas, no date was given by Hilda Madsen Longsorf.
Clerks would smile, show sympathy and try to be nice.
I have been at the Wasatch, The Progress, and Squires
I have looked at all things a human admires
. At Gunderson's, at Biddle's, and over at Pete's too,
I asked to see their goods, both old and new.
I went to Penney's and then to the Sanpete.
I am quite sure I visited all places on Main Street.
I roamed North and South, and up and down,
Almost decided to go to some other town.
At last discouraged and in despair,
I searched mail-order catalogs from everywhere.
But whenever I saw an article I thought would do,
I found that aft' their price, there was Uncle Sam's postage too.
I have seen radios, automobiles, blankets, mitts,
But darned if I could find anything for only two bits.
Today I decided on this present plain and queer.
Here is wishing you
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
~~~
I've added a few more pictures and Hilda's Main Street Tour
(A fun walking tour of Main Street found amongst Hilda's Memorabilia)
Next stop is Mt. Pleasant City. As I step from the train, the first sign that meets my eye is "ROOMS 5 BLOCKS EAST 1 BLOCK NORTH". I am next attracted by a road sign that reads: "Fairview - 6 1/2 miles, Thistle - 37 1/2 miles, Provo - 57 miles, Price - 95 miles, Spring City - 5 miles, Ephraim - 15 1/2 miles, Manti- 23 miles, Gunnison - 38 miles. After sizing up the conveyances, I decided to walk up one side of the street and down the other. Between third and fourth west is a red BLACK SMITH SHOP sign with a sign PEERLESS, on the west side and LUCKY STRIKE TOBACCO on the east side. Nearly a block east we notice a blue sign advertising FIRESTONE on the west side of the building, with the sign BENT HANSEN AND COMPANY LUMBER in front. We pass the building painted yellow and two sign boards advertising DODGE BROTHERS and LUCKY STRIKE. As we pass the brick house surrounded by pines we see the sign SWEET CHOCOLATE. In front of the building is a painted sign SANPETE COUNTY COOP GENERAL MERCHANDISE. Next is the Mt. Pleasant Bank Building. On the front is painted 19BANK01. On the front of the LAMONT BUILDING upstairs are the following signs: A. SUNDWALL, M.D., and P.L. HOLMAN, SURGEON AND PHYSICIAN. In the east window, the sign reads W.D. TUELER, DENTIST. In the lower window is MRS. LAMONT MILLINERY and JAMES SQUIRE JEWELRY. Next we come to the GUNDERSON BLOCK. Next is the JAMES F. JENSEN building plainly labeled. Then we pass the CLEANING AND PRESSING and the MAYTAG SHOP. Next a frame building with a lot of CIRCUS posters; then the GOOD YEAR TIRES SERVICE STATION. On the corner of Main and 1st west is the MT. PLEASANT POST OFFICE and SEELY HINCKLEY GARAGE. and next is a BARBER SHOP. And now for a hot dog at REDI-QUICK LUNCH. Now the PYRAMID building, on the west side is the sign UTAH MEAT AND PRODUCE. The next building is the EQUITABLE building occupied by PROGRESS MERCANTILE CO. In the window upstairs is I.O.O.F. HALL. Now we are at SKAGGS', SAFEWAY. The WASATCH BLOCK comes next, L. A. PHILLIPS, DENTIST is located on the second floor, and J.C. PENNEY occupies the ground floor.
More than likely you have not observed the sign POST OFFICE and HENRY GEORGE CIGAR on the side of the building. The NORTH SANPETE BANK BUILDING which is built of stone with larger glass windows now greets the view. The next building we se is occupied by JOHANSEN BROTHERS and the MOUNTAIN STATES TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY upstairs. Now the next building we see is built of stone with large glass windows now greets the view. The building has a sign: PALACE PHARMACY near the top and is occupied by SLIM'S BARBER SHOP. The next building is labeled at the top LUNDBERG BLOCK. In the front on the ground floor is the sign, big enough for near-sighted people to see CONSOLIDATED WAGON AND MACHINE. Over the door is the sign JOHN DEER PLOWS.
