Vard Dalley

Vard Amussen Dalley

April 12, 1929 – November 6, 2020

At 91 years of age, our beloved father and grandfather passed from this world to the next with family at his side.  Vard was born in Aberdeen, Idaho to Arthur T. Dalley and Julia F. Amussen, the last of their six children.  As a young boy, Vard had a passion for understanding the world around him and memorized every detail of the Periodic Table of Elements.  With his quick smile, natural charisma and fascination with chemistry, schoolmates were eager to join his “Experiment Club.” Vard’s imagination was put to good use creating special effects at school plays and other mildly explosive boyish capers became the talk of the town.

His sister Dorothy described how even as a very young boy, Vard had an exceptionally strong testimony.  He went on to serve an LDS mission in Denmark which was the homeland of his mother’s father, Carl Christian Amussen.

Vard loved to tell the story of meeting the “sweetest girl in all the world” at a church dance.  With a twinkle in his eye, he would tell his children how all the girls were seated in chairs along the wall and how he “just walked down the line and picked out the prettiest one there, and that was your Mama.”  Merilynn L. Hatch and Vard were married in the Salt Lake Temple on June 2nd, 1955.  Theirs was an enduring romance.  The tender harmony they created between themselves throughout all their years together is a lasting gift to all who knew them.

Vard graduated from Air Force Cadet School, becoming a senior navigator, safely guiding crews and high performance aircraft around the world, flying both daylight and night missions.  He and Merilynn moved their young family across the country, creating homes in California, Alabama, Texas, Idaho, Nebraska, Tennessee, Washington, and New Mexico before finally settling in Utah where they could be closer to family. His many assignments over a twenty-year career included a 13 month assignment in the Philippines.

After retiring from the Air Force, he maintained a membership with the Fraternal Order of the Eagles and began a second career as the Deputy County Assessor for Davis County in Utah.  He also served as a City Council Member for East Layton.

Vard was preceded in death by his dear wife Merilynn who passed away in March of 2000.  He is survived by three children, Jay David (and Lulu) Dalley, Margo Taylor (and William Eckerle), and Christopher Lee Dalley; three grandsons, Brandon (and Katelyn) Dalley, Matthew (and Mandee) Dalley, and Rhett (and Bonnie) Dalley; and nine great grandchildren.

Services entrusted to Lindquist’s Layton Mortuary, 1867 N. Fairfield Rd., Layton, Utah.