Edith Hitchens

Edith McLean Hitchens, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on February 26, 2015. She has touched the lives of many in positive ways and will be loved and missed by all who knew her.
She was born January 1, 1929 on a farm near College Ward, Utah in Cache County, the sixth of seven children of Joseph Elmer McLean and Jennie Ray Durrant McLean. At age 7 her family moved to a farm near Heyburn, Idaho where she grew up, worked hard, and played on the farm with her brothers and sisters. After graduating from high school, Edith and her sister Barta attended cosmetology school. She also attended Utah State College in Logan, Utah and worked for Dunn & Bradsteet and Western Garden Nursery in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Edith met and married James Willard Hitchens on July 13, 1951 in Logan, Utah. Together they had 5 children. Edith was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was an accomplished seamstress, avid gardener, and skilled crafter and decorator. She used her skills with needlecraft to make many beautiful clothes, quilts, wall hangings, pillows, and flower arrangements. She volunteered throughout her life including as a Cub Scout Den Mother, with the American Red Cross and for many years with the Utah Scottish Association.  For many years she was devoted to the Hitchens rental business – she designed floor plans, made décor decisions, helped with repairs, and maintained the financial records.
She loved to see the flowers bloom in the spring, snack on a box of Junior Mints, spend time at her sewing machine, watch a Sherlock Holmes mystery, listen to a Celtic folk song or The Three Tenors, and dreamt about visiting Scotland. She faced many painful physical challenges later in life but we are grateful she is no longer confined to the physical body that kept her from doing the things she loved.
Edith is survived by her husband James, four children Ronald A. (Karen Lim) Hitchens, Jeanine (Scott) Wilson, Joseph K. (Christy Carpenter) Hitchens, and Lorena Hitchens, five granddaughters, and four great-granddaughters, sisters Barta Walker and Neta Fenstermaker, and brother Clyde McLean. She was preceded in death by her parents, sisters Agnes McLean and Fern Giles, and brother Leon McLean and her son Brent Lynn Hitchens.
Family and friends are invited to pay their respects at Russon Brothers Mortuary in Bountiful, Utah on Saturday, April 11, 2015 from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm. A brief graveside service and interment will be held from 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm at the Bountiful City Cemetery, followed by an open house at the home of Jeanine Wilson.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to a charity of your choice, plant a flower, and hug your loved ones.