My, we are hungry again and here we are at the CITY LUNCH ROOM. On the second floor is the sign, beginning to age DR. A. LUNDBERG, DENTIST. on the ground floor is the RECREATION HALL. Last year the CONSOLIDATED FURNITURE COMPANY built a fine new building, putting the name F. C. JENSEN on a marble plate in front. Over the sidewalk, facing west, is the sign FURNITURE, and facing east, HARDWARE. We won't forget the RED FRONT SHOE SHOP just east and in the old BANK BUILDING is the OPTICAL SHOP and CONFECTIONARY. At the intersection of Main and State is the Doughboy erected by the Service Star Legion in 1926. On the southwest corner of the next block is the sign, MADSEN AND LONGSDORF, and in the front window is the sign, S.D. LONGSDORF. On first east we come to the BISHOP'S STOREHOUSE. Opposite is the PUBLIC SCHOOL, ERECTED IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD 1896. We now turn west and on the opposite side of the street from the one we have just traveled. The next building is the CARNEGIE LIBRARY. Next we know, although it is not labeled is the Pioneer Monument which was erected on the fiftieth anniversary of the coming of the pioneers in the year 1859.
Going west we pass JOHNSTON DRUG STORE. Two sign boards, advertising PEET GREENALDI SOAP andVELVET CIGARET are set in a distance from the street. A lumber building where cream and eggs are handled is labeled ELECTRIC SUPPLIES. It must be strictly up to date, according to the sign. The next sign west is BJELKE SHOE HOSPITAL. On the red brick building next, appears the sign ERICKSEN MEAT AND SUPPLY. And on an upstairs window reads L.P. NELSON AGENC Y, NOTARY PUBLIC. Across the alley is another cream station.
And now we are almost dead but are not ready for MERZ MONUMENT, although it is near Decoration Day. The beautiful MOBILE OIL HUB service station comes next. After passing a home with a hedge fence, there is a lumber building with the sign COMMERCIAL PRINTING and in the window is WATCH MAKING AND JEWELRY.
The train now whistles and we only notice the GUNDERSON CANDY SHOP, and on third west a house with the sign ROOMS FOR RENT. Just as we arrive at the station, we notice N.P. NIELSEN SERVICE, and R.R. CROSSING. On the depot stands out boldly, AMERICAN RAILWAY and WESTERN UNIION TELEGRAPH AND CABLE OFFICE. We now leave Mt. Pleasant at the elevation of 5857 feet and board the train for Denver, which is 719 mile away.
(Some of you no doubt will remember things differently as to the signs along Mt. Pleasant's Main Street. Different generations remember different things. some may argue that the railroad station was never American Railway, but always the Denver Rio Grande. We have retyped the original document for easier reading purposes. Also, in some cases the penciled in writing was very difficult to read. The original is at the Relic Home in Hilda's Scrapbook.)
The Odd Fellows is a fraternity that was first documented to exist in 1790.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Who Are We?
AS AN ORGANIZATION, THE INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS
AIMS TO PROVIDE A FRAMEWORK THAT PROMOTES PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.
FOR MEMBERS, THE DEGREES IN ODD FELLOWSHIP EMPHASIZE A LEAVING OF THE OLD LIFE AND THE START OF A BETTER ONE AND OF HELPING THOSE IN NEED.
THE COMMAND OF THE IOOF IS TO“VISIT THE SICK, RELIEVE THE DISTRESSED, BURY THE DEAD AND EDUCATE THE ORPHAN.”
SPECIFICALLY, IOOF MEMBERS TODAY ARE DEDICATED TO THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES:
To improve and elevate the character of mankind by promoting the principles of friendship, love, truth, faith, hope, charity, and universal justice. To help make the world a better place to live in, by aiding each other, the community, the less fortunate, the youth, the elderly, and the environment in every way possible. To promote goodwill and harmony amongst peoples and nations through the principle of universal fraternity, holding the belief that all men and women regardless of race, nationality, religion, social status, gender, rank, and station are brothers and sisters.
First Odd Fellows
The first, informal gatherings of Odd Fellows occurred in England, probably sometime in the early 1700s. It is widely speculated, though not proven, the order’s name comes from the disparate professions that their members belonged to. Unlike the Freemasons, who were once all masons or related to that trade, the Odd Fellows did not belong to one unifying profession.
The Freemasons have been around since the 1400s so the explanation above does seem in line with the notion that the Odd Fellow was a group that copied some of the ideals and customs of the Freemasons, hence the reference to varied lines of work.
