On August 2, 2023, Linda Rae Loveland Hess peacefully passed away, surrounded by her family. She is survived by her husband, Stephen Daniel Hess, LtCol USAF Retired; four children, Wendy Lynn Hess Maughan, Daniel Loveland Hess, Melinda Marie Hess Cardona, Stephen John Hess; and seven grandchildren.
Linda was a graduate of Ricks College, class of 1971, and served in many capacities to contribute to the community, notably as a Family Service missionary assigned to unwed teenage mothers for over 4 years. Long after her mission release, she nurtured the relationships she had built with young mothers. For Linda, love was never an assignment, always a heartfelt reality.
Through many talents, she communicated her love with rare skill, drawing out what was beautiful in others. She had a need to surround herself with beauty, but did not have to search far to find it. She could find it in whomever she was with, then help them to see it, too. In an age when home makers were becoming few and far between, she took a professional pride in her home and in her service to her family, taking particular joy in her children. First and always, she was a mother, even as her children became adults and left home. Even then, she shared her love with countless other children in her roles as a friend, neighbor and leader in her church’s youth program. She hosted people from all walks of life in her Home. Sometimes it was a sumptuous dinner for professional associations from Stephen’s career in the Air Force; at other times, she took just as much care creating gorgeous tea parties for girls from her church service. It was as if, by making a lovely event, she was telling each attendee “you are worth it,” for Linda wanted everyone to know they were a miracle with great potential. A friend said “At her tea parties, she’d go around the table, talk to each girl, and make each girl feel like a million bucks.”
A country upbringing in Burlington Wyoming among six athletic brothers and two sisters fostered fierce loyalties in her. She was passionate about her opinions, her family, friends, and her sports teams. She knew, in detail, the statistics of every Denver Bronco…and every one of their football adversaries. It was hard to say which was more fun – watching a football game, or watching Linda cheer them on.
Linda’s mind was brilliant and active, voraciously interested in politics and the intricate workings of the human spirit. An expert conversationalist, she could hold up her end of a friendly argument with anyone yet never come across as condescending. Her sense of humor was legendary among her friends and family.
In the brief confines of an obituary, suffice it to say, she will be terribly missed. The talents and presence of many cannot fill the vast emptiness she leaves behind, but we are eternally grateful to have known and loved her. She lives on in the way she has changed us all. And she lives on as her spirit cares for us now from the other side of the veil. May we all live our lives so as to embrace her again, with our Savior when we all pass through the same door through which she left us.
A Funeral service will be held in Colorado at 10am on Saturday, August 12, 2023 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3101 South Flanders Street, Aurora, CO 80013 with a viewing at the Church from 9:00-9:45am.
An additional service will be held in Utah at 11am on Monday, August 14, 2023 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1801 West. 700 South, Lehi, Utah 84043, with a viewing at the Church from 10:00-10:45am.
The burial will follow at the Utah Veteran's Cemetery & Memorial Park, 17111 South Camp Williams Road, Bluffdale, Utah 84065.
