Verda Joyce Thorpe Colton, 85, of Malad, passed away at her home on Sunday evening, June 9, 2009.

Verda Joyce Thorpe was born Feb. 2, 1924 in the family home in Pleasant View, Idaho. She was the sixth child born to Thomas and Lucy Lovina Walker Thorpe. She loved to sing and would entertain herself playing songs on the family piano. She learned to play the violin and played in the Malad High School orchestra.
She graduated from High School the spring after Pearl Harbor and worked in Ogden, Utah all during the war, first at Hill Field and then at the Ordinance Depot as a clerk typist. When the war ended she was called to serve an LDS Mission to Western Canada, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
After returning home from her mission, she met LaVern Colton and they were married April 8, 1949. They moved to the Colton Ranch in a two room and a path home. They were blessed with six children, five boys and her precious daughter.

In all this time she held many positions in the church. Most of her callings were in music or teaching a class. She taught the Gospel Doctrine Class in the 1st Ward, and also was a Relief Society class leader. She was Ward chorister, Primary chorister and Stake MIA music director. As she grew older, that which she missed the most was her singing voice. It was so frustrating for her not to be able to sing the hymns of the church and to participate in the ward choir.

Joyce worked in the extraction program for several years and then was called to be Relief Society President. After she was released she was called to work in the Family History Library. She has entered close to 3000 names in her Personal Ancestral File and was able to have the temple work completed for many of them.
She and LaVern served a two year Ward Mission .

One of her special loves was traveling. She traveled to Peru, Hong Kong and a little of China, England, and parts of Western Europe. She and her husband traveled to Hawaii in company with her sister and husband for both their fiftieth anniversaries.

She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers, Thad and Clyde Thorpe; sisters, Phoebe King, Berniece Armstrong, Gladys Evans, and a son, Mark L. Colton.
She is survived by her husband, LaVern W. Colton; siblings, Eugene (Helen) Thorpe of Ogden; Calvin (Vonda) Thorpe of North Salt Lake; Lavina Spencer of Sylmar, California; and Ione Latour of Malad; her children, David L. Colton of Malad, Joseph W. (Nancy) Colton of Big Piney, Wyoming; Roger L. (Michele) Colton of Oceanside, California, Linda (Jay) Brown and Paul D. (Julie) Colton of Malad; also 17 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday June 11, 2009 at 11:00 am in the Malad LDS 3rd Ward Chapel 400 N. 200 W. Friends may visit with the Colton family on Wednesday evening June 10 from 6-8 pm at the Horsley Funeral Home 132 W. 300 N. in Malad, and on Thursday at the funeral home from 9:30 – 10:30 am prior to the service. Burial will follow in the Pleasantview Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to www.horsleyfuneralhome.com