Sarah Wolsey Harper
Born: 15 Jan 1921
Died: 15 Dec 2012
At the age of: 91
Plot Number:
Spouse: Rawlins Joseph Harper
Children:
Parents: Luther Justin Wolsey, Mary Eliza Spence Wolsey
Obituary:
Sarah Wolsey Harper, 91, died in Orem, Utah, on December 15, 2012.
She was born January 15, 1921, in Cardston, Alberta, Canada to Luther Justin Wolsey and Mary Eliza Spence Wolsey. She was one of thirteen children and the only daughter to survive past infancy. She was raised with six brothers and was the second youngest child to live to adulthood. Two brothers and four sisters died in infancy. When she was a small child, her family lived on a ranch in southern Alberta. Later they moved back to Cardston where she grew up and attended public school.
On her first day of grade one, she decided that she wanted to be a school teacher. That desire never left her. By age sixteen she had earned teaching credits and began assisting a teacher in grade one. Sarah later attended Normal School in Calgary, Alberta to receive her teaching credentials qualifying her to teach in the Alberta public schools and began her teaching career in a one room school house in southern Alberta with students from grades two to eleven.
She moved to Provo, Utah, during the summer of 1940 and attended Brigham Young University, graduating in 1942 with a bachelor’s degree in education. Sarah also earned a masters degree in education from Bingham Young University in 1963. During the ensuing years she taught English in junior high and senior high schools in the following locations: Idaho, Utah, Alaska, California, Newfoundland and England. She was a loving disciplinarian and her students loved her. She married Rawlins Joseph Harper on September 23, 1972, in the Provo, Utah LDS Temple. On that day, she became a wife, mother grandmother and great-grandmother. She moved to Malta, Idaho, with Rawlins and went from her career as an English teacher to being the wife of a cattle rancher. She even raised her own bulls.
She served a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Eastern States Mission in 1948-1949. After her marriage to Rawlins they served two missions together, in the Delaware-Maryland Mission and at the Washington D.C. Temple Visitor Center. Rawlins died on Christmas Day 1990. Sarah left a year later for another full time mission, this time to South Carolina. She left for the mission field in December 1991 and returned home eighteen months later. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, seven brothers, four sisters, three children and two grandchildren. She is survived by a sister-in-law, Evelyn H. Wolsey of Springville, Utah, and a brother, Heber G. Wolsey, of California, three children, Jay (Janet) Harper of Malta, Idaho, Kay (Vickie) Harper of Mesa, Arizona, Roberta (Ike) Christiansen of Rupert, Idaho and a daughter-in-law, Donna Harper of Burley, Idaho. She is also survived by 29 grandchildren, 102 great-grandchildren, 79 great-great-grandchildren and 9 great-great-great-grandchildren. Many nephews and nieces and other extended family whom she loved and who loved her also survive her.
Sarah loved her teaching career and missionary service. She has also served teaching assignments and other callings in the various auxiliaries of the LDS Church in the local wards and stakes where she has lived. Ever the teacher, she has taught the restored gospel and literature to many people throughout the earth.
Sarah loved and was loved by everyone who has had the privilege of knowing and associating with her. Quoting from her personal history: “I have to confess that I have a sincere hope that when I return to my Father, He will put His arm around me and say, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’ And I pray we may all be there together.”
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, December 22, 2012, at the Walker Sanderson Tribute Center, 85 East 300 South, Provo, Utah. Family and friends may call Saturday morning from 9:30-10:15 a.m. prior to the services at the Tribute Center. Burial will be the same day at 3:00 p.m. in the Valley View Cemetery, in Malta, Idaho, under the direction of the Walker Sanderson Tribute Center, Provo.
Funeral Program: