Maureen Daines Hodgen Obituary

MAUREEN DAINES HODGEN 1936-2014 Maureen Daines Hodgen, 77, passed away peacefully June 19, 2014, at her home in Bountiful Utah. Maureen was the first child of Spencer and Sarah Daines, born July 12, 1936, in Logan, Utah. She attended schools in Logan and graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor’s degree in home economics education. Maureen served an LDS Mission to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the early 1960s. She worked in various businesses in California before returning to Utah in 1969 to work in the Real Estate Division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City until her retirement in 1995. Maureen was married to Robert H. Hodgen in the Logan LDS Temple on March 23, 1993, and they enjoyed many good times and travels around the Mainland United States and Hawaii before his death in 2002. Maureen accepted many church callings in the Bountiful 16th Ward. For her, the most important things in life were her testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, her family whom she loved and admired and being a citizen in the United States of America. Maureen will always hold a special place in the hearts and minds of her many friends and family as a kind, loving and generous woman. She was especially devoted to, and loved dearly by, her nieces and nephews, many of whom traveled from near and far to see her before her passing. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband and her brother, Richard. Maureen is survived by her siblings, Deanna Winn (David), Spencer Daines (Sheila), Ron Daines (Robyn), Carol Quistberg (Duane) and Kathleen Parker (Russell), her sister-in-law Laura Daines (Richard), her step-children, Dale Hodgen, Mark Hodgen, Trecia Ann Burkett and Neal Hodgen, and her many beloved nieces and nephews. Maureen and her family would like to offer a special thanks to Verna Benson, a mission companion and lifelong friend, who came to live with and care for her during her final months, and to Good Shepherd Hospice, especially Nurse Reggie Clemons. Memorial donations for Maureen can be made to hospice or to the charity of your choice. Services for Maureen will be held at the Bountiful 16th Ward Chapel, 720 East 550 North, on June 25, 2014, at 11 a.m. There will be a viewing from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24 at Lindquist’s Bountiful Mortuary, 727 North 400 East in Bountiful and before the service at the 16th Ward from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. She will be buried at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Salt Lake City.  Condolences may be shared at www.lindquistmortuary.com

Maureen Daines Hodgen

Those of you who served under President and Sister Bangerter, 1960-1962 as well as those sisters who frequented our sisters reunions will remember Maureen Daines Hodgen and her sweet 90-years-plus-mother, Sarah Daines.  

Maureen passed this morning after a brief illness from cancer.  She became aware of the cancer the day before our last Brazil Mission Reunion.  She was very forthcoming about her condition and Verna Sorensen Benson and I took lunch to her the next day. Maureen lived alone since the death of her husband in 2002.  As we sat together Verna, a former companion, asked if Maureen would like her to come and stay with her.  

Yes, they both were using walkers, but Verna still had her capable nursing skills.  Since Mother’s Day, Verna has cared for Maureen, 24-7.  Last weekend I had the opportunity to relieve her for a few days. I saw more of Maureen’s goodness and the wonderful blessing of Verna’s service. 

On Maureen’s mirror where she could see it from her bed was a large-lettered quote from Sister Bangerter, “Enjoy It.”  It had been there for years.  We especially noted it Sunday when Verna returned and we had a mini sisters reunion before I left.  No Guarana, but “Enjoy It”, popcorn for refreshments and a selfie of the three of us qualified it as a sisters reunion.  The Bangerter influence continues.  

Maureen’s brother, sisters, sister-in-law and step-sons all made a difference for her in numerous ways. Her neighbors and friends were generous and kind.  

Perhaps most of us think of Maureen as quiet,  efficient and shy.  She was all of that.  What I now treasure of Maureen is her quick smiling response when surprised with any simple thing she enjoyed. 

A special memory is her deep appreciation of the opportunity to partake of the sacrament at her bedside and the joy of listening to sacrament meeting services transmitted to her home Sunday.  Closely attached to those memories is Verna’s kind nursing service and friendship to her former Brazil mission companion. 

Brazil continues to bless us.

Maureen’s obituary will be published in the Salt Lake newspapers within the week.  She will be buried at the side of her husband, Robert Hodgen in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.