Garth Lowe Geddes Obituary (1929 - 2006)

To view a video tribute for Garth Lowe Geddes, please click here. “Love you forever and always” Garth Lowe Geddes, age 77, passed away on Friday, March 3, 2006 after a 3 year struggle with leukemia. "There is at least one advantage from dying of leukemia, and that is that I have had the time and the motivation to do some things that others might not have ‘gotten-around’ to doing before they died… including the writing of my own obituary. After being diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer, I have lived somewhat longer than I was told that I would live. I thus consider the extension of my life for the past several years to have been a precious gift. These extra years, though fraught with problems, have given me the time to ‘stop and smell the roses’, so to speak, and to express love and appreciation to those who have given me so much. I was born in Banida, Idaho on 7 February 1929, the thirteenth child of a family of fourteen children. My father was Hugh Lester Geddes and my mother was Lydia Doney Lowe. I graduated from Pocatello High School in 1947 and served a Mission for the LDS Church from 1949-1951 in the New England States Mission. There I gained a testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, which testimony has been the lodestar of my life and has influenced everything that I have done and all that I may have become. In 1952 I married my sweetheart, Nordith Simmons of Beaver Dam, Utah with whom I have gratefully shared my entire adult life. To say simply that I have loved her would be a gross understatement. She has been the sole object of my affection and I have adored and cherished her above all else since the day we first met as we sang together as partners in an operetta at Utah State University. Nordith and I were married in the Logan Temple on 29 May 1952. Our marriage produced six great kids, all of whom have grown up to be good and honorable people and whom we have loved with all our hearts. They are Jody Palmquist (David) of North Edwards, CA; Claudia Lambert (Scott) of West Jordan; Lynn Petersen of Murray; Christine Wood (James) of Salt Lake City; David Geddes of San Francisco, CA; and Eric Geddes (Vanessa) of Kihei, Maui, HI. During my college and working years I received Degrees from Utah State University and the University of Utah and had two great careers. First, I proudly served 21 years in the Army, initially as an Infantry enlisted man and later as an officer. I retired from the Army in 1975, having achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. While assigned as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, I flew more than 600 combat missions and was awarded, among other decorations and awards: The Distinguished Flying Cross, twelve Air Medals, The Bronze Star Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. As a second career, I worked for the LDS Church for 13 years as a Business Analyst. I have been a lifelong fly-fishing enthusiast. I have loved to draw and paint and I have had a passion for reading, teaching, writing and building useful things out of old, weathered, discarded barn wood. My greatest love...my greatest joy, however…has been sitting on a piano bench with my wife as she played and we sang love songs to one another. During my entire life I have been a faithful member of the LDS Church, having served as the President in Military Servicemen’s Branches in Baumholder and Augsburg, Germany; Seoul, Korea; Margarita, Panama; and Leavenworth, Kansas. I also served in the Servicemen’s District Leadership in Vietnam, as a Counselor and Ward Clerk in several Bishoprics, as a Scout Master and on several Stake High Councils. For more years than I can count, I have taught the Gospel Doctrine Class in Sunday School and/or the lessons in one of the Priesthood Quorums. Several years ago, my wife and I had the privilege of serving an LDS mission together as a Senior Missionary Couple in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. We have also served together as Ordinance Workers in the Jordan River Temple. My parents and all of my siblings have preceded me in death, with the exception of my sister Grace Geddes Jorgensen of Bountiful, Utah; my sister Ora Geddes Marstella of Layton, Utah; and my brother Irel Geddes and his wife Brigetta of Pocatello, Idaho." Funeral services will be held Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 11am in the River Ridge 7th Ward, 10200 South 1300 West. Friends and family may call Tuesday, March 7, 2006 from 6-8pm at Jenkins-Soffe South Valley, 1007 W. South Jordan Pkwy. (10600 So.) and Wednesday one hour prior to the service at the Church.