July 11, 1945-April 20, 2024
Faith Ann Kimbell was born July 11, 1945, at East Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas. Her father was Royal Oscar Kimbell, a sergeant in the Army Air Corps, and her mother was Florence Vaughn Kimbell (nee Nurse), a teacher. This was a surprise since her mother had been afflicted with polio as a child and was thought incapable of becoming pregnant.
Being a military family necessitated a great deal of moving on their part. They were stationed in the continental United States with one detour to Alaska, which was still a territory at that time. Due to her mother’s bout with polio as a child, there were several instances where Faith had to be cared for by her maternal Grandparents. This had a significant influence on her upbringing since they were both British and thus instilled in Faith a sense of social propriety that colored her view of the world.
Faith’s grandparents owned a fruit packing company on the Isle of Pines, a small island off the coast of Cuba, so Faith was exposed early in life to a different culture than the ones in middle America, which was where her father was mainly stationed, usually attached to ROTC units on college campuses.
When the time came for her father to retire, he honored a promise he had made to his wife and retired to Miami to be near to her parents, who had moved north after selling their interests in the Isle of Pines when Castro started his activities in Cuba. At this time, Faith was about 15, and her demeanor was best described as “goody two shoes.” Faith’s family selected a church to attend, and there met and became friends with a local family who had children, one of whom was a boy 18 months older than Faith.
While the relationship between the parents was salubrious, the reactions between the teenagers could be best described as distaste and disdain. While forced to associate at church due to circumstances beyond their control, they managed to avoid almost all other contact with “the filthy beast.”
Now, fast-forward eight years. Both kids have graduated. Faith went to work at a couple of jobs, had a short, disastrous marriage, and landed her dream job working for a company that manufactured dental equipment. The company was owned by an Israeli man who quickly recognized what a gem he had, and Faith became a crucial part of the company.
The boy, let’s call him Mike, went to college, was forced to sit out a semester due to grades and was drafted. He went into the Air Force, went to tech school, and then to Japan, where he spent just over three years. On his way back from Japan to his next tech school, he decided to stop in and see his family before going overseas again for another four years. Faith’s family invited him over for dinner one night; Faith reluctantly stayed and thus began a 56-year journey.
The dinner invitation turned into every night during leave, and when he finally left to go to the tech school and reenlist, they were engaged. When informed of the momentous decision, Faith’s mother reminded her of a statement to the effect that, “after Dad retires, I’m never moving again.” Since she was now engaged to a sergeant in the Air Force, which carried a high probability of moving every three years during his career in the service, however long it might be. At this time, according to a reliable source, all Faith said was, “I know, but he’s worth it.”
The engagement happened in October, and Mike went to Syracuse, New York, for tech school and came back to Miami. He and Faith were married in a small ceremony on Dec. 28, 1968. Their honeymoon consisted of a drive from Miami to Syracuse. Once they were in Syracuse, they began their lives as a married couple, with Mike going to school, Faith working at the University in the Psychology Dept, and after work learning to live together as a couple without help (or interference) from anyone else.
After Syracuse, Mike was assigned to Berlin, where Faith acquired a liking for currywurst and where their daughter, Heather, was born. Mike then became a civilian, went back to school to finish his degree, and then went to work for the Feds at his agency’s HQ in Maryland. This lasted 18 months, and then they were back overseas in England. The day after their arrival in England, Faith turned to Mike and said, “We’re really here” with such glee, she sounded like a small kid who found an endless candy dispenser.
When they returned from England eight years later, Faith found her true calling — working in a bookstore. Starting with volunteering as a Christmas helper, she soon progressed to regular full-time employee, assistant manager to manager to manager of the largest store in Maryland-Virginia-District of Columbia region, and then manager of the year for the region. It was then that Mike dropped a wrench in the works by telling her that he intended, when he retired, to be out of the state of Maryland that same day. She was deathly afraid that he was planning on retiring to Florida, which she hated, so she immediately broke out the books on places to retire and thought Washington State sounded good. So, Mike found a place where he could work, and they moved to Yakima, Washington.
They spent twenty-six years in Yakima, the longest time either one of them had ever spent in one place. Then, the person who was to be Heather’s guardian when Mike and/or Faith became unable to cope mentioned that since he lived and worked in Utah and would for several more years, it made sense to move Heather to Utah so he could monitor her care from a closer range than a thousand miles. Thus, St. George and her final adventure.
Faith was an adventurous, capable, kind, loving and generous woman and a wife like no other. She was the one who took three separate people and molded them into a family.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 4, at 10 a.m., with a viewing prior at 9 a.m., at the Metcalf Mortuary Chapel, 288 W. St. George Blvd., St. George, Utah. Interment will follow in Tonaquint Cemetery, 1777 S. Dixie Dr. in St. George.
Arrangements are under the care of Metcalf Mortuary, 435-673-4221. Visit the Metcalf Mortuary website for condolences, complete obituary and funeral listings.