Downey…………Our beloved mother and grandmother returned peacefully to her Father in Heaven on November 8, 2008. Leona was the tenth of eleven children born to Albert Stewart Archibald and Nancy Idelia Tims Archibald. She was born on December 27, 1928 in Ridgedale, Pocatello Valley, Idaho where she lived until the fourth grade. At that time the family moved to Pleasantview and later into Malad where Leona attended high school, graduating in 1946.
She married Dale J. Wakley on November 18, 1947. They spent the first six years of their marriage in Malad and returned to the Wakley family ranch in Downey where they stayed and worked until Dale’s death in 1979. Leona later moved into Downey where she lived until her death.
Dale and Leona raised four sons: Ronald Dale, Blair, Jr., Randy A., and Jeffery Tim.
Leona was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served in many positions including Primary teacher, Relief Society secretary and visiting teacher. She served for many years as the ward librarian and an extraction worker. Her attentions were focused on her family, but she also worked for many years as a cook at Jack’s Café, Cache Valley Auction and the Downey Senior Citizens. She also worked in the Downey library until shortly before her death. Her hobbies included quilting, crocheting, genealogy and reading. Her favorite thing while her boys were growing up was watching them play in numerous sporting events.
Leona was preceded in death by her parents, Nancy and Albert; her husband, Dale; four brothers, five sisters and a great-granddaughter, Shay Wakley.
She is survived by a sister, Katie Abbott of Idaho Falls; her four sons: Ronald Dale and Melissa Wakley of Downey, Idaho; Blair J. and Konda Wakley of Elko, Nevada; Randy A. and Lisa Wakley of Preston, Idaho, and Jeffery Tim and Mary Wakley of Pocatello, Idaho; twenty-two grandchildren and twenty-four great-grandchildren.
She will be sorely missed, as she was a kind and gentle, Christ-like person. We know she has found solace in the next life with her loved ones.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday November 13, 2008 at 12 noon in the Downey LDS Ward Chapel. Friends may visit with the Wakley family on Wednesday evening from 6-8 pm at the Downey church, and on Thursday at the church from 10:30-11:30 am. Burial will follow in the Downey City Cemetery. Arrangements by Horsley’s Marsh Valley Funeral Home.