Blanche Southwick

Blanche Minnie Petersen Wilson Southwick

November 26, 1922 ~ July 25, 2019

On a beautiful summer morning, Mom finally peeked through the veil and decided she liked what she saw. Beautiful, gracious, gentle Blanche Minnie Petersen Wilson Southwick passed into eternity on 25 July 2019.  She was 96 years old.

Blanche was born 26 November 1922 in Salt Lake City to Charles George Petersen “Charlie” and Olga Olympia Arnason Petersen “Olga”. She was the oldest of five children. Blanche lived most of her growing up years in Portland OR where she graduated from Grant High School and then earned an Associate degree from Marylhurst College while on a music scholarship.

Blanche attended Brigham Young University where she met D. Jay Wilson. They were married in Washington D.C. in 1944. The marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple. After Jay earned his law degree from Cornell University in Ithaca NY, the young family settled in Ogden UT where Blanche and Jay raised their six children.

As the children grew, Blanche went back to college and earned her Bachelor’s degree from Weber State College in Special Education, after which she taught at the Utah School for the Blind for 21 years. During that time Blanche went on to earn her Master’s degree in Painting and Sculpting from Brigham Young University. She loved golfing (and was a very good golfer). As with many other things in her life, she learned how to golf by reading a book! She was an active member of the Coronet Club and active in other auxiliaries.

Blanche was well known in the art community for her beautiful and amazing woodblock prints. She was also known for her portraits and landscapes in oil, charcoal, pencil, and watercolor.

Blanche was an accomplished violinist and played in several orchestras and many ensembles. She looked forward every Christmas to playing solos and duets at church and wherever she was asked to play. In 1961 she was invited to go to Europe with the Singing Mothers and accompany them on her violin.

Blanche was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She and Jay served a mission for the Church in the Christchurch New Zealand Mission, assigned to serve in Invercargill at the southern tip of NZ.  She drew many beautiful pencil and charcoal portraits there and loved the people and the places they met and saw.

After Jay’s death in 2003, Blanche married Dr M. Paul Southwick. His gentle kindness was a great blessing to our mother and our whole family. We all loved and appreciated Paul and all he did for our mother. Mother appreciated how openly and graciously she was accepted into the Southwick family. Paul and Blanche traveled and were involved in many kinds of activities. They had a wonderful time together until his death in 2012.

Blanche was preceded in death by her two husbands; her parents; her brother, Jerry Petersen (Carole); a sister, Lois Petersen Sloan (Lynn); a son-in-law, Doug Cannon (Joan); and a granddaughter, Betsy Shaw. She is survived by two sisters, Janis Petersen Wallace (George) and Elaine Petersen Bush (Doug); her children, Mary (John) Shaw, Elaine (Robert) Millet, Anne Allred, Joan Cannon (Doug, deceased), David (Shirlie) Wilson, and Marian (William) Ertel; 37 grandchildren and spouses and 110 (and counting) great grandchildren.

The family would like to thank our wonderful helpers Josie Bell, Anita Ballard, and Lorie Pearson. Also thank you to the kind staff at Jamestown Assisted Living in Provo, the kind staff at Legacy House Taylorsville, and our amazing Aspen Ridge Hospice team including Rhonda, Jeannette, Melissa, and others.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, 27 July 2019 at 2 p.m. at the Ogden Malan’s Peak Ward, 1643 26th St., Ogden UT. Friends may visit with family on Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd. and on Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the church. Interment, Lindquist’s Memorial Gardens of the Wastach, 1718 Combe Rd.

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