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ILENE BICKMORE LANEY

Oct 5, 2022

Ilene Bickmore Laney, age 96 years of age, passed away peacefully on the afternoon of Monday October 3, 2022 at her home in Orem Utah. Ilene was born on February 6, 1926 in Paradise, Cache County, Utah, the tenth of eleven children and last daughter of Ellery Bickmore and Leah (Orgill) Bickmore. Ilene grew up on a dairy farm in Paradise, Utah. She loved life on the farm and loved to ride horses. She graduated co-valedictorian from South Cache High School in Hyrum, Utah in 1944 and received a scholarship to attend Utah State University. While at school in 1946, she met a handsome young man named Clif Laney, who was on the same debate team, and they became engaged on Veterans Day in 1947. Ilene graduated from Utah State with a Bachelor’s Degree in History in 1948, and then married the love of her life, Clifton N. Laney on June 1, 1948, in the Logan LDS Temple.

Ilene taught History at Lewiston Junior High in Lewiston, Utah near the Idaho border for one year while Clif finished his schooling. After his graduation, Clif and Ilene moved to Ontario, Oregon, to run a church farm. It was there that their first son David was born on September 27, 1950. After a time the family moved to Boise, Idaho to farm with his father, Clifton Isaac Laney on Cole Road.

In the fall of 1952, Ilene and the family followed Cliff, who decided to go back to Utah State in Logan, Utah, where he completed his teaching credential in the spring of 1953. On April 17, 1953 their second son, Blaine, was born in Logan, Utah. In the fall the family moved to Blackfoot, Idaho, where Clif had his first teaching job at Firth High School nearby.

In 1956, Ilene and the family moved to Southern California, where Clif was offered a job teaching English at Bellflower High School, where he taught until 1991. After moving to California, their third son Lance was born in May 1957, and in in 1963, their only daughter Nanette was born. They enjoyed their time in Southern California and made many lifelong friends there. After Clif’s retirement in 1991, Ilene and Cliff moved to Orem, Utah, where she has lived for the last 31 years.

Ilene has always been active in the LDS Church and served in Primary, Relief Society, Cub Scout Den Leader, and Family History Consultant. While living in Southern California, she was also a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Her husband Clif was a very active missionary and taught many people the gospel as a Stake Missionary and Seventy. Consequently, Ilene’s home was a center for gospel teaching, and also where much singing, laughter and love abounded. Ilene was an avid sports fan and followed the Los Angeles Dodgers, the LA Rams and Los Angeles Lakers. She taught her children to love the Lord, and serve to Him with all their hearts. She loved the temple and loved to find names for temple work and go to the temple to do that sacred work. She loved her family, children and grandchildren and her brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. She loved music, and played the clarinet in the High School Band at South Cache High School and also in the orchestra at Utah State. She loved to sing with her children and with her sister Becky and other family members. While living in Paradise, she sang with the Relief Society Singing Sisters, along with others of her family.

Ilene loved the Lord and prayed earnestly for many and was always grateful for her blessings. She focused what she could do, not what she couldn’t and thanked God for it. She used to say, “I count my blessings before I count my sheep, and then I go to sleep.” Ilene loved her family, she loved her neighbors and she loved her God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Her lively sense of humor and her attitude of gratitude has carried her through many difficult trials and enabled her to live a long and happy life.

Ilene is survived by her sons David (Gillene) and Blaine (Dorothy) Laney, her daughter Nanette (Frank) Lewis; seven grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren. She was pre-deceased by her youngest son, Lance Laney, her husband, Clifton N. Laney, plus her parents and all her siblings.

A viewing will be held on Saturday, October 8th, at 9:00-9:45 AM, at the Canyon View 5th Ward building, 762 East 1200 North, Orem, Utah 84097. Funeral services will immediately follow at 10:00 AM. Burial will be the same afternoon at the Paradise Cemetery in Paradise, Utah. The viewing and funeral services will be live streamed at www.walkersanderson.com