Two distinguished women in Fairview are being honored as grand marshals of the town’s Pioneer Days celebration. A man who had been chosen as a grand marshal but died April 20 is being honor posthumously.
LuDene Hamilton
LuDene Hamilton, a life- long residents of Fairview, is described as a woman of quiet strength, resilience and deter- mination.
Her roots go back to the founding of the town. She has 16 grandparents spanning six generations in the Fairview Cemetery.
LuDene and her husband, Maurice, bought his family’s farm in Milburn in 1958. LuDene stayed home to raise kids, chase cows and sheep, and grow alfalfa while Maurice traveled working construction. LuDene has shot more deer and cleaned more pheasants than most women her age—and won a few trap shoots too.
In the 1960’s she started her banking career with First Security, retiring in 1993. LuDene had three kids, two spotless houses, a career and dinner always on the table by 6p.m.
After retirement, Maurice and LuDene spent many years volunteering at the Fairview Museum.
LuDene has a love for living demonstrated many times over during her active 90 years. Her Icelandic heritage shows through her passion for winter and cold weather. Snowmobiling was her favorite activity, and in second place was anything Maurice wanted to do for fun, including ice fishing.
Even today she shovels her own snow from her driveway and mows her own lawn.
LuDene has served in many capacities throughout her life in which she has demonstrated outstanding public speaking, financial literacy and community leadership skills.
When her husband and best friend, Maurice, passed away, rather than dwell on the loss, she embraced opportunity. She traveled all over the world and bought a new kitchen table as often as she pleased. She took pleasure in the fact that she could paint her walls a color other than white.
For her 88th birthday she went sky diving in Moab, something her husband had advised against because she didn’t have enough life insurance.
She welcomed her most recent great-grandchild, born in 2014, with a determination that she would live long enough for Grace to remember her fondly. They play together daily.
According to her daughter, LuAnn Greenwell, LuDene’s positive nature and subtle service to others continue to inspire her family.
Dawnie Ramey-Bridges
Margorie Dawn Ramey (Dawnie) was born in Moab in 1955 to Don and Marge Ramey.
They moved to Fairview when she was 3 years old. Her parents owned the Travel Inn Café in Fairview for 30 years. Her father was an old- school cowboy who passed down his skills to his children. Her mom, Marge, was an honest, hardworking, stern mother whose influence can be seen in Dawnie.
Dawnie started riding her Shetland pony, Banjo, when she was 5. As she was growing, she attended 4-H and horsemanship classes and ended up teaching both. She was also active in the Fairview Riding Club and is one of the few members still living.
Dawnie worked hard at her parent’s café and even harder with her horse after work. She graduated from North Sanpete High School and later went on to Snow College where she received her EMT training.
She was a volunteer EMT for North Sanpete Ambulance Service until she moved to West Virginia with her two boys, Jason and Chris Whitman.
Dawnie worked as a medic, EMT, search and rescue volunteer and cave rescuer as well as a trainer for the rapid response teams in West Virginia.
Dawnie moved back to Fairview in 2005 to be closer to her children and grandchildren. In 2010, she was remarried to Lynn Bridges.
She is still involved in riding and teaching the fundamentals of horsemanship she learned from her father. She enjoys the many adventures with her two sons, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Jim Hatfield
James (Jim) Wentworth Hatfield was born June 16, 1943 in Lethbridge, Alberta Canada. He grew up in the small town of Raymond, Alberta, and always had a knack for driving.
He started out driving for his father’s trucking company, and his career was born. He has driven more than 3 million safe-driving miles between Canada and the United States.
He met the love of his life Mary (Penny) Hatfield on a trip to Chicago, which was on a route he traveled frequently. He worked to win her affection, and the effort paid off.
Jim decided to live in the United States full time, and he and Penny moved from Chicago, Illinois to a small town in Indiana. They eventually moved to Utah and absolutely love it.
They spent quite a few years in northern Utah before deciding to leave the hustle and bustle of city life and moved to Fairview in 2002.
Jim had a successful career no matter where he lived. He was a sought-after truck driver, and mentor for the younger people wanting to learn.
He drove for Consolidated Freightways (CF), Yellow, Teamsters and MKJ, to name a few. His employers had nothing but good things to say and were always sad when he moved on to the next adventure. He loved to travel, and while he drove for a living, that’s what he did in his off time too.
He absolutely loved Fairview and did everything he could to lend a helping hand to anyone who needed it. It didn’t matter if a garden needed to be tilled or someone needed help with a new roof. Whatever someone in the community needed, he made sure they got it.
When asked to announce his first horse parade and rodeo during a previous Pioneer Days celebration, he was overjoyed. He died April 20 before he could experience being a grand marshal, but he would have been excited to know he was named honorary grand marshal.
