Renee Lund Parsell

Ila “Renee” Lund Van Fleet Parsell, 87, passed away on March 29, 2023, after several years of declining health due to Alzheimer’s disease.  

Always a Farmington girl, she never lived more than five miles away from her childhood home.  Born July 27, 1935, to David Rasmus and Catherine Phillips Lund, Renee was the youngest of eight children. She attended Davis High School and later married fellow classmate Paul H. Van Fleet in the Salt Lake Temple on June 11, 1954.  Together they raised four children: Michael, who passed away at age 17; Debra, of Potomac Falls, VA; Julie (married to Kevin Dyreng), of Fruit Heights, UT; and Sandi, (married to Matthew Berrett) of Providence, UT.

After 21 years of marriage, our father Paul passed away at the age of 40, leaving mom to care for her three daughters on her own. She was an excellent mother, sacrificing whatever was needed to help her girls along the way. Mom loved adventures in our camper(s), gardening, sewing, crocheting, cross-stitching, traveling, reading, and cheering on her beloved Utah Jazz! Spending time with family was her greatest joy.  Her grandchildren have incredible memories from when she took each of them on individual dates to see the Jazz games.  She hated sitting in the upper bowl seats at the Delta Center, so if you went with grandma you got to sit in the “good” seats.

Mom was exceptional in every way. She was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, always cheerfully accepting callings and serving others. She especially loved the years she served as the Farmington 1^st Ward Librarian.  She was fun!  Mom often took us on adventures with our tent camper, had fun using CB radios on road trips, and would stay up late with us and our friends playing Atari, and taking us out for late-night breakfasts.  She was also an excellent daughter, taking care of her mother who lived next door in her later years.  From mom and dad’s example, we learned how to work hard and play hard.  While raising four children and running a household, she helped dad farm, worked at Miller Floral, Davis County Courthouse, Davis County Bank and Benchland Water District.  Later in life she met and married Jim Parsell, whom she (and all of us) adored.  They loved to host families and friends at their place in Lava Hot Springs and take us on four-wheeling adventures around the mountain. They had 13 lovely years together before Jim passed away in July 2015.

We will be forever grateful for loving family and friends, who have supported mom and us as we navigated through Alzheimer’s disease.  Mom made many dear friends at Legacy House of Park Lane in Farmington, and we want to thank you all for your friendship and love.  Special thanks to the staff of Legacy House Memory Care, who so lovingly cared for mom in those very challenging last weeks.  We will miss our sweet mom and grandma, but we are comforted to know that as she passed, she was welcomed on the other side by her sweetheart Paul, her parents, siblings, and her dear son Michael, whom she was so anxious to see again.

Funeral services will be held at Russon Mortuary & Crematory located at 1941 North Main Street in Farmington, Utah on Friday, March 31, 2023 at 11:00 AM. A viewing will be held at the mortuary on Friday before the services, from 9:45 to 10:45 AM.

Services will be streamed live on the Russon Mortuary & Crematory Facebook page and on this obituary page. The live stream will begin 10-15 minutes prior to the services and will be posted below.