Richard Thomas Small (95) was born in Boise, Idaho to Robert Eli and
Minnie Ethel Grisham Small on July 17, 1927, and passed quietly, surrounded by
family, at his son's home in Rigby, Idaho. He was the youngest, and last
surviving child of the family. He had three brothers: Earnest, Earl, and Robert
and two sisters, Mildred, and Mary.
He grew up in Boise, Idaho during the Great
Depression and learned the value of hard work and thriftiness. He worked
endless hours on the family farm near 5-Mile Road and helped hand milk fifty
cows night and morning. If you shook his hand, you could feel his powerful
grip, which he claimed came from those years of milking cows. He had many great
memories as a young man playing baseball, riding horses and pranking friends,
family, and teachers.
He was raised deeply religious as a Southern
Baptist. In his youth, while playing baseball, he saw a girl he thought was
really something playing for a Meridian team and mentioned it to his friend who
noticed her too. He found out her name was Lenore Loveland, a Mormon girl, who
wrote in her memoirs that he was a chatterbox of a first baseman He graduated
from Boise High's Class of 1945 and enlisted in the Navy prior to turning 18,
towards the end of World War II. He and Lenore courted during high school, and
they eloped to Winnemucca, Nevada, where they were married by a one-armed
Justice of the Peace on July 11, 1945. While he was out at sea, their first
child, Richard Thomas II, was born.. Richard, Lenore, and their family were
later sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on May 4, 1962.
In 1946, after receiving an honorable
discharge, he was hired out as a fireman on the Union Pacific Railroad in
Idaho, he shoveled tons of coal in old steam locomotives. While he was building
his railroad seniority, he had to work odd jobs from banking, butchering,
shoeing horses, Sears, and other jobs before he was able to work year-round on
the railroad. He advanced his career by becoming an engineer until he retired
in 1988 (42 years), ending his employment as an engineer in the Soda Springs
local. This career allowed him to do what he truly loved; to be with his wife
and raise their children. They resided in Nampa, ID, Logan, UT, Bern, ID, and
eventually bought the farm in Sharon, ID in November 1971.
In 1961, he was baptized a member of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints where he served in many callings
including: Bishop of the Logan 16th Ward, Scout Master, Stake Young Men's
President, and Stake President of the Paris, Idaho Stake. With his second wife
Carma Mattson Jensen Small, they served as Missionaries in the Cherry Hill, New
Jersey Mission (Camden, NJ). They served for 10 years as temple workers in the
Logan, UT Temple.
He also loved his community participation in
the Cache County Mounted Sheriff Posse, the Bear Lake School Board, and the
Bear Lake Rangers.
He is survived by his daughter-in-law, Nancy
Perkes Nilson, Sandy, UT. His children: Sally (Ron Harper) Ninilchik, AK;
Rodney (Janna) Preston, ID; Samuel (Marilyn) Hyrum, UT; Sidney (Delene) Cedar
City, UT; Brenda (Chris Cook - deceased) Ogden, UT; Rhea (Ralph Nielson)
Sharon, ID; JoLene (Andrew Herzog) Hyrum, UT; Stanley (Stephne) Rigby, ID;
Theodore (Antioco Carrillo) Las Vegas, NV and stepchildren Alan Jensen (Wendy)
Malta, ID; Bruce Jensen (Rosemary - Deceased & Suzan) Salt Lake City, UT;
Laurie Jensen Roy, UT; Mark Jensen (Deceased); Matt Jensen (Mary) Ovid, ID; and
Scott Jensen (JoAnn) Ovid, ID and numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren
and great-great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Lenore
Loveland Small, second wife Carma Mattson Jensen Small, eldest son Richard
Thomas II, and grandchildren: Jennifer Reese, Lavious Small, Steve Serious,
Brittany Andrews, Cameron J. Nez, Dakota Baulder, and David Harper.
Our sincere gratitude to Brio Hospice Care for
their services rendered and to Stanley and Stephne Small for their dedicated
nursing care and consistent communication to our family.
Funeral Services were held Friday, June 2,
2023, at the Paris Tabernacle at 12:00pm. He was laid to rest, next to his
sweetheart Lenore, in the Liberty, Idaho Cemetery.
