The following obituaries appeared in the September 6, 2023 edition of the Star Valley Independent.
For more area obituaries, please visit Schwab Mortuary.
For more resources including headstones, please visit the Star Valley Historical Society.
Stanley Thompson
Stanley Gene Thompson Jr, age 67, stepped into Eternity on August 29, 2023, after one last summer of laughter and love at home with his family. He was born September 21, 1955 in Montpelier, Idaho to Stanley Gene Sr and Norene Murdock Thompson, the oldest of four children. Stan grew up on the Thompson Land & Livestock Ranch, three miles south of Cokeville, Wyoming where he learned to work hard.
He graduated from Cokeville High School in 1974 and then went on to study and graduate from Denver Automotive and Diesel College in 1975. He came back to Cokeville to fulfill his dream of working on the ranch and then marrying his high school sweetheart Betty Jo Buckley on September 18, 1976. They were later sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan Temple June 5, 1996. Together they welcomed six children: Michael (Angela) Thompson of Cokeville, Wyoming; Meaghan (Bryon) Stinson of Laramie, Wyoming; Stanley James ‘Jim’ (Amy) Thompson of Lyman, Wyoming; Zane Thompson of Cokeville, Wyoming; Marlena (Jeremiah) Johnson of Green River, Wyoming; Michaela (Sean) Neth of Midvale, Utah.
For years Stan participated in bowling, softball, baseball, and basketball leagues around the Bear River valley. He excitedly took on the role of ‘Coach’ as the Defensive Line Coordinator for the Rich High School Rebels in Randolph, Utah in 1990, where he coached for 25 years alongside and among some of his very best friends. He also coached at Bear Lake High School for five years.
Stan took his civic duties seriously and was currently serving as Cokeville Mayor, a position he already filled for eight years two decades ago. He also has served on the City Council for 12 years, Lincoln County Predator Board, and Planning and Zoning Committee. He was awarded the Cokeville Citizen of the Year in 2004 and for ‘20 Years of Service’ to the Town of Cokeville. He also actively helped the Lincoln County Search & Rescue for most of his life. His favorite church callings were Cub Scout Leader, Master, and Primary Teacher. For years you could find him and the best group of men cooking all night long in the church parking lot for the 24th of July Celebration. And a couple of those years he could be spotted the next afternoon with his Wild Cow Milkin’ partner Jon Child winning buckles at the rodeo.
Stan never walked into an event or town where he didn’t run into someone he knew. He was a friend to everyone he met. He donated and sponsored to every good cause and would not be out-auctioned when a chocolate roll was up for grabs.
Stan fought valiantly against cancer and after receiving a grim diagnosis, he defied the odds and lived many years past the doctor’s time frame. He never let cancer get him down as he continued to contract hay every summer as Stan Thompson Haying. He enjoyed chasing around his 10 grandkids whether it was on the mat, court, field, show ring, or even throwing rocks in the river. Anyone that knew him will never deny that Stan was loyal to the Wyoming Cowboys to the very end. Go Pokes!
Funeral Services will be held Saturday September 2, 2023, at the Cokeville Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 11:00 a.m. with an interment to follow at the Cokeville Cemetery. There will be a viewing held the night before, Friday, September 1, 2023, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the church, along with another viewing prior to the service from 9:00 to 10:45 a.m.
Valier Roos Waring
On July 13, 1928, Valier (Val) Roos was born in Afton, Wyoming, the youngest of 11 children (eight girls and three boys). Delivered by her Grandma Sessions’, who was an experienced midwife with twelve children of her own, Val would lose her mother to a tooth infection at the young age of 37 (Sept. 25, 1928), only a few days after Val turned two months old.
With eleven children to care for – five children under the age of five – Val’s father had her raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, by her mother’s sister, Valora, and her husband, Don, who were unable to have children of their own.
At thirty-one years old, Valora suffered a stroke, and Val was sent to live with her aunt and uncle. Shortly after, Don was killed in a horse accident, so Valora and Val went to live with Grandma Sessions in Star Valley, where her cousin Hilda was being raised after losing her own mother to pneumonia.
Connected by their shared losses, Val and Hilda became like sisters. With Grandma Sessions and Valora in poor health, the two essentially cared for the family home. But they also shared many happy experiences as they grew up together, especially with the many visits from uncles and aunts, cousins and friends, that were always dropping in for one of Grandma’s meals.
It was during this time that Val learned how to cook, bake, and make her own preserves. Yet, while Val was surrounded by many people growing up, she often felt distant from her other siblings, which created a sense of loneliness that carried with her throughout her life.
