Leah Amacher Holmstead (1924-2011) Obituary

Leah Amacher Holmstead is the daughter of Adolph Amacher and Amalia Hollenweger and the niece of Emma Hollenweger.
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Leah Amacher Holmstead passed away peacefully at home Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, surrounded by family, due to complications from a stroke.  Leah was born Oct. 29, 1924, Logan, Utah to Swiss immigrates, Adolph Amacher and Amalia Hollenweger Amacher.  She was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and faithfully lived true to its teachings her whole life.

Leah was a graduate of Logan High School and LDS Seminary where she participated in band, student government and many extra curricular activities.  She was an accomplished musician and won awards for performing on the flute and in vocal chorales.  She also loved to dance and attended weekly dances.  She attended Utah State University where she met her husband, Earl "Hap" Holmstead.  They were married March 31, 1944, in the Logan LDS Temple.  They enjoyed 67 happy years together until his death May 9, 2011.

Hap and Leah were the parents of nine children, and Leah devoted her time to being an exemplary mother.  She raised her children with love, patience, honor and devotion.  A natural leader, she served in many church callings and presidencies including Primary, Stake Primary, Young Women, Relief Society and Stake Relief Society. She loved singing with the ward choir.  Leah also held positions in the state and local PTA from 1955 to 1972.

Leah was always active and busy.  She taught flute lessons and performed locally with her sister.  She was very compassionate and loved to serve others.  She kept her family busy taking in dinners and delivering bread to friends and neighbors.  Her home was always filled with children and grandchildren, and all who came felt her love and left happier than when they entered.

She was an excellent cook and homemaker.  She was a friend to all.  In later years she served with her husband for 16 years in the Logan Hospital Branch.  She also worked diligently on genealogy, a trait passed down from her father.

Her acts of goodness are monumental.  She lived a shining life of charity.  She calmed storms, fed multitudes, watched over the sick, cheered the weary, showered love on us all and taught us truth.  She lived a great life patterned after the Master she loved.

She is preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, one sister, and two daughters, Janine (Preston) Ward and Jalaine (O'Dell) Speth.  She is survived by her children, Terri (Brent) Weidman, Winnie (Stan) Thomas, Lee (Jeanne) Holmstead, Michele (Jeff) Cundick, Mary (Brad) Vaterlaus, Kellie (J.R.) Bylund and Evan (Geri) Holmstead.  She is also survived by 38 grandchildren and 63 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Friday, Oct 28, 2011, at noon in the 19th Ward church house, 1255 N. 600 East. A viewing will be held Thursday, Oct 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Nelson Funeral Home, 162 E 400 North, Logan, and Friday at the church from 10:30 to 11:30a.m. Interment will be in the Logan City Cemetery. Condolences may be extended to the family online at www.allenmortuaries.net.

This obituary appear in The Herald Journal Newspaper, Logan, Utah, on Thursday, October 27, 2011

Rulon J. Gerber (1921-2010)

Son-in-Law to Ernest and Emma

Logan--Rulon J. Gerber, Obituary
     Rulon J. Gerber, 89, passed away at his home Aug. 10, 2010. Rulon was born Jan 11, 1921, to John and Julia Keller Gerber.  He attended Millville Elementary School, transported to and from school each day by a horse-drawn covered wagon from Blacksmith Fork Canyon.  He graduated from South Cache High School in Hyrum in 1939.
     He started the Nibley Grocery in 1940 and operated it until World War II.  In 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps serving until the war ended in 1945. In 1947 they started Gerber's Grocery.  In 1950, they built and operated a new and more modern Gerber's A.G. Market.
     He met and married Betty Lou Haltiner in the Logan LDS Temple in 1946.  They celebrated their 63rd anniversary on Nov. 22.  Their lives blended as one as they worked together in their church callings, their occupation, civic organizations and homes.  He enjoyed fishing, sports events, travel, gardening, his family and his many friends.
     Among his many church callings, he was ordained a high priest by Ezra Taft Benson, served in the 19th Ward bishopric and later served as a stake high councilor in the Logan East Stake.  In 1989, Rulon and Betty served a mission in Nauvoo.  He sang in the Men's Imperial Glee Club for more than 20 years.
     He is survived by his wife, Betty, daughters Nyla Jean (David) Adamson, Salt Lake City; Connie (Todd) Taylor, Logan; sons Gaylan (Debbie) Gerber, Logan Nolan Dee (Beverly) Gerber, Sal Lake City; Troy (Charisse) Gerber, Lehi.  He had 21 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.  He was preceded in death by a son Kevin, his parents, a brother, Amos, and sisters Martha Albrechit and Alberteen Blau
     A viewing will be held Friday, Aug. 13. from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Allen-Hall Mortuary, 34 E. Center St in Logan.  Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. in the Logan 10th Ward Chapel at 792 N 500 East, with a viewing from 11:30 to12:30 immediately preceding.  Condolences and thoughts may be extended to the family online at www.allenmortuaries.net
     The family would like to thank all of the workers at Access Hospice for the care Rulon received, especially Diane Crockett, Kavic Merrill and Dale Butler.

Obituary was published in the Herald Journal, Logan, Utah on Wed, 11 Aug 2010, p8, columns 4 & 5.

