Shad Marvell

Shad Laverl Marvell of Magna, Utah was born on a sunny afternoon on January 29th, 1976 in Roosevelt, Utah. He died suddenly at 3:16 pm November 30th, 2020 in West Valley City of acute pancreatitis. His pancreas ruptured and shut down each of his vital organs one by one.

He is survived by his wife Karena, three sons: Steven, Ryan and Tyler and four grandchildren, his mother Pat Marvell and his father Clifford Marvell.

His was proceeded in death by his two brothers Shane and Shawn Marvell and his grandparents.

Shad was joined in holy matrimony to Karena Rae Geerdes in Provo, Utah. He married the love of his life. She had been his sweetheart since 9th Grade, nearly 30 years ago. They had a wonderful life with three amazing sons and four very closely bonded grandchildren.

Shad was funny clever and creative and a wonderful son, husband, father and grandfather.  He leaves an outstanding legacy in his three sons and four amazing grandchildren who will miss camping at the Little Sahara sand dunes and four-wheeling with Papa Shaddio. This Christmas season very special to him, and we have very vivid memories of Shad holding his grandson Sebastian at the Live Nativity scene and enthusiastically enjoying the Christmas Eve candlelight services.

He has passed on many wonderful values as his legacy, such as hard work,  kindness and hospitality to humans and animals and very astute knowledge of plants and equipment which he passed on. He was a dedicated employee of the State of Utah for the past 8 years serving as an assistant manager at the Magna DABC store. A trained electrician, he could fix anything, carefully teaching his wife and sons the equipment for their lawn care service business. He also worked for a time in Washington, Oregon and California installing cable.

He also leaves a legacy of a love for animals with his black lab Hershey who also passed away recently in 2020. His legacy of good cooking also continues. He is especially known for his famous chili verde that he made for company from all over the world. His hospitality continues on as all those who have lived in their home pass that on to welcome others, and many of his sons’ friends also call him Faderman; he served as a father figure to a lot of people.

He also leaves a legacy of excellent gardening. When they lived in Provo for many years, their backyard became nearly all garden with tall bushes of raspberries with paths to walk between and artichokes and large grape vines. His green thumb created a tropical garden amid this desert wasteland. He lived in Hawaii with his grandmother for one year before meeting his lovely wife, and together they visited Hawaii near their 10th anniversary and had trips throughout Utah and the West and Midwest, including staying at the lake cabin in Minnesota.

He had a wonderful childhood with his mother, a teacher, making sure he had every opportunity for learning such as scouting, football and BYU art and archeology exhibits. He was in many school programs and was baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints. He also learned a lot about farming and ranching, spending fun times at his grandparents’ farm. His Grandpa LaVerl Johnson was his mentor and taught him so much. Shad was so amazing, he could do anything! He made a special effort to help his mother and mother and father-in-law with anything they needed, making quick work of installing a water heater recently. He was a master chef and could sure put a puzzle together, having patience that was noticed as so exceptional when as a young father he was the only family member who had the patience to keep feeding one son who kept eating seemingly for hours in his highchair.

He completed the challenging course at Utah Valley University in Orem to become an electrician and mastered plumbing, stuccoing, roofing, equipment maintenance and every task he tried. He enjoyed doing the electrical work at construction sites while seeing laborers do the grueling tasks he used to do, knowing how they felt.

Peel Funeral Home is handling arrangements and burial will be in the Wellsville City Cemetery next to his brothers.