 Families can be Together Forever and I am a Child of God. It was so cute, and I'm so glad Kelly took this picture :)  |
| The pall bearers were the oldest sons of each of Ben and Lu's kids. Zac, Chase, Heath, Casey, Darrin, Keysto (belonging to Roger, Kelly, Lynette, Layne, Linda, Joni) |
 |
| The Veterans were there at the cemetery to give a salute with their rifles. The spent shells were then given to all of the grandkids. Boy they thought that was neat ! |
 |
| Rog and Manda |
 |
| This was such a solemn ceremony. So very very respectful. |
 |
| Bless his heart, Tim Carter read the tribute. His voice was shaking. It was very emotional. He was Kelly's good friend as kids, and loved Ben and Lu very much. |
 |
| Kelly, Tim, Roger |
 |
| Grandma and CJ |
 |
| Grandma LuAnn |
 |
| Lynette, Layne, LuAnn, Joni, Kelly, Roger |
 |
| I just love this picture - I don't know what was said..........but apparently they all got a laugh out of it. I can hear each of their individual laughs, and see their smiles. I love each of them so very much. These last few weeks have been hard, but the love has seemed to grow, and bring them even closer together. Ben would be proud of each of them I'm sure. |
 |
| Landon and family |
 |
| Zac and family |
 |
| Camryn and Grandpa |
 |
| Chase, Brayden and Kelly. Boy Kelly did such a beautiful job at the funeral. I can't say enough about how great he did while reading the words that his brothers and sisters had given to him to put together and read. His talk is at the end of this blog post. |
Kelly spoke at the funeral, and this is what he read.
Delore (Ben) Rich was born on August 17, 1926 to Charles and Laura Rich. Ben was the baby of the family. He had 3 brothers, Randall, Don, & Grant, and a sister Ethelene. Ben grew up on the family farm in Richville. When he was younger he worked in the fields, milked cows, raked hay, and helped with all the usual “fun” chores that kids did in those days. He graduated from Morgan High School and severed honorably in the Merchant Marines during World War 2. In 1957 he met and married LuAnn White from Porterville, they celebrated their 58th anniversary on October 12th of this year. Ben & Lu had six children, Linda, Lynette, Roger, Layne, Joni, & Kelly.
Ben never liked a fuss made over him but today is a special day so we will make an exception. Ben was an example of a very hard worker, whether it is working in his beautiful yard, helping his sons and daughters, or lending a helping hand to neighbors. During his working days he was always known to never miss a day of work, even if he was deathly ill. He was a wonderful dancer, honest to a fault, and was quite the worry wart…. He would always tell everyone, “Watch out for them damn deer”.
Before his retirement, Ben worked at Swift’s until they closed then for Ty Little at the Valley Implement, and finally at the Morgan High School. He was such a likeable guy and has made so many friends over the years. The teachers and students at the high school loved him dearly and were very sad to see him retire in 1992. As a sign of appreciation to Ben, he was inducted into the Morgan High School hall of Fame just prior to his retirement.
When we think of Ben, we think of BUZZ Haircuts, bread & milk (A nightly snack), pink peppermints, going to Morgan for a cup of coffee, western novels, his assortment of baseball caps (always on crooked), and last but not least his wonderful smile…… And Oh, who could forget his greatest passion, (Beside LuAnn) – gambling. He was always up for a quick trip to Wendover or Vegas, and no one was luckier than he was on the slot machines.
Ben always loved little kids, and was the best dad, grandpa, great-grandpa, that you could ever wish for. He will be deeply missed. He and LuAnn went to countless football, baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, cheer leading, & drill team competitions, always cheering on their kids, grandkids & great grand kids. He was one of the best supporters of the youth in Morgan County. Rarely did Ben or LuAnn miss a game. Ben lived a great life and will be deeply missed, we love you.
Lynette:
I remember Dad & I going to a Daddy Daughter date when I was in Young Women and dad taking me out on the dance floor, & boy he was such a good dancer. I thought what a cool dad I have to dance like that.
I remember going to the Utah Noodle & dad would also razz/tease the waitress’s so bad. All of us kids would just laugh and mom would always say “Ben be quiet”.
Remember dad putting sugar on his tomato’s and then eating them, raw green onions,
Roger's memories
As far as I'm concerned, no other parents gave as much to their kids as far a support for any activity they were involved in. Whether it was football, baseball, wrestling, cheerleading, drillteam, basketball or rodeos, they were ALWAYS there to cheer us on. Countless daily trips back and forth from
Memories include a scary fishing trip in the small old boat
on East Canyon Reservoir. A storm blew
up suddenly, and the waves got big and the boat was rocking. Dad got us boys safely off of the water, and
we were pretty nervous. I can only
imagine that Dad was pretty nervous too, but he didn't show it that I can remember.
Trips to the deer camp were a real treat. After opening day, he would take us up to
hang out with Uncle Keith, Wayne
Mortenson, and others. We always looked
forward to this.
When we were younger and growing up Mom got her hair done
every Tuesday night, and that was Dad's designated night when he cooked dinner. His specialty was Potato Soup. We looked forward to it and loved it !
Dad always wore a buzz cut when he was younger, and he
figured his sons should also. He would
chase us around the house (literally around the OUTSIDE of the house) one at a
time, and tackle us down and proceed to give our heads a shave every
summer. We didn't like it at the time,
but there was no getting out of it, and we got used to it.
Dad took us to the movies every Friday night at the show
house. After he was laid off when
Swift's closed, even though the finances had changed, he still always made sure
that we were able to go to a show.
Dad loved to dance, and so did mom. At one time they belonged to a square dancing
group with Aunt Anna and Uncle Keith, and Wayne and Marge Mortenson. They would get all dressed up a couple of
times a month and go dancing. As the
years passed, the only time they got the chance to dance was at an occasional
wedding. He was never shy on the dance
floor, and was dancing with mom at a wedding of their neighbors, only 2 months
ago in October.
