Ella Welker Moyle

The following is Ella's tribute to her father, Roy Anson Welker, at his funeral, which was found on Family Search.org: Since this is a departure from the normal procedure in circumstances of this sort for a member of the family as close to the deceased as I, I ask the Lord to give me strength to carry out this assignment, and for your tolerance if my emotions are not under control. I am honored to extol the virtues of my father, whom I consider to be a great man.
My father, Roy Anson Welker, was born November 9, 1878, the first of eight children born to Adam Pugh and Clara Osmond Welker, at Bloomington, Idaho. He spent his early life in Bloomington, not leaving there until after a short attendance at an educational institution gave him the qualifications for teaching school in Georgetown. It was there he received his call to his first mission, a call, which in his weak faith, as he related to his family, he almost turned down. He did not, of course, and spent nearly three years in Germany. Upon his return, he met, courted, and married my mother, Elizabeth Hoge Welker, in the Salt Lake Temple on June 7, 1906. Theirs was a love story continued over a span of 65 years. There was never a doubt in the mind of either that they were meant for each other and his tenderness, love and consideration of her, especially in her later years when her health became precarious, were an inspiration to not only his family but impressed all who knew him. Until her death just two years ago they were lovers. One of her last coherent statements was to him when he visited her at the rest home where she died, and she told him, with the last of her frail strength, that she loved him with all her heart.
My father spent his lifetime in service to the LDS church. He was a teacher in the church’s school system for more than 40 years, beginning at the Fielding Academy, Paris, Idaho in 1905. He served there as a teacher until 1917, then as principal until 1922. He was the first director of the Bear Lake seminary at Paris, and then when the school was removed from the church system and made a state school, he continued as director of the seminary.

He presided over the Bear Lake Stake as President from 1922 to 1934, at which time he was called to preside over the German-Austrian Mission with headquarters in Berlin. After his return from Germany, my father directed the LDS Institute at Snow College, Ephraim, Utah; the St. George Institute at Dixie College; the Laramie Institute at the University of Wyoming, and then assisted at the Institute at the University of Utah for several years. Following this he spent some time with the LDS Department of Education as a writer, and in training young teachers. Books and manuals written by him during his time were: “Preparing for Marriage”; “Spiritual Values of the Old Testament”; the “Church and I”; “A World Without the Christ”; and “The Church, It’s History and Mission”.

During his tenure at the University of Wyoming, he served as a Bishop under the direction of President Vandenberg, Assistant to the Quorum of the 12, who was then Stake President. He has admitted that of all the positions he held in the church, the one of Bishop was the most difficult, but he cherished it because of his close Association and the friendship he had with Brother Vandenberg which continued throughout his life.

In Bear Lake County he was deputy assessor, City Treasurer and a member of the City Council. He led the campaign to hold the County seat in Paris. While Stake President, the present large pipe organ was installed in the stake tabernacle, and under his direction the tabernacle grounds were landscaped. Minnetonka cave in St. Charles was given its name by him. He was adept at figures and had opportunities for positions in that field, which would have paid him higher dividends in money, but his love was teaching, and his many years as a teacher influenced the lives of literally thousands of young people, many, many of whom have so attested to him over the years.
As a father, he could not be surpassed. The early years in our home with our loving parents were delightful. Each one of us felt we were special to them. We all had a happy childhood. Mother and Father were pals to us. They participated in our games with neighborhood friends included, they took us on camping trips as a family; they treated us as equals, not as superiors and subordinates. They pointed out the beauties of nature and we developed a sense of appreciation for such. We functioned as a family, we felt, in spite of the fact that in a family of seven daughters, we had our share of hair pulling, spats, feuds and sulks, and Dad had to be stern at times. Dad and Mother believed in discipline, which seems to be outmoded now, and I believe we learned some of our respect for them from their fairness in their discipline of us. There are so many memories which we carry with us and over which we have reminisced so many times, all happy. We have tried to forget some of the heartaches which our parents suffered in earlier times, which all families have to undergo. Dad felt his greatest accomplishment was the children he and mother produced, a matter of some skepticism among his remaining daughters. They were the parents of two sons, Garth and Roi H., both of whom preceded him in death, and seven daughters, one of whom, Norma Elaine Reis, also preceded him in death; and I would like to say that Norma, their youngest child, was a source of great happiness to them because of her talents which included great musical ability, a fine mind, and a very sweet loving spirit. His remaining daughters are Maureen, Mrs. Dale Horn of Fortuna, California; Ella, Mrs. Rodney Moyle of Star, Idaho; Ruth, Mrs. Arlin Pugmire of Logan; Rhoda, Mrs. Roy Babel of Twin Falls; Margaret, Mrs. Grant Nielsen of Van Nuys, California; and Joyce, Mrs. Earl Hafen of Salinas, California. Other survivors include 26 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren, and two sisters, Mrs. Clara Johns of Salt Lake and Mrs. Pearl Shaw of California.
Others, whom we consider survivors, are six of his seven sons-in-law. I would like to pay special tribute to them at this time for their unfailing courtesy and consideration to their father-in-law. He has said so many times that he could not have had finer sons-in-law if he had chosen them himself, and each one in his own way, including one now deceased, has shown through all the years of their association in our family, their love and affection which we as wives have felt must have been as strong for him as for their own fathers.
My father’s patriarchal blessing promised him that he would retain the love and affection of his posterity and his associates throughout his life and through all eternity – and we ask ourselves, how could he not? His kindness and courtesy and mannerliness were evident to everyone. Even the attendants at the hospital and the nursing home remarked on his sweet character and commented on his kindness and thoughtfulness when he would thank them so sweetly for every small service they would render.
We do not consider our father’s passing as a sad event. There will be a void in our lives now that his presence will no longer be with us, but his great yearning the past two years since Mother’s death was to join her, and after watching his great suffering over the past months, our feeling is one of happiness that he has been released, and our greatest joy is the contemplation of the joyous reunion he has had with our beloved mother and his beloved wife.

OBITUARY:

Ella W. Moyle, 90, of Twin Falls, died Monday, January 21, 2002, at Magic Valley Regional Medical Center. Ella was born March 26, 1911, at Paris, Idaho, to Roy A. and Elizabeth Hoge Welker. She then served an LDS mission in Texas. Ella attended business school at Salt Lake City and worked as a secretary for U.S. Senator Watkins from Utah. She also worked for a time for the FCC at Washington, D.C., and in Belem, Brazil. In November 1953, she married Rodney H. Moyle, and their marriage was sealed at the Salt Lake City LDS Temple in 1960. Mr. Moyle died May 1992. Mrs. Moyle lived at Star, Idaho, from 1953 until 1997, when she moved to Twin Falls where she was a resident of Bridgeview Estates. She was an avid bridge player and was also very active in the LDS church at Star, serving as Relief Society president, organist, and teacher. Ella was the favorite classy aunt to many nieces and nephews. Ella is survived by her sisters, Rhoda (Roy) Babbel of Twin Falls, Margaret (Edward) Kazmierski of Grover Beach, California, and Joyce Hafen of Salinas, California. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, three sisters and two brothers. The funeral service will take place at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, January 24, at the LDS Church in Star, 484 S. Main St., with Bishop Joe Moyle conducting. Burial will take place at the Star Cemetery. Friends may call at the church Thursday from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Arrangements are under the direction of White Mortuary, Twin Falls.

SOURCE The Idaho Statesman, Tuesday, January 22, 2002.