Richard M Hebertson, MD

Richard M Hebertson passed away peacefully on March 27, 2024, from cardiopulmonary disease at his home in North Salt Lake, Utah, with his wife Barbara by his side. Barbara followed close behind, passing only three days later. Walking side by side for more than 71 years, they entered eternity together. 

Richard was born on January 24, 1930, at the family home in Vineyard, Utah, to Thorit Charles and Susan Elmina Madsen Hebertson. He was the fourth son in a family of six boys and one girl. He remembered fondly his childhood filled with the joys and challenges of rural living and recorded these memories in many of his writings. As the last surviving member of his immediate family, he maintained close relationships with his parents and siblings to the end of each their lives. 

In 1941, the family moved to Salinas, California, where Richard completed grade school, junior high, and his sophomore year of high school. Returning to Vineyard in 1946, he attended Lincoln High School in Orem, Utah, where he served in student government and first met Barbara Collings, who became his high school sweetheart and later his wife. Following graduation, he attended Brigham Young University for one year before serving a 2 ½-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Netherlands (Holland and Flanders, Belgium) from October 1949 to May 1952.

Soon after returning from his mission, Richard and Barbara were married on August 22, 1952, in the Salt Lake Temple. In his words this was “the best choice I ever made.”

At BYU, he was a cadet in the Air Force ROTC and graduated with honors in 1954 with a degree in chemistry and physics. He graduated from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1958 and completed an internship and a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1962.

In 1960, he was commissioned a 1^st Lieutenant in the National Guard, advancing to the rank of Captain. Upon entering the United States Army in 1962, he moved with Barbara and their four children to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, where he served as a physician at the base hospital. The family enjoyed this time exploring Boston and the surrounding area. While there, he received a Commendation Medal and served as a branch president in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prior to his honorable discharge from the Army in 1964.

Returning to Utah and settling in the Mt. Olympus Cove area of Salt Lake County, the Hebertsons welcomed their fifth child and Richard continued to serve with distinction in his family, church, and professional life. He touched countless lives as a father, son, brother, friend, teacher, and leader.

In his professional career, he served as an Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor, and later the Chair of the Department of OB-GYN at the University of Utah. Later he was the Chief of the OB-GYN Department at LDS Hospital while maintaining a private medical practice there until his retirement in 1992. During the more than 30 years of his medical career, he received numerous honors and awards, and was an integral part of the development of important educational and patient-care initiatives. However, his greatest accomplishment was the skilled and personal care that he gave to his patients. In his daily activities and travels, he would often be greeted warmly by patients and their posterity sharing stories of the ways he had blessed their lives. 

Richard’s many years of faithful service as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints included various ward leadership callings, including Bishop, and years of missionary service. After retiring, he served as a Medical Adviser at the BYU Jerusalem Center with Barbara. Later they served together in the New York Rochester Mission with assignment to the Church History Sites. Following their return, they served from home in the Church’s Missionary Medical Department for nearly 14 years, well into their 80s. 

Above all, his crowning achievement was his role as husband to Barbara and as father and grandfather to his numerous posterity. Carrying on a legacy passed down through generations, Richard provided his family with a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ and His Restored Church. He taught the values of hard work, respect, patriotism, and a love for learning. He loved and served his family and others with kindness and generosity. 

Richard was an example in everything “virtuous and lovely” and shared his love of beauty through his talents for watercolor painting and writing prose and poetry. His family and friends have been blessed by his testimony of Jesus Christ expressed in his annual Christmas messages, his memories and reflections captured in his writings, and his love for the world around him reflected in the details of his paintings. He was known for his keen intellect, his amazing memory, and his sense of humor.

Richard was preceded in death by his parents, Thorit Charles and Susan Elmina Hebertson, and all of his siblings – Keith M. Hebertson, Wayne M Hebertson, Leon M Hebertson, Evelyn JoAnn Thomas, Val M Hebertson, and David M Hebertson. Richard and Barbara are survived by their children Jennifer (Kim) Bertin, Paul (Kagari) Hebertson, Mark (Nicole) Hebertson, Carolyn (Craig) Peterson, and Christine (Kyle) Bown, 23 grandchildren, 44 great-grandchildren, 6 great-great grandchildren. Richard is also survived by a sister-in-law, Randi Hebertson. 

The family would like to express our appreciation for the loving care given to our parents by neighbors and members of the Foxhill Ward and the nurses and aides from Synergy HomeCare and Inspiration Home Health & Hospice. 

Combined funeral services for Richard and Barbara will be held on Friday, April 12, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at the Foxhill Ward Meetinghouse located at 200 South Eagle Ridge Drive, North Salt Lake, Utah. Friends and family may visit on Thursday, April 11, from 6-8 p.m. at the Foxhill Ward building and prior to the funeral from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Please park and enter on the north side of the building. Interment will be at the Bountiful City Cemetery. 

Services will be streamed live on Zoom at:  https://zoom.us/j/98519102167?pwd=OVMyNWc0SFdhaW5CbWpNQVVvT0NXUT09  Webinar ID: 985 1910 2167   Passcode: Foxhill.   

In lieu of flowers, please consider a humanitarian donation to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.