Emma Thayne

Emma Lou Warner Thayne passed away peacefully on December 6, 2014, surrounded by her family.

She was born on October 22, 1924, to Grace Richards and Homer (Pug) Warner. The only girl, she grew up with three brothers—Homer, Rick, and Gill Warner—and, as she often said, learned early to “try hard, play fair, and have fun.” She and the boys spent their summers at Mt. Air and at mid-life she and her husband Mel built a cabin there. The tree-top office was her favorite place to write.

She met Melvin E. Thayne in 1949, and they married the next year. After spending some time in California while Mel studied history at Stanford, they returned to Utah to raise a family of five girls. A graduate of the University of Utah, she continued her association there teaching English courses and coaching the women’s tennis team. In 1968 she returned to the University of Utah to complete a master’s degree in creative writing after she had already established herself as a writer and poet while raising her girls. She wanted to be remembered primarily as a loving mother and loyal friend to everyone from her university colleagues to tennis partners to any “splendid stranger.”

Emma Lou was a poet, teacher, essayist, public speaker, and humanitarian. She loved deeply and without bias. She was an activist for women, peace, AIDS awareness, and mental health. Her commitment to such causes has been recognized in many ways, including the Madeleine Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts (1997), the David O. McKay Humanities Award (1978), a Doctor of Humane Letters conferred upon her by the University of Utah (2000), an Honorary Doctorate from Salt Lake Community College (2003), and the Gandhi Award for Peace (2012). She thoroughly enjoyed her many years serving on the General Board of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association and writing committees of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was especially pleased to serve as the only woman on the Deseret News board for 17 years. The Thayne Center for Service and Learning was established in her honor at Salt Lake Community College, and she was proud of the community service work of students and staff over the years.

Her most gracious gift is the hymn “Where Can I Turn for Peace?”

At 90, she still had a flair for life. Honorary degrees or awards meant less to her than a fresh idea – putting it on paper and sharing it with others – or skiing a hill or lake, hitting a ball, going on a birthday spree with a grand or great-grandchild, a “Girls’ Trip” with her daughters, a good movie with Mel, going to church, or traveling and absorbing a new culture. She was attuned to the world and its people and, as she put it, “never tired of its sweet redundancy.”

Go with love, dear Grey. With nimble legs you’ll be hitting that tennis ball square and you will have the voice of a diva.
Emma Lou is survived by her husband of 65 years, Mel, and their five daughters, Becky (Paul) Markosian, Rinda (Brent) Hayes, Shelley (Paul) Rich, Dinny (Mike) Trabert, and Megan (Edward) Heath; 18 grandchildren, and 16 great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at noon on Friday at the Foothill LDS Stake Center, 1933 S. 2100 E. A viewing will be held at the Stake Center on Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and again on Friday from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. prior to the funeral service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Thayne Center for Service & Learning at SLCC (4600 So. Redwood Rd., STC-020, SLC, UT 84118) or to the Hope & Recovery Fund at the U of U Department of Psychiatry (501 Chipeta Way, SLC, UT 84108). Funeral Directors: Russon Brothers Mortuary. Online guestbook at www.russonmortuary.com