Vesta Hess

Vesta Wood Hess daughter of Nathan Clarence Wood and Eliza Hodges Wood was born April 18, 1921, in Brigham City, Utah. She returned to her Heavenly Home to be with her husband Dean after he preceded her in death by fifty years. She passed peacefully with her daughters Fawnice and Patricia by her bedside in the early hours of November 13, 2014. She was the fourth child in the family of eight children – five brothers and two sisters. She lived through the depression and as a result remembers her family moving 17 different times.
Vesta married Dean Elwood Hess on June 17, 1939 in Malad, Idaho. Their marriage later solemnized in the Logan Utah Temple on July 5, 1956. They lived in Fielding for a short time and then moved to Garland where she began working as a telephone operator for the Mountain Bell Telephone Company. In 1952 they moved to Logan where Vesta had transferred and continued to work as a telephone operator until she retired after 26 years.
When Vesta was widowed in 1964 at the age of 43 she continued to work for the Mountain Bell Telephone Company until she retired after having worked for 26 years. Vesta’s first assignment was in Garland April 1946. She transferred to Logan in March 1952. At Logan she was an operator, service assistant and central office clerk. She also served as CWA union steward and local vice president. Mother attended Utah State University the last five years that she worked for the phone company.
Going to college was a life-long dream for her. She graduated with dual certifications in Special Education and English. Mother earned her Master’s degree in Special Education. She was hired to teach special education to students at the Edison Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona where she taught for 17 years and then retired. She later moved back to Thatcher, Utah to be closer to her family. She has lived in Thatcher for the rest of her life but always missed her friends and the warm climate of Arizona.
Vesta loved to travel. She went on a Caribbean Cruise with some friends. She went to Europe and the Holy Land with her sister-in-law Ruth. She spent time in Hawaii two different summers. Because she wanted to learn to speak Spanish she lived in Mexico for a summer. She always felt life was a grand adventure.
Vesta has been an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has held various positions including Gospel Doctrine teacher and Relief Society President. She was also a Temple Ordinance worker in the Mesa Arizona Temple for just short of 13 years.
Vesta enjoyed her five children. Karl Dean Hess a Step- Son (Kathy) four children, Fawnice Hess Zollinger (Robert) six children, (Butch) James Morris Hess (Darlene) three children, Suzanne Hess Hirschi (Bill) four children and Patricia Hess Elahee (Sam) five children. She had 22 grandchildren (one deceased), 66 great-grandchildren (two deceased), and 7 great-great grandchildren.
Vesta was preceded in death by her parents Nathan Clarence Wood (father) and Eliza Hope Hodges Wood (mother), her husband Dean Elwood Hess, a son Karl Dean Hess, brothers: Max Wood, Theo Wood, Kay Wood, Morris Wood, Aundrey Wood and a sister Donna Wood Honston: and Sister-in-laws Phillis Wood, Ruth Wood and Fanny Lee Wood. Also Catherine Morgan Hess (mother-in-law) and Elwood Hess (father-in-law), brother-in-laws: Percy Hess, Joe Hess, Loris (Lark) Duane Hess and Lewis Macfarland and a sister-in-law LaFae Hess Macfarland. A granddaughter (Catherine), one great-granddaughter (Candice) and one great-grandson (Brian) also preceded her.
Funeral Services will be held Wednesday November 19, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at the Thatcher-Penrose Church (11475 W 10499 N Thatcher, UT). There will be a viewing that morning from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon with the family prayer to follow at 12:30 p.m. Interment will be in the Fielding Cemetery.