Edward Pritchard Cottam
"You Know, I'm Not Well"
We'd like to say that these are the famous last words of our husband, father and grandfather, Ed Cottam, but that would be far from correct. Those words were humorously used by Dad for years to elicit false sympathy and maybe to get us to "fetch" something for him or to help with the chores, Yes, "chores," as in a real farm. Ed was one of a dying breed of the salt-of-the-earth. He was a "good-old-boy" who had seen enough of the world as a sailor serving in the South Pacific and was happy to stay home in St. George with his dairy cows. A vacation was the deer hunt and never much further than "the Meadows", near Enterprise.
Dairy farming was his life and a tough way to make a living even during the best of times. Ed was blessed to discover that selling dirt was "much easier than milkin' cows." The generosity that Ed gave to all the discarded animals left on the edge of town extended in later years to very generous gifts to Dixie College, the LDS Church and many others.
Never one to discriminate, Ed managed to find a way to tease every duck, dog, horse, cat or cow that managed to grace the farm. No mercy was extended to two-legged creatures either.
With a rock, baling wire, grit, rusted spare parts and pioneering ingenuity, Ed could keep farm machinery movin' up and down the fields.
When a class reunion, family party or ward outing needed a good joke or cowboy poetry, (memorized to perfection), Ed could deliver to the delight of all and the chagrin of his family.
Deteriorating eyesight that left only light and dark still never kept Ed from starting the John Deere and plowing the fields in straight rows; as he saw them.
Sheer pioneering strength and stubbornness finally gave way to a reunion with his father, Arthur, and his mother, Mary Mae, on April 25, 2006. Truly born to noble parents on November 4, 1923, he married his sweetheart, Dixie, (Dove, vision of loveliness), over 60 years ago. She survived Ed with an eternal marriage solemnized in the St. George Temple 51 years ago.
Ron, Karl, Bill, Ruth and Carma were waiting to greet him as they led the way to prepare his eternal home. There is no doubt they're enjoying a heavenly recitation of cowboy poetry right now. His granddaughter, Nicole, couldn't hold back tears as she threw her arms around Grandpa. Mary (L.K. Abbott) and Della Maggard will keep the fires glowing here on earth.
His children, Jim (Linda), Barb (Steve) Brown, Chris (Scott) Bigler, Howard (Val) and Troy (Brandi) Danklef will carry with them the example of a dependable, valiantly honest, funny, "sunup-to-sun-down-working" attitude their father blessed them with. Grandchildren, Debbie Williams, Mandy Eskelson, Brooke Theobald, Colter Cottam, Breezy Covington, Clint Cottam, Laura Smith, Paxton Bigler and Ashley Cottam will miss Grandpa Ed, especially his well-meant teasing, but maybe not so much his call to "ticky ticky" Grandpa's feet.
Twelve great-grandchildren are left with a great legacy and will never know anyone else quite like Grandpa Ed.
Funeral services for one of Dixie Valley's memorable farmers will be held on Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. at the LDS Little Valley 3rd Ward Chapel, 2079 East 2450 South, St. George, Utah. Friends may call at Spilsbury Mortuary Friday, April 28, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and again Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. prior to services, at the Chapel. Interment will be held at the St. George City Cemetery. Arrangements are made under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff St., St. George, UT (435) 673-2454.
Friends and family are invited to offer their condolences and view obituaries at www.spilsburymortuary.com.
Originally published April 27, 2006
"You Know, I'm Not Well"
We'd like to say that these are the famous last words of our husband, father and grandfather, Ed Cottam, but that would be far from correct. Those words were humorously used by Dad for years to elicit false sympathy and maybe to get us to "fetch" something for him or to help with the chores, Yes, "chores," as in a real farm. Ed was one of a dying breed of the salt-of-the-earth. He was a "good-old-boy" who had seen enough of the world as a sailor serving in the South Pacific and was happy to stay home in St. George with his dairy cows. A vacation was the deer hunt and never much further than "the Meadows", near Enterprise.
Dairy farming was his life and a tough way to make a living even during the best of times. Ed was blessed to discover that selling dirt was "much easier than milkin' cows." The generosity that Ed gave to all the discarded animals left on the edge of town extended in later years to very generous gifts to Dixie College, the LDS Church and many others.
Never one to discriminate, Ed managed to find a way to tease every duck, dog, horse, cat or cow that managed to grace the farm. No mercy was extended to two-legged creatures either.
With a rock, baling wire, grit, rusted spare parts and pioneering ingenuity, Ed could keep farm machinery movin' up and down the fields.
