DeAnna Stall

1955-2000

In Memory

DeAnna was born in a small town in north eastern Arizona call St. Johns to Gay Edward and Larue Waite.  She was their 6th child but their only girl.  She all of her life in St. Johns until she went away to college.  She first attended Mesa Community College.  Then her junior year she transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) where I met her the first semester of our junior year. 

We had both lived in Helaman Halls, on campus housing and I had noticed her because she was tall.  One day, walking from campus to the dorms, I walked up behind her and asked her how tall she was.  She replied that she was 5' 11 3/4" and I replied that that was too bad because people 6 feet and over are blessed.  It was a pretty good pickup line because we started talking and we became acquainted over the next few weeks.  

Our first date was to see the movie "Three Days of the Condor".  One week later she asked me to marry her, and being the gentleman that I was (and having been taught that a gentleman never says no to a lady) I accepted.  Now if she was here she would quickly point out that a few minutes later I asked her to marry me.  We then had one more week until Christmas break when we were suppose to go home to our separate families.  

The most memorial able time of this week was the time we were sitting in front of her dorm, neither wanting to say good night or to be apart.  We sat there in the cold car all night holding each other and talking about our life together.  I also remember going to Sambo's dinner one of the nights and studying for finals. 

Then Christmas break came and her parents came to take her and all of her belongings home because she was due to spend the next semester on a Study Abroad in Spain.  She begged her father to let he come back to St. John's with them.  He said if there was room in the car, I could go with them.  Well, she made sure that the car was packed tight and there was just barely enough room for me in the back seat of the car.  For the first part of the trip I sat there with the family's small poodle on my lap.  Several hours into the drive the dog, Missy, decided to baptize me into the family.  I knew this was going to be an interesting family to be involved with.

We spent those 2 weeks together, with me getting to see several sides of DeAnna.  She had her wisdom teeth pulled and was sick as a dog for several days.  We also went down to Mesa where I got to meet her old boyfriend Larry.  At that point I wasn't sure the marriage was going to happen.

Her parents and I put her on the plane for Spain and I returned to BYU.  (A side note:  The evening after putting DeAnna on the plane Provo experience something I had never seen before or since, a thunder/lightening snow storm.)

She then returned to the US the following June and I met her in Provo where we spent 3 days, buying wedding rings and getting reacquainted.  I then had to leave for Advance Training for the Army.  Six weeks later I returned to Denver to put together our household furniture and to take it to Provo where I found an apartment.

I then drove down to St. John's to marry my girl.  Unfortunately around 3 a.m. my car broke down in the middle of the desert just over the Arizona border.  At 7 am I started hitch hiking until I got to Flagstaff where I called DeAnna for help.  Her brother Crawford and his wife Laurel drove and picked me up and we went and got the car and towed it back to St. Johns.  DeAnna and I spent the time in my broken down car while Crawford watched us in the rear view mirror.  It turns out that a wire had broken in the distributor cap what I could have easily fixed myself.

We then went down to Mesa, where the night before the wedding we tried to talk each other out of getting married.  Jitters, you know.  The next day we were married and spent our wedding night at the Phoenix Regency Hotel.  My parents had made the wedding package part of their wedding present.  Since neither of us drank, they had a six pack of 7 up waiting for us.  We took care of the important matters then went to dinner at the revolving resturant at the top of the hotel.  We then went back to the room and did something that had never happened before or since.  I fell asleep and she watched a movie (usually it has been the other way around).

We then went to St. John's the next day to prepare for the wedding reception.  Of course it was an outdoor reception and it rained that day.   Two days later DeAnna's youngest brother and his wife help us take her belongings from Arizona to Utah.  It was a long drive with a long delay, when my car had a flat and the spare was also flat.  DeAnna and I waited in my car while her brother went to get the spare repaired.  I can remember sitting in the hot car in the middle of the desert roasting and looking at my beautiful new wife.  Later that evening when we arrived at our new apartment we had our first fight.  It was at 3 a.m. and it was about leaving the water running while you brush your teeth.  This was just the first of many fights to come.

The next memorable thing that happened was I ruin a surprise birthday party she was planning for me.  I had her convinced that my birthday was 4 days later than it actually was.  She came home on my birthday and I was wearing the Aloha shirt that my parents had sent me and had prepared my own birthday cake.  For the next 23 years she was never sure which day was actually my birthday (ain't I a little stinker).

Life the first few years were not all a bed of roses, there were problems.  There was the time when she threaten to destroy the little black and white TV we had.  Another time she actually took a swing at me, I ducked and she hit the wall which cracked her wrist.  The wrist continued to pain her the rest of her life, which served as a reminder that she shouldn't try to beat her (diminutive :~)) husband.

During this first year of marriage we were living in Orem while DeAnna attended BYU and worked in the the Special Collections department of the library.  I had several jobs, one being a security guard at a high explosive plant in Lehi but it was costing me too much to commute around the lake.  Another job I had was at a big and tall store while I attended Utah Technical college.

After a year of that it became apparent that I wasn't going to get back into BYU so I started commuting to the U of U towards the end of our second year.  Also during that year a friend of mine talked me into going to opening day of skiing at Sundance.  Big mistake, they brought me down the mountain (it took 2 ski patrol to do it) and my friend had to drive the car (struggling to reach the petals).  I spent 2 weeks in bed with a messed up knee, and that wonderful wife of mine took such good care of me.  She actually carried my leg for me and held it when ever I had to go to the bath room.  Is that love or what?

We moved to Salt Lake and both of us started attending the U of U.  By this time I had convinced her to change her major from  an executive secretary degree to business management.  She also got a job with three wonderful brother's, the Gallenson's who operated a gun store.  They were wonderful to her there, taking care of her almost as a daughter.  Even giving me a job when ever I needed one.

She worked full time and was a full time student. She even managed to graduate Magna Cum Laude.  She only need one additional semester in order to also receive a Finance degree so after her management degree she continued and got her finance degree.  I then managed to talk her into going on to graduate school and getting her MBA.  She was always as smart as a whip and did well.

After she graduated from U of U, she continued to work at Gallensons.  I didn't see any future professionally in Utah so I took the opportunity to go to work for the Federal Government and went to work as an Air Traffic Controller.  We put everything into storage and went OKC for the FAA Academy.  DeAnna love this period of time, she got to be a house wife.  She stayed home and sewed and cooked and really enjoyed herself.  She made me a black kimono house coat for Christmas, use to have dinner ready for me when I came home.  Even tried cooking gourmet dishes.  

Unfortunately I came down with pneumonia and was out of work for a month so she jumped in and became a Kelly girl.  Working as a temporary employee for several different companies, everyone enjoyed having her there and requested her when ever they needed someone.  I made it through my ATC training and we left on April 5th, 1985 for Anchorage Alaska.  It was a hot day and 90 miles outside of OKC our air conditioning stopped working.  We drove to the California border and stayed the night at a Motel 6, then on the next day to Disneyland where we planned to spend 2 days.  After 1 day we had done everything we had wanted and decided to drive to coast highway up to Carmel.

We travelled up the coast, on to Washington state where we put the car on the barge and flew the rest of the way to Alaska since I had to report to work in 3 days.  We quickly found a little apartment a mile away from my work.  DeAnna worked as a Kelly Girl until she found a permanent job which she did quite fast.  She went to work for Don Hoff, a real estate developer and investor.  She work as his comptroller and right hand.  This relationship continued until she died (she continued to take care of some of his books after she left).

After several years she then went to work for Price Waterhouse as a Tax accountant.  Mean time we moved into a nice little luxury duplex house with a giant whirlpool tub in the master bedroom and a double show with steam bath in the family bathroom.  We had a great time in that house, with some good neighbours. 

DeAnna took up the snare drum and joined the Crow Creek Pipe and Drum.  She looked great in her kilt.   

In the late 80's we bought our first house, a 2200 square foot town house in mid town Anchorage.

In August of 2000, my wonderful wife DeAnna passed away.  She finally succumbed to her MS.  Her lungs became unable to extract C02 from her blood stream and she went into a coma on our 24th wedding anniversary.  Three days later we turn off the oxygen that was keeping her alive.  She passed away within 5 minutes.  She was lucky and did not suffer long.  After her last time on a ventilator, she did not want a machine breathing for her.  At the time of her death she had already been blind for 3-4 years and was unable to move her legs or use her hands and arms for anything but the most simple movements.  She was unable the chew and received he food via a gastric tube.

I spent four years caring for her in this state and while I hate to see her go, I realize it was the best thing for her.  She was a wonderful person and I will always carry her in my heart.  We had a wonderful 24 years together (well the first 2 or 3 were just so-so until we adapted to each other).