Ellen N Harris Pryor

Ellen N Harris Pryor was born February 16, 1928, in Beaver, Utah, and died peacefully, surrounded by her children on Saturday, January 11, 2025, in Saratoga Springs, Utah. At age 96, she stepped through the veil into the loving arms of her husband, Fred Roberts Pryor Jr., parents LeRoy and Edith Nielsen Harris, and four of her eleven siblings. 

She is survived by six children, Dorothy Sheffield and her husband Steve, David Pryor and his wife Janis, Keith Pryor and his wife Kristine, Barbara Hale and her husband Mark, Carolyn Cronquist and her husband Doug, Gary Pryor and his wife Sheryl, and 24 of her 25 grandchildren, 61 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter. 

Ellen was the oldest of eleven children: Dale Harris, Nelda Beck (deceased), Jane Arbon (deceased), Lydia Johnson (deceased), Frank Harris, LaVee Collins, Ray Harris, Ned Harris (deceased), Ted Harris, and Glenna Bradshaw.

She was born the year before the start of the Great Depression and was in high school when WWII finally ended. Her memories of growing up during those uncertain times were memories of rationing, walking everywhere, and no sugar!

During high school, she served as the editor of The Beaver Bee, her school newspaper. Her exceptional work earned her a two-year scholarship to Brigham Young University.

Ellen married Fred Roberts Pryor Jr. in the Manti Temple on September 9, 1948. After their marriage, they moved to Hyrum and then Logan for five years, where they welcomed the first three children into their family. They moved to Provo, and a year later to North Orem where the last three children were born. 

She was very hard-working. Every year, she would bottle hundreds of jars of produce that came from Fred’s large garden, made her own bread, sewed clothes for her growing family, and always put three meals a day on the table.

Ellen served as Relief Society President, twice! She spent many years as a leader in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. Her love of history truly made her time in that organization a joy. She did indexing, loved doing genealogy research, and had an amazing memory of her family history. She loved to read, wrote beautiful prose and had a talent for making friends.

She and Fred served a mission in Chicago, Illinois, photographing naturalization records for the LDS Church Genealogical Department. They produced 350 rolls of microfilm which contained the records of one and a half million people. Each of those one-and-a-half million records had to be photographed individually by Fred and Ellen. 

After their mission, Fred and Ellen served together as temple ordinance workers in Provo and Mt. Timpanogos Temples for 11 years. Also, during that time, they often traveled with friends and made many wonderful memories. 

Following Fred’s death in 2012, Ellen moved into The Seville, an independent living facility, where she made many friends. She lived there until in 2024 she broke her thigh and had to be moved into an assisted living center. She spent the last four months of her life in Saratoga View. 

While living at both The Seville and Saratoga View she received many visits from her family. She loved visiting with her siblings, her children, and grandchildren. Her greatest joys were these visits.

As each of us would run into residence and staff at both the Seville and Saratoga View, the comment we would hear the most often was, “I love your mother.” Ellen was truly loved.

This is Ellen’s final testimony, recorded in her life sketch. “I love this church! I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know he saw what he said he saw. I know he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I know if you keep the commandments, you will be blessed, and your life will be better. This life is really very simple, it doesn’t have to be hard. Keep the commandments and your life will be much easier.”

She was loved and will be missed by a multitude of family and friends whose lives were enriched by knowing her.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 25, 2025, at the Wheeler-Sundberg Funeral Home, 495 South State Street, Orem UT. Viewing from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM and the Funeral at 11:00 AM, Burial will be in the Orem City Cemetery, 1520 North 800 East Orem.

Condolences for the family may be expressed on this page.

For those unable to attend in person, you may view the services HERE