Melva Crookston

Melva Jane Castleton Crookston

January 7, 1931 ~ June 30, 2019

On June 30, 2019, our beautiful mother passed on to the next phase of her journey. Melva will be greatly missed by those she has left behind, but we believe she is enjoying a beautiful reunion with her friend and eternal companion, Lynn. She accomplished many great things in the 88 years of her time here.

Melva was born in Emmett, Idaho to her loving parents, Melvin Emanuel and Ruth Getz Castleton. She enjoyed a happy childhood growing up across the street from her Grandma and Grandpa Getz in Tremonton and also visiting her Castleton grandparents in Malad.

She often related the memory of attending the Apostolic Christian Church with her mother while her Dad attended his Mormon ward. Coming from such a close-knit family instilled in Melva the value of love and charity for all her family members.

After graduating from Bear River High School, Melva earned her nursing degree from the Dee Memorial Hospital, and then went on to earn her Bachelor of Nursing from the University of Utah. She worked as a student nurse in Santa Fe, New Mexico for an affiliation in public health, and this was also the place where she met her husband-to-be.

Melva worked as an RN at the Utah State Hospital and at Shriners Hospital prior to her marriage. After marrying, Melva managed Lynn’s dental practice in Ogden, Utah.

In 1954, Melva was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She had a deep love for Jesus Christ and spent her life striving to love others as he does.  Her love knew no bounds for anyone she met.

In 1955, Melva married Lynn Byron Crookston in the Logan Temple. Along with raising 12 children, Melva fostered 43 newborns in her home. While raising her large family, she also spent many hours driving back and forth from Tremonton cheerfully tending to the many needs of her aging parents and eventually taking her father into her home to care for him in the last years of his life.

Melva created a home that was warm and welcoming to all who entered. Not only did her children and grandchildren consider her home their home, but so did many of their friends. She loved to play games, put together puzzles, picnic in Ogden Valley, and hike.

She was hostess to hundreds of family parties. She ran a tight ship and was a great organizer and delegator. She taught her children the value of a good work ethic while maintaining a sense of humor which she inherited from her father, Melvin.

Melva took great joy in being a life-long learner. She graduated from the Ogden LDS Institute three times and was an avid reader and family historian. She spent many hours in her garden and took great joy in the beauty she found there. She was a wonderful cook and handcrafter.

In 1995, Melva and Lynn served a mission to Wausau Wisconsin, a place that proved challenging to her physically, yet she loved the experience and the people that she met there.

Melva is survived by her children Wendy and Ray Williams, Becky Glasmann, Miriam and Bob Langford, Sarah and Scott Godfrey, Peter and Amy Crookston, Wayne and Susie Crookston, Paul and Kimalee Crookston, Elizabeth and Curt Panter, John and Mikelle Crookston, Emily and Todd Stokes, James and Jenefer Crookston, and Mike and Amy Crookston, 49 grandchildren, and 48 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister, Maxine Bootes and her brother, Gary Castleton.

She was preceded in death by her husband Lynn Byron Crookston in 2016, and her grandchildren Aaron Godfrey, Nathan Godfrey and Elise Crookston.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, July 6, 2019 at 11 a.m. at Kingston Ward Chapel, 1425 Kingston Dr. Friends may visit with family on Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary and Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 at the church.

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