Patricia Malan Frost, 79, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014, at the Carriage House in Snowflake. A visitation will be held from 6 to 8 o’clock tonight (Oct. 17) at Owens Livingston Mortuary-Heritage Chapel, located at 84 E. 19th South in Snowflake. The funeral service will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Snowflake Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 175 W. Ninth South, where additional visitation will begin one hour prior to the service. The concluding service and interment will immediately follow at the R.V. “Mike” Ramsay Memorial Cemetery in Snowflake.
Patricia Anna was born on June 1, 1935, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the third child of Lorenzo and Anna (Squires) Decker.
Her first year was spent in St. Johns, where her father taught Seminary. The following year, her family moved to Snowflake to help run the family ranch. She grew up in Snowflake, where she attended grade school and high school. She then attended Brigham Young University and graduated with a degree in education in 1955.
She taught school in Joseph City for one year and then accepted a call from the LDS church to serve a mission in the Switzerland-Austrian Mission.
After her mission, she taught school in Snowflake for several years. During her years of teaching and living in Snowflake, she served in the MIA program of the South West Indian Mission and was loved by those young people she served there. She moved to Tucson and taught school for a year. She then decided to broaden her horizons and moved to Phoenix, where she worked for the LDS Social Services in the adoption program. After joyfully serving there for several years, she moved to Chicago, Ill., where her older brother lived at the time, and went to interior design school. It was there that she met a tall and handsome dental school student who captured her heart, and she and Scott Malan were married on June 1, 1972, in the Mesa Temple.
After they finished dental school they moved to Snowflake, where Scott practiced dentistry for many years until his death in 1995. Patricia was a wonderful support to him, working in and managing the dental office.
On Feb. 4, 1975, they were blessed with a beautiful baby daughter, Jeannie. She brought much joy and happiness into their lives.
Patricia, along with many others, was very instrumental in the restoration of and giving tours at the Smith Memorial Home in Snowflake.
She served another mission as a senior single sister for the LDS church in the Dallas Texas Mission. After she returned from her mission, she served in the Snowflake Temple, where she met Jerry Frost. They were married on June 12, 2004. They served a mission together in the New York South Mission and later served together in the Snowflake Temple, as well as the Bishop’s Storehouse, until Patricia was too ill to serve any further. Jerry compassionately cared for her during her illness.
Her father, Lorenzo Decker, wrote this in his journal about Patricia, “She has been a wonderful school teacher, social worker, Indian Mission Board member and has many wonderful gifts and talents.”
She was preceded in death by her parents, Lorenzo and Anna Decker; her husband, Scott Malan; her sister, Janet Wallis; her brother, Fred Decker; and sister-in-law, Dee Ann Decker.
Survivors include her daughter, Jeannie Malan; her husband, Jerry Frost; her sister, Catherine Overson; three brothers, Daniel (Bonnie) Decker, David (Sandra) Decker and Jared (Kathy) Decker; and many nieces and nephews, whom she loved so dearly, and they adored her.
