Lelah Marie Nuffer

Lelah Smith Estep Loebrick Nuffer, age 86, passed away on January 12, 2020. Many family members and friends were able to visit her in the days and hours before her passing.

Lelah was born February 24, 1933 to Samuel David and Hattie Mae Smith. She was one of eleven children. Lelah grew up in Cascade, which was a small mining town near Morgantown, West Virginia. She attended St. John’s College – Ravenswood Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago. She moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1960 after joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple to Bova Hermann Loebrick and looked forward to joining him in the Celestial Kingdom of Heaven.

She worked as a nurse, mainly in surgery, for 43 years. After her retirement from Intermountain Healthcare, she returned to West Virginia to be near her remaining sisters in Reedsville. In the final years of her life, she moved back to Salt Lake City to be nearer her children. Lelah loved doing genealogy work for the Church and researched her family history extensively. She was very proud to have become an Ambassador at Pacifica Assisted Living welcoming new residents as they moved in. She was as proud of the Ambassador badge, which she wore constantly, as much as the Registered Nurse badge she wore most of her life.

Lelah has always taken great comfort in her faith and relationship with her Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She has been a dedicated visiting teacher and at times she had up to a forty-mile circuit to reach all her families.

Lelah is preceded in death by her parents; three brothers: Horace, John, and David; seven sisters:  Naomi, Kathleen, Anne, Mary, Edith, Norma, and Nancy; and son-in-law Harold Colby. She is survived by her children: Amy Jeannine Colby, Jeannie Marie Morris (Kevin), Eva Loebrick Burton (Steven), Leon Fred Nuffer (Becky): 10 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Thank you to the Envision Home Health and Hospice team, and to Pacifica Assisted Living in Midvale, Utah for the loving and compassionate care they gave Lelah. Another special thank you to her grand-niece, Kayelynn Farnsworth, who provided many hours of companionship to Lelah each week during the last years of her life.

A viewing will be held Thursday, January 16, 2020, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at McDougal Funeral Home, 4330 South Redwood Road, Taylorsville, Utah. A graveside service will be held Friday, January 17^th, 12:00 noon at Elsinore Cemetery, 150 South 700 East, Elsinore, Utah.

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