When a class reunion, family party or ward outing needed a good joke or cowboy poetry, (memorized to perfection), Ed could deliver to the delight of all and the chagrin of his family.
Deteriorating eyesight that left only light and dark still never kept Ed from starting the John Deere and plowing the fields in straight rows; as he saw them.
Sheer pioneering strength and stubbornness finally gave way to a reunion with his father, Arthur, and his mother, Mary Mae, on April 25, 2006. Truly born to noble parents on November 4, 1923, he married his sweetheart, Dixie, (Dove, vision of loveliness), over 60 years ago. She survived Ed with an eternal marriage solemnized in the St. George Temple 51 years ago.
Ron, Karl, Bill, Ruth and Carma were waiting to greet him as they led the way to prepare his eternal home. There is no doubt they're enjoying a heavenly recitation of cowboy poetry right now. His granddaughter, Nicole, couldn't hold back tears as she threw her arms around Grandpa. Mary (L.K. Abbott) and Della Maggard will keep the fires glowing here on earth.
His children, Jim (Linda), Barb (Steve) Brown, Chris (Scott) Bigler, Howard (Val) and Troy (Brandi) Danklef will carry with them the example of a dependable, valiantly honest, funny, "sunup-to-sun-down-working" attitude their father blessed them with. Grandchildren, Debbie Williams, Mandy Eskelson, Brooke Theobald, Colter Cottam, Breezy Covington, Clint Cottam, Laura Smith, Paxton Bigler and Ashley Cottam will miss Grandpa Ed, especially his well-meant teasing, but maybe not so much his call to "ticky ticky" Grandpa's feet.
Twelve great-grandchildren are left with a great legacy and will never know anyone else quite like Grandpa Ed.
Funeral services for one of Dixie Valley's memorable farmers will be held on Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. at the LDS Little Valley 3rd Ward Chapel, 2079 East 2450 South, St. George, Utah. Friends may call at Spilsbury Mortuary Friday, April 28, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and again Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. prior to services, at the Chapel. Interment will be held at the St. George City Cemetery. Arrangements are made under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff St., St. George, UT (435) 673-2454.
Friends and family are invited to offer their condolences and view obituaries at www.spilsburymortuary.com.
Originally published April 27, 2006
Edward Pritchard Cottam
"You Know, I'm Not Well"
We'd like to say that these are the famous last words of our husband, father and grandfather, Ed Cottam, but that would be far from correct. Those words were humorously used by Dad for years to elicit false sympathy and maybe to get us to "fetch" something for him or to help with the chores, Yes, "chores," as in a real farm. Ed was one of a dying breed of the salt-of-the-earth. He was a "good-old-boy" who had seen enough of the world as a sailor serving in the South Pacific and was happy to stay home in St. George with his dairy cows. A vacation was the deer hunt and never much further than "the Meadows", near Enterprise.
Dairy farming was his life and a tough way to make a living even during the best of times. Ed was blessed to discover that selling dirt was "much easier than milkin' cows." The generosity that Ed gave to all the discarded animals left on the edge of town extended in later years to very generous gifts to Dixie College, the LDS Church and many others.
Never one to discriminate, Ed managed to find a way to tease every duck, dog, horse, cat or cow that managed to grace the farm. No mercy was extended to two-legged creatures either.
With a rock, baling wire, grit, rusted spare parts and pioneering ingenuity, Ed could keep farm machinery movin' up and down the fields.
When a class reunion, family party or ward outing needed a good joke or cowboy poetry, (memorized to perfection), Ed could deliver to the delight of all and the chagrin of his family.
Deteriorating eyesight that left only light and dark still never kept Ed from starting the John Deere and plowing the fields in straight rows; as he saw them.
Sheer pioneering strength and stubbornness finally gave way to a reunion with his father, Arthur, and his mother, Mary Mae, on April 25, 2006. Truly born to noble parents on November 4, 1923, he married his sweetheart, Dixie, (Dove, vision of loveliness), over 60 years ago. She survived Ed with an eternal marriage solemnized in the St. George Temple 51 years ago.
Ron, Karl, Bill, Ruth and Carma were waiting to greet him as they led the way to prepare his eternal home. There is no doubt they're enjoying a heavenly recitation of cowboy poetry right now. His granddaughter, Nicole, couldn't hold back tears as she threw her arms around Grandpa. Mary (L.K. Abbott) and Della Maggard will keep the fires glowing here on earth.
His children, Jim (Linda), Barb (Steve) Brown, Chris (Scott) Bigler, Howard (Val) and Troy (Brandi) Danklef will carry with them the example of a dependable, valiantly honest, funny, "sunup-to-sun-down-working" attitude their father blessed them with. Grandchildren, Debbie Williams, Mandy Eskelson, Brooke Theobald, Colter Cottam, Breezy Covington, Clint Cottam, Laura Smith, Paxton Bigler and Ashley Cottam will miss Grandpa Ed, especially his well-meant teasing, but maybe not so much his call to "ticky ticky" Grandpa's feet.
Twelve great-grandchildren are left with a great legacy and will never know anyone else quite like Grandpa Ed.
Funeral services for one of Dixie Valley's memorable farmers will be held on Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. at the LDS Little Valley 3rd Ward Chapel, 2079 East 2450 South, St. George, Utah. Friends may call at Spilsbury Mortuary Friday, April 28, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and again Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. prior to services, at the Chapel. Interment will be held at the St. George City Cemetery. Arrangements are made under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff St., St. George, UT (435) 673-2454.
Friends and family are invited to offer their condolences and view obituaries at www.spilsburymortuary.com.
Originally published April 27, 2006
"You Know, I'm Not Well"
We'd like to say that these are the famous last words of our husband, father and grandfather, Ed Cottam, but that would be far from correct. Those words were humorously used by Dad for years to elicit false sympathy and maybe to get us to "fetch" something for him or to help with the chores, Yes, "chores," as in a real farm. Ed was one of a dying breed of the salt-of-the-earth. He was a "good-old-boy" who had seen enough of the world as a sailor serving in the South Pacific and was happy to stay home in St. George with his dairy cows. A vacation was the deer hunt and never much further than "the Meadows", near Enterprise.
Dairy farming was his life and a tough way to make a living even during the best of times. Ed was blessed to discover that selling dirt was "much easier than milkin' cows." The generosity that Ed gave to all the discarded animals left on the edge of town extended in later years to very generous gifts to Dixie College, the LDS Church and many others.
Never one to discriminate, Ed managed to find a way to tease every duck, dog, horse, cat or cow that managed to grace the farm. No mercy was extended to two-legged creatures either.
With a rock, baling wire, grit, rusted spare parts and pioneering ingenuity, Ed could keep farm machinery movin' up and down the fields.
When a class reunion, family party or ward outing needed a good joke or cowboy poetry, (memorized to perfection), Ed could deliver to the delight of all and the chagrin of his family.
Deteriorating eyesight that left only light and dark still never kept Ed from starting the John Deere and plowing the fields in straight rows; as he saw them.
Sheer pioneering strength and stubbornness finally gave way to a reunion with his father, Arthur, and his mother, Mary Mae, on April 25, 2006. Truly born to noble parents on November 4, 1923, he married his sweetheart, Dixie, (Dove, vision of loveliness), over 60 years ago. She survived Ed with an eternal marriage solemnized in the St. George Temple 51 years ago.
Ron, Karl, Bill, Ruth and Carma were waiting to greet him as they led the way to prepare his eternal home. There is no doubt they're enjoying a heavenly recitation of cowboy poetry right now. His granddaughter, Nicole, couldn't hold back tears as she threw her arms around Grandpa. Mary (L.K. Abbott) and Della Maggard will keep the fires glowing here on earth.
His children, Jim (Linda), Barb (Steve) Brown, Chris (Scott) Bigler, Howard (Val) and Troy (Brandi) Danklef will carry with them the example of a dependable, valiantly honest, funny, "sunup-to-sun-down-working" attitude their father blessed them with. Grandchildren, Debbie Williams, Mandy Eskelson, Brooke Theobald, Colter Cottam, Breezy Covington, Clint Cottam, Laura Smith, Paxton Bigler and Ashley Cottam will miss Grandpa Ed, especially his well-meant teasing, but maybe not so much his call to "ticky ticky" Grandpa's feet.
Twelve great-grandchildren are left with a great legacy and will never know anyone else quite like Grandpa Ed.
Funeral services for one of Dixie Valley's memorable farmers will be held on Saturday, April 29, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. at the LDS Little Valley 3rd Ward Chapel, 2079 East 2450 South, St. George, Utah. Friends may call at Spilsbury Mortuary Friday, April 28, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and again Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. prior to services, at the Chapel. Interment will be held at the St. George City Cemetery. Arrangements are made under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff St., St. George, UT (435) 673-2454.
Friends and family are invited to offer their condolences and view obituaries at www.spilsburymortuary.com.
Originally published April 27, 2006
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