Cleo Grinaker

CLEO HAZEL GRINAKER

April 12, 1922 - August 12, 2016

Cleo was born to Philemon Dewey and Hattie Pearl Skinner on April 12, 1922 in Soda Springs, Idaho.  Shortly after her birth, the family moved to the nearby mining community of Conda, where she lived throughout her childhood.  Cleo attended Soda Springs High School and Idaho State College prior to marrying her sweetheart, Norman Christian Grinaker on September 22, 1945.  Salt Lake City was their home where together they raised two children, Curtis and Ginger.

While substitute teaching, Cleo attended night school at the University of Utah and earned a Bachelor and Master of Science in Primary Education.  She taught for the Granite School District in Salt Lake City for 20 years.  She especially enjoyed teaching second grade and kindergarten.

Cleo's favorite activity was sharing a delicious picnic with friends or family.  She was a wonderful cook, known for her special holiday meals and desserts.  She especially loved reading to children, gardening, photography, baking sugar cookies, bird watching and playing cards.

Surviving Cleo is her daughter Ginger (Mark) Brady, daughter-in-law Kathleen Grinaker, brother Dennis (Jean) Skinner; six grand children, nine great-grand children, and many nieces and nephews.

Cleo's parents; husband, Norman; son, Curtis; sister, Valene Klamt; and brothers-in-law, Robert Klamt and Vernon 'Finn' Grinaker and Finn's wife, Carol, were awaiting her in heaven.

We wish to thank the wonderful staff and caregivers at Welcome Home, Tender Care Hospice, and the North Canyon 9th Branch who so lovingly cared for Cleo during the past five years. We are forever grateful.

A memorial service for Cleo will be held at the Sims Mortuary, in Soda Springs, Idaho, on Saturday, October 22, 2016 at 1 PM.  Interment to follow.