In her high school years, Val babysat local children before working as a soda jerk, grocery store clerk, and at a movie theater and airplane plant. High school was a fun time for Val, and she had fond memories of taking the bus to Turnerville or meeting up with her twin sisters Wanda and Wilda.
After graduation, Val couldn’t wait to leave Star Valley to find her fortune, so she moved in with her sisters in Ogden, Utah, sleeping on a cot on a screened front porch before moving to the YWCA. It was there Val met her future husband, Frank Smith, and the two were married on March 23, 1947, in Logan, Utah. Together they had five children. The two later divorced.
In 1980, Val met Arthur Morris at a church dance. She always considered Art her sweetheart and best friend. The two were married on November 26, 1982. In March 1986, Art was diagnosed with leukemia. He passed away on December 3, 1988, and Val missed him terribly.
Val later reconnected with Gordon Waring, who was a classmate at Star Valley High School. Both recently widowed, Gordon reached out after a class reunion, and the two were married on 10 October 1991.
Moving from Mesa, Arizona, to Apache Junction, and finally to Las Vegas, Gordon and Val split their time between Vegas and another home in Smoot, Wyoming. Val passed away peacefully in her Las Vegas home on August 29, 2023.
Valier Roos Waring is survived by her five children, Kris – deceased (Larry), Ken “Yogi” (Kitty), Jennie (Dan), Matt (Kami), and Cam (Adriana), as well as many grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Val was an exceptional person and will be missed by all.
A memorial service to honor Val’s life and legacy will be held on September 16, 2023 at 11 a.m. at Schwab Mortuary.
David Blackburn
Larry David Blackburn, age 79, passed away August 29, 2023. David was born on September 12, 1943 at 1:30 am in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was the 10th child of Letha and Gerald Blackburn.
He is preceded in death by both parents, Letha Pearl Mower and Gerald Vern Blackburn, most of his brothers and sisters; Kenneth Vern, Willard Dean, Lucille, Edna Mae, Alfred John, Ralph Mower, Thomas Glen, Jeneen, and Jo Ann, his beloved wife of 49 years, Margaret Ann Betts Blackburn and one grandson Trevor James Blackburn.
He is survived by his sister, Ranae Layne, all 7 of his children, Corey, Karen Bullard (David), James (Rebecca), Jenny Redmon, Jerry (Julie), Larry , Kevin (Rebecca); his fourteen grandchildren; and 4 great grandchildren.
David enlisted in the United States Navy in 1962. He was honorably discharged four years later. In 1966 he was called to serve in the Western States Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
After his mission David served as a tour guide at the Los Angeles Temple visitor center until 1973.
David married the love of his life Margaret Blackburn in 1969 in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of 7 children.
In 1972 he received an Associate of Science from the Rio Hondo College in California
He received a certificate of achievement in automotive technology in 1974 and certification from the national Institute for automotive excellence for automobile mechanic certification.
David moved his family to Star Valley Wyoming in 1977. He received a certificate of merit from John Deere tractor company in 1980.
David and Margaret served a 6 month mission to Eugene Oregon in 2012.
David and Margaret served as temple workers in the Idaho Falls temple in 2012 They served as temple workers in the Star Valley Temple from 2016- until Margaret’s death in 2018. David continued to serve until 2023.
David had a successful career of diagnosing and repairing mechanical and electrical equipment, machinery, and other devices. He also had work opportunities that involved the repairing/replacing of building fixtures, walls, floors, ceilings, doors, windows, plumbing and electrical fixtures.
In 2002 David received qualification certificate from Dish network “Field Service specialist 1”
In David’s own words, “I can’t complain about any part of my life. I have traveled halfway around the world. I have met many people and seen many wonderful things.”
Funeral services will be held at the Auburn meetinghouse on Friday September 8. Viewing at 11:00am and funeral at 12:00 noon. Interment to follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Afton food bank can be made in David’s name.
Brian Hendrickson
Brian Donald Hendrickson 55, of Etna Wyoming, formerly of Spring Lake Michigan, tragically left us on August 14, 2023.
He is survived by his beloved dog, Bruno, his sister, Kathleen Asher (husband JR), brother Michael Hendrickson (wife Amy), nephews Colin and Quin Hendrickson, his aunt, MaryEllen McCue, uncle, Lloyd Witherow, several cousins and countless friends, all who loved him dearly.
If able, please consider a donation in Brian’s memory to Mental Health America (mhanational.org) or SAVE/Suicide Awareness Voices. of Education (save.org).
