- Date Of Birth: January 27, 1946
- Date Of Death: December 12, 2021
- State: Utah
Arnold (Arnie) Elven Foote passed away peacefully in his home December 12th, 2021, at the age of seventy-five after a battle with dementia. He was born in Sandpoint Idaho January 27th, 1946, to Don and Rosetta Foote, and was the second oldest of eleven children. His family moved to Marriott-Slaterville when he was young and settled on seventeen acres in a two-bedroom home. As a young kid, he learned the value of hard work and started working at the bishop’s storehouse at the age of twelve to help support his family. He attended West Weber Elementary, Wahlquist Jr High and graduated from Weber High in 1964. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in the Marines. Throughout his thirty-two years in the service, he was a member of the Marines, the Seabees, and the Air Force. While in the Air Force and the Air Force reserves, he worked at Defense Depot Ogden as a welder, maintenance coordinator and sheet metal worker. After retiring in 1998 from DDO, he then worked an additional seventeen years for Weber School District Maintenance Department in various positions.
On September 27th, 1972, Arnie married the love of his life and eternal companion, Linda (Beyer) in the Salt Lake Temple. They made their first and forever home in Washington Terrace. From that union five children were brought to this earth, along with nine grandchildren. We always knew he loved the grandkids the most. While on this Earth, he was a member of and served in many callings in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, including Bishop of the Washington Terrace First Ward. During his tenure as bishop, his main focus was that of the many widows and the youth. He also served as a Stake High Councilor, High Priest group instructor, Stake Broadcast and Transmission Specialist, Nursery leader, Scoutmaster, and a member of the Elders Quorum Presidency. He and Linda served over six years as Church Addiction and Recovery Program Service Missionaries.
Arnie was an avid reader and could usually finish one good western in less than a day. We would often find him lying on the downstairs couch asleep with a book held to his chest. He also enjoyed the outdoors; four wheeling, camping, shooting, rabbit hunting, driving in the mountains, and exploring the West Desert near Wendover. He loved to eat out and joke around, especially with his coworkers, always keeping them on their toes. They never knew when he would pull a prank or jump out and scare them to death.
He was always hard working, and when there was work to be done, you knew he would be the first one on the job and the last to leave, making sure everything was done correctly. Hard work and dedication were ingrained into everyday life, a trait all of his kids were lucky enough to inherit. Arnie was a jack of all trades; if it was broken, he could fix it. If something needed to be assembled, deconstructed and rebuilt differently, he could do that as well. Often, he would answer the call of many widows of the neighborhood, fixing clogged sinks, roofing houses or sheds, cutting down trees, yard work, building fences, repairing windows, shoveling snow and many other projects. He was always on time to everything. It was his personal philosophy that if you were not at least ten minutes early, you were late. He had the innate ability to wake up at any time throughout the day, and very rarely needed an alarm clock. Among all things, he was a husband, father, son, sibling and friend.
Although he (like all of us) had many flaws, he always did the best with the talents and tools he was given for his mortal journey and will be greatly missed by all those who knew him. Arnie was proceeded in death by his son Jeff, his parents Don and Rosetta, and brothers Larry, Dean and Dale. He is survived by his wife Linda, his children Jerry (Cara), Chris (Jamie), Diana (Julio), and Richy (Arianna); brothers Charlie, Jay, Jesse, Duane and sisters Lorraine, Lily and Joyce; grandchildren Trey, Tye, Aspen, Oakley, Kade, Kylie, Easton, Akasha, and Henry.
We would like to thank Intermountain Hospice for their immaculate care during his last days.
