Violet Loertscher

Our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and aunt, Violet Olpin Loertscher, passed away peacefully on June 23, 2025, at her home in her own bed in West Valley City, Utah, attended by her loving children after a recent diagnosis of cancer.

Violet was born October 1, 1937, to Joseph and Svea Emerensia Violet Larsson Olpin in Heber City, Utah, the eighth of Joseph and Violet's nine children. Joseph was the local mortician, and their home was also the mortuary, where Violet and her siblings grew up playing hide and seek throughout the house, including hiding in the caskets. It was in that loving home where she was taught and came to love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was there that her testimony of the Savior grew, which was a pillar of strength throughout her life. The Olpin home was filled with beauty and joy because there was love at home.

Violet graduated from Wasatch High School in 1955 and went on to earn a Bachelor's Degree from the BYU School of Nursing. She worked at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah as a post-op surgical nurse. Violet was a skilled nurse by training, and a loving and compassionate healer at heart. She spent a lifetime serving her family and others, bandaging scraped knees, sitting at the bedside of ill children, kissing bruises, tending to broken bones, and comforting broken hearts. Love was certainly a way of life for Violet because there was love at home.

Violet married Paul Rush Loertscher on March 11, 1960, in the Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. Over their 56 years together they were blessed with 11 children, 11 spouses of children, 51 grandchildren, 26 spouses of grandchildren, and 47 great-grandchildren, totaling a posterity of 146 beautiful people and counting. They also hosted and loved two Native American girls, Reba Howeya and Rosalie Lansing, through the Indian Placement Program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Violet found happiness in all things BYU, but her greatest joys were her Savior, her family, family history, and temple work. She loved children and wanted to have a dozen of her own. She was a very devoted wife and mother and welcomed everyone into her home. Through her lifelong pursuit of genealogy and family history she lived family history 24/7. She was actively involved and took joy in attending grandchildren's birthday parties, baptisms, taking grandchildren to perform proxy baptisms when they turned 12, high school graduations, mission farewells, weddings, and sealings.

Her mindset and lifestyle were that our relationships with our family are our family history; everyday activities, family reunions, family traditions, genealogy research, writing histories, journaling, and temple work. She showed us that family history has many facets. All of us are her family history. All of the time spent with our children is her family history. Hers is a lifelong legacy of family living and family history and family future. These joys became her expressions of her greatest gift of the Spirit which was engaging with her own family history, past and present, as an avid genealogist gathering families and serving countless lives on both sides of the veil.

Violet also loved hiking both her beloved Mount Timpanogos and in the High Uintas, working jigsaw puzzles, doing handcrafts, making wedding quilts and baby blankets, college sports (especially BYU football and basketball), and was a voracious reader across multiple genres. She would frequently combine hobbies, such as crocheting afghans or knitting slippers while enjoying her football & basketball games.

Violet was a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ and a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints her whole life. She loved the Savior and His Gospel and with her husband, taught it to her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends, and neighbors in everything that she did. She served the Lord in His Church in many capacities throughout her life, including, but not limited to, Ministering Sister, Primary President, teaching both Junior Sunday School and Primary classes (three-year-olds were her favorite), Stake Primary Board Music Committee, Family History Consultant, pianist, organist, Church Correlation Board Sunbeam Manual-writing Committee, Primary Inservice Leader, Granger West Stake Family History Center Pilot Program Director, Relief Society President, and Temple Ordinance Worker. Along with her husband Paul, she served two missions for the church; the Jordan River Cambodian Branch Mission giving priesthood leadership, and the Tennessee Knoxville Mission doing Family History records preservation.

Violet is survived by ten of her eleven children: Terri Marsh, Patricia (Gary) Ransom, Pauline (Eli) Preston, Dorothy (Layne) Ashton, Katrina (Steven) Mills, Dee (Penny) Loertscher, Pamela (Troy) Muir, Craig (Susan) Loertscher, Thad (Heather) Loertscher, Chreslie (Duane) Thorup, and son-in-law JR Robert "Corky" McCorkindale; 50 of her grandchildren and their spouses; 47 great-grandchildren; siblings Clara (George) Snell, June (Hardy) Anderson, sister-in-law Joan Wasden, and brother-in-law Richard Haight.

Preceded in death by: husband Paul Rush Loertscher; daughter Cynthia Loertscher Peterson McCorkindale; son-in-law Robert Mearle Marsh; granddaughter Ruth Evi Loertscher; parents Joseph and Violet Olpin; siblings: Ted (Nancy) Olpin, Inazelle (George) Knight, Mary (Bruce) Wasden, Betty (Lowell) Coleman, Guy (Shirley) Olpin, and Audrey Haight.

We, Violet's children, express our love and gratitude to the many extended family members, ward members, neighbors, and friends who showered Mom with love throughout her life, especially the angel acts of kindness and service in the last few months of her life. We also express our profound gratitude to the Ovation Hospice nurses, doctors, chaplain, and staff who provided guidance, support and other resources as we cared for Mom in her home, and extend gratitude to McDougal Funeral Home for the dignified manner of their services. Love and thanks to all!

In lieu of flowers, to honor her legacy, engage in your own family history.

Signed, The Paul & Violet Loertscher Orphan Society (PVLOS)

Viewing Thursday, June 26, 2025, 6 to 8 PM

Viewing Friday, June 27, 2025, 9 to 10:30 AM

Funeral Friday, June 27, 2025, 11 AM

Viewings and funeral will be at the Granger West Stake Center, 3901 West 2925 South, West Valley City, Utah

Interment will be Friday, June 27, 2025, at 3 PM at the Midway, Utah City Cemetery.