Wallace (Wally) Dee Page

After a long and valiant battle with cancer, our dad passed away surrounded by many loved ones on August 29, 2023.  Wally was the third son of John Cyrus and Nellie Marie Edmiston Page born on Oct. 13, 1937 in Preston, Idaho.  He was always proud of his Preston roots.  When he was 5 the family moved from Preston to Ogden, Utah.  He has fond memories of fun adventures and great friendships during those years.  While still in his teens, dad joined the National Guard and served in the Guard for 11 years.  He loved talking about his years in the guard. 

In 1959, he married Mary Fae Ross and together they had 6 children.  Dad and mom’s posterity will reach 100 by Feb. 2024, which made our dad so happy.  We hoped he could be here to meet these two babies. 

Dad loved cars, so naturally he spent most of his career years in the car business.  He started out as a wash boy working for Ray Citte. He worked for Strong Motor Volkswagen for 25 years and various other dealerships.  In the middle he also worked for Winder Dairy for a few years, but his love of sales and cars brought him back to the car business. 

Dad’s favorite things besides our mom and his family were golf and baseball/softball.  He especially loved doing them with his sons, and his favorite golfing buddies, Jay, Leo, Lynn and Max. Dad would rarely say no to a golf day with any of his sons. And every year his ward would have a golf tournament that he looked forward to and invited his sons to be there with him. When dad was younger, he played fastpitch softball and he was pretty good! As he got older, he loved playing slowpitch softball and especially going to the Huntsman Senior Games which he did for more than 25 years.  He loved being active. If there was a baseball game on TV, he was watching it, especially if it was his beloved Yankees. He was loyal and taught us all to be loyal.  But he learned to accept new comers to our family that weren’t Yankees fans. He found the most joy in watching his grandchildren and great grandchildren playing baseball/softball. 

Our dad loved music. He sang in multiple choirs and sang at most all of our weddings.  He always amazed people because he couldn’t read a single note, but he had a good ear for learning harmony.  We always sang in the car whether we were traveling to Ogden to see relatives or on a long road trip. Christmas music was his favorite but not until Thanksgiving Day, when we would wake up to Christmas music playing. We knew all the traditional songs, but we knew lots of lesser-known songs that became some our favorites.

There were two things that happened every year that we, his children, looked forward to.  Dad loved gift giving and so Christmases with dad and mom were huge. They spent hours together finding the right gifts for each of us and Santa really did empty his sleigh at our house every year. He also loved to shop for our mom.  His shopping wasn’t complete unless he found one WOW gift for her.  Sometimes that would take hours or even days.  The other thing was vacations.  We saw a lot of the western states because he wanted us to go somewhere different every year.  We saw California often, northern and southern, The Black Hills of South Dakota, all of the National Parks in Utah, San Antonio Texas, New Mexico, the Oregon Coast, Reno and Lake Tahoe, and we drove to Monterey Mexico to visit our Uncle and Aunt and their kids who were serving as the Mission President there.  We also drove from Monterey over to Mazatlan to spend a few days at the beach.  That was an adventure that he never wanted to experience again!

Dad was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and loved his Savior very much. He served in many capacities, Bishop’s counselor, Bishop, High Priest leadership many times, High Counselor, but his favorite calling was missionary with his sweetheart as his companion. They left a piece of their heart in Georgia, specifically, Dahlonega, Georgia, when they were released.  They made deep and eternal friendships there that we hope were reignited as he returned with honor to our Heavenly Father.

He leaves behind his 6 children and their families, Natalie (Rex) Gines, Michael (Suzanne), Steve (Wendy), Jeff (Jenny), Scott (Tatum) and Joe (Kaitie). His 28 grandchildren who all think they are his favorite and 56 great-grandchildren who he knew by name and loved so much.  With the two babies that are coming later this year and early next year, we are a crowd! And family gatherings were so fun. 

He is preceded in death by his wife, Mary Fae, his parents, his three brothers, David, Jay and Ray and a cherished granddaughter Maggie May Page.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023 at 11:00 am the Mueller Park Stake Center, 1800 Mueller Park Road, Bountiful, Utah.  A visitation will be held the night before, Sunday Sept. 17 from 5 until 7pm at the same location, with a visitation on Sept. 18 from 9:45-10:45 prior to the services.  Funeral services provided by Leavitt’s Mortuary, Ogden, Utah.

Interment will be at Leavitt’s Aultorest Memorial Park, Ogden, Utah.