Karen Dykes Evans, 78, died on September 25, 2020, at her daughter's home in Salt Lake City, Utah, after her children lovingly nursed her through the final weeks of aggressive lung cancer that had been discovered only 44 days earlier. Karen was proof that a quiet woman can be the axis on which the world spins, and her loved ones are shattered to lose her so quickly. In death she is reunited with her devoted husband Ray, who passed less than a year earlier.
Karen was born December 25, 1941, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Leo Billy Dykes and Maxine Jenkins Dykes, the first of their nine children. As a girl, she loved sketching floor plans for imagined houses, reading Nancy Drew books, and chasing cloud shadows on the hills above Strawberry Reservoir where her parents had a fishing cabin. She valued her friendships with her brothers and sisters throughout her lifetime.
She graduated from East High in 1960 and married her high school sweetheart Vernal Ray Evans on January 11, 1963, in the Logan, Utah Temple. They bought their "starter" home in Taylorsville, Utah, and lived there the rest of their lives, building lifelong friendships with neighbors and raising their 10 children. Her greatest wish in life was to be a mother, and boy did she excel, building an individual bond with each child and encouraging us to be our best selves. She thrived on the chaos of a busy home and loved conversation and laughter around the dinner table. It's not an overstatement to say she was Superwoman, juggling multiple jobs as a mother, medical transcriptionist, and in-home daycare provider. Every child was welcomed, accepted, and loved unconditionally, including several neighborhood teens who found her home to be a safe haven.
Kindness, thoughtfulness, and selflessness were Karen's defining qualities. She spent hours crafting and sewing, making clothing for her children and items to donate to local charities. Countless loved ones were the lucky recipients of her handmade cards, home cooked meals, and heartfelt gifts. She served in many LDS church callings including Primary teacher, Sunday School teacher, and Relief Society President.
It is impossible to describe how deeply adored and respected she is by her family. We will forever cherish memories of playing board games, reading books, doing puzzles, and baking. We will miss her sense of humor, quick wit, and hearing her favorite phrase, "I'm sorry."
Many thanks to her physician and friend Dr. Stephen Aslami and his staff.
Preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Ray; her brother Jim; and her parents. Survived by children, Cassie Brewster (Paul), Michelle Fujinami (Derek), Natalie Jenkins (Dave), Melinda Evans, Tamera Wesemann (Randy), Bryan Evans (Sara), Debbie Killpack (Jason), Denice Ashcroft (Trevor), Trent Evans (Natalie), and Megan Smith (Cody); 19 grandchildren; 8 great-grandchildren; and siblings JoAnn (Curt) Clark, Marilyn Parry, Judy (Bryan) Johnson, Barb (Rob) Jackson, Glen Dykes, Wayne (Marsha) Dykes, Sherrill (Bud) Blanchard.
A viewing will be held October 1, 2020, 6-8pm, at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary (4760 S. State St., Murray, Utah). Funeral services will be streamed on October 2, 2020, at 11am (visit www.jenkins-soffe.com obituaries for link) (in-person attendance limited to invited family only), with a short graveside service to follow at 1pm for all who would like to attend (please wear masks and physically distance) at Murray City Cemetery (5490 S. Vine St., Murray, Utah).
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News on Sep. 29, 2020.
Karen was born December 25, 1941, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Leo Billy Dykes and Maxine Jenkins Dykes, the first of their nine children. As a girl, she loved sketching floor plans for imagined houses, reading Nancy Drew books, and chasing cloud shadows on the hills above Strawberry Reservoir where her parents had a fishing cabin. She valued her friendships with her brothers and sisters throughout her lifetime.
She graduated from East High in 1960 and married her high school sweetheart Vernal Ray Evans on January 11, 1963, in the Logan, Utah Temple. They bought their "starter" home in Taylorsville, Utah, and lived there the rest of their lives, building lifelong friendships with neighbors and raising their 10 children. Her greatest wish in life was to be a mother, and boy did she excel, building an individual bond with each child and encouraging us to be our best selves. She thrived on the chaos of a busy home and loved conversation and laughter around the dinner table. It's not an overstatement to say she was Superwoman, juggling multiple jobs as a mother, medical transcriptionist, and in-home daycare provider. Every child was welcomed, accepted, and loved unconditionally, including several neighborhood teens who found her home to be a safe haven.
