Our beautiful mother, Wendy Marie Hansen Wright, was born on a sunny spring day, April 5, 1952, in Salt Lake City. Wendy was a gift from Heaven to Lamar and Marie Hansen. Wendy grew up between farm life in Shelley, Idaho and city life in Salt Lake. Our mother attended BYU Provo, majoring in Interior Design and Early Childhood Education. While at BYU she met and married Rolando J. Rocha and graduated with honors in 1975.
Wendy and Rolando were married for 22 years before they parted ways. During their time together, they raised a beautiful family in Orem, Utah. Wendy's greatest treasure is her four children: Paula (Brandon), Roland (Staci), Conrad (Kim), and Daisy (Mark). While in Utah County Wendy founded and ran a successful business, The Children's Garden Preschool.
The family later moved to Hunter, Utah, and Wendy began teaching for Granite School District. Our mother then obtained a master's degree in Early Childhood Education from Grand Canyon University. Wendy loved working with children and had an extraordinary ability to connect with them. She spent the majority of her teaching career at Granger Elementary where she inspired hundreds of students to love learning, value education, and most importantly: to know of their worth. Wendy retired as an educator in 2014 but never retired as a lifelong learner.
A spiritual gift our mother possessed was to know the truth and to live it. It is because of her committed faith that each of her children has a profound testimony of Jesus Christ. Wendy was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in various callings, as a leader and a teacher.
Our mother's attention and energy center on Gospel of Jesus Christ, her children, and grandchildren: Tasha, Dallin, Evan, Braxdon, Penny, Alauria, Allison, Aria, Lilly, and Canyon.
Our pixie-fairy mother adored reading, learning about new cultures, fine art, the theater, dancing and music, authentic Chinese food, all flowers, animals, and gardening. She encouraged her children to color outside the lines and to challenge the norm. To that end, her favorite hair color was London Lilac.
If our mother ever knew of an overlooked individual, outcast, marginalized, unfairly judged, or outside the norm: she was by their side. Her way of being was to seek out the one and minister to them. She made such a big difference by doingsmall things, multiplied by a million. She coaxed her stubborn children into delivering so many cookies and casseroles to shut ins and elderly neighbors. She encouraged us into dingy rest homes to visit the forgotten. This is how she lived and taught us the True Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Then there is all the joy she put into being a grandma. She\s come to all their birthday parties, many of those dressed in character for the theme. She cheers them on at games. She always bringsflowers to dance recitals. Herhome is cluttered and wonderful to her grandkids because it\s where she has fun, creative crafts and plays. She hosts our holiday parties from Easter to Christmas. She\s been on countless field trips to parks, museums and festivals. She teaches them to bake, sew, and to use her pretty nail polish collection to turn ugly brown snail shells into sparkling jewels.
Though she was small and quiet, she was bigger than life with the love and fun that she put into family. We remember the Easter Bunny leading us on scavenger hunts to her neighbors, and how hard she worked to put on Children's Operas, so her students had the arts and a production to be proud of. At school, she was often the first one there and always the last to leave.Who can count the millions of times she sang the sound of every letter in the alphabet so that kindergarteners could start to taste how delicious reading can be?
To celebrate Wendy Marie, we invite you to tell your loved ones how you feel about them, to serve someone you usually wouldn't, and to be more aware of life\s beautiful details, drink them in when you see them and refuse to let life's joy slip by unnoticed.
