Leah Burrows Felt

She was born in Salt Lake City on April 12, 1925 to Leah Burton Burrows and J. Alma Burrows. It is a curious coincidence that she was born on Easter Sunday and died on New Year’s Day because she took great pleasure in celebrating holidays and birthdays and making them into truly special events.

Leah was raised by devoted parents and grew up surrounded by extended family. She particularly adored her loving father Alma. He always seemed to have plenty of time to spend with Leah and her younger sister Marion. Almost every evening he would tell night-time stories to his girls, often about his own youth working on his family farm in Huntsville and he would sing folk songs such as “Babes in the Woods” and “Red Wing.” Leah’s grandparents Edward and Isabelle Burton lived next door to her on one side of her Circle Way home and she spent many happy hours in their home. Her aunt and uncle Fred and Sarah Moreton lived on the other side and Leah said their house was like her second home. She was constantly playing with her cousins, particularly Mary Moreton (Barton) with whom she had a life-long bond.

Leah also spent many happy days at the Moreton cabin in Brighton that served as a summer retreat. She remembered playing with a fun little boy named Whit who was staying in a neighboring cabin. Whit’s father had built a wooden horse that sat on the fence dividing the property lines between the two cabins. The two children used to sit on it, holding the reins and pretending they were galloping across the countryside. That first friendship was forged when they were four-years-old.

Twelve years later, during their senior year at East High School, Leah and Whit rekindled their friendship and it gradually evolved into a romantic relationship. Their first date occurred during their senior year on December 12, 1941 when they attended the school’s Christmas Dance, just five days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

After graduating from East High, Whit joined the U.S. Navy and Leah entered the University of Utah where she joined the Chi Omega sorority. During this time, Leah was employed writing stories for the society page of the Salt Lake Tribune.

Leah missed Whit terribly. When his ship was sent into the Pacific, she transferred from the U. to the University of California in Berkeley so she could be closer to naval ports on the West Coast. This turned out to be a fortunate decision because Whit’s ship was sunk in October 1944 and Whit was sent to the Bay Area for convalescent treatment. This gave Leah and Whit opportunities to be together and go on dates in San Francisco. Leah graduated from Cal in 1946 with an English degree.

On June 12, 1947, Leah and Whit were married in the backyard of Leah’s childhood home. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple. The newlyweds honeymooned in the Pacific Northwest.

Leah taught Freshman English at the University of Utah to returning war vets during the 1947-48 school year. In January 1949, the young couple moved to Glen Arbor Street which transforms into Christmas Street each December. Their first child was born the same month, a son they named James.

In December 1949, Leah returned to familiar territory when Whit’s job with Burroughs Business Machines took their family back to the Bay Area in California. They lived in East Oakland for a short time and then moved to a hillside home in El Cerrito with a front window looking down on the Oakland Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge to the west. Leah and Whit added three more children to their family while living in California: Marion (September 1950), Edward (March 1953) and George (December 1955). During their six years in California, the family enjoyed vacations to Santa Cruz, Yosemite and Salt Lake.

Leah and Whit decided to move from El Cerrito to Lafayette, a rural area east of El Cerrito where they could build a larger home. They bought a lot and even had an architect draw up blueprints for a new home. But they changed their plans and decided to return to Salt Lake instead. They bought a lot beside a hillside in the Mount Olympus area and, with a few alterations, used the same plans made for their Lafayette house. The family moved into their new home in November 1957 and Leah lived there for the remaining 61 years of her life. Leah’s final child Leah Louise was born in Salt Lake in July 1960.

In July 1983, Leah and Whit acquired a cabin in Brighton where they spent many happy hours, celebrating holidays and family birthdays.

Leah loved her home, its beautiful flower gardens, its views of Mount Olympus and her animal visitors, especially her dear deer friends. Leah and Whit eventually purchased the mountainside behind their home to serve as a wildlife preserve. Leah spent her last hour gazing at the natural beauty outside her bedroom window, watching the sun rise on a new year.