When he was working at the Valley Implement, it was always
fun to stop in and visit him there. It
was great to have him working in town, and there for us when we needed him.
Growing up in Porterville
was great. Roger and Layne had a great
group of friends, and in the summer time it was one big party, with everyone
trading off where they would sleepover that night. They got around mostly on their bikes, and
one night when they were supposed to be sleeping over at Chet Adams house, they
were all out on their bikes riding around.
They stopped to talk with Barclay Earl right in front of Dad and Mom's
house, and it was pretty late (or I should say EARLY in the morning). I guess they were being pretty loud, and it
woke Dad up and he started yelling. The
boys headed off on their bikes, peddling as fast as they could down the hill by
the old Porterville
Church
As we grew and started our own families, Dad was always
there to help us out around our own homes and yards. Shoveling snow off the roof after a huge snow
storm, hauling hay in the field, cleaning out Uncle Don's old barn, and getting
wood in the Uintas winter. One trip up
to get wood almost resulted in Dad
getting hit by a tree that had been cut down.
As the tree fell, it looked like
it was coming towards Dad, so he moved out of the way, but he misjudged the angle of the fall, and
seemed to run right into the trees path!
At the last minute, he took a flying leap out of the way, chainsaw in
hand. That sure got a lot of hearts
beating that day !
Dad loved the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) - some of his
favorite riders were Chris Shivers and J. B. Mooney. One time we took a trip down to Vegas to
watch the finals. We all had a great
time, and of course Dad took the casinos by storm as usual.
Dad LOVED gambling, and there was no one luckier than
Dad. It seemed he never lost. All of his kids and grandkids wished they
could have the luck that he did.....but his luck never seemed to rub off on ANY
of us.
Dad always loved a good trip out to Wendover. He had a
system. You left Morgan at a certain
time, always got gas at a certain Maverick, ate breakfast at a certain place,
and went to the casinos in a certain order.
Mom was sure a good sport about this, and we know he always appreciated
her acting as chauffeur.
Dad took such pride in his gorgeous lawn. He would mow it 2-3 times a week and get down
on his hands and knees to get those dang dandylions. Before we got the sprinkling system in, he
would pull that hose all around the yard constantly. It was a great thing when the sprinkling
system was installed, and you would think it would have saved him some worry, but
no - he would sit outside in his lawn chair, watching the water, and making
sure the different zones came on at the right time. He just didn't trust that
timer. Dad liked to give us kids a bad time about our
own yards. If we had a weed coming up,
or a dry spot, or if the grass was a little bit long, he made sure to let us
know. We will miss that.
He was a good dad. We
loved him. It was hard to see him change
after his first stroke 19 years ago, but we are so glad we were able to spend
the extra years with him. In these last
years he always said he was "Gonna be dead", and it's hard to believe
he now gone. It is hard to be without
him, but we know he is free from pain, and is happy that he and walk and talk
without trouble. He is with Linda and Ambure, and all of his family and friends in heaven. We will miss you Dad.
Layne:
Some of my
greatest memories of dad was how he was always so supportive of anything we
did, especially sports. He was always at
every game or wrestling match, and even did the same with his grand kids and
great grand kids, he was always there cheering them on. Also going deer hunting up hardscrabble when
we were younger was something we loved.
When I was
younger I had a problem of hitting deer in my truck and dad would always chew
my butt and say I was driving too fast.
Then he himself had 2 separate incidents where he ran into a whole herd
of deer in Richville and then another on his way to East Canyon, then it was my
turn to tell him to slow down. He
absolutely loved the opening day of fishing season, he and a friend would
always go to East Canyon Dam first thing and fish all day long.
Joni
When I was
little sometimes dad would take me to Hopkins café and we would have a Root
beer milk. Friday nights when Roger
& Layne would get to go to the show house &I was too little dad would
take them & bring us back malts.
Every
Tuesday Mom would get her hair done and would be late getting home so dad would
make Potato soup for dinner. Daddy would
eat bread & milk – sometimes with sugar & sometimes with onion. YUCK, he also liked Oyster – Yuck. He put sugar on lettuce. He loved sugar cookies & run them under
water and eat them.
Dad loved
fishing. We fished up at East Canyon,
Soda Lake, &even the Uinta’s. He
would get a bite and start to reel it in – he wouldn’t set the hook. As soon as the fish got to the shore or the
boat it would get off. He would always
look at you like it was your fault.
Daddy loved Wendover. When he was younger he would play 21. He& I would go to a table with no one
else there & he would teach, or try to.
He was so fast at adding the cards while I was counting on my
fingers. Sometimes he would tell me to
double down & put more chips out – I never really understood that but I did
it anyway. And usually he would win
& I wouldn’t. He would also tell me
I’d never win if I didn’t play.
One of the
greatest thing Dad & Mom did was support me. I don’t think they missed one thing I was
ever involved in. And then when I had my
kids they did the exact same thing. They
rarely missed anything my kids would do.
What a great blessing that is.
Kelly
When mom was
pregnant and expecting me, Dad & Doc Martineu went on a fishing trip, (Keep
in mind that Doc Martineu was mom’s doctor) as luck would have it mom went into
labor and was taken to a hospital in Ogden.
She had to quickly find another doctor to delivery me into this world. When dad pulled back into town he went
somewhere and somebody had told him that mom was at the hospital in labor. By the time he got to the hospital I was
already born, when he found this out he knew mom would be very upset, when he
got to her room he was so scared he didn’t dare stick his head in the room so
he threw his hat in first to make sure nothing would be flying around at
him.
No comments:
Post a Comment