Dorothy Faye Spicer Howes

Dorothy Faye Spicer Howes passed away peacefully in her home in South Jordan, Utah returning to her Heavenly Father at the age of 83. Born September 11, 1942, to Arthur Edward Spicer and Ruth Edna Biddle at the family home in Buffalo Run Valley, Bellefonte Pennsylvania, the ninth child of 13. Dorothy described her relationship with her father Arthur as “very close”.

Dorothy grew up in central Pennsylvania where she learned hard work at a young age. Being raised on a farm with such a large family, hard work was just what you did. You grew what you ate, and any abundance of food was canned and saved for later.

Dorothy met James Ronald Comly while roller skating at Hecla Park roller rink in Bellefonte, PA. She said he was one of the most handsome men at the rink that night. They were married a few months later in October 1957 and quickly became parents to five children; Richard Darryl, Sharon Kay, Sylvia Ann, Alan Bruce and Christine Sonia, later welcoming Jeremy Emmanuel into her family.

In 1979, Dorothy moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, to begin a new life. For many years, she was a single mother, working hard to raise her children and support her family. She often held multiple jobs, cleaning private homes, office buildings, and banks on nights and weekends. Over the years, she worked as a nurse’s assistant, maintenance worker, factory worker, and quality assurance technician for a microchip company. Her lifelong roles were those she cherished most: wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.

She met the love of her life C. Leo Howes at work where she cleaned facilities, and he worked in building maintenance for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They were married in the Jordan River Temple on September 9, 1994. She retired a few years later after 20 years of service.

Dorothy blessed everyone around her with her many talents. She loved to quilt, cross-stitch, crochet, make ceramics, bake, garden, but most of all she loved to do family history work.

As a life-long believer in Jesus Christ, she became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1977. Her membership in her new church is where she discovered her passion for family history, with a strong belief that family history work is vital to our salvation and the salvation of our ancestors. Her strong testimony of this prompted her to work on the family history and temple work for thousands of her ancestors. This work was particularly difficult for her own ancestry as the records were not well kept. But she pressed on, doing the best that she could with the resources she had, spending hours each day doing this work until her eyesight began to fail and sitting in a chair for hours was too painful for her back.

Dorothy was very proud of her gardening skills where she loved to show off her flowers and share the abundance of her garden harvests with family, friends and neighbors and was still able to preserve a great deal of what she produced for food storage.

Dorothy is survived by her children, Sylvia (Linn) Carroll of West Jordan, UT; Sharon (Carl) Woodhead of Harrisburg, PA; Alan (Leslie) Comly of Murray, UT; Christine Comly of Harrisburg, PA; Jeremy (Julie) Smith West Jordan, UT; and sisters Elma Reese, Virginia Masullo; brothers, James Spicer (Sharon), Arthur J. Spicer (Ann), Ronnie Spicer (Kate) and Roy Spicer (Mary), all whom currently reside in Pennsylvania; 11 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and one great-grand daughter due end of July. Dorothy also welcomed 3 grandchildren, their spouses and 8 great-grandchildren through marriage.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband, C. Leo Howes, parents Arthur Edward Spicer & Ruth Biddle Spicer, son Darryl Comly and siblings Earl Spicer, Joseph Spicer, Edna Thompson, Pearl Corman, Adeline Schaffer and Betty Tyson.

Services will be held according to Dorothy’s wishes on Tuesday, June 30th, with a viewing at 10:00-11:00 am held at Goff Mortuary, 8090 S. State Street, Midvale, Utah.

Interment at Midvale City Cemetery at noon, 471 6th Ave., Midvale, Utah.