DeVerl Fowler Passey, 82, passed away on Monday, March 14, 2016 at home. He was born on August, 3, 1934 in Lanark, Idaho to Leo and Ida Passey. DeVerl was the of sixth of eight children. Those who loved him are inconsolable with his loss.

DeVerl was raised on the family farm in Lanark. He spoke fondly of his childhood, the chores, the hard work, the youthful escapades with his brothers and sisters, and of his loving parents. He was proud of the fact that his great-grandparents were the first family to settle in Lanark.

He attended elementary school in Lanark until the sixth grade when the few Lanark students were moved to Emerson Elementary in Paris. He played football, basketball and track for the Fielding Spartans. He also played softball for many teams through out the Bear Lake Valley. He was athletic, fit, and nimble. How many men do you know who could walk across a barbed wire fence on stilts without breaking their stride?

In 1957, DeVerl was inducted into the Army. He spent 18 months building pontoon bridges in Germany. While in Europe, he visited several countries and played basketball for his unit.

DeVerl attended Utah State University. He worked for a time in Ogden for the Civil Service and in Grace doing construction. He also worked at the sawmill in Liberty, where on lunch breaks he would toast his sandwiches in the furnace.

On January 30, 1960 DeVerl married Joan Toland from Auburn, Wyoming. They had three children, Greg, Jill, and Troy. In 1967 Joan and DeVerl took over the family farm in Lanark. Their children were lucky to grow up in such a beautiful spot.

DeVerl worked assiduously to support his family, milking cows twice a day, planting, watering, then harvesting the fields of wheat, barley, and alfalfa. He put in an underground irrigation system using water from the Little Valley reservoir. He sometimes remarked that he wished he could have shown his father all the progress he had made on the farm. It's astounding to think of the changes that he experienced in his life: from plowing with a team of horses to viewing satellite images of the farm.

DeVerl had a phenomenal work ethic. Come evening, one would often see a light moving in the Lanark hills--this was DeVerl on a tractor or swather, making circles in a field late into the night.

DeVerl was a proud veteran; he always made sure the flag that flies over the Lanark cemetery was in respectable condition and also that the flag was large enough to be seen from a considerable distance.

DeVerl had an encyclopedic knowledge of every canyon, gully, gulch, hollow, creek, spring, ridge, flat, basin, road, fork, and trail from Paris Canyon to Sherman Peak. He could spot a camouflaged deer that no one else could see. He could point out old gold mines. He knew where wild strawberries grew.

DeVerl was at home in the breathtaking mountains of Bear Lake. He and Joan often went for long drives, taking a picnic, or getting wood for winter. Sometimes they stopped to pick a quart of huckleberries or wild raspberries along the way. They would choose Christmas trees, months--if not years, in advance.

He loved to read. He devoured newspapers, often annotating them with doodles and small "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" symbols. He loved politics and was a proud Democrat. He may have been soft-spoken, but he said what needed to be said.

Most of all he was a kind man, an ethical man, a wise, a practical, and a dependable man. He was a great dad. He died where he was born: at home.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday. March 19th in the Liberty LDS Chapel. Interment will be in the Lanark Cemetery following the services.