Elaine Coombs Roundy

Our beloved mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend, Elaine Coombs Roundy, passed away on September 30th in her home in Boulder, Utah.

Elaine was born on Mar 27, 1931, to Ephraim Hyrum Coombs and Florence Mary Snow Coombs. She was the middle child, #7 of 15 children in her family.

Elaine attended Elementary school in Boulder at a one-room schoolhouse through the 7th grade, then her teacher decided that she and her 2 classmates were bright enough to skip the 8th grade. Her mother reluctantly agreed to let her go away to school because there was no high school in Boulder. So, at age 13, she moved to Teasdale, in Wayne County, Utah, to attend Wayne County High School. She lived with her mother’s sister, Anne Snow. Aunt Anne was the Superintendent of the schools in Wayne County. Coming from a big family, living with her single aunt, she often felt lonely.

During the next few years, she lived in different apartments in Bicknell with her sisters, Theresa, Anne, and Karen, to be closer to the school. Because the road over Boulder Mountain wasn’t paved, she couldn’t get home very often during the school year.

After graduating from high school, she moved to Salt Lake City, where she attended LDS Business College and worked at a movie theater as an usherette. She loved seeing all the new movies.

She met Uvon Roundy at a rodeo in Boulder, where she was a Rodeo Queen.

They were married on December 4, 1951, and made their home in Escalante. While there, their first child, Melanie, was born.

They moved to SLC so Uvon could work with his brother-in-law in the carpet business. They lived up on the Avenues. Wendell was born while they lived there.

They bought a new home in Kearns, in a cookie-cutter neighborhood. Twins, Camille and Claudia, and a son, Wesley, were born during those years.

When a job opportunity opened up in Boulder, they decided to move back home. (Actually, Uvon decided to move, and Elaine came kicking and screaming all the way.) In 1961, they moved into a cinder block home in Lower Boulder, where the winter cold frosted the windows with thick frosty designs and the green summer fields became a playground for their children. Brenda was born while living in this area. Later, her father, Ephraim Coombs, decided to sell them his home, so they bought it and moved uptown. Roberta was born after they moved there.

Elaine spent most of her child-rearing years as a stay-at-home mom, busy with church service, community, and school activities with her children. She sewed her kid’s clothes and doll clothes. She spent summers gardening, canning, and quilting. She grocery shopped once a month in Richfield, traveling 3 to 4 hours each time. She processed milk, made butter, and helped process the pigs and chickens they raised, as well as the game brought home during hunting season.

She enjoyed visits from family and friends, especially family reunions when her siblings with their children came to stay in her home. She enjoyed getting to know her nieces and nephews and maintained a good relationship with many of them throughout the years.

She loved seeing and caring for her grandchildren, she loved visiting with friends and family, and had a ready smile and contagious laugh for all she met.

She held many positions of service and leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While in Salt Lake City and Kearns, she served in the YW and as Primary chorister. In Boulder, she was rotated through callings and leadership in the Young Women, Relief Society, and Primary, possibly holding most of the callings in each auxiliary, many times. One of her favorite callings was primary chorister. She accepted callings and worked in the church until her health prohibited her from doing so.

On October 15, 1976, her husband, Uvon Roundy, passed away after a struggle with heart problems, leaving Elaine with 3 teenagers in high school, two daughters in college, a son out working in the world, and a daughter on a mission. Her jobs to support the family consisted of reading meters for Garkane Power, Relief Clerk at the post office, Clerk at Halls Store, and quilting for clients. In the small community of Boulder, she had very few prospects of better work. She also worked odd jobs to keep her kids in the local schools. She worked for the water company as secretary, baked for the cafe and locals, cleaned houses for summer visitors, and worked at the Visitor’s Booth. Her pies were legendary. She retired happily at the age of 80.

Life was not all work. She enjoyed traveling. She traveled to Arizona, seeing the Grand Canyon, to California to visit family and to see Disneyland, and to San Francisco. She traveled to Salt Lake City often for the General Conferences, where she also visited family. She visited Alaska when one of her daughters lived on a remote island and got to witness and help with the home birth of a granddaughter. Later, one of her daughters worked for an airline and took her to see the world on standby tickets. They visited France, the British Isles, Greece, Boston, and Ireland, where she kissed the Blarney stone. Later, she went on an Alaskan cruise with her sister, Sarah May, and her family.

She was born during the great depression, in a cabin with 2 rooms, a loft, and no indoor plumbing. She saw many amazing changes in the world over her life span, many wars, amazing inventions, from crank phones to cell phones and the internet. Her great-grandchildren can’t even imagine the world she grew up in.

Elaine is survived by her 7 children, Melanie (Shawn) Christensen, Wendell Roundy, Claudia (Scott) Simpson, Camille (Andrew) Anderson, Wesley (Sheri) Roundy, Brenda (the late Jimmy) Woolsey, and Roberta (Randy) Hightower.

Siblings: Brother Vard (Mary Jane) Coombs; Sister Sarah May Hansen Miller; Sister in Law Carol Coombs; Sister in law Dot Coombs

She has 28 Grandchildren; 47 Great-Grandchildren.

She is preceded in death by her Husband, Uvon Roundy; parents Ephraim Hyrum and Florence Mary Coombs, Siblings Clinton (Mary) Coombs; Kay (Meryl) Coombs; Ross Coombs; Eva (Gene) Whitaker; Stillborn twin to Sarah May Hansen; Karen (Paul) Kramer; Theresa Coombs; Anne (Karl) Spencer; Larry Coombs; Mary (Richard) Lyman; Anthony Coombs; Alonzo Coombs; her son-in-law Jimmy Woolsey; and grandson, Taylin Seth Anderson.

Funeral Services will be held Saturday, October 11, 2025, in the Boulder Ward Chapel located at 180 East 300 North, Boulder, Utah.

Viewing will be from 10:30 am to 11:30 am, and the funeral will begin at Noon.

Interment will be in the Boulder Cemetery, located on Highway 12, north of town.

Funeral Directors are Magleby Mortuary, Richfield, Salina, and Manti