Joyce Saurey, 95, passed away peacefully on April 6, 2026 at her home in Rexburg surrounded by loved ones.

Joyce was born on September 8 of 1930 to Joe and Ina Thomson Ball. She attended and graduated school at Sugar-Salem at 17 years old. She then worked for the ASC office, which fit her love of secretariat work, carrying that with her for the rest of her life. She simply loved bookkeeping.

Joyce married the love of her life Grant Saurey on March 1, 1950 in the Idaho Falls LDS temple. They added 6 kids to this beautiful union.

Joyce and Grant were inseparable. They enjoyed camping, allowing them to spend many happy days together in the mountains. They raised a beautiful farm with a herd of cattle. They grew a big beautiful garden. Joyce would often feed farm hands, friends, and even strangers who would stop by using the produce they’d worked so hard to grow.

Joyce loved quilting, crocheting, embroidery work, and puzzles.

Joyce was a very faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She held many callings in the church, spent 17 years in the primary, and sincerely enjoyed working in both the ward and the stake Relief Society presidency as a secretary. She had a deep love for God and her Savior.

Joyce had beautiful blue eyes and a ready smile as well as showering compliments on everyone that she ever met. Joyce loved people and people loved Joyce.

Joyce was a very healthy and strong woman and lived independently at 95, and people would often remark to her that they couldn’t believe she was 95. She loved that.

Joyce was preceded in death by her loving parents, three sisters, and her eternal companion Grant.

Joyce leaves behind a long legacy of love, including her six children Jody (Kelly) Huth, San Francisco, CA; Rosie (Layne) Turner, Big Piney, WY; Floyd (Rita) Saurey Hibbard, ID; Tom (Stacy) Saurey, Denver, CO; Kelly (Debbie) Saurey, Melba, ID; Peggy (Glen) Jeppesen, Salem, ID.

She has 17 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.

A viewing will be held Saturday from 12-12:45 p.m. at Flamm Funeral Home in Rexburg. A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m. at the Rexburg Cemetery.

Our family would like to thank Rexburg Homestead, Assisted Living, and Rexburg Homestead & Hospice.

We love you, Mom.

PAYETTE COUNTY, Idaho — Huge piles of garbage are littering the high desert west of the Treasure Valley, and one Idaho man is organizing a massive volunteer effort to clean up the 20,000-acre area.

Mike Long started the Facebook group 208Cleanup to organize volunteer cleanups across the state. He is hoping to get volunteers to join him on Saturday, April 11, to help remove the trash.

“This one is huge, it’s 20,000 acres,” Long said.

One man’s mission to clean up the Idaho desert

No one hired Long to clean up the desert. He took on the mission because he could not stand to see his home state desecrated.

“There’s more trash in this area than I have picked up in the two years that I’ve been doing this as 208Cleanup,” Long said.

The debris includes mysterious items, like an inflatable, and ordinary household trash.

“This is a bunch of household trash. This was someone’s house that got cleaned up. Clearly, you can see that someone dumped out here thinking no one cares about this land,” Long said.

Some of the garbage contains names, which has prompted an investigation.

“This pile’s been picked over by the BLM law enforcement. They’ve pulled out names and addresses from pieces of mail, so they’re investigating,” Long said.

Long believes community involvement is the key to keeping public lands pristine.

“If we as the community as the actual owners of this land, take care of it, it’s a lot cheaper, plus we’re invested in it, so when people come out to abuse it, it’s us, it’s the people that are seeing them and correcting each other and ourselves,” Long said.

Again, the cleanup is set for Saturday. Long has secured donations of garbage bags and huge dumpsters. He says the landfill has waived its drop-off fee for whatever is collected.
He adds that there are a lot of old, used tires in the area. The landfill will not waive the fees for them, so any donations are welcome. Otherwise, the tires will have to be gathered to one spot until the funds can be raised.

If you plan to volunteer, go to 208Cleanup on Facebook to sign up and learn more. Also, make sure to wear thick gloves and heavy-duty shoes.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.