Cover photo for Verla Matilda Grow Smurthwaite's Obituary
1927 Verla Smurthwaite 2024

Verla Matilda Grow Smurthwaite

April 16, 1927 — September 29, 2024

Verla Matilda Grow Smurthwaite, age 97, passed away on September 29, 2024 in West Jordan, Utah. She was born on April 16, 1927 in Wanship, Utah to Lawrence Henry Grow and Matilda Thressa Vernon Grow. She married Alfred Smurthwaite in August 1947.

Verla was an avid green thumb gardener, she could grow anything. In the fall she would pick all the seeds from her plants and secretly plant them around the yard. In the spring she would say, “Oh where did that plant come from”? 

Verla grew up in a little ranch house in Wanship, Utah. She graduated high school with many achievements. She was an avid spelling bee winner and played basketball, baseball, cheerleading, and junior prom queen. 

Verla and her girlfriends would travel to Salt Lake to enjoy the big city. This is where she met and married Alfred Smurthwaite. Together they had three sons, Armand, Lex, and Dan. She loved being a working mother, managing hotels in Palm Springs, California, Sun Valley, Idaho, and St. George, Utah. She loved taking rides in the car and sightseeing with her family.

Verla is survived by her two sons Dan Smurthwaite, and Lex Smurthwaite and her eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. 

She is preceded in death by Alfred Tennyson Smurthwaite (husband), Armand Tennyson Smurthwaite (son), siblings Nina Green, Marie Dansie, Etta West, Vernon Grow, and Raymond Grow.

You may visit with the family at a viewing on Friday, October 11, 2024 from 9:00 to 10:45 AM at Memorial Redwood Mortuary, 6500 South Redwood Road, West Jordan, Utah. Funeral services will follow at 11:00 AM. Interment following services at Memorial Redwood Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers please Venmo donations to @Dan-Smurthwaite. Verla wanted to use these funds for her family, Henry and Thressa Grow's grave maintenance and for flowers on special occasions. 

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Verla Matilda Grow Smurthwaite, please visit our flower store.

Service Schedule

Past Services

Viewing

Friday, October 11, 2024

9:00 - 10:45 am (Mountain time)

Memorial Redwood Mortuary and Cemetery

6500 S Redwood Rd, West Jordan, UT 84123

Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text. Standard text messaging rates apply.

Funeral Service

Friday, October 11, 2024

11:00am - 12:00 pm (Mountain time)

Memorial Redwood Mortuary and Cemetery

6500 S Redwood Rd, West Jordan, UT 84123

Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text. Standard text messaging rates apply.

Interment

Friday, October 11, 2024

Memorial Redwood Mortuary and Cemetery

6500 S Redwood Rd, West Jordan, UT 84123

Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text. Standard text messaging rates apply.

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