This story was originally published on Dec 10, 1905 in The New York Sunday World as "Gifts of the Magi." It was subsequently published as The Gift of the Magi in O. Henry's 1906 short story collection The Four Million. We created The Gift of the Magi Study Guide for this story to benefit teachers and students.
The Wisest Treasure One Another
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing left to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.
In the vestibule below was a letterbox into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."
The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, the letters of "Dillingham" looked blurred, as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.
Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. To-morrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling--something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim.
There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8 Bat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.
Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.
Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out of the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she cluttered out of the door and down the stairs to the street.
Where she stopped the sign read: "Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." One Eight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the "Sofronie."
"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.
"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it."
Down rippled the brown cascade.
"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.
"Give it to me quick" said Della.
Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.
She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value--the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 78 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.
When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task dear friends--a mammoth task.
Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.
"If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?"
At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.
Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please, God, make him think I am still pretty."
The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two--and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was with out gloves.
Jim stepped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.
Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again--you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice-what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."
"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet, even after the hardest mental labour.
"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?"
Jim looked about the room curiously.
"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.
"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with a sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year--what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.
"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first."
White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise-shell, with jewelled rims--just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.
But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"
And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"
Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.
"Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."
Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.
"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."
The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men-who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.
Donna Graham Brunger was born in Mt. Pleasant, Utah to Loyal and Ellen Vida Seeley Graham April 12, 1929. She left this life peacefully on February 26, 2016. She spent most of her life in Milburn then in Mt. Pleasant the last few years of her life.
She graduated from North Sanpete High School, Snow College and Brigham Young University. She earned a degree in social work and psychology when she was 47 years old. She worked at the sewing plant in Mount Pleasant and the turkey plant in Moroni to earn money for her tuition. She was a counselor at Central Utah Counseling Center for twenty years. She married Norman (Tommy) Brunger, January 1948. They were later divorced.
Reading, sewing, gardening, farming, and church service were some of her interests and hobbies. She had a driving ambition to write a history book about the north end of Sanpete County titled “Milburn and Its World.” In 2000, she developed health problems but continued to see it completed. She was an active member of the LDS Church and gave service two different times as a Relief Society President as well as served in many other ward and stake auxiliaries.
She is survived by four children: Paulette (Michael) Park, West Jordan, UT; Tom L (Mary) Brunger, Orem, UT; Randy Ray Brunger, Mount Pleasant, UT; Annette (Steven) Muir, Solon Ohio; 10 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. Brother, Grant E. (Shirley) Graham, West Jordan, UT; and sister-in-law Darlene Steusher Graham Bullough, West Valley, UT. She was preceded in death by her parents, Loyal and Ellen Vida Seeley, brother Berkley and four sisters, Baby, Alice, Marie, and Vida Loy Graham.
Viewing will be at the LDS Church, 1465 West Bristol Ridge Drive (8420 South) in West Jordan, UT at 9:30 a.m. The funeral service will be 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at the same location. Interment at Fairview City Cemetery at 3:00 p.m. under the direction of Broomhead Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, Donna requested donations given to a worthy charity in her name.SERVICES Visitation
Saturday, March 05, 2016 9:30 AM
LDS Church 1465 West Bristol Ridge Dr. (8420 South) West Jordan, Utah
Funeral Service
Saturday, March 05, 2016 10:30 AM
LDS Church 1465 West Bristol Ridge Dr. (8420 South) West Jordan, Utah
MT. PLEASANT-- The Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Association has chosen to spotlight Donna Brunger for her hours of faithful volunteer work she performs at the Mt. Pleasant Relic Home. Brunger was born in Mt. Pleasant on April 12, 1929, to Vida and Loyal Graham. She attended Fairview schools, and was valedictorian at Fairview Junior High School, and again at North Sanpete High School. The honor earned her a scholarship to Brigham Young University (BYU). She graduated from Snow College in 1971 and from BYU in 1974 in social work and psychology.
She raised her family of four children, Paulette, Tom, Randy, and Annette, in Milburn. Brunger worked for Central Utah Counseling Center for 20 years, taught at Snow College, served as chair for March of Dimes and cancer fundraisers, is a member of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and served twice as Relief Society and LDS Stake Primary president.
Brunger has written short stories published in the Ensign and Sanpete Saga. At the present time, she is writing a history of Milburn in northern Sanpete. She has been a faithful volunteer at the Relic Home since about 1999 and is currently there on Fridays, assisting in going through old local newspapers and making copies of obituaries to go in a file.
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