Veda S. Anderson was born May 24, 1919 to Ammon Y and Jane Spence Satterfield, the seventh of nine children of the pioneering family. Veda was valedictorian of her class at Pocatello High School and always loved and excelled in learning and scholastic endeavors. The first of her family to pursue higher education, she received her BA from University of Utah and started her teaching career at Ucon high school north of Idaho Falls.
Her next teaching job was in the Japanese internment camps. She taught at the Topaz camp in Utah first, then at the Minidoka camp by Twin Falls. She fostered great admiration and love for the Japanese people through her work with them.
They remained forever in her heart. She earned her Masters at Stanford in sociology and continued her work with the Japanese, setting up the Japanese relocation offices in the Midwest. There she worked to find jobs and homes for the ones left homeless after their release from internment.
She also set up the Adjutant General office at University of Michigan Law School to supply teachers of Japanese language to the military. Her social work continued at University of Michigan as she did case work for genetic research on the Hiroshima Maidens and retinoblastoma. Veda then worked many years as a case worker for the Michigan Children’s Institute, finding new families for orphaned or state ward children.
Veda loved children so much and she often said it was never a ‘job. ’ Veda met her husband, Harry W. Anderson on the Snake River while fly fishing. The lesson on fly tying tied two hearts together.
They were married on Christmas Eve, 1952, by their friend George Romney. They lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan and raised their daughter, Jane Kristen, on their ‘gentleman’s farm. ’ In 1959, Harry was killed in a tragic hunting accident when Kristen was only 5 years old and Veda was left alone to raise her child.
She kept busy and never faltered. She was involved with the Kidney Foundation, becoming a founding member on the board and National President of the Foundation. She finished her PhD at the University of Michigan and also served as a Regent to Eastern Michigan University.
Veda was preceded in death by all of her siblings, Lucille, Rulon, Bea, Chick, Grace, Homer, Jean and Jack. She is survived by her daughter, Jane Kristen and a host of Satterfield relatives who loved her dearly. Veda was always a sweet, generous and gracious lady.
It’s really hard to list all the things she’s seen and done in her 99 years, but her heart and kind soul will always be with us. She has led a star-studded epic and fruitful life and is now at peace. Her love is everywhere.
Funeral Services will be Friday May 11, 2018 at 12 noon in the LDS Butte and Hiskey Chapel with Bishop Ryan Peck officating. There will be a family gathering starting at 11am.
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