Elwin Pink Rees

Elwin (Pink) Rees was born December 18, 1931, in Coalville, Utah, the son of Ralph Miles and Melva Edith Crittenden Rees. He was the older brother to a twin sister – Peggy Rees Wilde. They were children # 6 and # 7 of eight siblings. Their oldest brothers were identical twins, Keith and Kenneth, who served in WWII. Then Betty, Calvin and Marjorie, then Pink and Peg and lastly: David – who passed away from COVID in November 2020. They also have identical twin cousins (girls) who turned 95 in January.

Pink and Peg were born at the midwife’s home (which is now Mr. Cluckers). The hospital was built after this in the 30s.

As a preschooler, his mother spilled very hot oil down his back. This resulted in 3rd degree burns and he developed a close relationship with Dr. Oldham. When getting a vaccination in early elementary school, he screamed and screamed demanded that Dr. Oldham give him his shots, which he did.

When he was about eight, he helped with the haying by taking water on horseback to all the men as they worked. The bailer was at a central location. Men would load loose hay on horse-drawn wagons and bring the hay wagon to the bailer. Pink was assigned to bring water to the men. He filled the containers from Chalk Creek then traveled around the field taking water to all of them. This was at Wright’s Ranch which is now owned by the Jones family in Upton. Ralph had a contract with the bank to farm the property after the Wrights lost it during the depression. This was also bareback as Ralph had a cousin who died after falling from a horse and getting his foot caught in a stirrup.

The Rees children had to milk the cows, feed the calves and the chickens before they went to school and of course, when they got home. They certainly were not expected to attend church and chastised if they did. They were all baptized but that was about it.

Pink told a story about his Primary teacher taking the boys to meet with President George Albert Smith at the church office building in Salt Lake. He shook all of their hands.

His oldest brothers were 10 years older than Pink and Peg. They went to college at Utah State Agricultural College and upon graduation in 1944 and went to war. Keith went to Germany and Ken went to the Pacific. Keith was wounded in battle and Ken was an MP and guarded the Japanese generals after the surrender. Pink remembers how stressful it was for his parents and himself when they went and when they didn’t hear from Keith when he was in the hospital, they feared the worst.

Pink was a running back on the North Summit football team until the Wasatch High School football team ended his football career. He was also a very good sprinter in track.

He was seriously dating someone in high school and one Friday, when he arrived at her house for a date, there was another fellow there. He left and never spoke to her again. He dated several other girls from North Summit but never more than once or twice.

His sister, Peg, married her sweetheart, Leon Wilde of Oakley, in the Salt Lake temple between junior and senior year of high school and attended South Summit her senior year. Now dating no one, Pink went to Kamas to see if she might know someone he could date. At a basketball game / dance he asked his sister if she could think of anyone. While she was thinking, he spotted a cute brunette and said, “What about her?” He started dating Joyce Pack.

Joyce mentioned, on one of their dates, when she wanted to get married in the temple. He realized that though he was baptized, he didn’t have the priesthood. He approached Bishop Carlos Porter and told him he wanted to receive the priesthood. He was ordained as a priest and had to bless the sacrament almost every week after that.

After Pink graduated from North Summit in 1950, he attended Utah State Agricultural College and worked on the family farm in Wellsville. Ralph didn’t think his children should just go to school, so he bought a farm in Wellsville.

Pink and Joyce dated for two and ½ years and when she graduated from high school, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple in June 1952.

They lived in Coalville and then Wellsville until his father sold the Wellsville farm and bought his mother’s family farm in Hoytsville in the mid-50s and then they moved to Hoytsville. Pink and Joyce built the house they lived in with the help of Bill Wilde.

They had five children. Their first baby passed after living only a few hours. They then had three daughters and a son: Danny, Susan, Brenda, Jeanne and Bart.

He served on the Agricultural Stabilization board as well as the Soil Conservation board (they are now merged). At one point he was president of both at the same time. He told a story of attending a meeting of all the county presidents in Provo and a county official from Southern Utah complained that the weather report stopped at Payson (this was in the 70s). Pink said: “How would you like to be from the Wasatch Behind?”

In 1975 he was Farmer of the Year for the State of Utah and represented Utah at the National meeting in Florida. He won the award for a physics project of the irrigation system that was run entirely on gravity. The trip to Florida was something of a honeymoon for Pink and Joyce as they only spent one night at the Hotel Newhouse when they got married as he had to get back to the farm.

Pink served as a counselor in the Elder’s Quorum presidency (with Gary Brown, EQ Pres and Glen Shaw, the other EQ counselor) and the Bishopric (with Rulon Judd – Bishop and Jack Spriggs - Counselor). He taught Sunday School, was Sunday School President and currently is the greeter. His favorites were the Sunday School President (high profile, low maintenance) and the greeter.

Joyce passed away from Lymphoma in 1991 after 39 years of marriage. The next year he married Leola McGee Ball. They were married for 22 years, and she passed away from Mesothelioma in 2014. He has lived with his daughter Brenda from 2015 until recently moving to the Family Tree Care Center.

His four grown children have attended college. They have three bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree and an RN certification. His son served an LDS mission to Alaska. He has seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

He loved his farm, and he loved being a farmer. When he got rid of the dairy cows in 1985 someone asked him if he missed them. He said: “Yes, but it’s a good miss.” This means he loved the land, but not the animals so much. With no cows to milk, Pink went to work for Bells in Silver Creek for a few years, then worked at the Port of Entry in Evanston for UDOT.

Pink cut everyone’s grain in the north part of the county as he had the only combine. Most farmers grew grain as many of them had dairy cows or because they could get more selling their grain than alfalfa or grass hay. He permanently hurt his eye helping a neighbor with their grain.

He loves to visit with his sister Peg. Brenda takes him to Oakley for the visit and for a haircut from Peg’s daughter Teresa.

He took his family on vacation for a few days almost every August between the 2nd crop of alfalfa and the grain harvest. They always went north as it was cooler in August. Yellowstone was a favorite and he could visit with his brother Keith in Teton, Idaho. Also, Calgary, Canada, Spokane World’s Fair, Mt. Rushmore, the Passion Play in Spearfish, the Flintstone village, and Glacier Park. Almost every year, they went to the State Fair and/or to the zoo and drove through the Uintah Mountains – listening to conference on the radio. In his later years he traveled some with Lee. Their children took them to church history sites including the Palmyra pageant and Nauvoo; NASA and EPCOT; Disneyland; Washington DC, Hershey and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was also able to go to Alaska to pick up his son, Bart, when it was time for him to come home from his mission.

He is survived by his children: Susan Perkins, Brenda Rees, Jeanne (Grant) Williams, Bart (Roseanna) Rees; his sister – Peggy (Leon) Wilde; his grandchildren – Gary Williams, Morgan Williams, Joel Williams, Sarah (Mac) Curtis, Levi (Allee) Rees, Justin (Bella) Rees, McKay (Brianna) Rees; great grandchildren: Olivia Williams, Wyatt Curtis, Karsen Rees, Kade Rees.

Preceded in death by his spouses – Joyce Pack and Leola McGee; parents and siblings: Keith, Kenneth, Betty, Calvin, Marjorie and David.

A viewing will be held Friday, October 3, 2025 from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Hoytsville Church(1095 S Hoytsville Rd). Funeral services will be held Saturday, October 4, 2025 at 12:00 pm at the Hoytsville Church with a viewing prior to the service from 10:00-11:30 am. Interment will be at the Coalville City Cemetery.