Nona Stevens Smith, beloved wife, sibling, aunt, and "mother to us all," died at St. Marks Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, 2 December 2001, from complications following a stroke. She was ninety-three.
Nona was born in Ferron, Utah, 28 March 1908, second daughter and fourth child of John Eleazer Stevens and Annie Caroline Swenson. She spent her childhood years in Ferron, Emery County. Born of goodly parents whose own parents crossed the plains with Mormon pioneers, Nona was taught the values of heritage, honesty, and integrity. One of seven children, she learned early not to be selfish. Most of all, she loved everyone, developed unwavering faith, and walked uprightly before God.
Nona was graduated from Carbon County High School in 1927, just three months after her father was killed in a snow slide. That July she began working for Mountain States Telephone Company as a telephone operator. She later became a Telephone Company State Instructor, traveling extensively. In 1950, she bought her first car. She worked for the Telephone Company 35 years, becoming a supervisor, retiring in 1963.
As a young woman of twenty-four, she was asked to make a great sacrifice. Her mother, on her death bed, asked Nona to care for her two younger sisters. She said, "Can you stand this, Nona?" Nona answered, "Yes, Mama, I can." At this time, Nona was almost engaged, but that relationship fell through when she assumed the responsibility of her younger siblings, Lurean, seventeen, and Annie, eight, supporting them until they married. Happily, Nona met James Walter Smith in March 1953, and they were married 25 May 1956, their wedding solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple. Nona was forty-eight. They were happily married twenty-seven years. They lived in Nephi, Utah, in James's childhood home and spent their vacations hunting and fishing. James passed away 4 January 1984.
An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nona served as Ward Primary President, Stake Primary President, and Ward Relief Society President. She was always a "visiting teacher," giving compassionate service to anyone she thought needed comfort. She was a proud member of Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
Nona didn't have children, so she became "second mother" to twenty-seven nieces and nephews, always remembering every birthday of each, including spouses, and special events of great nieces and nephews as well. She also remembered Christmas for all and made wedding garters for every bride in the family.
Nona is the heart of our family, the pivotal center by which the ancestors and posterity know each other. She is the greatest woman most of us have known. She gave selflessly to all of us all of the time. At age ninety, she wrote the biographies of her husband, parents, and grandparents. Her niece, Jo Ann Wilde Muhlestein, wrote a biography of Nona, Nona is Another Name for Love, which Nona gave to all family members in 1989.
Nona is survived by one sister, Lurean Stevens Harding, a sister-in-law, Maude Johnson Stevens, and twenty-two nieces and nephews: Narven Christensen, Phyllis Trouth (Fred), Doris Griffin (Robert), Joyce Williams (Bill), Ellen Dian Hechtle (Ralph), Janet Keller (Boyd), Betty Longson (Frank), Carolyn Hill (Bill), Linda Fitt (Paul), Paul Stevens (Karen), Roger Stevens (Faye), Anita Dalley (Phillip), F. John Stevens, John Edward Harding (Fran), Richard George Harding (Barbara), Jean Cook (Stott), Marianne Burgoyne (Robert), Jo Ann Muhlestein (Michael), Susan Staheli (Michael), Patricia Purdy (Steven), Michael Wilde (Sandy), Raymond Wilde (Shauna).
Nona was preceded in death by her parents, five siblings: Neta Stevens Christensen (Joseph), Arvel Stevens (Florence), Clay Stevens (Lucile), Floyd Stevens (Phyllis), Faun Ann Stevens Wilde (Joseph); a brother-in-law (Edward Harding, spouse of Lurean); four nephews: Rex Christensen (Kathy), Ray Christensen (Barbara Lee, Eileen), Phillip Christensen (Roberta, Irma), John Stevens (died as infant); and one niece, Lynn Stevenson Branson (Warren, Lane).
All of us are better for having known her and we are closer to each other than we might have been without her. God bless you, Nona. Thank you for everything. We all love you dearly. You are our "precious" one. May God keep you safe until we can be with you again.
Funeral services will be at 12 p.m., Wednesday, 5 Dec. 2001 in the Nephi Stake Center, 251 North 100 West. Friends may call Wednesday prior to services from 10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at the church. The interment will be in the Vine Bluff Cemetery Nephi, Utah.