Josephine Rhea Newton was born on September 10, 1902 at Mona, Juab, Utah. She was the first daughter and third child of Edward and Margaret Melvina Kay Newton. They had ten children in all.

When Rhea was nine years old, her family moved to Crescent, Salt Lake County, Utah. They lived there for three years, and then in 1914, the family moved to Tremonton, Box Elder County, Utah. Her father bought a farm east of Tremonton and built a house for his family. Rhea went to school at the East Tremonton School, where she graduated from the eighth grade.

She married Alfred Charles Toyn on September 27, 1923 in Ogden, Weber County, Utah. Alfred worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a pumper to supply the locomotives with water. As a result, he was transferred occasionally and they lived in several small towns in Utah and Nevada – Carlin, Loray, and Lucin.

Alfred and Rhea had four children. Alfred Verl, Edward LaMar, Leora Vilate, and Charles Clay.

Alfred became ill. They found the years he had spent working in the mines had damaged his lungs and now he had miners’ consumption. He spent six months at the Southern Pacific Hospital in San Francisco where he died on May 15, 1945.

Rhea took her son Charles and moved to Ogden. She got a job working at the Union Pacific Laundry, where she continued to work until her retirement in 1968. She bought a home in Washington Terrace and lived there the rest of her life.

She married William Lee for a short time and they were later divorced. On April 11, 1973 she married Lewis Gardner.

Rhea had a happy disposition and a good sense of humor. She had many friends and enjoyed her family and friends very much.

Rhea died on June 19, 1981, in Ogden, Weber County, Utah. She was buried in the Riverview Cemetery in Tremonton, Box Elder County, Utah beside her husband Alfred and her two children, Alfred Verl and Lenora Vilate.