(Great) Aunt Mae

Aunt Mae at her 80th Birthday Party May 11, 2008

My Great Aunt Mae (my Grandma Hadley's sister) passed away this month, she was a great woman who loved education, a clean house, and good food. I will always remember spending Christmas with Aunt Mae when we were little, I was so excited for her unique gifts and playing games Christmas morning. One Christmas Eve at my Grandpa Hadley's home I met up with her dog Bibi under the dinner table, I let that dog lick my entire face clean! We named Bailey after Aunt Mae and they were able to meet each other a couple of times. Here's a little more about her amazing life:

"Mae Blanch, beloved sister, aunt, friend and educator, passed away July 13 of natural causes incident to age in Provo, Utah.

She was born May 11, 1928 in Ogden, Utah to Wheatley Lorenzo Blanch and Florence Eunice Palmer. Mae's father passed away, however, when she was 14 months old, but she developed a close relationship with her maternal grandparents, George Albert and Mary Catherine Knight Palmer.

Mae learned to read at an early age and loved books all of her life, starting with The Children's Friend and whatever was written on cereal boxes and Campbell soup labels. Mae said she didn't read the children's classics, the Pooh series or Wind in the Willows, until she was in graduate school getting a PhD in English literature.

Mae graduated from Weber High School in 1946, and BYU in 1950, where she graduated 2nd in her class and developed a love of learning and inclination toward education that remained throughout her life.

She taught English for two years at Brockbank JH, Magna, UT. Mae then left for Washington D.C., where she worked for two years at the Department of Agriculture, two years for Senator Dworshak from Idaho and two years for Senator Watkins from Utah. Mae lived with nine other young women during this time in a row house on Adams Mill Road nicknamed the AMR. This house became the meeting place for many of the young Mormon men and women who spent time in Washington in the military, government service or school.

While in Washington, Mae began her lifelong commitment and service to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where she served as a MIA president and stake missionary. After she returned to Utah Mae served as Relief Society President, Gospel Doctrine teacher, and on the Gospel Doctrine Writing Committee that produced the Sunday School lessons for the Church. Additionally, Mae served in the community on the Utah County Planning Commission.

After her return to Utah, and a short time teaching English at BYU, Mae recognized that teaching would be her life work. She received a PhD on scholarship from the Univ. of Colorado in 1966, and returned to BYU where she remained until her retirement as a full professor in 1995. For another ten years Mae continued to teach the honors course "The Family and Fiction" that she created.

Among her many interests, Mae enjoyed cooking (especially her cheesecake), BYU sports, Pioneer Theater Company, Ballet West, Utah Symphony, and BYU productions. She was a devoted attendant of the Utah Shakespearean Festival where she attended all plays since 1970. Mae was an animal lover from childhood. Her dog, Schatzie, who lived to be 21 years old, and Bibi who lived to be 17 years old, shared her life."

80th Birthday Party

Aunt Mae meeting Bailey Mae June 8, 2010

We love you and will miss you Aunt Mae!