Daryl Van Dam Hoole

Daryl Van Dam Hoole, cherished matriarch of the Hoole family, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away peacefully in her longtime Salt Lake City home on February 2, 2026, at the age of 91. She was surrounded by family and loved ones at the time of her passing.

Daryl was born on March 5, 1934, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Donovan and Ada Van Dam, goodly parents who loved and nurtured her. The eldest of four children, she grew up in a joyful and happy home and was taught to love and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. She lived in Salt Lake City and Ogden until she was six, at which time her father was called to active military duty due to international conflicts that soon led to World War II. For the next six years, the family followed their father from military base to military base throughout the United States. She lived in Oklahoma three separate times as well as in California and North Carolina. As a result, Daryl attended eighteen different schools before graduating from high school, including five in the first grade. The transitory military life taught her how to be flexible, yet organized, and not only to adapt, but to thrive with change. She later would counsel her own children to “bloom where you’re planted” and to find the silver lining in any circumstance.

In 1952, at the age of eighteen, she relocated with her family again, this time overseas to the Netherlands. Her parents were called to serve in the Netherlands Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the next four-and-a-half years she served as a secretary in the mission office and was eventually called to be a proselyting missionary. These choice, faith-promoting experiences, along with being endowed in the Swiss Temple, would lay the foundation of devoted Christlike service for the rest of her life. Upon returning home, Daryl married her sweetheart and eternal companion, Hendricus (Hank) Johannes Martinus Hoole, Jr. in the Salt Lake Temple on March 25, 1957. That strong union was the beginning of a most remarkable, faith-filled family journey. Hank and Daryl were blessed with nine children, thirty-six grandchildren, and eighty-one great-grandchildren. Her rich posterity was a source of immense joy to her throughout her entire life.

Daryl’s love of being a mother and homemaker led to a passion for writing and sharing her experiences with other women and members of the Church. Daryl had a knack for self-education and continually improving herself. She wrote and published nine books. Being an early riser, tireless worker, and organizational savant greatly aided in these efforts. Her best-known book, The Art of Homemaking, was listed on Deseret Book’s bestseller list for several months and remained in publication for 25 years. She was also included in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Church History Museum’s “Exceptional Women” exhibit featuring contributions of LDS women in literature/writing. Her writing career was a springboard for her becoming a public speaker and teacher for over 60 years. She gave hundreds of lectures and seminars in over a dozen countries and at least 25 states on home management and family living. She taught at BYU’s annual Education Week for four decades and was named an Honorary Alumna in 2012. Tens of thousands of women warmed and lifted her heart with their gratifying and appreciative responses for her dedicated work in this area.

Church service and callings were wide and varied and proved to be a wonderful blessing throughout Daryl’s life. Like her parents, Daryl and Hank were called to serve in the Netherlands Amsterdam Mission from 1991 to 1994. In 1999 they received another mission call, this time to serve as Welfare/Humanitarian service missionaries in Asia for two years. These incredible mission and life experiences only reinforced her love for the Savior and all of God’s children. Daryl would say many times that her most treasured possession was her testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In addition to being a beloved wife and mother, Daryl’s most valued and rewarding work was following the Savior’s example and ministering to others. She was the epitome of practicing “pure religion” as described in James 1:27, “to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” She visited, comforted, and delivered countless loaves of homemade bread and meals to neighbors and those in need. Her example of faithful service is perhaps her greatest legacy to her family. There was no disconnect between her public and private lives; both were in complete harmony and firmly centered in Christ.

Daryl is survived by eight of her nine children: Jean (Steve) Harris, Roger (Sharon) Hoole, Diane (Dan) Romney, Elaine (Mark) Quinn, Rebecca (Jeff) Taylor, Nancy Hoole Taylor, Spencer (Ann) Hoole, Gregory (Kelly) Hoole; her 36 grandchildren and eighty-one great-grandchildren; and her two brothers, Marvin (Sandy) Van Dam, and Lee (Holly) Van Dam. She is preceded in death by her husband Hank, her daughter Janet, her parents, her sister Donette Van Dam Ockey and brother-in-law, Gail Ockey, and great-grandchildren Mogens and Birte Harris (twins). We would like to express special thanks to our mom’s angel caretakers during these past few months, Rachel and Paula.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, February 21, 2026, at 11:00 AM at the Yalecrest 2nd Ward building, 1035 South 1800 East, Salt Lake City, Utah. Friends are invited to visit with the family at the ward building Friday evening from 6:00 to 7:30 and on Saturday morning from 9:30 to 10:30, prior to the service. Interment will be at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the General Missionary Fund of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or to Primary Children’s Hospital.

“Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and all men.
Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”
2 Nephi 31:20