Hazel Smith Tibbitts Obituary (1933 - 2021)

Funeral services for Hazel Tibbitts will be broadcast via Facebook Live on Thursday, March 11, 2021 beginning at 11:00 AM MDT. If viewing this broadcast from a mobile device, the Facebook app will be required. To watch this service, please click on the link below. Click HERE to view Funeral Services for Hazel Tibbitts Hazel Smith McLean Tibbitts joined her eternal companion just under a month of his passing on the evening of Wednesday March 3rd, 2021 at the age of 87. She was born March 9th, 1933 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Clinton Robinson Smith McLean and Leila Frederica Higgins McLean. She was the fourth of five children. Hazel attended East High School in Salt Lake City, where she graduated in June of 1951 before attending the University of Utah. While studying at the U, she met her husband Therice, and they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple March 18th 1955 before she graduated with her Bachelors of Arts in Early Elementary Education that fall. Therice joined the United States Air Force after his graduation, taking their family all over the world. She never stopped learning, taking courses that interested her wherever they lived, most of them in History. In 1988, she earned her Master’s in History, specializing in Local and Family History from Brigham Young University. While Therice was serving in the Air Force, Hazel took on the full-time job of being a stay-at-home mother to seven. She shared with them her love of learning and history. All of her children remember their trips to various museums, cemeteries, and art galleries all over the world. Some of her children also remember taking brass rubbings of headstones at the various cathedrals she would visit. When they returned to Salt Lake upon Therice’s retirement from the Air Force, she became the assistant Librarian at James E. Moss Elementary School when her youngest daughter started school there. After a lifetime of working on her own family history, and volunteering at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint Family History Library to help others with their own family history, she got a job as a full-time British Reference Consultant at the Family History Library after her youngest started Junior High School. She worked there for the next 16-years, retiring as the Supervisor of British Reference January 1st, 2002. Hazel’s interest in British research could be attributed to her mother, who immigrated to Utah through Canada from Bradford England in 1921. When Therice was stationed in England, Hazel took the opportunity to learn more about England, and even travelled to her mother’s birthplace, helping her understand her mother better than ever before. Hazel was a dedicated member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Though she may not have used her degree in a career until Therice retired, she did spend quite a bit of time teaching in various service callings. She taught early morning Seminary, Institute, and Gospel Doctrine. She also served as Primary President, which she enjoyed, as she had a great love of all things children, including children’s songs, and children’s books. Hazel was preceded in death by her husband Therice Tibbitts, her parents Clinton R. S. and Leila F. Higgins McLean her sister Marene (Paul) Howe, her brother Marvin (Elaine) McLean, and her grandson Cole Wilkins. She is survived by her sisters Delilah (Donald) Bull and Maryellen (Edward) Branson; her children Lorenzo Edwin (Lana) Tibbitts, Lilley Tibbitts, Brandt (Leilani) Tibbitts, David (Hazel) Tibbitts, Shawn (Debbie) Tibbitts, Theresa Christensen, and Julia (Matt) Wilkins; her grandchildren Lyssha Troy, Patrice (Allen) McNeil, Lee Tibbitts, Jackie (Josh) Duggan, Nicole (Dan) Saldivar, Natalie (Dan) Hoffman, Cole (Heather) Christensen, Charlie (Jessica) Christensen, Alyx Tibbitts, Sydney Christensen, Devan Tibbitts, Lorenzo Tibbitts, Brandon Tibbitts, Quin Wilkins, Mikayli Tibbitts, and Dale Tibbitts; 23 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren. The Funeral will take place Thursday March 11th, 2021 at 11:00am MST at the LDS Crescent 28th Ward Building (11626 South 300 East, Draper, UT 84020) and will also be broadcast by the funeral home. She will then be interred in the Utah Veterans Cemetery and Memorial Park at Camp Williams. The viewing will be held Wednesday March 10th, from 6:00–8:00pm at the Jenkins-Soffe Funeral Home (1007 W South Jordan Pkwy, South Jordan, UT 84095). The family would like to thank Dr. Reid B. Hales for the compassion and great care he has given to Hazel over the last 20 years. In lieu of flowers please make donations in the name of Hazel Smith McLean Tibbitts to Operation Underground Railroad.