Ruth Ann Pehrson

Ruth Ann Pehrson passed away in her home on April 19, 2015 just a few days before her seventy-fifth birthday. Ruth Ann, the daughter of Joseph Victor and Avon Poulter Bunderson, was born on April 25, 1940 in Price, Utah weighing only 3 pounds 4 ounces. She lost 8 ounces shortly after birth and was in the hospital for 1 month. Ruth Ann was so small that she had a shoe box as a bed and was wrapped in cotton to keep her warm as she was too small for clothing and diapers. Every hour she was fed with an eye dropper and it took nearly an hour to feed her. She was truly a miracle baby and a survivor. Unfortunately Ruth Ann’s mother passed away just three months after Ruth Ann’s birth due to heart valve failure caused by rheumatic fever she had contracted earlier in life.
Ruth Ann grew up in the small town of Wellington, Utah where her father was a teacher and principal. He later became school counselor at Price Junior High and mayor of Wellington. Ruth Ann attended Carbon College in Price, Utah and met Gordon Pehrson in study hall where she “tutored” him on some of his assignments. They became quite close and after she started dating Gordon and their relationship became serious, Gordon started to call her his “angel from heaven.” To this day the license plate on her car reads “4-Angel”.After college graduation, Gordon proposed to her and they were married in the LDS Church in Wellington, Utah on September 10, 1960.
Ruth Ann’s first application for a job after graduation was with the Department of Employment Security as a secretary in the Administration Office doing work for the various directors and administrators of the department. She was hired and began working right away. Over the years she worked as a legal assistant, then she became supervisor of the appeals and legal department, as well as a paralegal for the Supreme Court of Utah where she often filed appeals and paperwork with the courts. Ruth Ann worked from June 1960 to July 1997 for a total of 34 years taking 3 years off for pregnancy leave and to care for her young son. This job became a lifelong position as it was her only job starting right out of college.
For many years Ruth Ann and Gordon would take their motor home and Jeep to Ouray, Colorado for four weeks in the summer and to Mesa, Arizona for the winter. Ruth Ann and Gordon were quickly hooked on driving their jeep on the old mining trails, some over 14,000 feet in elevation. In Mesa, Ruth Ann enjoyed playing shuffleboard and over the years, her team won quite a few 1st and 2nd place awards. Ruth Ann and Gordon made many wonderful lifetime friends in both Ouray and Mesa.
Since retiring, Ruth Ann has kept in touch with some of her friends from work, enjoying a lunch outing once a week when possible. She also attended the twice yearly meeting and luncheon which honored employees who had worked for the state for 25 years or more. This association was named TYRA, and Ruth Ann served as vice president for one year and then became president the next year. She often wrote about the fun excursions she had taken with Gordon and then included them in the TYRA Chatter News Letter. She received many comments about these trips and how much they were enjoyed by TYRA members.
Ruth Ann loved Gordon very deeply. She was a very caring person, with a good attitude about life. She tried to accept the circumstances around her even though she felt there were political, medical and tax issues that were being handled unfairly. Ruth Ann had many medical problems during her life but tried to embrace and deal with them as well as possible. She rarely complained about her aches and pains and was very thankful for the technology that allowed her to survive two heart valve replacements, the latest back in 1992, which enabled her to live as long as she did. In fact, she wrote a beautiful poem which she titled “Life” while recuperating from her heart surgery.
Ruth Ann took great pleasure working in the yard. She would trim roses and bushes, clean out dead leaves and weeds and then add new plants, tomatoes and vegetables to make the yard look beautiful.
Ruth Ann was fond of her computer and used it to organize her daily life and to research genealogy. She also delighted in writing the histories of herself, Gordon, her parents, Gordon’s parents and her son, Scott, from the time he was young through his first years of marriage. These histories often contained endearing pictures that she had collected along the way.
After Gordon’s death Ruth Ann felt she was missing something in her life besides Gordon who she loved dearly and greatly missed. After re-reading her poem “Life”, she realized she was missing was God, her Heavenly Father; Jesus Christ, her Savior and Lord; and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She started reading the Book of Mormon again, faithfully attending her church meetings and keeping the commandments given to all mankind. She talked with her bishop about going to the temple and attended temple lessons so she could prepare. After she went through the temple for herself, she very much loved going to the temple and performing work for the dead.
Ruth Ann was delighted when she was able to participate at the Salt Lake Temple as her Nephew David Sirrine stood in as proxy for Gordon so that he could receive his ordinances and be sealed to his father and his mother. At a later time, Ruth Ann was able to be sealed to Gordon for time and all eternity.
Ruth Ann was lonely at times but was kept busy since Gordon passed away. She was a visiting teacher and birthday coordinator for the Relief Society and was very fond of visiting with each of the sisters of the ward on their birthdays.
Ruth Ann is survived by her son Scott, his wife Liza, and three grandchildren: Tristan, Miranda and Ainsley; her sister Carma Sirrine and brother-in-law Gordon Sirrine; step-sister Jackie Thayne; nineteen nieces and nephews; numerous great-nieces and great-nephews; and many cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her sister Elaine Wilson and brother-in-law Arvil Wilson; step-mother Rachel; step-sisters Enid Worley and Marjorie Thayne; and three nephews: Michael, Todd & Nathan.
A funeral service will be held Saturday, May 2, 2015 at 2:00 pm in the Salt Lake Highland Stake Center [2738 S. Filmore Street (1550 E), Salt Lake City, Utah]. Viewings will be held on May 1, 2015 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at Holladay Cottonwood Mortuary [4670 S. Highland Drive, Holladay, Utah] and again on Saturday at the church from 1:00 -1:45 pm. Interment will be at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park [3401 S. Highland Drive (Olympus section), Salt Lake City, Utah] where she and Gordon have a plot and headstone.