EveLynn Palmer Perkins

March 8, 1931 ~ October 11, 2020

Obituary for EveLynn Palmer Perkins: “Loving and Giving Make Life Worth Living”

“I’m damn near tickled to death” were the first words EveLynn heard on this earth, spoken by her father, Edson Palmer, when she was born on March 8, 1931.

She was the last of eight children and her youngest sibling was eight years old when she was born. Her mother, Lelia Kartchner Palmer, was 40 at the time. She was born into a loving family. Her siblings are Verda Palmer, Edson LaVell Palmer, Ardell Black Ostergaard, Lela Black, Gwenavere Tooley and Fern Palmer. EveLynn is the last living member of her family and she has missed them.

When EveLynn was three years old, money was scarce. It was during the Depression and her mother got a job at an Indian dormitory where she lived during the week. As a result, EveLynn’s sisters raised her. Her family raised sheep, cows, calves, horses and pigs. There was lots of work to keep EveLynn busy, including gathering wood for the stove, feeding chickens, gathering eggs and there were cows to milk twice a day.

In high school, she was in the pep club, twirled baton and marched with the band. She was on the student counsel and enjoyed school.

EveLynn’s sister and her husband, Lela and Burnhard Black, owned the “Elk Ridge Café” where EveLynn waitressed after school for 50 cents an hour. She saved every penny and used the money to pay her way through Pandora Beauty School in Salt Lake City after graduating from San Juan High School in 1949.

The summer before she went to beauty school, she competed in the Miss San Juan Pageant and won the title. EveLynn opened a beauty shop in her hometown after a brief job at the ZCMI Salon in Salt Lake City.

She married Richard Corry Perkins on October 17, 1952 and they honeymooned in Seattle, WA, where Richard was stationed in the Army. When Richard was discharged, the couple moved to Blanding where Richard took care of his family’s ranch.

Richard and EveLynn were blessed with six children, including Beverly Gayle (Lloyd) Shumway, Andrea (Brad) Hall, Richard Lynn (Karen Halverson), Eric Bruce (Angelyn Adams), Gina Cori (Scott Harrison), and Terry Burnhard.

In the summers, the young family stayed in Colorado where Richard had sheep. They lived in a three-room cabin without electricity or running water and a two-seater outhouse.

There were lots of picnics at Montezuma Creek Ranch to go along with the jobs of branding and roundups. EveLynn always brought a feast of chili beans, cinnamon rolls, potato salad, fried chicken or beef sandwiches.

EveLynn served in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all her married life, serving in the presidency of the Relief Society and the Young Women’s organization for 14 years each. This was when the stake consisted of Moab, Monticello and Blanding and part of the reservation.

Often, when she baked pies or bread, she would take one or two and drive around town until she felt inspired to stop at a home and take the food to them and visit. She said it was a lot easier to knock on someone’s door with a pie in her hand.

Now days, quilting is a hobby, but when EveLynn was a young girl it was a necessity. Her mother carded the wool from the family’s sheep and made it into batts for her quilts, which she always hand-quilted.

EveLynn was ten years old when she made her very first quilt out of her dad’s Bull Durham tobacco sacks. Later on, she organized quilt shows every Fourth of July with her family’s help.

Everyone in town was invited to bring their quilts to display. She did this for about ten years. She and Kathy Hurst started the quilt guild in 1995 with ten members. It grew to about 40 members while she was the president.

As her children left home, EveLynn brought her mother to her home and cared for her about eight years before her mother died. Later, she cared for her sister Lela for over five years.

In the spring of 2020, EveLynn was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer which she accepted gracefully. She immediately apologized to her daughter Gayle for not being able to make the pies and rolls for Thanksgiving because she wouldn’t be there.

EveLynn’s children and grandchildren were blessed to be able to help their father/grandfather care for her until her death at home on October 11, 2020.

Card of thanks

The outpouring of love from the community has been overwhelming to our family. Finding cards, letters and treats left in the love basket outside her back door cheered our hearts and wrapped our mother in love.

We thank you!!!