Veda Satterfield Anderson

Veda S. Anderson was born May 24, 1919 to Ammon Y and Jane Spence Satterfield, the seventh of nine children of a pioneering family. She died May 3rd, 2018, just short of 99 yrs. old.
Veda was valedictorian of her class of 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 the 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 here 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 the University of Michigan Law School to supply teachers of the 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 and made their home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Harry was a Vice President of General Motors.
They were blessed to have one daughter, who they named Jane Kristen, who they raised on a “gentleman’s farm”, and who they doted over and dearly loved. Veda was a devoted mother to Kris as well as her many friends. She enjoyed taking Kris to the Waterloo Hunt Club where she hunted and road horses. She also loved going to the Otsego Ski Club, Europe, and Kailua, Kona, Hawaii, where she made many close friends and had happy days.
As Kris got older, Veda was instrumental in getting a private school built in Ann Arbor for her and her friends to attend, naming the library after her husband Harry, who had been killed in a tragic accident when Kris was only four years old. Being left alone to raise her child, she kept busy and never faltered. She often filled her guest house with friends who enjoyed having a retreat in the country. She was involved with the Kidney Foundation, becoming a founding member of 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 (Ruby), Chick (Charles), 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 a sweet, generous and gracious lady. It’s hard to list all of the things she’s seen and done in her 99 years of life, but her heart and kind soul will always be with us. She led a star-studded, epic, and fruitful life and is now at peace. Her love is everywhere—especially with Kris.
Funeral services will be held at 12 noon on Friday May 11, 2018 at the LDS Chapel on Butte and Hiskey with Bishop Ryan Peck officiating. The family will receive friends 1 hour prior to services at the church. Interment will be in Mountainview Cemetery. Arrangements are under the care of Manning-Wheatley Funeral Chapel.