Mary Lyona Cox Hales August 13, 1939 - October 3, 2023

Mary Lyona Cox Hales, age 84, slipped peacefully from this world to the next early in the morning on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023. She was preceded in death by her husband Boyd, only eight months earlier.

Lyona was born in Colorado but lived mostly in Cedar City, Utah for her childhood and youth. She was the oldest of four children born to Rufus Reid and Wanda Steele Cox and lived on the same street as many of her cousins (informally called “Cox Road”). She described herself as a City Girl, but she was an adult before she ever tasted beef, having exclusively eaten the deer her father hunted for all of her childhood. She played the trumpet and was a Drum Major in her school’s marching band.

She studied to become a teacher at Utah State University and then the College of Southern Utah (CSU). At CSU she was cast as the lead in “Bells Are Ringing,” a musical directed by Utah Shakespeare Festival founder Fred Adams (his first show at CSU). Her voice teacher was so scandalized about her being in a common musical that he refused to show up for her voice lessons for the rest of the semester.

Nevertheless, Lyona continued to study music and she blessed innumerable people with her beautiful soprano voice. She sang in the Arizona Mormon Choir, the Singing Mothers, the Mapleton Chorale, and many other choirs, including countless ward choirs. She created a home that was filled with music, ensuring that each of her children learned at least one instrument and knew how to sing in parts. In Arizona she created a children’s choir with the neighborhood children.

Lyona was taught the value of hard work and so, throughout her life, she engaged in formal and informal service. She served faithfully in many callings in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and was a temple worker for years (like her parents and grandparents before her). She served in the Provo, Utah Temple and then the Payson, Utah Temple. She also opened the Kaohsiung Taiwan Mission with her husband Boyd in the 1970’s.

Her youngest child was born right before they were due in Taiwan, so Boyd flew ahead, and the rest of the family came a month later. Lyona flew to Taiwan with five young children all by herself, showing both her firm faith and her tenacity. While in Taiwan she sang for visiting political leaders as well as church leaders and was the “mission mom” to scores of young men and women. Later, she enthusiastically supported her children and grandchildren in their missionary service and cherished continued ties with her Taiwan missionaries.

Lyona taught kindergarten and first grade for many years, starting in Los Angeles California as a young woman and then in Peoria, Arizona and Payson, Utah. In Payson she sometimes taught the children of students she had taught in years past. She loved children and lit up when she saw them. Her 5 children, 17 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren brought her joy every day.

Lyona developed other artistic talents—quilting, sewing, painting, stained glasswork, and crochet (to name a few). Beloved family and friends have received a lot of her handiwork as presents.

In her later years she struggled with advancing Alzheimer’s, but she was the consummate hostess so casual visitors might not have picked up on it at first. As so much of her was disappearing, the things that endured were love, family, faith, and music. She is missed by all who had the good fortune to know her. She is survived by her children: Lisa (Scott) Budge, Reid (Julie) Hales, Michelle (Bill) Dolinar, Marianne Hales, and Betsy (Garrett) Rose. She is also survived by her siblings: John (Carolyn) Cox, Charlotte (Blaine) Petersen, and Nellie (Nick) Robertson.

Funeral services will be held at the LDS Chapel at 1050 North 300 West in Mapleton, Utah at 10 am on Saturday, October 14th. A viewing will be held prior to the funeral from 9 am to 9:45 am and also on Friday night, October 13th, from 6 pm to 8 pm.