Enid Bjarnson

Enid Bjarnson, 91, passed peacefully away Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at home in the Cottage of Legacy House of South Jordan, Utah. She was born July 28, 1926 in Oakley, Idaho to Zella Irene Plant and Lewis Robert Critchfield. Enid spent a wonderful childhood growing up with her five sisters and five brothers on the family farm in Oakley. She graduated from Oakley High School in 1944, attended the Agricultural College in Logan (now Utah State), and later Brigham Young University.

In 1949 she served a mission to Great Britain. Upon returning home from her mission, she attended Brigham Young University and was president of the Beta Pi sorority. She was also nominated to be homecoming queen. She met her future husband, John (Gary) Bjarnson at a Delta Phi/Beta Pi canyon party in the summer of 1952. It didn't take long for this romance to blossom. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple December 19, 1952.

When Gary was drafted to serve with the occupational forces in Germany, Enid was pregnant with their first child. Wanting to be with her husband for the baby's birth, she joined him in Heidelberg, Germany where their son Matthew was born a few months later. Returning to the United States one year later, they lived in Provo where four more children (Gregory, Kathleen, Kenneth, and Leslee) quickly rounded out their family - five children in six years. Gary finished his schooling at BYU and became a teacher at Granite High School in the Salt Lake Valley. The family then moved to the Salt Lake Valley to be closer to his work, eventually building a home in Holladay where they resided for 31 years before moving to Midvale.

When the children were all in school, Enid returned to BYU and earned her Bachelor Degree. She became a teacher at Woodstock Elementary School where she taught for nearly 13 years before retiring early in 1981 to go on a mission with her husband to the Cook Islands. Upon returning, they were called to serve a mission to the Salt Lake Laotian Branch where Enid was the Primary President.

Enid and Gary traveled a lot and lived in St. George and then in Hawaii to work with and help their son Greg build houses. They were then called to serve a mission to the Family History Center in Salt Lake City. In 1996 they received a special call to replace a couple who were not able to finish their CES mission in Hungary. With only a few weeks to prepare, they were on their way to another adventure serving their fifth LDS mission each.

Throughout her life, Enid has reached out to serve the Lord in many capacities and done whatever she could to help others. She and Gary had an Indian placement student, Sandra Eriacho, in her home for two years. She and Gary later had two Laotian refugee families that stayed with them. They helped a family from their son's mission in California get established in Utah for several years. They also sponsored a Scottish young man, Columb Robinson, from another son's mission who lived with them for a year.

Enid was good at many things. She had a quick wit and had many stories from her past that were so fun to listen to; she was often laughing. She was gifted at writing poetry and could convey her emotions into those poems. Enid was an excellent cook, making leftovers taste like gourmet meals. She always had a garden which kept her busy tending, harvesting, sharing and preserving the produce, but never too busy to stop and help someone who might need a little help. She loved to sing; she knew the words to most of the LDS hymns, as well as many other songs, even when dementia took away her memories of many other things. She was always concerned about others and wanted to make sure that they were taken care of before she thought of her own needs, even during the last few days of her life.

She has now moved on to a glorious reunion with her parents, nine of her brothers and sisters, her husband Gary, her son Gregory, and her daughter Kathleen Gould.

She is survived by brother Daren Critchfield; children Matthew (Diane), Kenneth (Charlette), and Leslee (Jim) Cross; sixteen grandchildren, and twenty-four great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, November 20, 2017 at the Midvale East 6th Ward building located at 7250 South 300 East, Midvale, Utah with a viewing one hour prior to services. A viewing will also be held 6 - 8 p.m. Sunday, November 19, 2017 at Goff Mortuary, 8090 S. State Street, Midvale, Utah. Interment will be in the Spanish Fork City Cemetery.

The family wishes to thank the wonderful staffs of Legacy House and Brighton Hospice for their loving care of Enid the last few years of her life.