Doris Mildred Owens Kennedy Astin was born May 3, 1923, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She passed into her Heavenly Father's and her beloved husband's arms on September 24, 2014, at her home in Cedar Hills, Utah. She was born of goodly parents, Marion Owens and Edith May Comish, the eighth child and second daughter. She was the last of all of her siblings. They are having a great family reunion in heaven right now. Doris grew up in Ogden, Utah and went to Weber College. She was married to Wallace R. Kennedy by whom she had two children, Richard W. Kennedy (Carol, deceased) and Kathleen (Milton) Hanks. They were later divorced. She married the love of her life, James Sterling Astin, on April 9, 1969. He passed away on August 24, 2004. Sterling brought 3 sons and 1 daughter into the marriage (James Astin (Nancy), Carolyn (Harold, deceased) Smith, Stephen (Noreen) Astin, Gary (Rhonda) Astin. All together there were 6 Brigham Young University students in the same house at the same time!
Family was always the most important part of Doris's life. She had 6 children, 31 grandchildren, and 75+ great grandchildren, (several of whom are due this week to grace her posterity with 3 more great grandchildren). She faithfully sent birthday cards with a crisp dollar bill to each on their birthdays for every year. She was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until her death and treasured her temple recommend. She served in every area of church service and especially loved the primary. She served several callings in the temple as ordinance workers and in the baptistery. She and Sterling served 8 missions together and each served their own mission. They were the pilot couple who would serve in the mission office daily and then proselyte at night. They served missions to the Jerusalem Center, Israel; Hawaii 3 times; England twice; Chile Santiago; and Canada Vancouver. She supported her grandchildren who went on missions and many missionaries over the years. As the secretary to the Presidents of Brigham Young University, she was an exceptional and extremely capable secretary. She enjoyed the fellowship and friendship of many of the General Authorities of the Church and cherished these ties. She was well known for her elegance and organizational abilities. She loved to build and design homes and built over 12 in her life with Sterling. As a mother and grandmother, she thought her purpose in life was to keep everybody well fed. She graduated from Brigham Young University with her degree in General Studies. She was active in the BYU women organization, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. She loved genealogy and her noble heritage.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30am on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 at the Cedar Hills Stake Center, 3950 West Cedar Hills Drive, Cedar Hills, Utah. A visitation will be held Monday evening from 6-8pm and on Tuesday morning one hour prior to the services. Interment will be at Larkin Sunset Lawn, 2350 East 1300 South, Salt Lake City. Online condolences welcomed at www.larkincares.com.
All those who knew her will greatly miss her!
