Irene Leavitt Wengert

With tender hearts we bid farewell to Irene Leavitt Wengert, our family matriarch, beloved and faithful wife of Frank Delano Wengert (deceased), mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend to multitudes. Having lived a rich and full life filled with love and service to others, she passed away peacefully at home on December 26, 2023 after a brief illness and age-related causes, and returned to her sweetheart’s loving arms. Irene was born on May 17, 1931 to Eldon Smith Leavitt and Grace Eveline Cooper Leavitt in Overton, Nevada. Her humble childhood beginnings included time in the pioneer town of Bunkerville, Nevada, living on a silver fox farm in Las Vegas, and later living in North Las Vegas. In the summer prior to her freshman year at Las Vegas High School, at the tender age of 13, Irene met the love of her life, Frank Delano Wengert, who was entering his senior year. A mismatched love affair began, which then led to a 5-year courtship, then a nearly 75-year marriage into eternity, which began on July 16, 1949 in Las Vegas, Nevada. She and Frank proceeded to raise their family, moving dozens of times around the country. They managed to make the ugliest of houses and yards into beautiful and loving places of refuge for their family, and scores of other people and animals that were in need of a family. Irene was an obsessive creator and dreamer, a scientific inventor who held several patents, a serious student of the scriptures, an accomplished gardener, a dedicated temple ordinance worker and church servant, a constant missionary to anyone in her sphere of influence, an avid reader, a business owner and entrepreneur, a beloved teacher and speaker, a licensed real estate agent and cosmetologist, a model with a flair for fashion and good taste, a stickler for etiquette and elegance, a pianist with a beautiful singing voice, a student with an insatiable appetite for knowledge and personal growth, and farm girl at heart with a special love of her cows. Most notably, she was the epitome of a remarkable, loving, and caring mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She was also a foster mother to countless babies, children, teens, and adults who entered her life. She left a legacy of service, faith, love, and a burning testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. During their decades together, they found joy and rejoicing in their vast posterity. She is survived by their only son, Dennis Delano Wengert (Maureen), five daughters, Shelley René Shelton (David), Jan Maree Wengert, Clare Lisa McCammon (David), Kathryn Elliott (Robert) and Cynthia Andrus (Randy), 28 grandchildren, 98 great grandchildren and growing, sisters Elda Anne Millett and Lynn Carey, brother-in-law Robert E. Wells, and her precious furry guardian dog, Parley. Irene and Frank’s family remained the center of their existence and their highest priority. Their greatest desire in life was to see their posterity happy, anxiously engaged in the good pursuits of life, and to enjoy the blessings of exaltation. There were three things Irene loved most – the Lord, her family, and beauty in all of its earthly forms. She longed for the day that all three would be together for eternity. In fact, she’s probably already identified a few bare spots in heaven and is busy planting flowers and trees to fill the void and add to the beauty! Special thanks to her marvelous Aspen Ridge Hospice care team headed by her nurse Heather Lyman. They weren’t just care takers. They were compassionate and loving friends. Funeral services for Irene will be held on Saturday, January 6, 2024. Viewing from 9:00-10:30 a.m., services at 11:00 a.m., at the Snow Springs LDS Church building, 1801 West 700 South, Lehi, Utah, 84043. Interment will be at Highland City Cemetery, 6300 West 11000 North, Highland, Utah, 84003. Link to view the services: https://www.youtube.com/@snowspringsbuilding2776/streams

Irene Leavitt Wengert

May 17, 1931 - December 26, 2023