Kathern Hansen Marks

Kathern Hansen Marks, loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother, sister, and aunt, passed away on March 6, 2025, at the age of 98. Kathern (Kay) was born in Monticello, Utah, on July 27, 1926, to Henry Lloyd Hansen and Catherine Josephine Wood. She grew up in Monticello as the youngest of four daughters. At age 17, Kathern moved to Salt Lake City to attend college, where she met her sweetheart, Joseph (Joe) Kenneth Marks of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Joe, serving in the U.S. Army Air Force, met Kathern at a dance and proclaimed to his friend “I’m going to marry that girl.” And he did.

Joe and Kathern were married on September 4, 1945, in the Wilshire LDS Chapel in Los Angeles, California. They became the proud parents of seven children; and on January 21, 2000, they were sealed as a family in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple.

Throughout the years, they moved around the country, from Long Beach, California; to San Antonio, Texas; Reading, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; Anaheim, California; and finally, Salt Lake City, Utah; having children along the way, and making wonderful lifelong friends everywhere they lived. Kathern had many hobbies: sewing, and making and selling crafts, pastries, candies, and other sweets. She always stocked the freezer with goodies that attracted the neighborhood kids. But it was her loving warmth and genuine caring that resulted in many of them, still to this day, calling her “mom.”

Kathern had a passion for genealogy, diligently researching ancestors with her sisters and children. She had a strong beautiful testimony of Jesus Christ and was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She dedicated her life to serving others. She demonstrated the greatest example of pure and selfless love as she cared for her sweet husband, Joe, for 13 years after he suffered a major stroke. She served at church in many callings in the Women’s Relief Society and the Young Women’s organizations; and her most cherished calling was serving in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple, where she worked until she was 93 years old, when the temple closed for renovations.

Kathern is survived by her children Joseph Marks (the late Carol), Vicki Scholz (the late Darrell), Michael Marks (Mary Lee), Debbie Hope (Jim), Terry Hutchings, and Kate Ryan (Jim); 33 grandchildren, 86 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother-in-law Charles Moyer, and many nieces and nephews. Kathern was preceded in death by her husband, Joe, her parents and sisters, her daughter Carol Ann, son-in-law Darrell Scholz, daughter-in-law Carol Marks, grandson Wayne Scholz, and great-grandsons Adam Westwood and Max Manning.

All who came into Kathern’s life were touched by her generosity, her service, her fun and engaging sense of humor, and above all, her love. Her life was well lived, her love well shared. Her ability to make us all feel special is her legacy, and her legacy will endure for many generations to come. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Memorial services will be on Saturday, April 19, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at the LDS Winder Chapel, 1495 East 4705 South, Salt Lake City, Utah, followed by Interment at the Farmington City Cemetery. Viewings will be at the Winder Chapel on Friday, April 18 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and prior to the Saturday memorial service from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund, the Huntsman Cancer Center, or the American Heart Association.

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