CLEVELAND – Shawna LaRue McFarlane Minchey, 83, passed away Monday, November 2, 2015 at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center while undergoing a cardiac procedure. She was born May 19, 1932 to Aaron Rex and Elva Maria Davis McFarlane in a small log cabin on the corner of 100 South and 200 West in Cleveland, Utah. The home belonged to her grandparents Ernest and Nancy Davis and was the same home where her mother was born. Shawna described her childhood as very happy. She loved her four younger brothers fiercely and defended and protected them. The family lived in Cleveland for most of her life except for a while in Sunnyside, Utah where her father worked in the coal mines and a short time in North Bend, Oregon. While raising her own children, the family spent five idyllic summers in the mountains of Wyoming where her husband, Lester Minchey, worked on the Meeks Cabin Dam.
Shawna is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She loves her family, her friends, her faith, her community and her country. She was known as Grandma Shawna by numerous children and adults in Cleveland. Shawna considered Cleveland the best place in the world. She loved gardening and it was evident by her beautiful yard on display on Main Street.
Shawna lived with charity and the pure love of Christ throughout her life. She served others endlessly from caring for the elderly to the little great-grandchildren. She served everyone she met in large and small ways. The lives she touched and the example she set will be felt for generations. She lived with exemplary unconditional love for all who had the pleasure to know her. Shawna taught the lessons of the gospel by her daily example of faith in Christ and the Atonement.
She is survived by her six children, Jolene (Bruce) Sharp of Hurricane, UT; Bill Minchey of Beaver, UT; Rex (Joy) Minchey of Twin Falls, ID; Shellee (Forrest) Luke of Craig, CO; Troy (Sandie) Minchey of Roosevelt, UT; Tonya (Jeff) Cowley of Helper, UT; her brothers Delvin (Juanita) McFarlane and Ernie (JoyLynn) McFarlane, 47 grandchildren, nearly 100 great- grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Aaron Rex and Elva Maria McFarlane, her husband, Lester Von Minchey (marriage sealed in Manti Temple after his death), her brothers, William Deeon and Thyrill Rex McFarlane, daughter-in-law, Janet Wilson Minchey, and grandson, Joseph Alma Sharp.
Funeral Services will be Saturday, November 7, 2015 at the Cleveland LDS Chapel at 11:00 AM. There will be a viewing one hour before the service and also Friday, November 6, 2015 from 6-8 PM at the Heritage Funeral Home in Huntington, Utah. Interment will be in the Cleveland Cemetery entrusted to Heritage Funeral Home. Friends and family may visit and sign the online guest book and share memories of Shawna at www.heritagefuneralhomeutah.com