Nancy Dee Ann Mckay McNeal Obituary (1938 - 2014)

Nancy Dee Ann McNeal passed away quietly at home in Pleasant Grove, Utah on June 11, 2014 after a year-long battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Dee Ann was born May 1, 1938 in Portland, Oregon to Roy Everett and Laverda Tolman McKay. She spent most of her childhood years in Prineville, Oregon, where she graduated from Crook County High School in 1956 as class salutatorian. She attended Oregon State College (now Oregon State University) and then married her 7th-grade "beau" after they rediscovered their fondness for each other during their senior year in high school. Dee Ann married Brian Lester McNeal June 17, 1958 in the Idaho Falls LDS temple. They spent their married life residing for extended periods in Corvallis, Oregon; Riverside, California; Pullman, Washington; Gainesville, Florida; and Pleasant Grove, Utah. They also spent a sabbatical period in Ithaca, New York and served as a missionary couple in Warrenton, Virginia of the Washington, D.C. South Mission. Dee Ann is survived by her children Debbi King, Mark (Tailyn) McNeal, Laurie (Steve) Hansen and Julie (Chris) Porter, and by a sister (Eileen McMullin) and Eileen's sons Keith and Kelly in the Portland, Oregon area. She is cherished by her 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, who always enjoyed their visits to Grandma "M" or GG's house including the countless books, play room, and backyard playhouse she shared with them there. Dee Ann loved children (including a sizeable number which she tended in her home as her own children were growing up), traveling, reading, craft fairs and collectibles, dining out, games (including pinochle with her husband and friends, and Mah Jongg), and movies. She served faithfully in various LDS ward and stake positions over the years, and for several years in the baptistry of the Mt. Timpanogas LDS Temple. She was characterized by her extended family and friends as caring, generous, fun-loving, and an excellent listener. She loved to relate tales of her adventures during travel to numerous countries on five continents, and also enjoyed camping and hiking, including a special love for the Pacific Northwest's Mount Rainier. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, June 18, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. in the Grove Creek 10th Ward chapel, 475 North 700 East, Pleasant Grove, Utah. Viewings will be held the preceding evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Olpin Family Mortuary, 494 South 300 East in Pleasant Grove, and from 10 to 10:45 a.m. prior to the funeral. Interment will follow at the Pleasant Grove Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.olpinmortuary.com. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the American Cancer Society or to the LDS Humanitarian Relief fund.