Weldon Emil Grandy, 81, died Sunday, Aug. 5, 1990, at the Bear Lake Memorial Nursing Home.
He was born October 6, 1908, at Paris, Idaho, to Emil and Rosa Stoker Grandy. He married Mary Anona Bird on June 1, 1933, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. He attended schools in Paris, graduating from Fielding High School, Ricks College, where he was valedictorian, and the University of Utah, magna cum laud. He and his family resided at Paris, Idaho until 1959, during which time he taught and was principal of Fielding High School, was Bear Lake County Superintendant of Schools for two terms (six years), was Paris City Mayor and Councilman for eight years, and was Paris City Water Master for many years, both at that time and when he returned to Paris after his retirement. He then moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he initially worked for the U.S. Bureau of Mines for a short time, taught one year at East High School, and spent his remaining years until retirement at Highland High School teaching chemistry. His distinguished teaching career lasted 43 years altogether. His Advanced Placement Chemistry students were of such a high caliber that the University of Utah requested he author a chemistry textbook for their classes, which he did. He returned to Paris, Idaho in 1975 after his retirement, where he resided with his wife unitl a serious illness required he be placed in a nursing home in Montpelier, Idaho, eight months ago.He was an active member and worker in the LDS Church his entire life, holding several positions at both the Monument Park 6th Ward in Salt Lake City and the Paris Ward. At the time of his death he was a High Priest of the Paris Ward.
He was quite noted among those who knew him for two of his lifelong hobbies: gardening and meteorology (weather recording and forecasting). He was also interested in geology and enjoyed reading. He was a devoted husband and father and will be dearly missed by his family and friends.
He is survived by: His wife, who now resides in Montpelier, Idaho; one son, Gary Weldon Grandy, Petersburg, Alaska; three daughters, Janice Grandy, Wendell, Idaho; Marilee Higley, Salt Lake City; Margean Grandy, Garden City, Utah; eight grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; one sister, Ruth Wilkes, Ogden, Utah; three brothers, DeWitt, Paris, Idaho; Grant, Montpelier, Idaho; Drew, Paris, Idaho. He was preceded in death by one grandchild and one brother, Wallace, of Smithfield, Utah.
Jim Watts
Thanks, Mr. Grandy for helping me get through AP chemistry and pass the test. You were another one of the great teachers at Highland.
Joel A. Glassett
Mr. Grandy got me started on the road to becoming a chemical engineer. He showed me that a career in that field had many more avenues to explore than I could have imagined. He had some great lab exercises to challenge our minds. Who else would have thought of dissolving rocks with hydrofluoric acid to determine the amount of gold in them? I don't know that such an exercise would even be possible today but back in 1969-70 the sky was the limit. And he was careful to keep us safe as we did it. Well done, Mr. Grandy.
Morley Smith
Mr. Grandy was my chemistry teacher and I think I was a sophomore and I think it was AP Chemistry and I think that was an enormous registration mistake. I was way over my head and I think they let me drop the course after I failed the first exam. A classmate, whom I don't remember his name, later told me an interesting story about Mr. Grandy. This classmate was a neighbor of Mr. Grandy and he noticed one day that Weldon had been cutting his lawn and the gas powered mower first stalled, then stoped, and then wouldn't start up. He pulled and pulled on the starting rope, but to no avail it just wouldn't fire up. He (that is Grandy) was so enraged that he commenced to pummel the mower into oblivion with a sledge hammer and lit it on fire after gas leaked from its tank. This was one of the most valuable lesson I learned in the hallowed halls of Highland High School. There was no way that I was going to take any sort of educational pathway that lead to a chemistry based career because I was convinced that this particular discipline would drive you mad. I don't know, after all of these years, the story of Grandy's funeral pyre lawnmower event, may of been apocryphal, but I do know that this story inspired me to get through later years of inorganic, organic and biochemistry with a great deal of fear and trepidation of chemistry professors. I got to admit, I love burning stuff up with hydrofluoric acid to this day ....kind of reminds you of "Breaking Bad." Come to think of it, Mr. Grandy kind of reminds you of Werner Heisenberg.