Elda Tietjen Powell

Elda (Tietjen) Powell of Bluff, Utah passed away peacefully on May 17, 2022 at the age of 91.
Born to Albert and Rebecca Tietjan on July 1, 1930 in Gallup, New Mexico, Elda was the second of five children. She spent her childhood in Rocky Point, Gallup, and Bluewater amongst her large and extended family.
After graduating from Gallup High School Elda met her husband John C. “Jack” Powell.
They married in September of 1950 while Jack was serving in the United States Navy. They had four children of their own and took guardianship of another. The family lived in multiple communities in and around the Navajo Reservation as Jack worked in and operated his own pawn shops and trading posts. The couple's final home was made in Bluff, Utah, Jack’s childhood home.
Elda enjoyed many things in life but among her favorites were gardening and puzzles. She collected frogs of all kinds.
Her hobbies over the years included ceramics, bowling, and playing cards. She was known to collect and/or feed strays, mostly four legged. She enjoyed spending time with her family and people in general, as strangers were not strangers to her, just new people to meet.
Her attitude towards life was to live it, and enjoy every minute of it.
Elda is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Jack, brother Vernon “Nez” Tietjen, son Rod Powell, and grandson Chace Powell. She is survived by her sons: C. Al Powell and wife Janus; Marx Powell and wife Mary (Cookie); Wayne Henderson and wife Larra; her daughter: Jackie Gruette and husband Gene; her sisters: Leonora Wilhelm, Aileen and brother-in-law Ernest (Ernie) Hudson, and Kathern Cranford; sister-in-law Bonnie (“Nez”) Teitjen; 13 grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren.
A Celebration of Life service will be held on May 25th at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Bluff, Utah from 6 to 8 p.m. A graveside service will be held at Pioneer Memorial Park in Bluewater, New Mexico on Thursday, May 26th at 1:00 P.M.

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