Larry Vaughn Spendlove II peacefully passed away early in the morning on September 5, 2020, following a brief battle with virulent melanoma. He was surrounded by his eternal companion, Holly, and seven of his eight adoring children. His daughter, Rachel, is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Omaha, Nebraska. He was born in Alexandria Virginia on November 9, 1968, to Larry Vaughn Spendlove and Venise Robison Spendlove. Vaughn was a gentle, kind, loving, God-fearing man of great faith. He was steadfast and immovable in his testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a dearly beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and son.
Vaughn was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from East High School.
He attended the University of Utah and graduated with a B.S. Degree in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix. He served a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the Paris France Mission. He subsequently was transferred to the newly created Bordeaux France Mission, where he served under Mission President Neil L. Andersen, now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He married Holly Jean Kearl in the Salt Lake Temple on July 18, 1990. They recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary at Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota.
Vaughn and Holly were blessed with six wonderful daughters and two fine sons, who have been the joy of their lives. Due to Vaughn’s employment requirements as an Information Technology Specialist, the family, at various times, has lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, Fallon, Nevada, Lehi, Utah, East Petersburg, Pennsylvania, and for the past 9 years they have resided in Sandy, Utah. They have loved to vacation together as a family at Bear Lake, and annually with their extended family at such places as Baja, Mexico, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Sun Valley, Idaho, San Diego and Oceanside, California, Aspen, Colorado, and, this summer, at Island Park, Idaho.
Vaughn was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served in many capacities in the Church including High Priests Group Leader, Elders Quorum President and Teacher, Sunday School President and Counselor, Primary Teacher, and as a home teacher and ministering brother. He and Holly loved attending the temple together.
Vaughn loved books, and for an inexpensive date, he and Holly enjoyed going to bookstores and perusing the books.
Vaughn loved his Heavenly Father and his family with all his heart. These are a few words written by his beloved Holly about Vaughn’s place in the family:
“In our home, Vaughn has been the glue that held us all together. He has taken very good care of us. He has solved our problems. He has been our support and our source of unconditional love and encouragement. He has led out in calling us to family prayer and scripture study. When I didn't know the answer to one of the kids’ struggles, I would always say, ‘Ask Dad,’ and then I knew that their problem was on its way to being solved. Our lives have revolved around Vaughn's life, and now he's not here. It's hard to fathom. Even our three-year-old grandson recognizes that things are seriously wrong, because Grandpa is the first person he wants to say ‘Hello’ to when he comes to visit. Even though our home is still full of people, it feels so empty without Vaughn! Even when Vaughn was working away (out of state), very often he was interacting with someone in the family via technology. He still joined us daily (on line) for family prayer and scripture reading. It's going to be really hard to figure out how to make it through this trial without Vaughn. The Gospel message of Jesus Christ and eternal families is really our only source of hope and comfort.”
Vaughn and Holly are the parents of eight children - Ashley, Camille (Matt) Dawson, Joshua (Breana), Noelle, Rachel, Rebekah, Enoch, and Faith. All these have survived him, as well as his beloved Holly. He is also survived by three grandchildren, Everett Dawson, Aiden Spendlove, and Russell Dawson, with one more grandson on the way, and by his parents.
A visitation will be held Friday, September 11, from 6 pm to 8 pm at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South), Sandy, UT and Saturday, September 12, from 9:30 am to 10:30 am at the Eastridge 2nd Ward Chapel, 1187 East Draper Parkway (12300 South), Draper, UT. A funeral will be held at 11 am at the chapel. Burial will be at Larkin Sunset Lawn, 2350 East 1300 South, Salt Lake City, UT. We ask that due to the Covid-19 pandemic you please observe social distancing and wear masks during the visitation, funeral, and burial.
The funeral was a loving tribute to a great man. Holly and children, we are most grateful to have known and enjoyed the company of Vaughn. May the Lord continue to bless each of you.
We are grateful to those who made the funeral available over zoom.
Joe and Eileen Spendlove
I was saddened and shocked to learn of Vaughn's illness and passing. I was blessed to have worked with Vaughn in his late teen years and will always treasure the time I was able to hang out, goof off, or just spend time with him. He will always be in my fondest memories, as will his family be in my thoughts and prayers.
Holly and family,
Rob and I are sorry for your loss of your husband father and grandfather. It will be a hard time at this point. Know God is there for you. And we know we will be with them again. Hugs to you
God bless you at this time
Elsie and Rob DeKorver
We love your family. We pray for Gods Blessings of peace and love to be with each of you.
Love the Harrison's (Angela)
I can not possibly imagine what you feel right now, let me know if there is anything I can do to ease your pain at this difficult period. I’m sorry for your loss, with time and courage you will sail through these rough waters.
So sorry to hear about Vaughn’s passing. Sending love and prayers from Jan and myself to Holly, the kids, and to Uncle Larry & Aunt Venice. Vaughn was my closest cousin growing up and we made many fond memories together (usually during sleepovers at either of our houses) and almost always with William and my brother Doug along as well. One of the things that I loved about Vaughn was that he always included his younger brother William in anything we did. That worked out great because my younger brother Doug was my best friend and we used to do almost everything together as kids. The four of us cousins used to love to watch funny or scary movies utilizing the world’s most incredible technological achievement of that era... the VHS tape player! Our plan was always the same; relentlessly beg each other’s parents to allow a sleep-over, increase pressure until one gave in, arrange a ride across town, run around the neighborhood until sundown and then kick the night off with a .99 cent Totino’s pizza and an insanely large bowl of popcorn drowned in margarine. About 10 pm we would make a solemn pact, promising each other that THIS TIME we would stay awake until sunrise. I’m not exactly sure why we were so infatuated with the idea of conquering the night but between the ages of 10 and 13 every sleep-over felt like an adventure that demanded we stay awake in case something great happened. However hard we may have tried though we never made it to sunrise. No matter, we always had fun, got along really well, and got to know each other. We would talk about our ideas on various subjects, our ambitions, pop culture, and different bands that we liked. I remember introducing him to the band “Rush” and him turning me onto “Dire Straits”, and “The Police”. Vaughn was always hip to the latest movies too and he seemed to especially love comedies in those days. If I remember correctly Vaughn was also interested in comic books, or at least a particularly interesting and funny one called “MAD Magazine!” that he introduced to me in the early 80’s. Since we both held similar interests in reading books we would occasionally find ourselves roaming the halls of either the Whitmore or S.L.C. libraries. In our later teens we would catch a movie here and there and as we got older we would see each other at family events. It was always good to see Vaughn and we always had a hug for each other. He was smart, inquisitive, thoughtful and a great cousin. I’ll miss you Vaughn. Until we meet again cousin! Love you.
Dear Larry and Venise and family: I just read the obituary of your son. Karen and I are deeply sadden by your loss and wish to send our condolences. We lost our eldest daughter about a year ago from breast cancer and have some sense of your feeling. May you and all of your son's impressive family find comfort in the Gospel and solace in the many wonderful memories you have of your life with him. Love to you all. Roger & Karen Cutler
I served briefly with "Elder" Spendlove in the mission office in Bordeaux. My heart, along with my prayers go out to his family.
Vaughn was such a wonderful person. I am glad I had the pleasure of getting to know him. I felt good,knowing he was taking care of my sweet Holly.
I am so devastated. I feel so terrible, for Holly and their children.
I am so sorry for their loss.
Oh Holly, my heart is broken for you. I remember Vaughn being such a kind-hearted, soft-spoken man who loves you so deeply. I am so sorry for your loss. Please know your family is in my prayers.