Annette Hartman

1945 - 2025

Annette Rollins Hartman

Holladay Utah - Annette Rollins Hartman was born to Charles Lafayette Rollins and Veda May Nielson on October 20, 1945, in Chico, California. Annette was the fifth of six children and grew up in a big farmhouse in Chico. One of her favorite memories of Chico was riding around town in the bread truck that her father drove when he made deliveries. She attended the Chico public schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade and made many lifelong friends during that time.



When Annette was in her late teens, she met her husband, Richard Hartman, while he was in Chico serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She knew he was from Salt Lake City, and he definitely made an impression on her, so when she came out to attend Brigham Young University, she looked him up. Their relationship blossomed over several years and they were married in the Oakland California Temple on June 20, 1969.



After graduating from BYU in Elementary Education, Annette worked as an elementary school teacher for five years. She then put her teaching career on hold to raise her family. In 1973, her first child, Brad was born, followed by Dan and Julie. Annette loved being home and tending to her children.

While raising her children, Annette developed a deep love for children's literature. Shortly after her youngest was in grade school, Annette set out to start a children's book business. She searched carefully to curate and collect the very finest in children's literature that she independently sold at various places. She widely became known in the Salt Lake area as "The Book Lady," which was her professional business name. She never made much money off of her book business and used to joke that it was her "community service" and a way she could use her talents to give back.

Children's literature brought Annette an immeasurable amount of joy. She blessed the lives of her own family and many who came to her for advice on the best books to bring home to their families–especially books that she felt taught a valuable lesson. She was an incredible storyteller. She had animation in her voice, facial expressions to match, and kept everyone engaged. Through her diligence and hard work, she truly brought a little more magic into this world by opening up worlds that could only be opened through the best books.



Later in her life Annette recertified her teaching credentials and went back to teaching in the schools full-time and eventually became a librarian in an inner-city school in Salt Lake City. She created the most magnificent school library and gave her whole heart and soul to serve the struggling children in this area. She did this for 15 years until her retirement at the age of 65.



Annette had an incredible spark for all things creative. She excelled at many things such as flower arranging, home building, interior design and decor, hosting, gardening, and much more. With interior design, Annette's brilliant brain could map out, draw, and create spaces that were beautiful and complex.



As a gifted homemaker, Annette flourished in making her home a beautiful and welcoming place to be. Her home was full of European antiques and English inspired decor. Blue and white delftware plates were displayed on every wall and porcelain chinoiserie vases all round. She modeled her garden as best she could after English gardens. Her garden was her very favorite place where she loved to spend her mornings and evenings after her retirement. She loved filling her home with uplifting music as well as attending the fine arts as often as possible.



Annette loved to travel and wanted to see much more of the world than she was able to. Her favorite trip was to her beloved England with her husband. She wanted her children to also see the world and worked hard to be able to send all three of her children to study abroad programs in different lands across the world.



Annette loved to host and entertain. She regularly gathered her family around her large dining room table filled with decorations, an excess of food, and a lot of chaos. Although the meals and presentation were labor intensive, it brought her great joy to gather together and feed those she loved.



Annette had a very compassionate heart and did her best to reach out to the one. Many family dinners were accompanied by someone no one knew, but Annette knew they needed a place to belong. She invited extended family to live with her and also took care of her younger sister, Jane, in her home for many years as Jane went through her own Alzheimer's journey. This was not easy on Annette, but she did it with a smile and a cheerful heart despite the stress of caretaking.



One of the greatest things about Annette was her sense of humor, her smile, her laughter, and her joy. She faced many deep and painful challenges throughout her life with an incredible ability to continue to smile and laugh despite the pain she was in. She had so much grit all throughout her life to carry on despite the hard circumstances she found herself in.



She kept smiling and laughing her way through her entire decade-long battle with Alzheimer's. Because of her miraculous ability to do this, it made this arduous and painful terminal illness easier on her husband and her children. It is something that her children will always remember – to hold fast to joy despite the complex pain and difficulties of life.

Being a lifelong dedicated member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Annette had a solid testimony of her Savior, Jesus Christ. Christ was at the center of her life and everything she did. She never wavered in her faith and beliefs. She, along with her husband, taught their children everything they could to live a righteous and joy-filled life through obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ that were so dear to her. Annette felt that one of her greatest accomplishments was holding family home-evening consistently each week, working hard to make a home that was fit for the Lord's spirit to dwell.



Annette is preceded in death by her parents Charles and Veda, her sisters Charlotte (LaVon), and Jane, her brothers Robert (Joeann) and Richard (Betty). She is survived by her husband Richard, sister, Susan Leitner, three children, Brad (Christine), Dan (Ali), and Julie Bristow (Jared), nine grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.



A funeral service for Annette will take place on Saturday, October 25th at 10 AM in the church located at 2625 Milo Way, Holladay, Utah. A viewing will begin one hour earlier in the same building at 9 AM.



An open house and viewing will take place the night before on Friday, October 24th from 6 until 8 PM at the same church as the funeral.

The family would like to thank those at Meadow Peak who were truly invested in her care, hospice nurses Rachel, Jess, and Tiffany. A special thanks to her and Richard's personal caretakers, Ryan and Diana, who served with so much love and care in her final days.



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