Alta Lorraine Cunliffe

Alta T. Cunliffe, beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother, 94, returned to her heavenly home and garden on March 29, 2026. Born September 24, 1931, daughter of Silas S. and Mary Olive Shelley Thorne. Married Gene B. Cunliffe March 28, 1952 in Baltimore, Maryland. Sealed together in the Salt Lake City Temple on January 29, 1965. Alta was the bionic energizer bunny, throughout her life she had 5 joint replacements and never let them slow her down, even when doctors told her she needed to take it easy. She loved her work as a nurse and continued to show her medical knowledge every time she was in the hospital. As a 94 year old patient she would tell the nurses and doctors that her blood pressure was too low to take her medication. She loved traveling adventures with Gene, Reva and Keith. Alta loved everything living, her gardens were very important to her, even the pretty weeds she didn’t like to pull. She knew everything about flowers and gardens, even at 93 you could find her rolling on the ground pulling her weeds. Along with her plants she loved animals, finding wild animals on adventures and she especially loved to spoil her dogs, and everyone else’s dog, you could always catch her slipping food to them. She loved bird watching and could tell you what types of birds to look for as well as name the birds in the trees and the skies. Alta enjoyed cooking and spending time with her family. Christmas and Thanksgiving gatherings were always a great time, she would prepare an amazing meal and then spend the whole night serving the food and cleaning dishes and not stopping to eat herself. Alta loved the great outdoors, you would often find her and Gene joining their kids and grandkids in camping adventures, Fishlake, Flaming Gorge, Island Park, the Uintahs. Alta was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and loved serving in the temple.

Preceded in death by her parents Silas and Olive Thorne, her siblings Afton, David, Marilyn, and Reva as well as 1 grandbaby and 2 great grandbabies, and many many dogs. Survived by husband Gene, 2 sons David (Lisa) Cunliffe, Mike (Nancy) Cunliffe, 2 daughters Christine (Bart) Neibaur, Shelley (Doug) Ashby, brother in law J. David Cunliffe, 13 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren.