Gregory’s Obituary Gregory Val Kunz was born March 6, 1951 in Montpelier, Idaho. He was the youngest of three children born to Reed Lynn and Carol (Wright) Kunz. The family moved to Soda Springs where Greg attended schools.
He was an outstanding athlete, particularly good at basketball, baseball, track and golf. He was very proud in high school to letter in track. His love for Labradors began in the late 60’s, with his first black lab named Mack.
He graduated from Soda Springs High school in 1969, and shortly after married his high school sweetheart Arvella David on July, 20th of that year. Greg and Arvella moved to Conda and Greg began his career working at the JR Simplot company. He was very fortunate to work with his brother Randy in the chemists laboratory, where he was also able to bring his dog Sirr Man to work with him on a daily basis.
Greg and Arvella began their family in Conda – where Becky and Nichole were raised before moving the family into the big city of Soda Springs in 1974. Their third child Trevor was born in Soda Springs in 1978. When Simplot opened the Smoky Canyon Mine, Greg and his family moved to Star Valley where he continued his work as a lab supervisor.
This move was a great life experience for the family, as they under took the process of building their log home while living in the unfinished basement. At his Star Valley home, Greg surrounded the family with the outdoors and nature. The surroundings there allowed Greg to share his love of hunting, and his passion for the outdoors to be passed down to his children and later grandchildren.
Greg was fiercely independent and made sure he had his family taken care of and that he always had a plan for tough times. He built a snowplow truck to keep the Star Valley Ranch road open throughout the winter and always made sure the neighbors were cleared out too. In 2006, when Greg retired from Simplot, he and Arvella moved to Wellsville UT where they spent a couple years until Arvella retired from Wells Fargo Bank.
Longing for Idaho, they found a small hobby ranch to buy where they fulfilled a lifelong dream and moved to Bancroft, Idaho. There they enjoyed raising chickens, livestock, horses and a few turkeys too. The grandkids loved the activities the ranch provided.
Greg setup a target range for shooting and everyone enjoyed target practicing on the shooting grounds. In 2017, Greg and Arvella moved just outside of Soda Springs, on the Cedar View Road where he and Arvella continued enjoying country living and passing the time watching the wildlife from the valley and mountain range off of their deck. There they continued enjoying the company of their loyal Labrador retrievers.
In his latter years Greg suffered from complications of undetected Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever. Even though he dealt with tremendous pain he always had a great attitude and put friends and family first. Everything he did after he retired was with an eye towards his family.
Greg passed away peacefully from pneumonia in the presence of his family in Soda Springs at 7:07pm on Feb 17, 2019. He was preceded in death by his parents Reed Lynn and Carol Kunz and his brother Randy Kunz. He is survived by his wife Arvella and children Becky and DeWayne Merritt (Hyrum UT), Nichole Ruiz (San Diego CA), Trevor and Desiree Kunz (Thayne WY) and his sister Carolynn and Ron Lau (Emmett ID).
He is also survived by 10 grandchildren many close nieces and nephews. Services will be held on Wednesday, February 20 at Noon at the Soda Springs Hooper LDS Chapel. Family will visit with friends on Tuesday evening from 7-8 p.m. at the Funeral Home and on Wednesday morning 10-11:30 a.m. at the Church prior to services.
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