Ruth Newton Dayhuff

Obituary

1957 - 2026

Ruth Newton Dayhuff

Apr 2, 1957 — Jul 6, 2026

Ruth Newton Dayhuff, 69, passed away peacefully at home, in Centerville, Utah. Her final months were filled with a courageous struggle against glioblastoma. Ruth was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 2, 1957, to John Parker Newton and Mary Alice Hamilton Newton. She grew up in Salt Lake City, attending local schools and graduating from Highland High School. Although Ruth didn’t grow up on a farm, she still knew the value of hard work and amazed us all with her seemingly endless energy.

Ruth’s greatest joy in life was centered in her family. She was a dedicated wife, mother, grandmother and homemaker. She and David welcomed four children into their home and raised them across the country, starting in Utah, then Missouri and Texas. Ruth had common refrains that were often repeated through the years. Among those are; “Are we having fun yet?”, “We are a family and we treat each other with kindness and respect.”, and “In the world, there are workers and watchers. Which are you?”. She taught her children kindness and love by example, as she strived to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in word and in deed. Later, as grandchildren arrived, she effortlessly embraced the title of Grandma and quickly mastered the art of spoiling them. The only thing she cherished more than being a mom was being a grandma.

Ruth’s greatest attributes were empathy, compassion, and loving concern for others. She manifested this as a mother, through service to neighbors, and in her work as a registered nurse. At age twelve, she had an epiphany that she should be a nurse and never wavered from that. She graduated from Brigham Young University as a Registered Nurse. She worked for a while in the infirmary at Liahona High School in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. She found her passion in Labor and Delivery where she worked for 40 of her 45-year career. She cared for many laboring mothers in hospitals in Utah, Missouri, and Texas. In the later years of her career, she also worked in bereavement care for families who lost children at birth.

Music was always an important part of Ruth’s life. She was an accomplished pianist. Ruth loved to sing and participated in many choirs, including the Highland High School Seminary Choir, the Mormon Youth Choir and ward and stake choirs. While raising her family, Sunday evenings were often spent gathered around the piano singing together, creating treasured family memories of both profound spiritual experiences and uproarious laughter.

Ruth served two missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a young woman, she served in San Diego, California and as a senior missionary in Lima, Peru alongside her husband. In Peru, she was a beloved health advisor for the missionaries of the Lima Peru Central and the Arequipa, Peru missions. She also served in the Lima, Peru, Missionary Training Center where she helped prepare new missionaries to serve and taught them the basics of conducting congregational singing. Happy Banana! She served in numerous callings in the Church, but her favorite was teaching the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class. She was a gifted teacher.

Ruth’s legacy of love, service, and music will be remembered by all those who came to know her.

She is survived by her husband of 42 years, David; her children, Kaitlyn (Jeremy), Scott (Rissa), Eric (Amber), James (Paige) and her ten grandchildren (Ezra, Jessie, Charles, Jack, Jemma, Kora, Sadie, Holden, Lucy, and Annie). She is also survived by her siblings: Jack (Kathy), Laura, Jim (Helen), David, and Mark, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, extended family and constructed family.

A celebration of Ruth’s life will be held on Saturday, July 18, 2026, at the Centerville South Stake Center, 270 North 300 East, Centerville, UT 84014.

Visitation starts at 9:30 AM MDT

Funeral starts at 11:00 AM MDT

Services will be streamed over Zoom.

Meeting ID: 970 8528 5506

https://zoom.us/j/97085285506

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From Ruth's family blog:

https://surroundedbylove.substack.com/p/ruths-final-months

Final Updates

Ruth Newton Dayhuff passed away on July 6, 2026. It was a peaceful passing in her home with no need for medications, IV’s, or medical devices of any type. She was not alone during her passing.

February 26 was the last update that was sent to all of you. Part of that was on purpose: the challenges she was facing were very dynamic (ie, changing week-to-week or even day-to-day) so it was hard to capture exactly what was happening. The other hard part about sending out an update was something much more boring and relatable: the busyness of life! Thank you for your patience during that time.

Final Months

Ever since February 26, Ruth was truly putting up a strong battle against cancer. She underwent a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. This went on for 4 - 6 weeks. Radiation Therapy came to its end of the planned cycles, and chemotherapy was intentionally paused under the direction of the doctors. While the follow up MRI demonstrated that this approach likely slowed down the growth of the tumor, the side effects took an extreme toll on her body. Her body never recovered (white blood cell counts, platelet creation, muscle atrophy, etc) from those treatments.

It isn’t of much use at this point to go into further detail, but know that all decisions and actions for her care were filled with faith, hope, and trusting in God with a perspective beyond this mortal world.

Ever since January 8, the night of her original diagnosis, we talked as a family that she needed to make it to late June for our final family reunion in Park City. I’m happy to report that she did indeed fight the good fight to make it to Park City! Our whole family was able to rally around each other, and her, for a few days of fun, love, and acceptance of the inevitable.

As a final tender mercy, and a love letter to Dave, she held on for 2 more weeks until Ruth and Dave’s 42nd anniversary on July 6. I personally think she knew what she was doing by holding out until that date. In all things, Dave and Ruth were unified in their marriage and they are happily sealed together forever. Death will not part them. The sting of death is swallowed up in the Christ.

She was a bright light to everyone throughout her entire life and even into her final moments. Her gifts of compassion and love for others never, ever faded.

Surrounded By Love

The title of this newsletter expresses the feeling that Ruth, Dave, and all her kids have felt through this process. Surrounded by Love. The number of visitors coming in and out to visit Ruth and Dave over the past few months has been deeply appreciated.

So without being able to express it any better: thank you for everything, to everyone.

Hopefully we can all be better because of Ruth’s light. Hopefully we can surround each other by love and compassion continually to honor her memory.

Funeral / Celebration of Life - Details

I’ve attached the actual invitation below. But in case that doesn’t render on whatever device you happen to look at this one, here are the details in plain text.

• A celebration of Ruth’s life will be held on Saturday, July 18, 2026, at the Centerville South Stake Center, 270 North 300 East, Centerville, UT 84014.

  • Visitation starts at 9:30 AM MDT

  • Funeral / Service starts at 11:00 AM MDT (same location as above)

• Services will be streamed over Zoom.

  • Meeting ID: 970 8528 5506

  • https://zoom.us/j/97085285506

Admin Note: As always, if you have personal memories of Ruth to share with classmates, click the 'Post Comment' icon located at the bottom of this page.

https://www.memorialutah.com/obituaries/ruth-dayhuff