Dorthea Elvona Smith Cook October 24, 1943 - April 20, 2020

Celebrating the life of Dorthea Elvona Smith Cook

Dorthea’s journey began on October 24, 1943 in Payson Utah, but after a short battle with cancer, she passed peacefully on April 20, 2020 at the age of 76. She was the third child of Robert Ellison and Elva Emily Koyle Smith. She was raised in Spanish Fork, Utah until her sophomore year in High School. Then the family moved to Kearns, Utah.

As a child, Dorthea took dance and acrobat lessons. She loved doing cartwheels and could do them without her hands touching the ground as she participated in local parades. In high school, she participated in track as well as the color guard. She enjoyed playing soft ball into adult life until an injury put an end to that. She also enjoyed learning social dance from her parents, which she talked about often.

Dorthea graduated from Granger High School in 1961. She enjoyed playing violin, participating in the color guard, and being on the track team in a time before they had competitive girls track events.

She worked for the Utah Woolen Mills where she prided herself in keeping 3 of the machines spooled and running at the same time. Later it took more than one person to replace her. During this time, she served as a Young Women’s Sports Director at church, one of her favorite callings as well as a Sunday school teacher. She also learned cake decorating and sewing which she used to serve and celebrate her family.

In November 1964, Dorthea served a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Central British Mission, in England. She loved her mission and the people she served.

She married F. Steven Cook on June 3, 1969 in the Manti Utah Temple. They moved to California. From that union they had a beautiful daughter Jennifer Ann who died six weeks after her birth. They continued living in California for a while before returning back to Utah. Steve found work at The Army Depot near Tooele. While living there they had two more adorable children, Michele and Steven.

Dorthea loved being a primary teacher and a substitute teacher at the elementary school in Tooele. While doing this her desire to become a teacher grew. After a divorce, Dorthea and her children moved from Tooele to Logan so she could attend school. She graduated from Utah State University in 1989 with her Bachelors in education, a minor in art.

While living in Logan she had knee surgery, she continued to have issues with walking and though she had problems she continued to persevere until the very end.

After graduating from college, she found a job teaching computer classes in an elementary school for grades 3-5 in Kayenta, AZ. She also enjoyed coaching the after school basketball program. In church she was a teacher in the Relief Society, and a counselor in the Young Women program. Circumstances beyond her control caused her to lose her position and returned to Utah for a few years.

After a few years of substitute teaching around the Salt Lake Valley, she returned to the Navajo Reservation for a year teaching in Pinon, AZ. When she returned to Utah, she found work in the Granite School district and spent most of her teaching career in West Valley teaching first grade. It was her favorite grade to teach because she had a hard time learning to read so she loved to help the young children get a great start.

After teaching for a few years, more circumstances out of her control caused her to return to substitute teaching. Within a short time of leaving her teaching position, she moved with her daughter and grandchildren to Pleasant Grove, where she remained for the last ten years of her life. She continued to substitute until she could no longer stand on her feet all day.

In church she has always loved serving. She was a librarian and literacy specialist while in Pleasant Grove. She always did her best to fulfill her calling to the best of her abilities. She especially loved Visiting Teaching and the close friends she made from that calling.

Dorthea loved doing family history by finding the records of her ancestors and completing their temple work. She was also a member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, from 1971 until her death. She loved hearing and telling stories about her ancestors. She took her family to many cemeteries every memorial day to decorate all of the graves of family she could find. She also was very encouraging of family reunions and rarely if ever missed one.

She loved taking trips and some of the places she went with her mom and sisters was Nauvoo, Branson, Scotland, England, Wales, Nashville, and Missouri. Every place she went, she did research before going to find all of the family history and church history sites she could. She loved finding castles that ancestors had lived in. With her grandchildren, she took them to educational places like Vernal for Dinosaurs, museums, planetariums, and northern Arizona to learn geology and Native American history.

Dorthea was an avid reader. If she wasn’t doing family history work, she was probably reading a book, often with a TV on in the background. She also enjoyed jigsaw puzzles and card games with her family.

Dorthea is survived by her daughter, Michele Lewis and son, Steven (Paige) Cook. Also survived by eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild (with another on the way). Additionally survived by her ex-husband; and her siblings: Connie Hall, Darwin Smith (Jeanne), Orella (Steven) Carver, and Lillian (Dale) Winkler.  She is preceded in death by her daughter, Jennifer; and by her parents, two brothers, Wayne and Kurt, as well as a sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

Visitation and graveside services for the family will be Friday, May 1, 2020. A public Facebook event will be live streaming the graveside services for anyone that would like to participate. https://www.facebook.com/events/234615337785659/