Obituary: Iris Parker Corry

Iris Parker Corry 1917 ~ 2007 Iris Parker Corry, 89, passed away peacefully on March 10, 2007 in Cedar Hills, Utah. She was born on December 17, 1917 to James Elbert and Lucina Snow Parker in Alunite, Utah. She married Elwood Jones Corry, Jan. 20, 1956 in the Salt Lake Temple. Elwood was widowed with six children from ages 3 to 19 at the time. They were later blessed with a son. We children are, and will be, forever grateful that she came into our lives. Her example taught us the importance of sacrifice and facing life's trials with dignity. She spent most of her childhood in Joseph, Utah where she worked on the family dairy farm along with her brothers and sisters. There, she learned the value of hard work and experienced many joys and hardships including the deaths of three brothers. She graduated from South Sevier High School where she was the class valedictorian. She went on to graduate from Brigham Young University in journalism. She spent the next 15 years working in her chosen field in various positions including with the FBI, KSL radio, and as an editor for the Improvement Era magazine for the LDS church After her marriage, she moved to Cedar City, Utah and assumed the role of wife and mother to her new family. She continued to work at various jobs including as a realtor and secretary in her husband's business, secretary for the Five County Mental Health Clinic and as an English Instructor at Southern Utah State College. She also enjoyed traveling, cooking, entertaining, beekeeping, gardening and became an accomplished poet. Over the years her poems have appeared in various publications for which she received many awards. In 1987 she published a collection of her poems in a book entitled "Bread And Milk For Supper". She has been a lifelong member of the LDS Church where she held a variety of callings including serving on the Young Women's General Board. She and her husband served a full-time mission in San Jose, California in 1988-89. They also served for many years as ordinance workers in the St. George Temple. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, three brothers and one grandchild. She is survived by her children: Kristine Davis (Norman), Judith Liddle (Joseph), Steven D. Corry (Sybil), Robert D. Corry (Barbara), Jeffery D. Corry (Julia), Elizabeth Sampson (Gary) and Elwood J. Corry Jr. (Michelle); brothers Lynn Parker and Fay Parker and sisters Margaret Jensen, Sylvia Hunt, Melba Larsen, Joyce Shipp and Janice Jeffs; 30 grandchildren, 42 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. The family would like to thank Alpine Hospice for their support and care to mom over the last few months. Funeral services will be held Wed., March 14, 2007, 11:00 a.m. at the Cedar City 8th Ward Chapel at 200 W. 200 South. Viewing will be held Tuesday at Southern Utah Mortuary at 190 North 300 West from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and Wednesday at the church from 9:30-10:45 a.m. Interment at the Cedar City Cemetery.