Louella " LOU" H Harrison

Obituary for Louella H. Harrison

Monday, March 12, 1934, Louella was the third and youngest child born to Leo Vernon Hancock and Ethel Morris Hancock. Louella, or "Lou" as most knew her, was raised in, and attended schools in Roosevelt, and the Salt Lake City area.

Louella married Philip Boyde Harrison and blessed him with four daughters, Teri, Cynthia, Katherine, and Jennifer.

After living and working in Utah and SL Counties, the couple returned home to the Uintah Basin in 1965, to raise their family and return to small town living. The couple lived for a short time in the Maser area, where the girls attended grade school, were active in 4H, enjoyed farm life and grew up in an idyllic age, where the family made many lifelong friends. Lou worked at Sprouse Jewelers, Flying Diamond Land & Mineral Corporation, and El Paso Natural Gas, before turning full time to run a highly successful Real Estate Brokerage with her husband. In 1969 they bought an old 45-acre farm, which purchase set in motion a career change for both, and they decided that Real Estate was their calling. They first operated under the brokerage of Western Land Realty, then got their own Brokers licenses operating as United Country, and finally, Phil Harrison Real Estate, as active agents for more than 40 years.

After Phil's death in 2006, Lou continued to sell real estate until she was 75 years old, and even today, many people will tell you they greatly admire the integrity and no-nonsense approach Phil and Lou exhibited in all their business and personal relationships. Prior to, and during their ownership of the real estate businesses, Lou was a co-owner & operator of Sis's Attic, a curio and secondhand shop, that also doubled as the largest costume shop between Denver and Salt Lake City.

Lou was a woman of many and varied interests. She was at home in the sand and cedars, in the pines, streams and beneath open skies. She had a sharp eye and a quick reach when it came to relics, but more than that, she had a deep and abiding respect for the Native American culture and several of her finds are in museums across Southern Utah.

She enjoyed a simple life, watching for deer and elk in the fields below her home, counting wild turkeys and quail, and listening to Meadowlarks. She enjoyed wildflowers and wildlife. Lou was a talented artist, Nature inspired and was reflected in her art, whether exquisite tiny florals on her ceramics or a fawn beneath sweeping pines in oils.

Louella had a keen eye for horseflesh and enjoyed the western side of life, something she shared with her husband.

She could sit a saddle very well, and was a member of the local riding club, The Dinah Spurs, for many years and enjoyed the lifelong friendships that those women shared. You'd find her in the stands if one of her girls was riding or if Phil was roping.

Lou took up Trap Shooting to spend more time with Phil, and that arrangement worked very well until she began to outshoot him. Together they sponsored several youths in trapshooting competitions, were Directors of the Vernal Rod & Gun Club, and shot competitively at the Grand American Trap Shoot in Vandalia, Ohio. Phil and Lou were members of the prestigious Shoshone Trap Shoot held for many years in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Lou has trophies and titles she still holds from that Gun Club.

One of Lou's many talents was that she was a master at most any card game you can think of. She enjoyed Canasta, Foot and Mouth, Gin Rummy, Bridge, and many other old standards. She played a weekly card gathering with friends she had known all her life, and she looked very forward to it every week. She hosted once a month and took great delight in seeing her cherished friends around her table. Card games kept her mind sharp, and she especially enjoyed teaching her grandkids how to play.

Phil & Lou lost their youngest daughter Jennifer in 1982, in an auto related accident, and in many ways that loss shaped many of the following years. Her family was always first, and she celebrated each of her four daughters, and their families at every chance.

Louella passed away peacefully at Uintah Basin Medical Center, Roosevelt, Utah. Tuesday evening, March 15, 2023, surrounded by the very family that brought her greatest joys. The room was full of love and grace as we bid our sweet mother goodbye.

Louella is preceded in death by her daughter Jennifer Joe (Harrison) Bentley (Roger), and her husband of 69 years Philip B. Harrison. She is lovingly survived by her daughters, Teri D. Steinmetz, Cyndy (Tim) Sampley, and Kathy (Dale) Fedelleck, each and all from Vernal, Utah. Grandchildren Cara Goodman (Clint), Phillip G. Pearson (Dusty), Leslie Rich (Andrew), Jamie Larimore and Jessica Mergens, twelve Great Grandchildren and one Great-Great grandson.

A Graveside Service will be held at 1:00 pm, Friday, April 21, 2023, at the Vernal Memorial Park (1750 S 500 E) 

Celebration of Life scheduled (same day) for 2:30 pm at the Vernal Elks Lodge #2375 (35 N 300 W).