Glenys St John Yates Anderson's Obituary
Glenys St. John Yates Anderson was born February 24, 1938, to William St John and Jessie Yates in Birmingham, England. Her parents brought their five children to Utah in 1951 so they could be sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. She was often sick as a child and one of her more serious illnesses damaged her heart, which wasn’t discovered until ten years ago. Her heart gave out on November 4, 2023, while at home with family after a recent bout of illness.
Glenys dreamed of being an architect and even won a science scholarship in high school, but since it was the 1950s, it was awarded to the runner-up instead because he was a boy. She was working and saving to put herself through college when she met Jerry Dean Anderson on a blind date, the day before her 21st birthday. Although she put off becoming an architect to get married in the Salt Lake Temple and raise her seven children, she never lost the desire to become an architect. As the kids grew up, she took on the roles of bookkeeper for Jerry’s business and property management of multiple rentals, and she was mentally sharp enough to keep doing it right up to the end. Jerry’s career as a drywall contractor led to an opportunity to design and build homes. She never lost her love of architecture, learning, and creating.
Glenys had a lifelong love of her Savior, her ever growing family, and her adopted country. In addition to serving her family and friends, she served in church callings ranging from Cub Scout leader to Relief Society President, particularly enjoying the years spent doing records extraction. She was a voracious reader as well as a creative seamstress and prolific knitter. She was quiet and soft-spoken but those who knew her well knew she was incredibly intelligent, immensely capable, and endlessly helpful.
After Jerry passed in 2009, she bragged about how her children looked out for her and took care of her, something we learned by her example as she cared for her aging parents, babysat grandchildren and children who were not even related, and never hesitated to help her children.
Glenys was the supreme architect of a beautiful large family, leaving a lasting mark on the world with her posterity and those who knew her. In her final days she said she was proud that her children and grandchildren were all “good people;” the apples did not fall far from the tree. Glenys accepted everyone for who they are without judgment. She was a proud matriarch and always a thoughtful, kind, loving person.
She is preceded in death by Jerry, her husband of almost fifty years, her parents, William St. John and Jessie Ward Yates, her sisters and their husbands, Gene (George) Budd and Val (Fred) Luckau, her sister-in-law Julie Yates, many dear friends, and two grandsons, Jeremiah Anderson and Ryan Skeem. She is survived by her brother Brian Yates Sr, sister Pam (Weston) Aoyagi, her cousin Janice Mitchell, her children – Bradley (Alison Okinaka) Anderson, Michelle (Ed) Allen, Gordon (Wendy) Anderson, Gillian Anderson Skeem (Al Ashurst), Kenneth (Tami) Anderson, Karina-Denise (Phil) Park, and Laura (Scott) Behunin. She is also survived by her twenty-six grandchildren, who will always remember her, and fourteen great-grandchildren with one more on the way. We love you, Grandma!
The family wishes to thank Atlas Hospice and the staff at Alta View Hospital for their assistance in helping her pass peacefully at home. They also wish to thank her ward family for helping her through the years and for hosting her memorial services.
Funeral Services will be held Saturday, November 11, 2023, 11:00 am at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Silvercrest Ward, Sandy Canyon View Stake Center, 9119 South 1300 East. Friends are welcome to visit Friday, November 10, 2023 6:30-8:00 pm and immediately before the funeral from 9:30-10:45 am, at the Silvercrest Ward.
Interment at Memorial Estates Mountain View Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, remember to follow her example to be loving and kind to all.
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