Maxine Morgan Talbot

Maxine L. Talbot, 94, passed away on October 20, 2014, of natural causes. She was the second of six children born to Alfred and Leona Smart Lemmon on March 3, 1920, in Preston, Idaho.
She grew up in Weston, Cedarville and Preston, Idaho. She attended Weston Elementary and Preston High School. As a young child she thinned beets in Cedarville and enjoyed adventures with friends and cousins. Although she could not swim, she loved swimming in Buttars’ Pond and riding Rose, the family cow, in from the pasture at milking time. She admired her Scottish grandmother, Margaret McCulloch Lemmon, and learned much from her. During the Great Depression, her family struggled. However, they were helped by close relatives which helped pull them through the hard times. While she attended elementary school in Preston, she and her siblings walked home for lunch as they could not afford the price of school lunch. Her favorite meal was beans, homemade bread and apple pie. As a young girl, she tended and cleaned house for a family in Preston and ironed clothing for various families in the area. She held several jobs as she grew older, including working at a dry-cleaning establishment and a department store.
She met her first husband, Ralph Edward (Smokey) Morgan in Preston. They married and lived in Idaho for a short time and moved to Ohio where Maxine met Smokey’s family. To this union were born Larry and Steven Morgan. The family had returned to live in Utah prior to the beginning of World War II at which time they moved to Ogden and worked at the Roy Army Depot to assist in the war effort. Maxine was a time-keeper and office worker and later helped in shipping parts overseas. She and Ralph later divorced.
After the war, Maxine met George Talbot at a dance at the Persiana dance hall in Preston. They married and were the parents of Kristie, Bob, Paul, Scott and Craig. In order to find work, Maxine and George moved to the Salt Lake Vallley. They lived in many locations throughout the valley before settling in Kearns and Murray to raise their family. Maxine was a wonderful homemaker and mother. She was an excellent cook. Her husband, George, often reminded the children how lucky they were to have Maxine as a mother. She not only cooked one hot meal for him every day before he went to work at midday, but she also cooked a second hot meal for the children at night.
Maxine loved gardening and yard work, which she did into her early nineties. She was a hard worker. She enjoyed doing laundry by hand in her twin-tub Dexter and hanging clothes out to dry—even in the wintertime. She made bread, bottled fruits and vegetables that she had raised. She insisted on doing her dishes by hand. After George’s death, Maxine worked as a quality inspector for St. Regis. She eventually retired and had time to do ceramics, quilting and other crafts. For a few years she worked as a volunteer helping the elderly with tasks and running errands. She often was older than those she was helping. Later in life, Maxine had a very special group of close friends with whom she attended events and activities. They became a very loving and close-knit group.
Maxine is survived by all of her children except Steven, who died in infancy. She was preceded in death by both husbands; grandsons Larry Jr., Michael; and granddaughter, Audra. Maxine was the last of her family to pass away and leaves a posterity of twenty-four grandchildren, thirty-eight great grandchildren, and twelve great-great grandchildren.
The family wishes to express thanks to the angels of Our House of West Sandy for their loving care.
A viewing will be held Friday, October 24, 2014, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Redwood Memorial, located at 6500 South Redwood Road, West Jordan. Funeral services will be held at the same location on Saturday, October 25, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. with a viewing one hour prior to the services.