Lee McPharlin's Obituary
Lee McPharlin was born Lila Beatie Williams on July 10, 1931 in the home of her maternal grandparents, James Beatie and Elizabeth Potter Beatie, in Holladay, Utah. She was the first child of Frank Williams and Lloyd Beatie. With the exception of a couple of years living in company housing in Garfield, Utah while her father worked at Kennecott, she spent the rest of her formative years in Holladay, surrounded by extended family and thoroughly spoiled by her paternal grandparents, Ray Williams and Lieley Christensen Williams as well as her Aunt Net and Aunt Myrt. Growing up during the depression meant she experienced no material wealth, but she felt so secure and so loved, especially by Grandma Lieley and Grandpa Ray.
When Lila graduated from Granite High School in 1949, she moved to the Bay Area in California and lived with her Aunt Myrt and Uncle Jerry. It was there that she met and married her Marine, Jerry McPharlin, in November 1949. It was around this time that Lila started going by the first name of Lee. She truly enjoyed her time as the wife of an active duty Marine and the friends she made. To their union were born four children, Michael, Becky, Kathy and Marc. Lee’s marriage to Jerry didn’t last, but she was always quick to say that the family certainly did. There is a lot of love there.
While Lee was a Marine wife, the family lived briefly in Utah then in California (San Diego, El Toro, San Clemente and Vista) followed by posts in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Parris Island, South Carolina and finally Hayward, California. The friends Lee made at these different locations have lasted a lifetime.
After Lee’s husband, Jerry, retired from the Marine Corps, she insisted that the family move to Utah where they settled into a home in 1967 less than half a mile from her childhood home in Holladay. This would remain her home for the rest of her life and she loved it. She had a beautiful view of Mount Olympus from her front porch as well as gorgeous sunsets to the west. She loved puttering around in her yard and garden on the hottest days of summer with her ever present sweatband around her head to keep the sweat out of her eyes. The walls of her house are covered with photos of family generations into the past and up to the present. She found great joy in family gatherings at her home out on her backyard deck that was built for her by her family or crowded into her small home during the holiday season.
After her children were older, Lee worked for Valley Mental Health for over twenty years. She made wonderful and lifelong friends there. This was an important period in her life. She became progressively more confident and self reliant, discovering talents and traits that she used to bless the lives of others and find her own self fulfillment. She spoke often about the gratification she felt in helping and serving others, especially the older people in her circle of friends.
Lee was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She loved the members of her Holladay 24th Ward. They were so good to her. She was involved in compassionate service in her ward for many years, including several years directing it. Lee served for several years in the baptistery at the Jordan River Temple where she found great joy and made many wonderful friends. Lee also served as a Virtual Records Operations Center (VROC) missionary for the Church. This work entailed facilitating in various ways the creation of computer searchable indexes that play a vital role in family history research. She did this work for about 18 months, until her failing eyesight forced her to stop.
Lee did not like the limitations she experienced of growing old. She resented aging and fought it. Her feelings about it are clear in her oft spoken sentence, “Growing old sucks!” She never made peace with it, but soldiered on as best she could, defiant and refusing to let it make her bitter or lose hope.
As Lee became less able to get out and about, she was so grateful for the blessing of Facebook that enabled her to stay in touch with everyone who was important to her. She also truly enjoyed the many lunch outings she went on with her different circles of friends, often with a group picture posted on Facebook to memorialize the outing. She daily shared other thoughts and photos as well as wishing all a good night with her signature, “Lullaby and Sweetest Dreams my lovelies. LOVE YOU THE MOSTEST!”
Lee passed away on April 6, 2019 in Millcreek, Utah. The family is grateful for the compassionate care she received in the last weeks of her life from family and friends as well as the good people of Life Care of Salt Lake. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Bob. She is survived by her children, Michael (Carolyn), Becky, Kathy and Marc (Lulu) as well as her sister, Nancy and many deeply loved grandchildren, great grandchildren and beautiful friends.
Lullaby and sweetest dreams Mom! We love you the mostest!
Funeral Services will be at 12 noon on Thursday, April 11, 2019 at the Holladay 24th Ward Building, located at 4409 South Albright Drive, Holladay, UT. Viewing will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday and one hour prior to the services at the church.
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