Severin Lawrence Munger

Born of goodly parents April 8, 1939 San Francisco, CA, Died October 18 2017 Taylorsville UT, parents were very caring and loving and always managed to provide for their family, despite financial hard times. He was the fifth child of five children. Lived a very interesting and wonderful life. Ran track and was all city in Seattle, WA both in the half mile and also in Tennis. Organized the high school chess club and took them to the state championship and won. Was the Washington state junior chess champion at the same time he was participating in track and tennis. Played the Clarinet in the high school band. Served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. While there, he was appointed Supervising Elder and led his district to the number one position in the Mission every month in new baptisms and many other categories. Was appointed Mission secretary of the first Florida Mission in Winter Park, Florida. Attended the University of Washington. Always worked in transportation beginning with a large steamship line (American Mail Lines) in Seattle and then the Great Northern Railroad. Transferred to the Santa Fe railroad while working in Portland, OR and from there went into insurance sales for New York Life and then Employers Mutual of Wausau selling commercial insurance to large corporations. Moved to Salt Lake City and became Utah state chess champion. Taught himself to be a good snowshoe person and although he became proficient in Nordic ski activities he always preferred his cross country snow shoes and covered many miles in the very tops of the mountains. After many years in the insurance business he learned to drive big truck and drove over the road for several years eventually starting his own trucking company. During this time he learned to run white-water rivers and served as a guide in taking people down the Green River over many rapids. Had his own white water kayak, which he used frequently and also ran the Provo River in his kayak as well as truck inner tubes. At one point he kayaked the Snake River in northern Wyoming for about 15 miles. Was very active in the folk dancing community. Learned to fly airplanes and flew all over the United States and had many exciting experiences while flying. One Easter Sunday while living in Denver, CO and working for an insurance company, he went to the Boulder, CO airport and checked himself out on one of their rental airplanes. As he was coming in for the final landing of the checkup he watched the shadow of his plane on the ground as he and the instructor descended toward the runway. Suddenly they saw the shadow of another small airplane coming directly at them. He tilted his wings rapidly but neither of them saw the other plane and they proceeded to a normal landing and he then used the plane and flew over the mountains for the afternoon. That night the news reported a plane crash at exactly the same place and within 15 minutes of the same time he was at that spot. he saw that other plane's shadow and three people were killed. Apparently a woman who did not even have a pilots license was out flying around the Boulder airport that day and while she missed hitting him she kept flying around and ended up crashing with another plane. He had many different and sometimes frightening experiences flying and eventually gave it up to pay more attention to his career. During this time he changed from being Vice President of an insurance company to purchasing and learning how to drive a big truck with his brother teaching him. He had many comical and frightening experiences while behind the wheel of his big truck. Eventually he learned how to get his own authority and started his own trucking company which he ran for the next 35 years. It was on a return trip one day in September of 1980 that he met his wife, Kae Pickett, in Salt Lake City, UT. They dated for awhile and became engaged and were married two years later. Three wonderful children blessed their union, Kae Lynne, Paul Lawrence, and David Merrick. All his life he studied religious beliefs and religious histories and met with many different people to discuss their beliefs and compare notes. He bought a Continental Trailways Bus and converted it into a very luxurious motor home and took his family all over the western United States, playing with his children on the Pacific ocean beaches and lake beaches in many states. He learned to play the bagpipes and organized his own bagpipe band which he took all over the Western United States competing in Highland game competitions and was one of the best bagpipe players in Utah. Participated in many parades and special functions as well as many individual activities such as weddings and funerals playing the bagpipe solo. His daughter learned highland dancing and he piped for her on many occasions while she danced until the pain in his back, hips and legs became too great for him to continue playing the bagpipes and he had to give it up. He was an avid reader and was constantly learning about one thing or another. He learned to be a very proficient hand reader, teaching himself with many books and was always in great demand to read peoples hands. During this time also he learned to decorate Ukranian eggs and made a rather large collection of his own designs as well as donating many specially designed eggs to relatives and friends. He built his own N-Gauge model railroad layout and had nine individual loops that worked independent of each other. With his wife's help he built the mountains and valleys. He collected many specialized pieces of model railroad equipment. Throughout his life he constantly investigated all different religions and their ideas and always thought very deeply about life and its purpose. His was a very rich and active life and he lived it fully in all of his activities and interests. Life started on a downhill slant for him after he turned 62 and he coped with Prostate cancer, squamish cancer, basil cell cancer and kidney stones and following a gastric by-pass, suffered from much infection and pain finally causing him to black out and fall down, breaking his hip and causing him to be in the hospital 10 days during which the doctors thought he had liver cancer and were surprised when he left the hospital alive. Walking became more and more difficult due to the pain increasing even with the aid of a large walking staff given him by a friend and it became difficult for him to sleep anywhere but in his recliner chair in his bedroom so traveling ceased for him. Going to church became a very painful experience and he finally had to stop going as it was so difficult and took almost the entire next week to have the pain began to subside only to have it start again the next time he tried going to church. He suffered from a blood clot in his late 60's along with more kidney stones and finally as he turned 72 his doctor had him take tests that showed many blockages in his heart and he was told he had to have open heart surgery to correct the problems. With all the pain he was in by now, his inability to eat very much while he still didn't lose weight, his inability to sleep normally, the beginnings of teeth pain, various cancers, a painful trigger finger, severe toe nail pain and now discovering his heart was being plugged up he decided not to try the operation as he felt all he could look forward to was more pain and suffering which continued to get worse, sometimes by the day plus the doctor informed him even if he had the operation there was a chance he would suffer a stroke or perhaps die from the operation. He loved his wife dearly as well as his children and constantly told others how much he loved and appreciated his wife and what a wonderful blessing she was to him in his life and how much she meant to him. He felt God had truly blessed him to allow her to share her life with him. When he decided not to proceed with the open heart surgery it was only after he had consulted her and made his decision with her approval. He quit driving completely from then on which was another thing he enjoyed doing but because of his health problems had to stop doing this. He is survived by his wife Kae Munger; and their three children Kaelynne, Paul, and David; his two daughters Janel and Suzanne (previouse marriage);grandchildren Makalya, Payton, Gwyn, child on the way, Danielle, Nick, and Emily;sisters Berti (Bertha) Jensen, and Merretta Palmer. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, October 24, 2017, 11:00 a.m. at Valley Park 3rd Ward, 2603 West 4700 South with a viewing from 9-10:45 a.m. prior to the funeral services also at the church. Graveside services to follow at 4:00 p.m. at the Gunnison City Cemetery. Place of Birth:San Francisco, CaliforniaPlace of Death:Murray, UtahHobbies:Running, Tennis, playing chess, playing the Clarinet, skiing, folk dancing, flying airplanes