Phillip Craig Margetts

PHILLIP CRAIG MARGETTS
1945 - 2018


Phillip Craig Margetts completed his pilgrimage on earth, at a time least expected, and returned home on January 5, 2018. He was 72 years young.
The elder child of Ralph Eliot and Winnifred Snell Margetts, Phil was born June 20, 1945, in wartime San Francisco, where his parents were stationed in the Navy. He always loved being able to say San Fran was his birthplace even though he came of Utah pioneer stock and to the end said he felt more at home in Salt Lake than anywhere else. He grew up in Chico, California, and mostly Salt Lake City, Utah, where he graduated from East High School in 1963. He then went straight into the Army just days before his 18th birthday. He always remembered with glee bashing about the foothills beyond Fort Douglas in a tank lobbing shells. He served with dedication a mission, 1964-1967, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France, opening Rouen, tracting Bordeaux, and acquiring a great love for Paris. He retained his excellent French for the rest of his life and never missed an opportunity to converse. He attended the University of Utah and graduated in 1971 with a BA in History. He married Paule Bertone on July 12, 1968, in the Salt Lake Temple; they divorced in 1992 but always remained on good terms. They share three daughters born between 1970 and 1976.
Phil had great charm and an easy manner, which made him a good salesman. His first job was as an usher at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Salt Lake when he was 15, so he could see endless movies, but he went from there into retail, selling shoes following (if you will excuse the pun) in his father's footsteps, before moving on just as his father had done to bigger and better interests. While working for Scripto Phil was transferred in 1973 and the family relocated to Denver; he balked, however, at moving any further east beyond the Mountain West. Instead, inspired by an LDS bishop, Stan Russon, whom he much admired in his youth and who owned Leyson-Pearsall Jewelry in Salt Lake, Phil chose to go into the jewelry business, becoming a certified gemologist and also studying goldsmithing. Much of his professional life was spent working for Trice Jewelers in Denver, first in sales and then doing what he liked best: appraising. He retired in August 2014 and after three years was still adjusting to all that leisure time.
Phil not only had a delightful facility with languages, he also was curious about many things and had wide interests, everything from theatre to football. He maintained memberships with the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He volunteered at the Denver Zoo, serving first with the meerkats and dikdiks, before spending time with the lorikeets and the occasional great ape. He enjoyed reading history, mysteries, and thrillers. And he loved to travel. A recent visit to Florida enchanted him, especially St. Augustine. Trips abroad were sporadic between 1970 and the mid Nineties, but from 1996 onward he traveled to Europe at least once a year with family members, most often with his younger sister, fulfilling their mother's wish that they become good friends despite their age difference. Their last trip together was this past September to England, where their ancestors originated, and the two had planned on going to Greece next April. That will be a journey now only in spirit. He didn't really play favorites when it came to travel destinations-he loved them all-but he always used to say that while visiting Paris was great, he wanted to live there again; and in the autumn of 2015 he and two of his old missionary buddies were able to rent a flat near the Arc de Triomphe and spend a full month in their beloved city. He enjoyed his time there, but approached it with some trepidation, saying, "Wait, this has been my dream! You know what happens when your dreams actually come to pass! What do you do then?" He need not have worried. There was still a big world for him to explore.
He is survived by his children Lisette Anders (Mike Hall), Nicole Paulson (John), and Noelle Margetts; grandchildren Zsanaé Anders Cope (Keevin), Zackary Anders, Hayden Margetts, Nicolas Paulson (Emily), Sarah Paulson (serving a mission in Portugal), Luke Paulson, Kierston & Jordan Margetts, and Haden Hall; great grandchildren Lillyan & Avery Cope; his sister Michele Margetts; his loving companion Charlene Clark; and many dear friends who will miss him greatly, his sense of humor and his inventive nicknames.
Funeral services will be held Friday, January 12, 2018 AT 9 am at St. Paul's Community Church, 8001 W. 23rd Ave. ,in Lakewood, Colorado.Interment of ashes will also be in the Salt Lake City Cemetery beside his parents.
We believe our much loved father, grandfather, brother, friend and companion is not dead, but "as a traveler, / Goes to discover countries yet unknown."