Everett Blair Maxfield
Blair was born on June 13th, 1921 In Delta Utah to Archelaus Hans Maxfield and Lella Stapley. He was the
oldest of 5 boys. His brothers are Garff J, Maynard Kean, Dwight Stapley and Thayne Covert. He grew up
in and around Delta, Utah. He was very involved in High School in everything but his studies. He played
in the band, orchestra, choir, dance band was also a member of the Utah State Class B Championship
football team and catcher for the town recreation baseball team. He graduated from Delta High School
in 1940.
There are many stories he tells about his growing up years that I could share, but I don’t think he would
appreciate them being in print. Even if the statute of limitations has expired. Let’s just say he had an
active imagination and it never was his intention to harm anyone or damage any property, it just
sometimes could have happened…dynamite & blasting caps……. milk cow on the two story school
roof……borrowing his uncle’s car without asking and bring it back covered in grease woods….itching
powder on the dance floor…… I could go on, but I will leave it up to you to ask him yourself.
After high school he headed off to Dixie Jr. College to play football, but after a semester he quit and
started driving truck until WWII started. He tried to join the Marine, but didn’t pass the physical because
of a heart murmur, so he tried the Navy, was turned down there too, so when he was drafted by the
Army he figured they wouldn’t want him either. He was wrong. He was enlisted on September 2, 1943
into the Army Air Force where he volunteered for gunnery school. He led his class in all the ground to
ground firing, but he couldn’t hit a barn from the air. He was transferred to the ground support group
where he became the teletype supervisor for the 390th bomb squad stationed in Framlingham, England.
He served there until the end of the European part of the war.
After the war ended he went home to Delta and worked some odd jobs. In 1946 he received a call from
Bishop Black asking him to accept a LDS mission call. After a bit of hemming and hawing he accepted. A
“little bit” of straightening up had to occur before he left for the British Mission on March 7, 1947. He
has always said that this mission calling saved his life. If it hadn’t been for this, none of the good stuff
would have ever happened in his life, and he wouldn’t be alive today.
When he returned home from his mission he had finally decided to grow up and made the decision to
use the GI bill and go to college. He threw away his little black book, sold his guns and went to work on
the books. First attending BAC (now SUU) in Cedar City, UT and later at BYU in Provo, UT. It was while
attending the “Y” that he got in contact with an old friend from High School, Eda Theobald. She was a
single mom with a young son. He talked her into renting out one of her bedrooms to him and two
buddies. In the fall of his senior year as a joke they ending up going on a date together and that started
something. They were married on June 2, 1955 in the Salt Lake City Temple and Blair not only became a
husband, but a father to Russell C Maxfield and he also graduated from BYU with his BS in Geology that
day.
Blair was offered a job with the Shell Oil Company after graduation and worked for them as an
exploration geologist in the southeast part of Utah and later as a micro paleologist in the Arctic Slope
until 1965. During the time with Shell Oil Company, they moved from Provo UT to Salt Lake City UT, to
Bakersfield CA, to Sacramento CA and to Seattle WA. Two daughters were added to the family along the
way. LaDaun born on August 15, 1958 and Anita Rae born on June 28, 1963. In 1965 he decided to leave
Shell Oil Company and take a gamble to move his family back to Utah to work on his doctorate degree at
BYU while waiting for a geology teaching position to become available at SUSC (formally BAC and
currently SUU) in Cedar City, UT. The family moved to Cedar City in August 1969 and E. Blair Maxfied
became a professor. In 1975 he finished his doctorate degree in micro paleologist. He found his true
calling in life. He loved teaching. He was always taking students and anyone that wanted to go on field
trips. We used to kid him that are family vacations, were field trips without a test. He retired from SUSC
in June of 1986.
After both Blair and Eda retired in 1987 they were called on an LDS mission to Perth, Australia. They
served an 18 month mission. Soon after they returned home they were called to a service mission at the
St. George Temple. They worked at the temple for 7 ½ years. They were later called for a mission in the
Cedar City Regional LDS Employment Center until Eda’s health deteriorated too much for them to do the
job.
Eda was diagnosed with Alzheimer in 1993 and Blair was her sole care giver until she passed away on
March 9, 2009. His love for her showed through in the care he gave her and the little things he did for
her because he knew that she had always enjoyed them.
Blair has kept himself busy even after retirement whether it be taking people on “field trips” enjoying
his grandchildren (Georgeanna, Korie, Kristopher, Jessica, Jeramie, Sheldon and Shanelle) and greatgrandchildren (Aspen, Chaz, Ryan, Tyler, Grayson, Becca, Ronan) and working on genealogy. He recently
moved from Cedar City Utah to Farmington, Utah to his daughter’s Anita home with her family. This was
so he could be closer more of the little ones. He still keeps his independency even at 94 and has to be
reminded that if he is taking off and won’t be home for dinner, he needs to let someone know. He
usually gets up at 7:00 each morning and works several hours a day on genealogy. He loves learning the
history of the people that came before him. He has been so excited for this reunion and seeing all these
Maxfield’s come together.