Fair 30° F

Home > Archive > Jul 5, 2007

Obituaries
Harold Earl
Harold Leavitt Earl, a long-time Las Vegas accountant and church leader, passed away June 21 at an assisted living facility in St. George, Utah. Family members were at his bedside. He was 87.
Harold was born June 9, 1920, in the home of his parents, Ira J. and Lovisa Leavitt Earl, on South Sixth Street, Las Vegas. He attended elementary and high school in Las Vegas and graduated from Brigham Young University with degrees in accounting, economics and music.
While pursuing graduate studies in business at the University of Southern California, he met Hortense Clinger of Orem, Utah. They married July 13, 1945, in the St. George Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The couple lived in Los Angeles for a year before moving to Las Vegas where they made their home in a small apartment they rented form Harold's mother and father, who was then chairman of the Clark County Commission. With the assistance of his wife, Harold began what was to become a long and successful career as an accountant. Later, the couple moved to a home on South Seventh Street where they raised their three daughters and son.
He enjoyed woodworking, traveling, music and family gatherings. Except for the time he was away at school, he lived in Las Vegas all his life until 2004 when he sold the home he had build on South Fifth Place and moved to an assisted living home in Hurricane, Utah.
Harold's father was the first LDS Bishop in Las Vegas and he followed that example in accepting positions of responsibility in the church. He was finance clerk for the Las Vegas Sixth Ward when the congregation built a new meetinghouse a Eighth Street and Franklin Avenue.
In 1961, he was called to serve as bishop of the Sixth Ward, a position he held for six years. He also served in church youth programs, as a stake missionary, a member of the high council of the Las Vegas East Stake and a worker in the Las Vegas Temple.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Tense; and his brothers, Don, Jack and Roy. He is survived by his son, Gregory Earl (Annette) of Las Vegas; his daughters, Nancy Thomas of Hurricane, Marilyn Zobell (Charles) of Las Vegas, and Dorthy Picklesimer (Michael) of St. George; his sister Connie Mae Stephens of Las Vegas; 14 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
Visitation was Friday, June 29, at Davis Paradise Valley Mortuary, 6200 S. Eastern Ave., and Saturday, June 30, at the Las Vegas First Ward LDS Chapel, 1300 S. Eighth St., where services were held later that day. Harold's cousin, Elder Robert E. Wells, a member emeritus of the First Quorum of the Seventy of the LDS Church, spoke at the funeral. Burial followed at the Memorial Gardens, 6200 S. Eastern Ave., Las Vegas.

---