August 2013 - My Dad

My dad passed away August 12, 2013. He has been feeling pretty terrible for a while now, so it wasn't a complete surprise. I received the phone call from his neighbor, who Belen went to for help after finding him, right before midnight on that day. It seemed like the phone call was an hour long, but when I looked the next morning to make sure it was real, it was only a couple of minutes. I called my mom that night to see if I should call any of the other siblings that night. She said to call Spencer, so I did. He and Nancy packed up and went to stay with Belen for a while. They also took care of all the funeral arrangements. I would usually call him when I was driving home from somewhere and wanted someone to keep me company. I still sometimes have the thought to call him, only to realize he isn't there anymore. These are all the pictures I have of him since 2011. I have a few that are older, but they are packed up on a CD somewhere. 

Daddy would always comment on how neat children were, and told me to make sure I always listen to everything they said. You could see in his eyes how much he adored them.

Daddy would drive up and stay for just a few hours. We would always go out to eat, or I would cook dinner for him. The last time he came, he called when he was in Pocatello and said he wanted to turn around because he was feeling so terrible. I convinced him to come anyways, but he only stayed for a few minutes before heading back out the door. 

Each time I saw him, he always gave me money, whether it was for gas to come see him, money to cover the food I made for him, his saved change, or just for no good reason. I always appreciated his generosity. 

He would always come shopping with us, even if it he ended  up just finding a bench or chair to sit on while we did our thing. I remember always going to DI with him and finding new clothes or stuffed animals that I couldn't wait to bring home. Once I found a huge stuffed skunk. He bought it for me and I loved that thing like you wouldn't believe. 

Daddy let me drive his Camry around the field when I was about ten years old. I felt so cool that he trusted me that much with his car when I was so young. He also taught me how to drive up and down the canyon when I was a little older, and how to fill up the car with gas. He told me never to let my car get below a quarter of a tank because you don't realize how fast that last quarter goes. When I first got my license, I was out playing in Logan with Nadia, and realized his car was down to a quarter of a tank. Thinking it was going to run out any minute, I scrambled to gather all the change from his car and all the money I had to put in a little more. 

I remember going to Tony's Grove with Daddy quite a bit when I was younger. I loved jumping around on all the big rocks there. There was a cave that we would stop and see (Maybe Rick's Springs) that was above some water. Every time we climb up to to look in the cave, he would pretend he was losing his balance and about to fall into the water. He thought he was pretty funny.

We spent a lot of time at Mack Pack in Smithfield. He would push us on the merry-go-round, chase us through the small hiking trails, and watch us play in the shallow, slow part of the river. I remember once Savannah and I took a box to the river because we wanted to take some of the pretty rocks home. We loaded them up and hauled the box several blocks back to our house and left it on the porch. They sat there for a few hours in the sun, drying and looking like regular ugly rocks. Daddy was awfully confused as to why there was a box of rocks on the front porch. 

Here is the life sketch that Michelle put together from everyone's contributed memories 

that I read at the funeral.

Life Sketch and Memories of Foy Michael Guthrie
Our dad was born in June of 1948 in Hobbs, New Mexico. He was the only child of Foy and
Betty Guthrie. His mother enjoyed dressing him in the latest trends of the day, and so he was
always the best-dressed kid, even through high school. After his graduation, he joined the Navy
for a time. He later advised Abner to also serve in the Navy.
Our dad met and married Catherine Cude while he was in Texas. Together they attended BYU
in Provo, where he graduated with a degree in psychology. At the beginning of his career, he
worked as a leader for a juvenile delinquency program. He enjoyed teaching these youth and
helping them progress. He was good at teaching, and took other employment as a flight
simulator instructor on a base in Corpus Christi, TX. His students were always amazed that he
was such a good teacher despite having never actually flown an airplane.
Our parents had a large family by then, and our dad wanted to move us all to Utah so that we
could more easily associate with other youth who had similar values. We settled in Smithfield,
UT, and our dad supported us with his talent and hobby in electronics for about 20 years before
he retired.
Our dad was always charitable when he saw someone in need. Michelle remembers him giving a
generous amount of money to a particular family. Another time he set up a man and his
expecting wife in an apartment and provided baby clothes for them. When he saw someone on
the side of the road with their “Need help” sign, he would bring them lots of canned food.
Andrea remembers how our dad was loading groceries into the trunk of his car, and, while he
was returning the cart in the parking lot, a man came by and grabbed several sacks out of his
trunk and took off running. Our dad called out to him, "You don't need to run! If you need food,
I'll give it to you."
We always enjoyed hearing our dad talk about swimming and wrestling stories from his high
school years. We knew that he was a strong person and would look after us. If there were
bullies at school bothering us, we knew our dad could instruct us on how to handle them.
When we were young, he loved to tickle us. Our dad would be down on the floor and would
have one of us under each of his legs while he took on a couple more of us in his arms. He also
enjoyed back rubs and would often lie on the floor so we could drive our matchbox cars on his
back.
Natalie remembers how he would always save his coin change for her, even after she was
married. He would keep the change in large, empty Ibuprofen containers. Quarters went in one,
and all other coins went in another. Earlier, when he had been concerned that Spencer wasn’t
dating enough as a young man, he would put a few dollars in a can that he placed in Spencer’s
room. He was always disappointed if the money wasn’t spent in a timely manner and would
frequently suggest names of young ladies that Spencer should date.

