Dena Kaye Jakeman

Dena Kaye (Neilson) Jakeman, mother of 4 incredible children, passed away peacefully on June 27th, 2024 at the age of 71. She was surrounded by family at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah. She was born October 27th, 1952, to Doris Murphy and Rollo Larson Neilson in Provo, Utah. She grew up in Pleasant Grove, Utah and graduated from Pleasant Grove High School in 1971. She attended Dixie College in Saint George Utah.
Dena had a great love for animals. In her youth she had an innate love for horses and rode and trained them. She saved up and bought her first horse when she was 14 years old, a palomino mare which she named Marble Lily. Marble Lily later had a filly. Dena got a call in the wee hours of a Sunday morning and hurried to her horse's aid. She was there to help with the birth in those dark, early morning hours and gave the little filly the fitting name of Sunday Dawn. When she was in high school, she entered the Rodeo Queen Pageant and competed in the Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days Rodeo barrel racing event. As an adult she enjoyed having Arabian horses that she cared for with her children.
Above all else Dena Kaye loved being a mom. She was delighted when she was blessed with 4 beautiful children, whom she loved to cuddle and nurture. She loved her family and extended family with all her heart.
She had a strong testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a great love for her Savior Jesus Christ and her Heavenly Father. She also loved the scriptures so much that she used them to teach her children to read. This in turn, helped her children to develop testimonies of their own.
Dena was a strong spirit with a strong will, determined to do anything. In highschool, she tried out for the Pleasant Grove Junior Miss Pageant. She chose for her talent, a monologue from a play. She struggled to memorize her monologue while continually planning the process of HOW she would memorize the monolog but never moved to the next stage of actually memorizing it. This caused great distress for her mother. However, Dena was always a strong headed girl who moved forward anyway. Her mother was mortified when she watched in horror, as her daughter took the stage reading straight from the paper. Needless to say, even in all Dena's beauty, she did not win.
She was an incredibly crazy woman with an incredible intellect to match it. Her knowledge of the gospel, animals and many other topics was great. Even though she suffered from serious mental health afflictions her entire life, everyone who met Dena and got to know her, knew she was a kind, loving, gentle soul with no ill will towards anyone. She truly had the pure love of Christ in her heart. Her family honored that pure love by donating her liver to save the life of another. She also had a great sense of humor and loved to make others laugh at her silly jokes and the funny characters she played. She also enjoyed laughing at other people's good jokes.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Doris Murphy (The Magnificent Matriarch), Rollo Larson Neilson (WWII Bronze Star Warrior), brother Donald Rollo Neilson (Legendary Storyteller) and grandson Noah Michael Jakeman (The Beautiful Red Curls from Heaven).
She is survived by her two Sisters, Ella Raye Neilson Locke (John Locke) and Sheila Neilson Baker (Jed Baker), her children Kevan Bryce Jakeman (Marnie Jakeman), Jacob Kenyon Jakeman, Shaun Jeffrey Jakeman (Alexandria Jakeman), Julie Ann Jakeman Calderon (Jeremiah Calderon) and her twelve grandchildren; Tyler Kelling, Nick Kelling, Lexi Kelling, Sya Jakeman, Jadyn Jakeman, Lily Jakeman, Elijah Jakeman, Aiden Jakeman, Emma Jakeman, Samantha Calderon, Tristian Calderon, her two great grandsons Weston Reichle and Dalton Kelling as well as her grand fur baby Lee Liu and her many other grand fur babies. She was also survived by several nieces, nephews and cousins.
The family would like to thank Dena's amazing new friend and companion Sarah, whom they call Dena Kaye's earth bound guardian angel! She was able to push Dena through comfort zones that no one thought possible. They would also like to thank the nursing staff at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center for the love and compassion they showed Dena and her family in the final days of her life.
Services are under the direction of Olpin Family Mortuary in Pleasant Grove.
Funeral services will be held Friday, July 5, 2024 at 11:00 am in the Olpin Family Mortuary Chapel; 494 South 300 East, Pleasant Grove, Utah. Family and friends may attend a visitation before the service at the mortuary from 10:00 - 10:45 am.
Condolences may be sent to the family at olpinmortuary.com.