John's Remarks

There are a lot of things that I really admire about my dad. Two of the major things were how much he loved to laugh and how he could always see the best in people.

Dad loved to laugh, he would do silly things just to see people smile. One of the first things he got as a dentist was a plaque that said, “May the floss be with you”. He especially loved these plays on words. He loved puns, he could come up with a pun any time with pretty much anything you said. He smiled through a lot of his trials and his treatments.

The second thing that I love about my dad is how he always saw the best in everybody, no matter what. When I was a teenager I saw it as I got most of my hours visiting friends of his in jail, people who had made mistakes but he saw them as people in need of a friend, and a helping hand. He was always able to see their potential, and see them the way God saw them. I saw it as he helped friends with addictions, family problems, and money problems. He got some of them professional help, some of them jobs, and some of them both. Everyone who came into contact with dad new that he loved them and that no matter what he would continue to love them.

I saw his love for others as I helped him in his dental office. Many times people came in needing more work than they could afford and almost always left with more work done than they had paid for. He never really cared about the money but only about the people that he could help. Often he would stay long hours doing work he wasn’t getting paid for, to make sure that others could go home smiling.

I saw it in his charity work through share-a-smile. Dad made a lot of trips to foreign countries to help those who couldn’t afford dental care, but the experience I remember most was in the charity clinic here in Provo. I was assisting at that point when an older lady came in to get a set of dentures fitted. She had taken up drugs at some point in her past, she had ruined her teeth, her relationships, and her life. She, with help, had gotten over the drugs and was trying to turn her life around, she had no money, and few friends. My dad had become one of her friends, he knew her by name and asked her about what she had been doing since he last saw her. We worked on her teeth for a while and my dad moved on to another patient. She turned to me and with her wonderful new smile she started to cry and told me that she could never thank him enough, not for the new teeth (which she loved), but for believing in her when no one else did.

Dad believed in everybody. He knew that good could always overcome the bad and that no one was ever too far gone. He had a love for everybody that I hope someday to be able to learn. My dad exemplified the savior in his life. He laughed, he loved, and he lived the kind of life that I hope to live. I love my dad.

Spencer's Remarks (emailed to us from his mission and read by Natalie)

When I was younger I would wake up at 4:30 in the morning to go with my dad running around the BYU track. While he was driving to Mexico in the motorhome we would recite the articles of faith and the Beattitudes. I remember that when I was younger I had moments when I thought that my dad was too harsh or too strict or got too angry. I remember thinking that when I became a father I wouldn't make those same mistakes. The time right before the mission and during the mission have taught me a lot about what being a good father is and what it isn't. I realized that what I thought was harshness and anger were the manifestation of love that he had for us and the deep concern that he had when we started to drift away in any way from the gospel and the commandments. In the mission I have seen many parents that are not willing to show that same love for their children. I realized that what I had mistaken for exaggerated strictness was the firm commitment that my father had to the idea that he had made sacred covenants with God and he would honor those covenants and raise his children righteously, even when his children might be headed the other way. I started to see how much my dad loved my mom. The little things that he would do for her. Put notes on the mirror, he praised her in almost every single email that I received on the mission. He took her on dates almost every weekend and the love that I could see that he had for her didn't diminish over time, rather it grew. He helped thousands of people not for fame nor for a sense of duty but out of the love of his heart. My dad was not a good father. My dad was an exceptional father. I want to grow up to be like him. My dad is my example. He changed my life forever. I want to love my children as deeply as he loved his. I want to live the gospel as firmly as he lived it. His example of hard work, love, charity, humility, faith, and maritial union are traits that I will forever remember and try to emulate. I love you dad!

Elizabeth's Remarks

My dad was such an example to me. I always wanted to be just like him. When I was little he would get up every Saturday morning at like 7 in the morning and go work in our garden. I was usually the only one awake and as soon as I would hear him get up I would jump up and throw on my little pair of overalls, just so that I would be matching him, and chase after him to help him in the garden. Honestly, I probably got in the way more than I helped but he always would hand me a handful of seeds and show me how to put them in the holes he dug, or we would eat the fresh peas and see how far we could throw the pea pods. We had this huge patch of strawberries that took up half of our garden and every summer we would go out and pick them and then go into the house and make pancakes with the whole family. Then we would cut up the strawberries and eat them on the pancakes.

He was always doing these super funny pranks on people. One time when I was like 8 I was at my friends house and he showed up to pick me up dressed up as this major hippie. He had a wig on and had pulled it back into a ponytail and them he put on a fake goatee and mustache. He had peace earrings on and a leather jacket and ripped jeans. I walked into the room, took one look at him and walked right back out. The thought that kept running through my mind was “A drug dealer is here to kidnap me.

My dad was always doing funny things. Every Valentines day he would find some other crazy place to take my mom so that they would be away from their eight crazy kids. They would have candle light dinners everywhere from his office to our motorhome. He would always take all day setting it up and he wouldn’t tell my mom where it was so that it would be a surprise. My mom and dad were so adorable together. If you wanted a definition of true love you could basically just look at them. He would get up every morning to go running and he would always leave little notes on her mirror on sticky notes or written in lipstick that said “I love you”. We would all be sitting in a room doing something and he would randomly start talking about how beautiful he thought my mom was and how much he loved her. I always thought that was normal but as I got older I realized how much my parents loved each other wasn’t normal. We have this one video of us in Mexico at a taco stand and my brother asked my dad if he wanted to say something to posterity and the he immediately said “I love your mother.” My brother was then like “Do you have anything taco related to say?” and he was like “That I love to eat tacos with your mother that I love” Now I don’t know if you know this about my family but if you want to eat tacos with someone, you must love them alot. That was basically how my dad was all of the time. Almost everything he did was about how much he loved my mom. With everything sometimes it’s easy to feel sorry for yourself but then I just think “Man Elizabeth you are so lucky that your parents love each other and made covenants so that your family can be together forever.”

Funeral Remarks

We will be posting the remarks that were given at Dad's funeral for those who were unable to be there.

Dad's Obituary

Our beloved husband and dad, Eric Vogel (54), passed away peacefully at home on Sunday November 15, 2015 surrounded by his family. Eric valiantly fought a difficult, four-year battle with jaw cancer. Our hearts are broken by his passing and we will miss him dearly. We are comforted knowing that we will see him again. We are grateful that he is no longer suffering and can be with his parents again.

Eric was born in Ogden, Utah on December 24th, 1960 to George and Gwen (Fronk) Vogel. His father tragically died in a plane crash when Eric was three, and his mother later remarried Keith Whatcott who was a wonderful stepfather to him. Eric served an LDS mission in Bolivia and after returning home, was introduced to his sweetheart, JoLynne Christensen, by Keith at a dental visit. Eric and JoLynne married in the Provo Temple on September 3, 1983. He always found ways to show her that she was the love of his life. They had eight children together and have one granddaughter that he adored.

Eric loved being with his family. He was the most wonderful father, always doing fun and creative things with his children: building blanket forts, bowling with coconuts and soda bottles, mowing mazes in the lawn for the kids, and making up stories with his children as the main characters. He loved taking long road trips with his family in the motorhome, especially the annual Christmas trip to Mexico. Eric was an avid distance runner. He also loved to garden, cook, and bike.

Eric graduated from BYU before attending dental school at Creighton in Omaha. He was a third generation dentist following his father, stepfather, and grandfather into practice. He joined Keith's dental practice in Provo and practiced general dentistry for 27 years. He received many awards and recognitions for excellence in dentistry. However, what he really valued most about his work was caring for his patients, who he counted as friends.

He had a profound love for everyone around him, especially the poor and overlooked. No matter what their circumstances, he saw them for who they truly were and always believed in them. In 2000 he founded Share a Smile, a non-profit that provides free dental care for the homeless and needy in Utah County, as well as expeditions in Bolivia, Mexico, China, Russia, Belarus, and Morocco. He served faithfully in the LDS church as a teacher, Young Men's president, Scout master, Elder's quorum president, Bishop, and Stake presidency counselor. He was happiest working with the young men and had a great influence on many of them.

He is preceded in death by his father, George, and his mother, Gwen. He is survived by his wife, JoLynne (Christensen) Vogel and their eight children; Shanelle (Mike Robinson) and their daughter Vivian, Seth Vogel, Jarom (Natalie) Vogel, John (Callie) Vogel, Peter Vogel, Spencer Vogel, Adam Vogel, and Elizabeth Vogel.

Viewing will be held on Friday, November 20, 5:30-8:00 at Walker Sanderson Funeral Home (646 E 800 N Orem), and Saturday, November 21, 9:30-10:45 at the Lakeview Stake Center (450 W 1800 S Orem). Funeral Services will follow at 11:00. Condolences may be offered to the family online at www.walkersanderson.com.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to continue his work for the homeless with Share a Smile by visiting http://www.shareasmile.net or by contacting Heather Hogue at 801-477-6193

Funeral Details

We will be having a viewing for Eric on Friday November 20th from 5:30pm to 8:00pm at the Walker Sanderson Mortuary (646 E. 800 N. Orem, UT)

The funeral will be held on Saturday November 21st at 11:00 am at the Lakeview Stake Center in Orem (450 W. 1800 S. Orem, UT).  There will be a viewing held at the stake center from 9:30am to 10:45am before the funeral.

Our beloved dad, Eric, passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by his family.  Our hearts are broken and we will miss him terribly but we know that he is happier now and is no longer suffering.  He fought a long and difficult fight against this cancer for four years and we are grateful that he is no longer in pain and that he can be with his parents. We all feel so privileged to have had him as our father.  We could not have asked for a better father, husband, and grandfather.  He touched so many people through his life of faith and service.  In his short 54 years he has accomplished so much and helped so many people.  We have never known a more Christlike person.  We hope to be able to live up to his legacy.  We will post funeral details when plans have been finalized.  Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers.