Janet Nilson

JANET SMITH NILSON
“An Elect Lady”

Janet Smith Nilson, 80, peacefully slipped away from us on Sunday, November 24, 2013 after a lingering battle with Parkinson’s Disease, with a rapid decline from Lewy Body Dementia. She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 5, 1932, to Naoma Hollingworth and Franklin Richards Smith. Jan grew up in Salt Lake City and attended Hawthorne Elementary, Roosevelt Junior High, East High and the University of Utah. After four years of courting, she married D. Spencer Nilson on January 22, 1953 in the Salt Lake Temple.

A devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jan served in many ward and stake leadership and teaching positions. She wholeheartedly supported Spence while he served in various bishoprics. For more than 13 years, she worked with LDS college students in the Lambda Delta Sigma sorority. Jan also served as an associate member of the Relief Society General Board and enjoyed traveling to wards and stakes outside of Utah.

Jan delighted in her family of five children, twenty-two grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren. She enjoyed spending time with her family at Lake Powell and at the family cabin in Mt. Aire canyon. Jan was a hard worker and a wonderful cook who always made “enough food for the army!” She was indeed “The Chief Cook and Bottlewasher.”

Jan and Spence spent many years in missionary service together, first in the England, Birmingham Mission and then as the Directors of the Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters in Omaha, Nebraska. Later, they served part-time missions in the Center Third Ward of the Riverside Stake and at the LDS Humanitarian Center, working primarily with Burmese refugees. These were never-to-be-forgotten experiences and they couldn’t have been happier during those mission years.

Her greatest talent and attribute was the Christ-like service she rendered as a wife, mother, and friend. With her compassionate, loving demeanor and naturally cheery personality, she easily made friends wherever she went. She was indeed an “Elect Lady.”

She is survived by her sons, Mark (Frances) and Frank (Laura) and daughters, Diane (Edward) Clissold, Jane (Greg) Horman, and Kay (Greg) Litton, and her brother, Darrell (Joan) Smith, all of Salt Lake City, Utah, except the Hormans, who reside in Carlsbad, CA. She was preceded in death by her parents and three brothers, Dick, Chet and Bob.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 30, 2013 at the Foothill Seventh Ward Chapel (2215 Roosevelt Ave). Friends and family may visit at the church on Friday evening from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and on Saturday morning from 10:30 to 11:45 A.M. Interment will be in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Our special thanks to loving caregivers. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the LDS Humanitarian Fund or the LDS Perpetual Education Fund. Funeral Directors, Russon Brothers. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.russonmortuary.com