On October 1, 2022, Eva Dean Pace Moody, our beloved mother and grandmother, was called home to be with our Heavenly Parents and our beloved father and grandfather, Juel Thurmon Moody. She passed away peacefully in St. George, Utah, surrounded by family. She was 98-years old.
Eva Dean (as she was known in Delta), was an original native of Delta, Utah. She was born in Delta on May 2, 1924 to Leslie Doyle and Elsie Geneva Cook Pace. She met her husband, Thurmon, when they were in the eighth grade. They eventually fell in love, became high school sweethearts, and later married in the Salt Lake City temple on November 17, 1943. They started their livelihood and eternal family on a farm in Sutherland, Utah where they had 10 beautiful children, five boys and five girls. Eva Dean fulfilled her childhood dream of “Marrying a Moody, living on a farm, and having 10 children!”
Thurmon and Eva Dean loved their life in Sutherland! Their growing family kept them busy as Thurmon farmed and Eva Dean taught piano. Music, singing, and love filled their home along with their devotion to our Savior, Jesus Christ. With faith in God, they rejoiced in the good days and persevered through challenges and adversity. After the older children grew and married, Thurmon and Eva Dean uprooted and moved to Provo, Utah with their two youngest children. There Eva Dean took up a new hobby as she began learning Hebrew by auditing classes at Brigham Young University. She loved the Hebrew language and studied it well into her 90’s.
After six years in Provo, Thurmon and Eva Dean felt impressed to move to St. George. Thurmon continued to commute as needed to work on their farm in Delta. Tragically, Thurmon died in a farm accident in 1987, nine months after moving to St. George. With only one child left at home, Eva started a new phase of life—a life without her sweetheart of more than 44 years.
Being a single mother and trying to navigate life in a new city was a drastic change for Eva (her preferred name in St. George). With support and love from her children, she relied on God and found strength and joy in serving others, working in the St. George temple, teaching piano, and attending high school sporting events to watch her son and grandsons play.
A few years later, Eva served an 18-month family history mission at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints headquarters in Salt Lake City. She made new friends and loved playing the white organ in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where she attended church. She also served a one-year mission at the Las Vegas Family History Center. After her missions, she embarked on a dream trip to Israel with her adventurous daughters. She walked where Jesus walked and happily practiced Hebrew in the Holy Land.
Eva’s posterity grew exponentially over the years! She lived for her family. She gloried in their successes, and mourned with them in their setbacks. She grieved with a broken heart when she lost two of her children and a daughter-in-law unexpectedly within a five-year span. She carried on with life, trusting in God, constantly praying for her children and grandchildren. Eva did everything in her power to support and help her family, and she likewise served friends and neighbors as though they were family.
In her later years, Eva found joy in friendships, reading gospel-related books, studying her family history, playing Scrabble, putting together puzzles, and getting her hair done every Friday. Everyone who knew Eva admired her as a true and unflinching follower of Christ; they saw her as a stalwart example of love and charity toward all. Her children, their spouses, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will always revere her as a kind, selfless mother and grandmother who set the example for her posterity to follow, and whose name and memory will never be dimmed by time.
In her passing, Eva joins her parents and seven siblings; her husband: Juel Thurmon Moody; their daughter: Annette Tippetts; son: Spencer Kimball Moody; daughter-in-law: Jana Moody; son-in-law: Michael Thomas; granddaughter: Tauna-Ann Moody; grandson: Chet Warnick; granddaughter: Heather Christensen; and four great-grandchildren: Caleb Moody, Katherine Moody, Addilyn Moody, Gabriel Stevens. She is survived by eight of her children and their spouses: Laura (Doug) Smith, J. Grant (Adrianne) Moody, Dean (Patrice) Moody, Marie (Ron) Wright, Evelyn (Jim) Warnick, David (Teresa) Moody, Margaret (Vaughn) Peterson, Jamison (Lorena) Moody; and son-in-law: Paul Tippetts. She is also survived by 72 grandchildren, 213 great-grandchildren, and 22 great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral Services will be held on Monday, October 10, at 1:00pm, at the Sutherland LDS Chapel, 2650 North 3000 West. Viewings will be held Sunday, 6-8pm, at the Nickle Mortuary; and Monday, 11:30-12:40pm, prior to the service. Friends unable to attend are invited to view the recorded video of the Service. Burial in the Delta City Cemetery.
Our family extends our deep gratitude to the doctors and nurses of Intermountain Hospice for their exception care, and to the staff at The Retreat at Sun River, where our mother enjoyed the life and experiences spent there.
Eva and Thurmon’s lifelong theme: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33 and 3 Nephi 13:33.