Her life was full of gratitude which she showed by generously giving of her time and means to numerous charities and individuals. In her church, she served as a teacher, den mother and Primary president. She developed deep and lasting friendships with those in her employ, especially Lottie and Hans Horoba and April Hoskinson.

Leah loved literature and the arts. She acquired a large personal library which inhabited bookcases throughout her house. She generously supported the Utah Opera, the Utah Symphony, Ballet West, and Pioneer Theater Company. She made annual trips to the Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Utah Festival Opera. Leah’s love of opera was forged at any early age. On Saturday mornings, Leah’s mother required her two girls to be very quiet so she could listen to the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York City on the radio. Leah thus gained exposure to opera and classical music which evolved into life-long devotion to both.

She also developed a love of University of Utah football and basketball from attending games with Whit, an avid Ute, and traveled to numerous away games including the 1998 Final Four in the year Whit passed away. Leah continued Whit’s legacy of providing financial support to Ute athletic programs. She enjoyed attending games with her family and went to a Utah basketball game the last time she left her house just three days before her death.

Travel was another of her favorite activities. Leah and Whit took their children on trips to Laguna Beach almost annually in the late 1950s and 1960s. Leah was thrilled by her numerous family vacations to Kauai. She also enjoyed boating, especially on Lake Powell with family, cousins and friends. Leah and Whit traveled extensively in the United States and through much of the world, appreciating and respecting the people and cultures of each area they visited.

Leah had a special love for all living creatures, rescuing spiders and mice that wandered into her home and releasing them into her yard. She turned a window-well into an aviary. A considerable variety of pets resided in her home, a number of which were stray dogs adopted as pets.

Family was supremely important to her throughout her life. She lovingly nurtured and encouraged her children and grandchildren, spent considerable time and angst worrying about them and hoping for their happiness. She embraced their individuality and appreciated their distinct interests and lifestyles. She often expressed her joy at having all five of her adult children living within a few miles of her Mount Olympus home.

Leah treasured her time with her beloved husband Whit and grieved deeply when he passed away in 1998. She visited his grave often two or three times a week and provided a constant supply of fresh flowers on his gravestone.

Leah said, “I have loved travel, reading, my family, friends, animals, tolerance, foreign places, foreign ideas, Jesus Christ my Savior and my Heavenly Father.”

Throughout her life and the end of her life, she projected a radiant and positive spirit and love, looking forward to reuniting with Whit and her beloved parents.

Leah wrote the following entry in her journal:

My Message to You-

Love is the ultimate reality, the goal worth pursuing. It encompassed understanding, tolerance, forgiveness and actions to help other people without judging their beliefs or physical differences. We are all God’s children and every living thing is loved in His plan.

Hatred and superiority and indifference to suffering and illness and poverty and loneliness and ignorance and neglect are what we should strive against. We all have a lot to learn. We don’t know everything or even how much we know, but we can appreciate and love what is beautiful and good and reach toward and love and understanding.

Leah is survived by her children James (Tammy) Felt, Marion Felt, Edward (Deborah) Felt, George Felt and Louise (Cliff) Bentsen, 16 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and her sister Marion Smith. She was preceded in death by her husband H. Whitney Felt.

Leah's life was enriched by the many friends, neighbors and family who loved her, and she cared deeply for each one. She had a special relationship with her daughter-in-law, Debra Felt (George's wife of many years). She loved all her nieces and enjoyed especially the times spent with Sharon Christenson and Charlotte Smith.

The Felt family is very grateful for the loving care Leah received from Mikia Maloney and the caregivers from Right at Home Salt Lake. They brightened and eased Leah’s last few years profoundly.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park chapel, 3401 Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Visitations will be held Monday, January 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. and Tuesday, January 8 from 10 to 10:45 a.m. at the same location. Internment, Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, Salt Lake City, Utah, following the service.

In lieu of flowers, Leah requested that contributions be made to the Utah Opera, the Humane Society of Utah or the Volunteers of America–Utah Homeless Youth Resource Center.