Joyleen Curtis Kitchen

Her name is her legacy, Joyleen. She brought so much JOY into the lives of others.

Joyleen Kitchen: beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and even great-great-grandmother, missionary, and friend passed away October 23, 2022

She was 93 years old. She was born on September 28, 1929, in Salina, Utah. She was the first of two children of John Marvin Curtis and Cecil Jane Rowley Curtis. Her posterity includes 8 children, 43 grandchildren, 110 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great-grandchildren.

Her years spanned pioneer to space age times. Her lifestyle reached from outdoor plumbing and no electricity to computer-age technology and convenience.

Her formal education started in Salina, through Orem middle school years, and High School at Alterra High school where she graduated as co-Valedictorian in 1947. While she was married, she continued her education at community colleges in California and Utah.
Because her only brother, Rowley, was eight years younger than she was; she had the unique opportunity to work alongside her “Daddy” as he was known to her. They picked a lot of fruit together. She loved to fish with him, and he taught her how to whistle.

Her mother created playhouses from willows and furnished them with a wooden box for a table and more crates for chairs. An old tub became a stove with an old stove pipe. Her mother was, also, an accomplished seamstress and made all of their clothes. Joyleen said she was one of the best-dressed girls in her class! One year someone gave them an old coat with a fur collar. That year for Christmas Joyleen got a beautiful coat with a little fur collar, a matching hat with fur on top, and a fur muff. She said, “Boy, did I feel like a princess!”

She always had pets and loved them. From magpies that her mother taught to talk to bum lambs that she helped bottle feed, and of course kittens and dogs. Chickens, pigs, and even cows became pets as well as part of their farms. She passed this love of God’s creatures to her children and grandchildren, telling stories of soft yellow chicks, milk beards on the face of a bucket-fed calf, and even bugs and frogs.
Because of the depression, and later the war; their family moved quite a bit. Her father was always able to find work when others did not because he had a reputation for being a hard worker. Mom definitely absorbed that work ethic. Whether on farms growing up, as the wife of a farmer, and later as a single parent; she worked hard to supply the things her family needed.

Family has always been important to Mom. The years in Salina helped her bond with her extended family. She had a special bond with her only brother, Rowley. As a mother of eight children, she was very busy and happy. She is quoted by a granddaughter when asked if she always knew she wanted a big family, “Yes, that is what makes life worth living.”
Along with giving others so much joy, her deep faith was shared starting at a young age. She believes she was “given the gift of believing the testimony of others.”

Her patriotism led her to join the Civil Air Patrol as a teen. She learned to identify all of the planes used by America as well as those of the enemies of World War II, Japan, Germany, and Italy. She flew with the young men learning to fly as a spotter and was assigned specific times to observe any planes flying over.

What a remarkable woman! We have all been so richly blessed by our association with her. May we live to join her in her glorious state.
What comforts me most, is the envisionment of her greeting her beloved Savior as He says to her, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” (Matthew 25:21)

She is survived by 8 children, 43 grandchildren, 110 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great-grandchildren. Preceded in death by her parents, and her brother.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, October 29, 2022, at 11:00 am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 9353 South Vista West Drive, West Jordan, Utah. Viewings will be held on Friday, October 28, 2022, from the hours of 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Larkin Riverton Mortuary, 3688 West 12600 South, Riverton, Utah, and from 10:00 – 10:45 am on Saturday at the church. Interment to follow services at Memorial Mountain View Cemetery, 3115 Bengal Blvd., Cottonwood Heights, Utah.

We will all miss her on this side of the veil but will feel her watching over us—continuing to feel her joyful love.