Anna Lou Giles Jeffs passed away on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at the age of 87 due to complications from pneumonia. She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 16, 1928 to Clarence LeRoy Giles and Laura Susan Butler. Her life can be summarized by a quote from her autobiography: "I can't remember a time when I didn't like to teach." Receiving a chalkboard as a Christmas gift when she was six years old, she spent hours drawing and writing. She then gathered the neighborhood children around the blackboard to play school. She taught them reading, writing, arithmetic and drawing. She studied and became an accomplished piano and organ player. Her speech lessons as a child led to a love of poetry and drama. All of these skills, combined with her love of children, foreshadowed the school she would eventually start. Her brother Peter was born when she was 16. At the passing of her mother five months later, she became a mother to Peter and helped raise him.
Anna Lou graduated from the University of Utah in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Sociology. She was awarded a scholarship to complete a graduate certificate in Social Work in 1950. Anna Lou married Donald Reeder Jeffs on August 16, 1949 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They began their life in Salt Lake City, Utah and moved to Sacramento, California for fourteen years before returning to Logan, Utah for Donald's work. Anna Lou continued searching out ways to educate children. After hearing Mae Carden speak, she trained with her for many years. In 1969 she founded Carden Memorial School in Salt Lake City, Utah and her husband Donald eventually joined her as co-director. They led Carden Memorial School for over forty-five years. The school became her enduring legacy, continuing to touch the lives of many children and families.
Above all Anna Lou was a principled woman of great integrity who loved her Savior and was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She prized the Holy Scriptures, cherished her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and sought diligently after her beloved forebearers.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Reeder Jeffs, and is survived by her four children: Laura Brown (Bruce), Vaughan Lawrence Jeffs, Louann Jeffs, Shannon Westover (Kerry), 19 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
A viewing will be held Friday, April 24, 2015 at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary (3401 S Highland Dr.) 5:00-8:00 p.m. Funeral Services will be held Saturday, April 25, 2015 at 12:00 noon, Holladay North Stake Center, 4635 S. Albright Dr. (2145 E.) with a viewing prior to the funeral from 10:00-11:30. Interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park will follow the funeral.
If desired, donations towards the Carden Memorial Scholarship fund can be made to any Zions First National Bank in the name of Anna Lou Jeffs Donation.
Published in Salt Lake Tribune from Apr. 19 to Apr. 24, 2015 - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=anna-lou-jeffs&pid=174666594&fhid=11609#sthash.h5IbWy7C.dpuf