Our dad bought our first puppy, Sandy, for Savannah and Natalie. He had trained her so well that
she would walk right in front of us as if she were wearing a leash when you told her, “Stay by
me.” They would take her on walks to Sunrise Elementary, the Smithfield cemetery, and Mack
Park. At the park, they would like our dad to spin them really, really fast on the merry-go-round.
While they played in the shallow part of the river there, he would sit on the bench next to it and
watch. On one occasion, Suzanne and Dale remember our dad letting them run through the
sprinklers in their regular clothes. They both got totally soaked and loved every minute!
When we got our trampoline, our dad wouldn’t jump, but he would stand on it and move his legs
up and down. It was enough to get us bouncing around pretty high!
When our dad would cook, he would make a meal out of Ramen noodles, a grilled cheese
sandwich, and a pickle. He would frequently remind us that a large pickle cost only 5 cents at the
movie theater when he was a child. For potato chips, he always chose Pringles, which he would
share with us, but only five at a time. He generally had Dinty Moore Beef Stew and canned
spaghetti and meatballs available, too.
Juniper Take Out was one of his favorite restaurants to take us to. We would always sit at the
same booth in the back of the restaurant. He would usually order the Daily Special. He was also
a fan of J. J. North’s while it was in business and Chuck-A-Rama. On Saturday mornings our dad
would sometimes make an early visit to McDonald's, bring back lots of breakfast food, and then
come wake us all up. That was always fun. He would also buy us whatever candy we wanted
from the Country Shopper store that used to be in Smithfield, and he frequently took us to
Macey’s to buy ice cream. In later years, he often went to Wendy’s, usually ordering a kids’
meal. He would keep the toys to give to his grandchildren.
Our dad taught Andrea how to parallel park in his Camry in between city garbage cans alongside
the Willow Park Zoo in Logan. He also taught Andrea and Jessica how to drive a standard
transmission. He once told us that, if you push the button on the end of the emergency brake
while stopped at a red traffic light, it will make it turn to green sooner. Andrea was fooled at
first! Natalie remembers that, when she was around 10 years old, our dad would let her drive his
Camry around our family’s empty lot in Smithfield. He also bought us a little scooter that he
taught us how to drive. Our dad liked to take us on drives up and down Smithfield Canyon.
When he was turning fast, he would say, “Hold on Gertrude, we’re goin’ ‘round a corner!”
A trip to Hastings was a regular occurrence with our dad. He introduced us to many movies that
we have come to love, like My Fair Lady and Savannah Smiles. Savannah was named after this
movie. When our dad bought his first remote-controlled TV, he hid the remote control from us
kids, and tricked us into thinking that he was magic and that he could change the TV channel by
simply counting, “1, 2, 3, CHANGE!” We were so amazed at how the channel would change
each time he told it to. When Abner joined our family, he also appreciated the tradition of
watching many good movies and listening to music.

Our dad set up basketball goals for us at the different homes we lived in and liked to play
HORSE and other games with us. He also introduced us to tetherball and set up a pole in the
backyard. Even with a couple of us against him, we could never beat him. We had lots of
conversations with him around the tetherball pole.
Our dad has loved cars ever since he was young. He loved to review the Consumer Reports on
cars and enjoyed looking at cars for sale at various dealerships. Of course, one can’t get away
with just looking at cars without a salesman trying to convince you to buy one. So, for fun, our
dad would choose a vehicle to be particularly interested in and would see just how low he could
convince the salesman to go on the price, even though he had no intentions of actually buying it.
He always knew exactly what to look for in finding quality used vehicles and taught many of us
how to perform inspections of used cars. He purchased a couple of Toyotas for us to drive to
college.
Our dad was very good at fixing cars, too, even Spencer’s 1980 yellow Buick Skylark that
frequently needed repair. When it broke down on one occasion in the middle of winter, our dad
spent several hours in freezing temperatures diagnosing an electrical problem it had. We
supposed he could fix anything. Andrea remembers leaving broken or knotted necklace chains
of hers on the desk in our dad’s room and getting them back a few days later on her dresser all
fixed. This was while he was working swing shift and would leave for work before we had even
come home from school.
Our dad usually had music playing in the house and in the car. He liked the Righteous Brothers,
Chicago, Air Supply, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Herman’s Hermits, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Olivia
Newton John, and most “Oldies but Goodies.” Dad’s son-in-law, Matthew, who also loves
music, was amazed that he could not play any one of the songs from these collections that
Michelle had not already heard before. The neighbors may remember that our dad especially
liked to play his music LOUD.
Later in life, our dad married Belen Hermoso, and she stayed by his side through the harder
times of his last 14 years. He frequently told her, “Honey, I love you a whole bunch!” He
always worried for her safety on the icy roads during winter and would sometimes drive to her
workplace near the end of her shift, clear all the snow from her car, and follow her home. He
also regularly took her car for a test drive to make sure that all the systems were functioning
properly.
At a recent family reunion, we remember our dad looking out across the room at his children,
their spouses, and over a dozen grandchildren and being unbelievably astonished at so many
people. He had not previously seen so many of his posterity in one place at the same time! We
could tell that our dad really loved his grandchildren by the look in his eyes when he would
watch them.

For most of his life, our dad dealt with migraines, terrible allergies, and asthma. In his later
years, he endured significant pain associated with diabetes and a pinched nerve. He does not
have to deal with these anymore, but we will miss him. As one of the songs from his music
collection goes, “Life is eternal. Love is immortal. Death is only a horizon. The horizon is
nothing but a limit of our sight.” We know we will see him again.
By his example, our dad taught us, his kids, to be honest in our dealings, to keep the laws of the
land, to love, and to forgive. To our father, “Fair Winds and Following Seas.” We will
remember you.