February 14, 1928 – February 29, 2024
Joe Wesley Vancil, age 96, passed away on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado. He passed after a brief illness, with his family at his side.
Joe was born on February 14, 1928, in Delta, Colorado. He was the ninth of ten children, born during the Great Depression to William Albert Vancil and Cora Lena Parmly.
Joe spent most of his childhood in Palisade, Colorado, and attended school in Clifton, Colorado. As a child, he was always busy working on the family farm and for the neighbors. He worked for his sister Isabel and her husband Ronnie in their peach and apple orchards. He also built fences and corrals for the Bureau of Land Management and rounded up wild horses. Jobs were scarce back then, but his go-getter personality kept him busy.
At age 18, Joe was drafted and served 18 months in the Navy. The Second World War had ended, and he was sent as a relief to those who fought in the war.
After his service in the Navy ended, he worked for his sister Lucy building houses. He also worked for his sister Betty Lou in her auto body shop. He then worked for a brief time for an oil company.
From 1949 to 1953, he worked in Climax, Colorado, and Kamas, Utah, as a miner. Joe met Delma Pearl Atkinson while working on the Duchesne Tunnel in Kamas, Utah. Joe and Delma were married on April 8, 1953.
In 1953, he began working for a Utah construction company driving tunnels in Ogden, Utah, where their first daughter, JoeLynn, was born.
Beginning in 1954, Joe worked on the 23.5-mile Robert’s Tunnel that brought water through the Continental Divide. Joe blasted the very first hole and remained on the job until completion, also blasting the last hole. During this time Joe and Delma welcomed three more children: Jerry, Cindy and Gary.
Joe and Delma came to Moab in 1962 to work in the potash mining industry. He worked on the Bootlegger Train Tunnel until Texas Gulf opened. When Texas Gulf was filled with water, he went to work at Centennial Development and retired from Rio Algom Mining in 1988 as the Underground Mine Superintendent.
He was a convert to the church and was baptized in 1960 by his brother-in-law, Garold Atkinson in Kamas, Utah. Joe and Delma were sealed in the Salt Lake City Temple in 1963.
He served in various church callings throughout his life, including as a temple ordinance worker for 13 years with his wife, Delma. Joe and Delma served a service mission in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 2004.
Joe spent his life never knowing a stranger. He was a remarkable example of hard work, honesty and showing kindness and love. He was heavily involved in his children’s, grandchildren’s, and great-grandchildren’s lives. He loved you no matter what and was always excited to be included in whatever you had going on. He did whatever was needed, no matter the activity; work, sports, dance or simply day-to-day life. He loved to visit, sit outside in the sun and read a good book.
Joe is survived by his wife, Delma Vancil; his four children, JoeLynn (Kent) Dalton, Jerry (Sherri) Vancil, Cindy (Rick) Thompson, Gary (Rachel) Vancil; his seventeen grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren; and his brother, James (Jim) Dean Vancil of Grand Junction, Colorado.
In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by three brothers, five sisters, two grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter, Zoe Afton Thompson.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 9th, at 11:00 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints located at 701 Locust Lane in Moab, Utah.
