My grandfather's obituary:

3rd Avenue Master Barber
Wayne LaVel Pope (65), loving Husband, Father and Grandfather, passed away from the debilitating effects of pancreatic cancer, his family at his side, on May l, 2004. He was born on August 24, 1938 in Vernal, Utah.

The obituary mentions who he is survived by, just a list of names.

Wayne graduated from Uintah High School in 1956 where he was Senior Class President and a star basketball player. He married his (high school) sweetheart, Carol Hulburt, in the Salt Lake Temple, on June 3, 1957. He was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, serving as High Priest Group Leader, Bountiful Temple worker and in many other Church capacities. He loved his family, the Lord and his Church with all his heart. He worked hard every day, so that his children could have a better life. He enjoyed participating in and watching sports as well as venturing out of town on frequent camping, hunting and fishing trips, and many of the other valuable activities that gave his family precious time together; building a foundation of experiences that will remain with them forever.

Wayne was a Master Barber, cutting hair for 45 years, most of them on 3rd Avenue at his own Wayne’s Barber Shop. His clients loved him as much for his classic barbering as for his conversation. He cut the hair of governors, mayors, legislators, university presidents, Church general authorities and even TV personalities; but more importantly, he cut the hair of thousands of individuals he called friends.

Having just retired, he and Carol traveled to the East coast, visiting as many of the Church, historical and tourist sites that they could. They were called to serve a Church Mission as Temple workers in Fiji. It was while they served with all of their hearts that Wayne became very ill and returned home for his last months of life. Funeral services (were held) on May 6th, 2 pm, at (an) LDS Church. (And it gave the place, times, address etc.)


My grandfather died on the day of my Senior Ball. Interesting enough, I was driving home from the day activity with all our dates in the car, having just drove past Wayne's Barber Shop when my mother called to tell me of his death. It was quite the experience. Today I look back on this event, finally posting something on it because I've been thinking about it a lot lately.

Sometimes I feel like he is guiding me, other times I feel like divine intervention is happening by his hands. I'm sure he helps me when he can. He used to cut my hair, did so for about 4 years of my life. I then started liking Bull cuts so I stopped going to him and went elsewhere. He always had a pop and a sucker I could have when I went to him. It was way awesome. We'd always go fishing together, and the other part of our family excluding my father and brothers, would go hunting with him often. He was a hardy old man, lived a long life until his death. He was one of the first people to encourage me to play chess. When he first came home from his mission with the church he was sick. My way of saying goodbye to him was playing chess with him. I never lost to him after I got good three years ago. But this last, final game, with my grandpa, was the hardest chess match of my life. He played out the game extremely well, and I finally won. Goodbye Grandfather.