Lois Sylvia Haltiner Moser (1930-2011)

Daughter to Ernest and Emma

Obituary: Lois Sylvia Haltiner Moser passed away Thursday, Aug 25, 2011, at Logan Rehab from complications related to a broken hip and dementia.  Lois was born Aug. 6 1930 in Salt Lake City and was the youngest of nine children.  The family moved to Logan before she was 6, at which time she lost her mother.
     As a young girl, she and one brother and several of her sisters helped with the chores involved in running the family home as well as the family-owned business, Logan Floral.  In the floral she weeded, made corsages and transplanted bedding plants with her father as her instructor.  She was very creative and talented, a hard worker.
     She married Wilford Ray Moser (Bud) on Aug 6, 1946.  As a young bride, she was taken under her neighbor's wing where she continued to hone her sewing and cooking skills. She later learned to decorate cakes and how to make hand-dipped chocolates, all skills that would take her down the path of opening a catering/reception center.
    In 1960, she and Bud bought the Logan Floral from her father and moved into the family home.  Aspen Grover Reception Center followed in 1981, and Bud and Lois operated both businesses with the help of their children and grandchildren.
     After bud's death in 1986 Lois continued to oversee both Logan Floral and Aspen Grove and thoroughly enjoyed traveling with some of her sisters (always dissecting every new dish she encountered, hoping to recreate it at home and incorporate it into the Aspen Grove menu).
     She was always very friendly, people loved talking to her and she tried to make everyone feel included in whatever was gong on.  There were always cookies, pies, cakes and homemake bread at Lois'--and always a pot of coffee offered to anyone that had time to chat (and chat, and chat).
     She is survived by her four children, Terri Moser (Bill), Reno, Nev., Alan Moser (Susan), Logan, Utah, Colin Moser (Kathleen), Logan, Utah, JoAnnn Nyman (John), North Logan, Utah; nine gradchildren and 14 great grand-children.
     The family would like to thank everyone that has assisted in Lois' care. At  Lois' request, there will not be a funeral service.
     A graveside service will be conducted at the Logan City Cemetery, northwest corner at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug 27, 2011, under the direction of Nelson Funeral Home.  Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.nelsonfuneralhome.com

 Published in the Herald Journal, Sat August 27, 2011, p.A6, column 2 & 3

I spent many hours around the table, years ago when my parents would stop to chat and later as I chatted with Lois.  I will cherish those hours I stopped by for a while to chat.

Emma Hollenweger Haltinner (Haltiner) 1887-1937

Wife to Ernest Haltiner

I recently did an Analysis of the Death Certificate for Emma Hollenweger Haltinner (Haltiner) and these are some of the facts it tells us:

1. Death was at the Cache Valley General Hospital, Logan, Cache, Utah.  She resided at 890 N 6th E.

2. She was married at the time of death.

3. Her mother and father were from Switzerland and it tells us their names.

4. She died at 49 yrs, 5 months, & 8 days.

5.  She had an operation  on 18 Jan 1937 prior to her dying.

6.  Death date was 23 Jan 1937 and she died from Paralytic Ileu with a contributory cause  called chronic hyperplastic endometritis and a secondary contributory called hydrosapinx.

 Of course there is much more information.  The big question in the minds of the immediate family was what did she really die from. I googled all the terms and this is what the certificate is saying.  First she had an intestinal obstruction. Second she had an increase in the number of cells which can result in what we know as a tumor or an enlargement of an organ probably the uterus that was filled with an infection. The third cause of death was a distally blocked fallopian tube filled with serous or clear fluid. In my understanding, the death of Emma was not caused by a problem with the surgery, it was a result of being a mother, having babies and not having the vast knowledge in the medical field that we are blessed with today.

This untimely death took place when the youngest daughter was only 6 1/2 years old.  Emma had nine children and the two older ones had only been married about a year. When I think about this, my heart is full of sorrow.  I had eight children and I remember that time in my life when my older ones started getting married and yet my home was still full of children's laughter.  Although she was very sick and in pain,  I can't help but think the real pain was in her heart when she must of realized that she wouldn't be going home to that laughter.

I was setting around the dining table visiting with family and the story of the gloves came up again.  It seems to surface often when we get together. This story I love the most. It is about an Indian lady who came to Emma's door begging for food each time the members of her tribe came to Logan.  Emma always found a loaf of bread, maybe something from the garden, and she gave her some seeds from her flowers, the holly hocks, that the Indian lady loved.  One day, the Indian lady came to her door with a gift for Emma.  It was a pair of hand made gloves with beads hand stitched on the back of the gloves. By looking at the gift, one would know that it was a prized possession because they had been used a lot. I believe the lady knew how much work it was to garden and this was her way of giving her the most thoughtful gift she had to offer.  What a sacrifice it must have been for her.

We also talked about the lady that lived down the street from Emma who didn't have a stove to heat her home in the winter.  Anyone who has lived in Cache Valley knows that the winters can be very cold. When Emma found out that she didn't have anyway to heat her home, she sent a stove that had been in the basement of her home to the neighbor to keep her warm.  The comment made by the daughter telling the story was that "it was the way things were done.  They looked out for each other in their neighborhood."

I wonder if any gift I have given would even come close to the gifts that Emma gave.  What a gift she has given me.

Hope you enjoyed reading a little about Emma Hollenweger Haltiner.