Colleen Clyde Mantyla

Colleen Clyde Mantyla, age 85, passed away on March 3, 2013 from complications due to Alzheimer's Disease.

She was born on Sunday, May 8, 1927 (Mother's Day) in Heber City, Utah to John Ellis (Pete) Clyde and Emma Cummings. She was the oldest of four children. Colleen had a hard childhood, which formed her attitude about hard work, service, and improving the lives of others which served her well throughout her life. Her grandmother had her baptized into the LDS church when she was 8 yrs. old. When she was 13, she became like a mother to her 3 younger siblings while her mother recovered from health issues.

At age 16 she became the bookkeeper for her father's tire business. She graduated from Wasatch High School in 1946. She attended college at the University of Utah where she joined Delta Delta Delta sorority and studied dietetics. Colleen learned how to sew at an early age and remodeled clothing to fit her small figure. This love of sewing continued throughout her life.

At the U., she was 1st runner up to the Freshman Queen. When the royalty was presented to the fans at the football stadium, Donald G. Mantyla, saw the attractive, golden-haired girl and told his buddy, "I want to date that girl". Later at their sorority/fraternity exchange, they met and began dating. They both worked at the Salt Lake Tribune while attending the U. When Don left for dental school in Chicago, they continued to write and were married on December 23, 1948 at Zion's Lutheran Church. Upon graduation from dental school, Don and Colleen returned to practice in Utah. They moved to Roosevelt in 1951, where they lived for the next 23 years and raised their 3 children. Colleen worked as his office manager. The family spent summertime weekends at their cabin in the Uinta Mountains and year round weekends in Salt Lake City, where they had season tickets to Ballet West, the Utah Opera, Pioneer Memorial Theater, and U. of U. football and basketball events. In her later years, she and dad had season tickets to the Utah Jazz and loved to go together.

Mom constantly looked for ways to serve others and to beautify the world. She loved to teach, especially children. When it was time for her daughter to learn to sew, she invited the 10 neighbor girls to join them. Likewise, when it was time to teach cooking, she taught the neighbor girls also. She ran endless carpools while her children were in school. Mom didn't waste anything. She was a champion recycler before it became chic. She loved to garden and preserve the food. Besides gardening a A