Royd Hyer Van Orden

Royd Hyer Van Orden passed away in Yuma, Arizona, on 19 May 2023 at age 84. He was born in Salt Lake City and was the youngest of Ottis D. and Eunice H. Van Orden’s four children. Royd graduated from Weber State College and retired from the Department of Agriculture in 1993. He is survived by his brother Sherrell D. Van Orden (Vivian) of Twin Falls, ID, and his son Daniel R. (Emily) Van Orden of Layton, Utah. Royd was preceded in death by his brother Claude, sister Helen and three sons, Michael, Scott, and Barry. Services will be held on 17 June at 10:00 am in the Lewiston Cemetery
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Royd Hyer Van Orden, 84, died on 19 May in, Yuma, AZ, due to complications following a recent illness. His adolescence was spent in Bountiful, where he was active in church, music, sports, and scouting activities plus working on the family’s eleven-acre fruit farm. As he recalls, “Little did I know, what impact those years on that fruit farm had on my later life. Each year, as far back as I can remember, my brother and I would ride for two and sometimes three hours in the back seat of a 1951 Ford alongside baskets and boxes of fresh fruit on our way to our starving relatives in Lewiston, Utah. Both Royd’s parents were born there. His Dad had 4 siblings, his mother, being a daughter of a polygamist, had 25 brothers and sisters and most of them were dairy farmers and had five or six kids of their own. “It goes without saying there was a lot of farm chores and fun-loving relatives in Lewiston.” Royd graduated from Bountiful High School in 1957 and went on to BYU, only to discover that he was ill-equipped for university-level studies. In 1959 he married his high school sweetheart Claudia Ann Potter. They moved to Ogden, where he had a job with the U.S. Postal Service. In 1960 they had their first of four sons, Scott. Royd began classes in electronics at Weber State College. In 1963 he took a job with the Department of Defense at Hill Air Force Base, working in electronics. They bought a house and added their family, Michael, and Barry, while in Ogden. In 1970, he received a degree in Electronic Engineering Technology from Weber State College and jumped at the chance to work in the great outdoors.
Royd and Claudia moved to Montpelier, Idaho taking employment with the U.S. Forest Service as a two-way radio technician. They bought a house and settled in to raise their family with the final of the four sons Daniel, being born there. Royd’s job required him to travel a lot. Often, he was away from home for weeks at a time setting up communications equipment on major forest fires. Claudia remained home with the challenges of raising four boys. They spent the next 12 years in Montpelier and when time permitted, camping, boating, and cutting firewood in nearby canyons was commonplace. In 1973 Royd fulfilled one of his teenage dreams while living in Montpelier; owning his own airplane. He writes, “I had way too much with that Taylorcraft – too much fun, too much trouble, too much money, too much precious time—wasted! If I had that, to do all over again; I wouldn’t.” In 1982, Claudia divorced Royd. A year later he transferred to the Forest Service Regional Office in Ogden, Utah. He retired in 1993 and moved to Lewiston, but not before marrying twice and divorcing both times. He was encouraged to work for the Cub River Canal company by a friend, the late Val Rigby. He found a certain amount of solace in Lewiston with his many friends and relatives who live there, especially his respected friend and co-worker Mr. Russ Hatch. Royd underwent open heart surgery in 2004. With the loving care and companionship of his best friend Anne Jacobs (AJ), he recovered. Since 2002 he had divided his time between his home in Lewiston and his trailer in Yuma. Lived and died a Sunbird life.