Dan Hill Richens

Dan Hill Richens passed away April 27, 2026, at the age of 90 surrounded by his family at his home in Vernal Utah.

Dan was born to Lynn and Nellie Richens in Vernal Utah on July 30, 1935. He was the fourth of five children. Hugh, Glen, Lorn and Fern. He lived his entire life in Vernal.

Dan and Marlene Redding were married June 5, 1957. She was the love of his life for the last 68 years and he has missed her every day for the last 15 years. They were life partners in everything they did from day one.

He loved to have his family around and always had time for every one of them. He knew exactly what all the Grands, Great Grands, and Great Great Grands were doing with their lives. How they were doing in school, with their jobs, and what kind of hobbies and projects they were doing.

Dan enjoyed fishing, hunting and camping with his family every chance he had. Easter was always a campout in the pasture at his house with all his family there. He would always cook the Saturday meal of meat and potatoes in a buried Dutch oven cooked with ceder wood coals. Lots of memories were made at these camp outs.

Dan worked as a heavy equipment operator and a mechanic for most of his life to pay the bills, but farming and ranching was by far his favorite occupation. He always had a saddle horse, a team of draft horses and a dog. One of his great pleasures was to hitch the horses and give rides to family and friends. In the winter he would feed the livestock with the team whenever he could. He raised cattle and sheep but would always say sheep is where the money was at. After his retirement in 2005 Dan spent a lot of time on Diamond Mountain riding his horse with his dog checking on cows. He loved being on his horse on the mountain.

In his later years Dan enjoyed making things in his wood shop. Dan completely restored an old sheep camp and made it as good as a new one, he built a trap wagon to pull behind it. Then he built a honeymoon sheep camp from scratch. He milled all the wood for these with his sawmill. His last big wood project was a chuck wagon which he completed with Brady’s help just a few months ago. He made many small things too, clocks, salt and pepper shakers, coffee scoops, paper towel holders, trivets, picnic boxes… the list is long. He would build it and give it away to his family and friends.

Dan is survived by his son Brady (Louise) Richens daughter Sue (Tony) George, 5 Grandchildren 18 Great Grandchildren and 3 Great Great Grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his wife Marlene, parents and all his siblings.

Graveside Services for Dan will be held Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 11 am at the Vernal Memorial Park with a viewing held Monday, May 4th 2026 from 6-8 PM at the Blackburn Vernal Mortuary. Friends may meet at the Cemetery Tuesday.