Betty Louise Allen Snow

Our sweet mother and grandmother, Betty Louise Allen Snow, age 89, passed away peacefully in her home in St. George, Utah, on Thursday, October 27, 2022, after a short illness. She was blessed to survive two years with untreated dormant non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer and was able to live pain free and autonomously through that time. She also survived the isolating COVID-19 lockdowns when she did not leave her one room apartment for several months. She was fiercely independent and never complained through the trials of her life.
Betty was born July 8, 1933, to Joseph Carl Allen and Aura Ola Leavitt Allen, in Los Angeles, California, the middle of three daughters and then a son. When she was 9 years old, Betty and her siblings moved in with relatives in Pima, Arizona, and then Bunkerville, Nevada, while her mother was ill. She spent a difficult year and a half away from her parents until Carl decided to reunite his family in Los Angeles, and the family lived with their mother’s mental illness and treatments, which plagued Aura the remainder of her long life. Betty was the Cotton Queen at Gompers Jr. High, active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and earned the Testimonial of Individual Achievement award (youth standards and participation) in 1946-1952. She graduated from Washington High School in Los Angeles and worked as Bell Telephone Co. operator the next summer. She loved the beach and the California weather, the Rose Parade, and city life.
In September 1951, Betty moved to St. George, Utah, and entered Dixie Jr. College where she earned her Associates in Art degree. These were very happy years for Betty as she was always very socially involved, dancing, swimming, and golfing. She was the Dixie Homecoming Queen in 1952. During this time, she met Stanley Eric Snow at a hotdog party on the Black Hill, and they were married on April 8, 1953, in the St. George Utah Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They rented a downstairs apartment from Stan’s dad in the Snow Apartments on Main and Tabernacle in St. George. They spent a few years working in California until Stan entered the Army. Their first child, Allen Eric Snow, was born in Inglewood, California, and then Stan left for basic training and then military service during the Korean conflict to Oahu, Hawaii, as a quartermaster. Betty joined him in Hawaii, where their daughter Sharon was born. After Stan’s discharge, they sailed back to the mainland and moved to Logan, Utah, where Stan entered Utah State Agricultural College and graduated in accounting in 1958. That first cold year in Logan they lived in a “Quonset hut,” a real trial for Betty. They settled in Twin Falls, Idaho, where Stan joined a CPA practice, and they bought their first home. They had three more children in Twin Falls: Lori, Doug, and Scott. The family built a farmhouse on acreage south of town, Stan started his own CPA practice, and they put down deep roots in the community. In 1989 after the kids had left home, Betty, the California sun lover, started to spend some of each winter in Mesa, Arizona.
They purchased their first vacation home in Pine Valley, Utah, in 1975, and spent many summers fixing up a 100-year-old home which they loved and owned until 2019. They retired in 2001 to Pine Valley summers and Mesa winters.
In 2003, they left for Johannesburg, South Africa, on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Stan served as an auditor and Betty did clerical/membership work. Upon their return from Africa, they left Mesa winters for a townhome in St. George, Utah, and lived there for five years until Stan suffered a stroke that left him disabled. For the next few years, Stan lived in the Veterans Home in Ivins, Utah, and Betty eventually moved into assisted living at The Meadows in St. George, Utah. They were living apart for 6 years when Stan passed away on April 4, 2019. Betty continued to live independently until her death.
Betty and Stan were able to travel and see many parts of the world. They traveled this country often during Stan’s Kiwanis leadership, spent a month riding the trains of Europe, toured many countries around, and places within South Africa. They even loaded their RV on a rail car and traveled with a large group through the Mexican Baja.
Betty was always a private person, but she served faithfully in many ways both in and out of the Church. She was a devoted mother and grandmother foremost. She served in Girl Scouts, in the kids’ schools, and in various Church callings in wards and stakes. Sometimes Betty worked behind the scenes for Stan’s practice and sometimes picking up part time jobs. She was a Pink Lady at the hospital. She played golf, skied, was an expert seamstress, learned toll painting and macrame, and played piano and organ. She crocheted an afghan for several of her grandchildren and edge-crocheted many baby blankets.
Betty and Stan liked to get their kids outdoors, so they camped and fished the old-fashioned way in a tent and a trolling fishing boat. She helped Doug and Scott achieve Eagle Scout. She loved to read, was an excellent cook and kept a beautiful clean home. She could milk a cow, separate the milk, make butter, and even retrieve a newborn lamb to corral in a warm barn (with an umbrella to protect her coifed hairdo of course). She loved carnations, chocolates, puzzles, and corndogs. She was not a phone talker or a hugger, but she was very compassionate and always kind.
Betty is survived by all her children: Allen (Nancy) in Riverton, UT; Sharon Dalley (Bob) in Pine Valley, UT; Lori Olsen (Jim) in Salt Lake City, UT; Doug (Sara) in Arlington, VA; Scott (Amie) in Phoenix, AZ; her sister, Norma Dooley, in St. George, UT; sister-in-law, Aldine Allen, in South Jordan, UT; and brother-in-law Earl Snow (Kathy) in Pine Valley, UT; as well as 23 grandchildren and 44 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, two siblings and her parents: Stanley Eric Snow; Merle (Al) Rust; Larry Carl Allen; Joseph Carl Allen and Aura Ola Leavitt Allen, as well as two infant great-grandchildren, Daniel Hansen (Kalie and Jesse) and Ruby Hellstrom (Andee and Kelly).
Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 5, 2022, at 9:30 am, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Pine Valley, UT. There will be a viewing Friday, November 4, 2022, from 6:00-7:30 pm, at Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff Street in St. George, UT. A second viewing will be held one hour prior to services on Saturday, November 5, 2022, from 8:30-9:30 am, again at the Pine Valley Chapel.
Interment will take place in the pioneer Pine Valley Cemetery, where Betty will be laid to rest beside her eternal companion, Stan.
For those who are unable to attend the services in person are welcome watch live by clicking the link below: https://zoom.us/j/91235588852
The family would like to thank Zion’s Way Hospice, and specifically Michelle, for their tender care, and The Meadows for watching over Betty and providing Bingo, Phase 10, and Dominoes…her favorite games.
Arrangements are made under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff St., St. George, Utah, 435-673-2454.
Friends and family are invited to sign Betty’s online guest book at www.spilsburymortuary.com .