Glenna Oswald

Glenna Lorraine Cramer Oswald

November 18, 1934 ~ May 13, 2016

Glenna Lorraine Cramer Oswald, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother passed away peacefully on Friday, May 13, 2016, after suffering a massive stroke.

She was the daughter of Walter Peter Cramer and Amy Elizabeth Rawle Cramer.  She was born in Ucon, Idaho on November 18, 1934.  She was the sixth child of thirteen in their family.  She has six brothers and five sisters.  A brother and a sister died in infancy.

She learned the skills inherent in a large family, that of thrift, hard work, industry, but also developed vocal, musical and artistic talents.  She also learned how to get along being right in the middle in age with her siblings.

She attended elementary, junior high, and high school in Ucon.  She graduated as a member of the first graduating class at Bonneville High School in 1952 in Lincoln, Idaho.  She sang in choirs at school and at church activities.

Glenna learned to sing, play the piano, sew, knit, crochet, draw, oil paint, upholster, quilt, and garden.  She applied these talents early and added to them in her adult life.  She loved roses and for many years had rose bushes and other flowers in the yards of the homes where she lived and raised her family.  She learned to play the organ. If she wanted to do something, she learned how to do it.  She also loved to travel.

She met Darwin Vallee Oswald while participating in a stake choir.  They married on April 1, 1952 in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.  Together theirs has been a journey of adventure, joy, travel, and lots of love.  Dad had a number of health challenges due to a bad heart.  Mom kept him going while he became a great salesman for the Kirby Investment Company selling vacuums.  She kept track of the family and business finances.  They had five children which she drove to and from music lessons, church activities, school activities, and family activities.  Music and the arts were a big part of their family life.  For many years she was organist in the LDS wards where the family lived, while Darwin directed the ward choir and was ward chorister. Mom often accompanied Dad on the piano as he would sing solos in Church and also in the home on weekends.  She played the piano accompaniment of the Messiah while Dad sang his favorite solos from that work.

After Darwin passed, she traveled regularly with her daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Boyd Nance, or with her sister, Irene Simkins or both.  That travel took her all through the United States and also Alberta, Canada.

Mom’s favorite endeavor seemed to be oil painting.  Her favorite scene was the Grand Tetons.  She painted other places as well as portraits of her family and other people.  She was painting a portrait of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim at the time of her passing.

Glenna was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in various callings including visiting teacher, Relief Society counselor and Relief Society President, as well as serving as ward organist for many years.

Glenna is survived by her five brothers, Evan (Mavis Kemp) Cramer, Stanley Cramer, Richard (Beverly Staheli) Cramer, Steve (Jeneil Jones) Cramer, Lewis Cramer, and Irving (Kathleen Francisconi) Cramer; two sisters, Irene Simkins and Anita (Gerold) Campbell; her children, Karen (Kevin) McGinnis, Susan (Boyd) Nance, David (Ethel Lemon) Oswald, and Linda (Dirk) Thurgood.  She is also survived by 19 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.  She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, three sisters, Sharon Todd, Alice Bloxham, and Kathleen Margaret Cramer; one brother, Norman Leonard Cramer; and one son, Jeffrey Lynn Oswald.

Funeral services will be held at on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at 11 a.m. Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd., with Bishop Kenyon Thompson of the LDS Ogden 4th Ward officiating.  Friends may visit with family on Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Thursday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the mortuary.  Interment, Lindquist’s Memorial Gardens of the Wasatch, 1718 Combe Rd., South Ogden.

Our family expresses appreciation to Ogden City EMS and the health care providers at McKay-Dee Hospital for their loving and professional care for Glenna and our family.