Iris Whitaker

Iris Hiatt Whitaker

Iris Hiatt Whitaker was the third child of Floyd Ellis Hiatt and Anna LaPreal Nilsson Hiatt. She was born Friday, February 17,1928, at the family home in South Salt Lake. She attended Woodrow Wilson Elementary, Madison Junior High, and graduated from Granite High School in 1946. She married Homer G. Whitaker on June 26, 1948. They purchased a home in Rose Park in 1950. She passed from this life on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at the age of 98 years 8 months 15 days.

Iris was a musician. She came from a musical family and learned to play drums while she was in elementary school. She loved singing 3-part harmony. She sang with the Relief Society Singing Mothers in the Rose Park 9th Ward, with the Keynotes Ladies Chorus, with The Treble Clefs Ladies Chorus, and sang with The Schubert Singers for 44 years.

Iris was an artist. She loved to draw, paint, and sculpt. She painted on fabric, creating many gifts of kitchen towels, hot pads, and pillowcases. She used crayons to create a nativity scene on a bedsheet that she hung in the picture window every Christmas for many years. She was asked to paint decorations for numerous church events. She also created beautiful hand braided rugs. After the death of her husband in 1974, she went back to school, earning an Associate of Arts degree from BYU in 1979, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture, painting and drawing from the University of Utah in 1983.

Iris was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She served as the Ward Librarian for 18 years. She was a Relief Society president in her ward and served in the Rose Park Stake Relief Society as the Visiting Teachers Message Leader. She also served as a teacher in the Sunday School and Primary organizations. She served in the Salt Lake Temple for many years.

Iris’s last 9 years were spent at Cottage Glen Assisted Living, where she was loved and cared for by compassionate and professional staff, and where she made new friends who loved her and helped her with daily activities, even when she couldn’t fully participate. In addition, she was cared for by Harmony Home Health and Hospice, which allowed her to spend her last days in the home she had grown to love. The family would like to express their profound gratitude for all these wonderful people.

Iris was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her daughter Heather, her sisters Donna, Rosella, Ramona, Margie, Barbara, and Gloria, brother Stephen, and a great granddaughterAnnabelle. She is survived by her children Dale, Cheryl (Bill Marshall), Bryce, Mark, Iris (Wayne Nixdorf), Valerie, and Barbara, 14 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Friday, November 13, 2026, at 1:00 pm at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT. Viewings will be held Thursday evening from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, and Friday from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm. Burial will be at Valley View Memorial Park in West Valley City.