Ralph D. Pace

Bicknell, Utah - Ralph Dee Pace, age 81, of Bicknell, died of causes incident to age in the Richfield Care Center on October 31, 2004. He was born May 10, 1923 in Provo, Utah, a son of Vernon W. and Leone Swenson Pace. The son of a successful businessman and sheep rancher, he was raised in Bicknell and Richfield, Utah. He married Una Lucy Barron in the Manti LDS Temple on September 4, 1945. A loyal son, he spent many cold nights and hot days tending his father’s flocks on the Parker and Boulder Mountains and the deserts surrounding the Henry Mountains. He attended Utah State University and joined the Navy during World War II, serving as a Pharmacist’s Mate First Class at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, CA. After an honorable discharge, he returned to Wayne County and operated his own farm and cattle ranch. As a member of the Fremont Soil Conservation District, he was instrumental in organizing to fund and build Mill Meadow’s Reservoir. He and his neighbors installed the first gravity pressurized sprinkler system in Utah. He was good with horses, dogs and kids. He was an excellent roper and had some good race horses. He loved his nieces and nephews as much as his own children and was a proper example for us all. He was active in the LDS Church, serving in the Thurber Ward as Teacher’s Quorum Advisor for some special young men, a Sunday School Teacher, High Councilor and as a counselor in two Bishoprics. He was well read and had wide ranging interests. He played the violin, sang in the choir, quoted poetry, treated wounded kids, cows and horses and was an all together charming man - - he is loved and missed. Ralph is survived by his wife, Una of Bicknell; children: Jeff and Jennifer Pace, Paul and Elizabeth Pace, all of Bicknell; David and Karen Pace of Richfield; grandchildren: Belinda and Stephen Wirthlin, John, Andrew, Cameron, Rhett and Jameson; great-grandson: Michael Pace Wirthlin; sister: Priscilla Leone Anderson of Alpine, Wyoming. He is preceded in death by his parents, Vern and Leone Pace; brothers: Shyrl, Carl and Mack Pace; brothers-in-law: Warren Anderson, Howard, June and Art Barron and a granddaughter, Paula Diane Pace. We as the family would like to thank the Doctor’s, Home Health People, the Richfield Care Center nurses and staff and the many friends and neighbors who expressed their love by kind word and deed. Funeral services will be held Friday, November 5, 2004 at 1:00 P.M. in the Thurber LDS Ward Chapel in Bicknell. Friends may call for viewing at the Springer Turner Funeral Home in Richfield, Thursday evening from 6 to 8 P.M. and at the ward chapel in Bicknell, Friday from 11:00 to 12:30 prior to the services. Burial with military honors accorded by the Harold Brown American Legion Post #92 will be in the Bicknell Cemetery under the direction of the Springer Turner Funeral Home of Richfield, Salina and Gunnison, Utah.