Marceil Kelley Peterson, 80, passed away on May 26, 2019. She was born on May 12, 1939 to Floyd George Kelley and Fern Dial Kelley.  The Kelley family had a farm on the south edge of Shelley where she lived until just before her 8th birthday when they moved into what was called “the big house” on Locust Street in Shelley, built earlier by Floyd’s father John Kelley.  The house seemed very large and the family was excited to be there.  The property was large enough to have a barn and small pasture where the children’s Shetland pony Lightning was kept.  Marceil and her brother Karl rode the pony all around the neighborhood and were popular with friends who got to ride also.  She also rode Lightning once in the Shelley Spud Day parade.  At this time Floyd owned and operated a farm located just east of the Butte near Shelley.

Marceil was a cheerleader in the eighth grade, which she really enjoyed.  She was a bit of a tomboy as she loved sports and played softball in their pasture as soon as spring came.  She also played basketball in the Scout House behind the LDS Church as well as football—all with neighbor kids.  She finally had to give up playing football as she started to develop into a young woman and noticed the boys were tackling her differently.

The walk to school was much closer than out on the farm and she made the trek four times each day because she always went home for lunch.  She attended the Shelley Elementary School for eight years before moving to High School which was even a shorter walk.  Marceil started playing an older brother’s coronet in the fourth grade and continued to play that instrument through High School.  She took piano lesson for a few years, but finally gave it up—a decision she always regretted.  She played the coronet in the Shelley High School Band, marching with the band in parades, and competing at band festivals.

Marceil loved her high school years where she said she had great fun.  In addition to her activities in the band, she worked on the yearbook staff and was editor of the yearbook her senior year.  She enjoyed attending basketball and football games and was in the Pep Club which she said was a great outlet for energy and noise.  Her first date with Val was on Halloween her freshman year in high school.  Marceil and Val participated in many of the school and stake dances and other social activities, such as attending the movies and drive-in movies that were popular in those days.  Marceil was rated as 5th from the top in her class and graduated both in Seminary and High School in 1957.

That summer she married Val Peterson, a farm boy from Taylor.  Shortly thereafter these high school sweethearts were married in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple and only a few weeks later moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where Val enrolled at the University of Utah and Marceil found work as a filing clerk at the Continental Bank.  Val worked part-time jobs all through school and Marceil worked until she because pregnant with their first child, Kelli.  Following Kelli’s birth Marceil became a full-time mother at home and two more daughters Jodi and Lori were born before Val’s university graduation in 1962.  Marceil was a wonderful wife and mother.  With Val busy with his jobs, it was her role to manage the family and the home, which she did well.

Upon graduation, Val accepted a job with Phillips Petroleum at the National Reactor Testing Site in Arco, Idaho.  Unfortunately, Val soon became unhappy with the job and quit after only three months and the family returned to Utah, where he went to work with an engineering consulting firm where he had been working part-time as a student.  The family lived in Salt Lake for five more years where another daughter Jill and son Jeff were born.

In 1967 the family moved to Logan, Utah where Val started work at Utah State University (USU) in their facilities management department where he was soon advanced to head up the department.  In Logan a sixth and last family member was born—a daughter Marci.  While living in Logan and after the children were well along in school, at the age of 40, Marceil started attending the University and eventually completed training to be a Nurse.  After becoming registered as a nurse, Marceil worked at the Logan Regional Hospital for 4-1/2 years.

After working twenty years at USU, Val was lured to Arizona State University (ASU) to become their chief facilities officer.  The work at ASU was more stressful than at USU and following three heart incidents and a triple heart bypass, Marceil convinced Val to retire earlier than planned.  So after 12-1/2 years at Arizona State University, Val retired in July 2000 and Marceil retired from her nursing career shortly before he did.

In preparation for retirement, two years previously, they had constructed a “retirement home” in Chandler, Arizona.  Val’s criteria for an ideal retirement home was threefold: 1) no stairs to climb; 2) no swimming pool to maintain; and 3) no grass to mow.  While living in Chandler, Val and Marceil were temple workers at the Mesa Temple and served as couple missionaries in the Baltimore Maryland Mission.  In 2012 Marceil was diagnosed with Pick’s Disease which is a slow but progressive form of Alzheimer’s disease.  Following the diagnosis, Marceil wanted to move closer to one of her children.  A year or so later, she and Val ended up moving to Tucson, Arizona living near Jeff and his family.

Throughout her life, Marceil was active in the LDS Church and other activities.  At the children’s school she was involved with school activities and PTA.  In the Church she held a variety of positions including young women’s president, stake girls camp director, camp nurse, ward girl’s camp leader, ward music coordinator, chorister, visit teaching coordinator, temple worker, ward missionary, full-time missionary.  She particularly loved working with the youth.  In the Church there were only three things she shied away from: talks in sacrament meeting, teaching callings and last-minute requests to pray—although she did all of them when absolutely necessary.

Marceil was an excellent wife and mother, she loved her family, liked to be helpful,  she was a good cook and homemaker, organizing and running the day-to-day things at home, making children’s clothing, and quilting……..more?  She kept the faith to the end.

A funeral is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, May 30 in Tucson and another gathering of some sort in Shelley, Idaho on June 1st. More details will be forthcoming. Marceil will be buried in the Taylor Cemetery located east of Shelley, Idaho in the Peterson family plot.