RaNay White Friel's Obituary
RaNay White Friel
1932 - 2016
RaNay White Friel, 83, passed away September 10, 2016, after a good life well-lived.
She was born to Alma Booth White and Josephine Mary Neuenschwander on October 10, 1932, in Salt Lake City, the oldest of two daughters. She and her sister, Deanna, attended school in Salt Lake, and graduated from Granite High School.
When she was a teenager, she worked as a soda jerk at the old Walgreen’s in Sugarhouse. One evening, a good-looking and clean-cut young man, Stephen Friel, came in for a soda and impressed her with his wonderful manners. They dated for over a year, and then she married him on September 12, 1952, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Her parents were also sealed the same day. She and Steve are the parents of three children: Shelly Jo (David) Echols, Clint (Danae) Friel, and Ken (Juli) Friel. They have twelve grandchildren and thirty-four great-grandchildren.
After she and Steve retired, they traveled as a part of “The Fountain of Youth” trailer group. They also served together as temple workers at the Timpanogos LDS Temple. He preceded her in death in 2012.
RaNay was a wonderful mother and grandmother, and is loved and will be greatly missed by her family, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as by her friends and many others she cared for and mothered. She had the rare ability to make people feel loved and valued—as if each one of us were her favorite.
She loved many things. She used to bring stray dogs home from school, and had many as pets throughout her life. She taught herself to sew and crochet, and made ceramics and dolls. After her retirement, she was called to be a family history missionary and worked on some special geneology projects, as well as diligently doing name extractions even when they were traveling. She also loved working, and enjoyed a successful career, including almost twenty years as the head of the Admitting Department at Utah Valley Hospital.
In her last years, she suffered from dementia, which was a source of great difficulty. She would often tell us “growing old isn’t for sissies.” But when her memories were mostly gone, she taught us about enjoying life in the moment.
RaNay liked almost everything and everyone, and always said she’d had a very good life. She looks forward to being reunited with her husband, Steve, her parents and her younger sister Deanna.
She loved the color red, Pepsi, and peanut M&Ms. Enjoy them in her memory.
Funeral services will be held 11:00 am, Wednesday, September 14, in the Orem Third Ward Chapel, 800 East 50 South. There will be a viewing before the service from 9:45 am to 10:45 am. Internment will be in the Pleasant Grove City Cemetery.
What’s your fondest memory of RaNay?
What’s a lesson you learned from RaNay?
Share a story where RaNay's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with RaNay you’ll never forget.
How did RaNay make you smile?