Kindness, thoughtfulness, and selflessness were Karen's defining qualities. She spent hours crafting and sewing, making clothing for her children and items to donate to local charities. Countless loved ones were the lucky recipients of her handmade cards, home cooked meals, and heartfelt gifts. She served in many LDS church callings including Primary teacher, Sunday School teacher, and Relief Society President.
It is impossible to describe how deeply adored and respected she is by her family. We will forever cherish memories of playing board games, reading books, doing puzzles, and baking. We will miss her sense of humor, quick wit, and hearing her favorite phrase, "I'm sorry."
Many thanks to her physician and friend Dr. Stephen Aslami and his staff.
Preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Ray; her brother Jim; and her parents. Survived by children, Cassie Brewster (Paul), Michelle Fujinami (Derek), Natalie Jenkins (Dave), Melinda Evans, Tamera Wesemann (Randy), Bryan Evans (Sara), Debbie Killpack (Jason), Denice Ashcroft (Trevor), Trent Evans (Natalie), and Megan Smith (Cody); 19 grandchildren; 8 great-grandchildren; and siblings JoAnn (Curt) Clark, Marilyn Parry, Judy (Bryan) Johnson, Barb (Rob) Jackson, Glen Dykes, Wayne (Marsha) Dykes, Sherrill (Bud) Blanchard.
A viewing will be held October 1, 2020, 6-8pm, at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary (4760 S. State St., Murray, Utah). Funeral services will be streamed on October 2, 2020, at 11am (visit www.jenkins-soffe.com obituaries for link) (in-person attendance limited to invited family only), with a short graveside service to follow at 1pm for all who would like to attend (please wear masks and physically distance) at Murray City Cemetery (5490 S. Vine St., Murray, Utah).
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News on Sep. 29, 2020.
Karen Dykes Evans, 78, died on September 25, 2020, at her daughter's home in Salt Lake City, Utah, after her children lovingly nursed her through the final weeks of aggressive lung cancer that had been discovered only 44 days earlier. Karen was proof that a quiet woman can be the axis on which the world spins, and her loved ones are shattered to lose her so quickly. In death she is reunited with her devoted husband Ray, who passed less than a year earlier.
Karen was born December 25, 1941, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Leo Billy Dykes and Maxine Jenkins Dykes, the first of their nine children. As a girl, she loved sketching floor plans for imagined houses, reading Nancy Drew books, and chasing cloud shadows on the hills above Strawberry Reservoir where her parents had a fishing cabin. She valued her friendships with her brothers and sisters throughout her lifetime.
She graduated from East High in 1960 and married her high school sweetheart Vernal Ray Evans on January 11, 1963, in the Logan, Utah Temple. They bought their "starter" home in Taylorsville, Utah, and lived there the rest of their lives, building lifelong friendships with neighbors and raising their 10 children. Her greatest wish in life was to be a mother, and boy did she excel, building an individual bond with each child and encouraging us to be our best selves. She thrived on the chaos of a busy home and loved conversation and laughter around the dinner table. It's not an overstatement to say she was Superwoman, juggling multiple jobs as a mother, medical transcriptionist, and in-home daycare provider. Every child was welcomed, accepted, and loved unconditionally, including several neighborhood teens who found her home to be a safe haven.
Kindness, thoughtfulness, and selflessness were Karen's defining qualities. She spent hours crafting and sewing, making clothing for her children and items to donate to local charities. Countless loved ones were the lucky recipients of her handmade cards, home cooked meals, and heartfelt gifts. She served in many LDS church callings including Primary teacher, Sunday School teacher, and Relief Society President.
It is impossible to describe how deeply adored and respected she is by her family. We will forever cherish memories of playing board games, reading books, doing puzzles, and baking. We will miss her sense of humor, quick wit, and hearing her favorite phrase, "I'm sorry."
