Esther Auten

Maye Shrum Auten, 91, of Spanish Fork, Utah, passed away peacefully of causes incident to age on December 11, 2017. She was as valiant facing death as she has always been in her life, and ran home to her Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ.



Esther Maye Shrum Auten was born on June 22, 1926 in Oswego, Labette, Kansas and was raised in Jasper county Iowa in Metz and Newton. She was the third of nine living children of Frances DeWitt Shrum and Frances Elizabeth Harvey, all of them born in a fourteen year period. As a close-knit family during the Depression, they lived without electricity or running water, working hard on the farm and raising most of their food. Maye said everyone knew the Shrum kids and people in town would say, "You're a Shrum, aren't you, because you have such a happy smile on your face." That was Maye, sunshine and brightness that would light up a room all her life. She grew up loving her family and was fiercely loyal to them.



She graduated from Newton Senior High School in 1945 and went to work to help the rest of her family. She was very proud of the service her brothers and brothers-in-law gave during WWII and she was fiercely patriotic. On October 2, 1950, she married Eugene Bryan Auten in Newton and they lived on the farm just outside Kellogg and raised their family there. They had two daughters, Kimmery Frances and Kaydren Bethnee Auten. The couple divorced in 1994. She worked for years as a bookkeeper at Dealer's Warehouse in Newton, and then later at Heritage Water Company in Orem, Utah when she moved out west, retiring in 2005.



Sports were very important in her life. Growing up with four brothers, she often played football as a teenager with them and their friends, even getting her front tooth chipped off - that became a badge of honor for her. She was a huge Iowa Hawkeye fan and had season tickets for years. When she moved to Utah, she became a big Brigham Young University football fan, with season tickets there for years. She was known as "Grandma Maye" to the team and coaches. She did not have sons or grandsons, so the team became that for her and she loved them, and they loved her back. They have always been very sweet and kind to her. Her last outing before her final illness was a BYU football game.



Maye, with her husband and children, were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on August 26, 1978. She was an active member of the LDS Church, serving in many callings. She served as an ordinance worker in the Provo Temple for over ten years, and as a volunteer in the Payson Temple for almost a year. The temple was her favorite place to be, where she could just glow and bless everyone. Her testimony was strong and bright, her faith in her Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ was powerful. If you see bright footsteps in heaven, be sure to follow them, those are Maye's footsteps. They will lead you directly back to Heavenly Father and the Lord. She will probably come running to greet you with a huge "Shrum smile" on her face and gather you in.



Those left to celebrate her life include her daughters, Kimmery Auten and Kaydren (Duane) Kemp, her sister Dean (Richard) Ehler, brother Herb (Yvonne) Shrum, sister Florence (Paul) Liera, many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews across the country, and many other dear friends and family she picked up along the way. Everyone was family for her.



Her funeral service will be on Friday December 15, 2017 at the Spanish Fork 10th ward chapel located at 353 East 400 North. A viewing at the church will occur from 11:30-1:15 on Friday and the service will begin at 1:30 pm. She will be buried in the Spanish Fork Cemetery.



The family would like to thank IHC Home Health and Hospice for their kindness and care for Mom during her times of need.