Gay Middlemas

In loving memory of Gay Carter Middlemas, much-loved mother, grandmother, and aunt who lived to be 84 years old.

Born September 5, 1932 in Murray, Utah, to Elizabeth Andersen Carter, who was the daughter of a Swedish gold miner. Gay had two older sisters Shirley and Betty, who she claimed fed her a hot pepper when she was little as a joke, telling her it was candy. Nevertheless, the sisters were tight and hardly a day went by that Aunt Betty didn't call. While attending Murray High School, Gay worked at Tyler's Ice Cream Shop and began a lifelong passion for ice cream and frozen concoctions of all sorts. Family lore suggests Gay never once passed The Little America Hotel in Wyoming without stopping for an ice cream cone. During her freshman year, at the University of Utah, she was "pinned" to Bob Middlemas after knowing him for only two weeks. When Bob was recalled by the US Navy, she saved money working at a tomato canning factory in order to book passage for her and her mother to Hawaii, where she and Bob could marry. They spent a yearlong honeymoon in Hawaii courtesy of the US Navy. After returning to Utah, Gay and Bob proceeded to have children and settle into a life of canning peaches and drying cloth diapers on a clothesline (even in winter!). First, came Debbie, Bob and David and then much, much, much later came Julie and Chris. Gay loved reading almost as much as she loved ice cream, and so for 28 years she taught school children to read by day and cooked dinners for her own children by night. In fact, Gay loved all types of learning; she took up skiing AND earned a Masters degree after the age of 50. Gay was quick to smile and always had a knack for looking on the bright side. If you ever bumped into Gay at the ballet or symphony, she was often sporting a bright red coat, her secret remedy for fighting off the winter blues.

Grandma Gay is loved and missed by four children (and their spouses), Bob, Dave (& Thuy), Julie (& Glenn) and Chris (& Joy); as well as eight granchildren, Michael (& Jessica), Ryan (& Tawni), Tim, Tiffany, Miya, Olivia, Jessica and Emma. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Debbie; husband, Bob; mother, Elizabeth; and sisters, Betty Thomassen and Shirley Forsberg.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, May 30 at 11:00 a.m. at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary, 3401 S. Highland Drive. A viewing will be held one hour prior to services. Interment at the Murray City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, go out to Market Street Grill and try the clam chowder--Gay would have liked that. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=gay-middlemas&pid=185610493#sthash.3dK4ZJ1F.dpuf