Donna Faye Darley Wasson passed away at Mountain View Hospital in Payson, Utah on March 22, 2021. She was surrounded by her family, with her children on either side of her, as she slipped peacefully through the veil and had a great reunion with her beloved husband and parents.
Faye was born on May 31, 1930, in Sugar City, Idaho to William Fredrick Darley and Laura Jennette Anthony. She was the fifth of six kids born to Fred and Laura. Soon thereafter they moved to Kimball, Idaho. Faye grew up a farm girl, milking cows and riding horses. She had an especially close relationship with her father, and loved to tell stories of riding with him on his tractor, listening to him read passages to her from the Book of Mormon. It was here that mom’s lifelong firm testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ was established. The family moved to Anderson, California, and Mom attended high school there. She was an athlete, and played basketball, which she loved for the rest of her life. She was devastated when her father died when she was 18. She decided to pursue her education after high school at Ricks College and BYU. She had many happy memories of the experiences she had and the friends she made at both institutions of higher learning.
Mom eventually moved home to Northern California to help out on the farm. Eventually she found a career that she loved as a social worker visiting and improving the lives of the people of San Luis Obispo, California. She met and married Floyd D. Brim. This marriage ended in divorce. Shortly after this she met the love of her life, David Wasson. He was a tall, wavy-haired kid from Arizona with a ’56 Chevy and a knack for making her laugh. They married five years later, and dad spent the rest of their lives making her laugh. Dad brought two kids of his own to the marriage, Randy and Brenda; mom loved them, but yearned for children of her own.
Try as they might, mom and dad weren’t able to have children for several years. This was especially hard on mom, as she had been promised in a blessing that she would be “a mother in Zion”. Finally, after five years of trying, the young couple welcomed their first child, Kevin. Soon after the young family moved to McCloud, California, where David accepted a job as a manager in a sawmill. Five years later they welcomed their next child, a daughter named Melanie. Mom loved her children with her whole heart and wanted nothing more than to have her children happy and faithful in the Gospel. She never waivered in her love for her kids, and she was steadfast in living the Gospel in her home and making sure her family knew the truth as well.
As her kids grew older, mom took a job as the school librarian at Mt. Shasta High School. She loved the kids she interacted with, and they loved her.
After Kevin and Melanie were grown and had moved to Utah, Mom and Dad followed suit, moving to Spanish Fork. They spent the rest of their lives active in their ward, loving their grandkids, and enjoying each other. Mom was always up for an adventure, no matter her age; whether it was going hooky-bobbing on a sled on an icy field (holding her purse), riding ATVs in the desert, cheering on the Jazz and her “boyfriend” Donovan Mitchell, or just quietly reading from books, Mom enjoyed life.
The last few years of Mom’s life were difficult; her sweetheart and eternal companion passed away, and Mom struggled with a loss of hearing and increasing dementia. She was blessed to be able to live with Melanie and her family and wasn’t alone. She was blessed with relatively good physical health, and was able to enthusiastically cheer on her Jazz to a win hours before she went into the hospital. She passed quickly and painlessly. She is survived by her two children Kevin (Shelley) Wasson, Melanie (Kevin) Wasson Walker, her stepchildren Randy (Susanne) Wasson, Brenda Wasson Sierra, twelve grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Funeral will be April 2nd at 11:00 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Oakview ward building located at 3477 East River Bottoms Rd, Spanish Fork, Ut with burial following at Camp Williams in Lehi, UT next to her beloved David.
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