Grandma's Obituary

September 12, 1924 ~ March 31, 2009 The author of The Book and the Map: New Insights into Book of Mormon Geography died Tuesday, March 31, 2009, at 8:15 p.m., at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. Venice was 84 years old. She and her husband of 68 years, Alfred (“Al”) Priddis, rose early on Thursday, March 26, had breakfast, and were preparing to go out when she complained of a headache and asked Al to rub her neck, at which she slumped to the ground with a stroke due to a brain aneurysm. She underwent surgery the next day but never recovered. She was born September 12, 1924, in the farming town of Cowley, Wyoming, to David and Ruby Baird Martin. In 1930 the family moved to a dairy farm in Draper, Utah, then to Santa Ana in southern California when Venice was 9. She met Al at an LDS Church dance in Anaheim when they were teenagers. Several years later they became reacquainted at a dance on the Huntington Beach Pier, establishing a tradition of dancing Friday nights, especially at the Hollywood Palladium. Their favorite song was Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine. In 1941 they married in the Salt Lake Temple. Venice followed Al, an air force pilot, from place to place until they built their dream home in LaHabra Heights, California. However, when Al was recalled into military service during the Korean War, they had to sell the house. Afterward they moved to San Lorenzo in northern California, then to Lindon, Utah, on retirement. Venice was a homemaker, a dedicated mother of four, an avid reader and author (her major work, published by Bookcraft of Salt Lake City, went through some 20 printings), and enjoyed painting landscapes and restoring furniture. For nine years she taught early morning LDS seminary. She was also, for ten years, a member of the Public Relations Department for Western Electric Company, the then-manufacturing arm of AT&T, in San Leandro, California. She and Al served LDS missions to San Diego and Dallas. I’m with you once more under the stars,And down by the shore an orchestra’s playin’Even the palms seem to be swayin’ …And [we’re] promising … never to part! She is survived by her husband, Al; her brother David (Virginia) Martin; her sons Robert (Annette Scherbel), Christopher (Kristin Lindsay), Ronald, and Richard (Sandra Cook); twenty grandchildren; and twenty-nine great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother Leno (Jeradean) Martin; her sister LeNeve (Rod) Kimball, who similarly succumbed to an aneurysm; and her sister Hazel (Robert) McCook. A viewing will be held Sunday, April 5, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., in the LDS chapel at 60 Main Street in Lindon, Utah (across the street from Lindon Elementary School). The funeral will be held at the same location on Monday, April 6, at 2:00 p.m., with a viewing an hour prior to the service. Venice will be interred at the Lindon City Cemetery, 946 W. Center Street. Funeral arrangements by the Olpin Family Mortuary at 494 South 300 East, Pleasant Grove. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.olpinmortuary.com