Many thanks to her physician and friend Dr. Stephen Aslami and his staff.
Preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Ray; her brother Jim; and her parents. Survived by children, Cassie Brewster (Paul), Michelle Fujinami (Derek), Natalie Jenkins (Dave), Melinda Evans, Tamera Wesemann (Randy), Bryan Evans (Sara), Debbie Killpack (Jason), Denice Ashcroft (Trevor), Trent Evans (Natalie), and Megan Smith (Cody); 19 grandchildren; 8 great-grandchildren; and siblings JoAnn (Curt) Clark, Marilyn Parry, Judy (Bryan) Johnson, Barb (Rob) Jackson, Glen Dykes, Wayne (Marsha) Dykes, Sherrill (Bud) Blanchard.
A viewing will be held October 1, 2020, 6-8pm, at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary (4760 S. State St., Murray, Utah). Funeral services will be streamed on October 2, 2020, at 11am (visit www.jenkins-soffe.com obituaries for link) (in-person attendance limited to invited family only), with a short graveside service to follow at 1pm for all who would like to attend (please wear masks and physically distance) at Murray City Cemetery (5490 S. Vine St., Murray, Utah).
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News on Sep. 29, 2020.
Karen was born December 25, 1941, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Leo Billy Dykes and Maxine Jenkins Dykes, the first of their nine children. As a girl, she loved sketching floor plans for imagined houses, reading Nancy Drew books, and chasing cloud shadows on the hills above Strawberry Reservoir where her parents had a fishing cabin. She valued her friendships with her brothers and sisters throughout her lifetime.
She graduated from East High in 1960 and married her high school sweetheart Vernal Ray Evans on January 11, 1963, in the Logan, Utah Temple. They bought their "starter" home in Taylorsville, Utah, and lived there the rest of their lives, building lifelong friendships with neighbors and raising their 10 children. Her greatest wish in life was to be a mother, and boy did she excel, building an individual bond with each child and encouraging us to be our best selves. She thrived on the chaos of a busy home and loved conversation and laughter around the dinner table. It's not an overstatement to say she was Superwoman, juggling multiple jobs as a mother, medical transcriptionist, and in-home daycare provider. Every child was welcomed, accepted, and loved unconditionally, including several neighborhood teens who found her home to be a safe haven.
Kindness, thoughtfulness, and selflessness were Karen's defining qualities. She spent hours crafting and sewing, making clothing for her children and items to donate to local charities. Countless loved ones were the lucky recipients of her handmade cards, home cooked meals, and heartfelt gifts. She served in many LDS church callings including Primary teacher, Sunday School teacher, and Relief Society President.
It is impossible to describe how deeply adored and respected she is by her family. We will forever cherish memories of playing board games, reading books, doing puzzles, and baking. We will miss her sense of humor, quick wit, and hearing her favorite phrase, "I'm sorry."
Many thanks to her physician and friend Dr. Stephen Aslami and his staff.
Preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Ray; her brother Jim; and her parents. Survived by children, Cassie Brewster (Paul), Michelle Fujinami (Derek), Natalie Jenkins (Dave), Melinda Evans, Tamera Wesemann (Randy), Bryan Evans (Sara), Debbie Killpack (Jason), Denice Ashcroft (Trevor), Trent Evans (Natalie), and Megan Smith (Cody); 19 grandchildren; 8 great-grandchildren; and siblings JoAnn (Curt) Clark, Marilyn Parry, Judy (Bryan) Johnson, Barb (Rob) Jackson, Glen Dykes, Wayne (Marsha) Dykes, Sherrill (Bud) Blanchard.
A viewing will be held October 1, 2020, 6-8pm, at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary (4760 S. State St., Murray, Utah). Funeral services will be streamed on October 2, 2020, at 11am (visit www.jenkins-soffe.com obituaries for link) (in-person attendance limited to invited family only), with a short graveside service to follow at 1pm for all who would like to attend (please wear masks and physically distance) at Murray City Cemetery (5490 S. Vine St., Murray, Utah).
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News on Sep. 29, 2020.
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