Tonya Janet Lewis Sloan (Tony)

Our mom died peacefully with her kids at home, due to complications of old age, on May 10, 2019.  Tonya Janet Lewis, was born on October 21, 1934, to Oliver Donovan and Chrystal (Caldwell) Lewis, in Oxnard, California.  She was the oldest of three children and is survived by her brother Bill (Tere) Lewis of Cottage Grove, OR.  She preferred to be called Tony and knew if you were friend or foe based on how you pronounced her name.  She graduated from Chula Vista High School in 1952. She served in the United States Air Force where she met our dad, Bruce Paxman Sloan, who was serving in the United States Army.  They met in September 1954 and were married November 12, 1954. 

She is preceded in death by her parents, sister Tish Wright of San Diego, CA., husband Bruce (2009), two children–Chrystal (1955) and Kenny (2013), mother-in-law (Julia Paxman Sloan Neslen), sister-in-law Irene (Bob) Shaw.

She is survived by four children–Greg, Dan, Janet (Edward Campos), Amy (Bard Holbrook), and many grandchildren–Trevor (Kirstena) Sloan, Dard & Katy Campos, Jaron & Jessie Holbrook, and many nieces and nephews. She loved and adopted into the family Eileen, Cory, and Nicole Rasmussen.  

Tony had a GIANT heart and was always welcoming people into our home when they needed some help and a place to stay.  She would give a stranger her last dime if they asked.  She loved animals and had many.  She loved flowers & gardening.  Throughout her life she had many jobs: delivering newspapers in the early hours of the morning before going to a full-time job (the sunrises put a silver lining on our mornings together).  Her first job after the Air Force was at OC Tanner, where she made friends with four women who would remain lifelong friends for the next 50 years.  Quitting OC Tanner was hard but she needed a better paying job, which landed her at ATI, where she made another group of close friends who loved and supported her for the next 45 years.  After ATI she spent the remainder of her working years caring for elderly people and their homes, including the daily caregiving of her “Angel Boy” Kenny.  During these years (1980’s) she was able to travel with some of her life-long friends to Hong Kong and the Philippines.  These girlfriends would gather regularly and travel to Spring City, UT, for weekends to visit a close friend who had moved there.  She spoke often with friends from her childhood and a girlfriend from the Air Force (we love you Bobby Blauvelt).  She gave the BEST hugs and had the warmest hands to rub our cold backs when sore. Even though she lived her whole adult life in Salt Lake City, her heart remained in California, always mentioning that she “LOVED the smell of the ocean”. 

She was the BEST mom we could have ever asked for and we will miss her beautiful smile, spirit, generosity, and love for life.
“Good Night, I love You, Sweet Dreams.”
–This was her nightly saying while tucking her in.

The family invites friends and family to join them in sharing memories of an amazing woman, on Thursday, May 30, 2019 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 S. 900 E., SLC, UT.