Leah Annie Gardner Hamatake

LEAH ANNIE GARDNER HAMATAKE Leah Annie Gardner Hamatake, 86, beloved wife, sister, mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother passed from this mortal life on the evening of January 3, 2025, following a rapid decline in her health. She had received a steady stream of visiting family members and friends in the few days prior to her death, showing how well and deeply she was loved. Leah was born at home in Hayden, Utah on October 24, 1938, to Ray and Urma Gardner, the fourth of seven children. She grew up in a cabin with no electricity or running water. They used the outhouse "out-back" and got their water from a nearby creek and also used the creek to refrigerate their food by placing it in large milk cans and putting the cans in the creek. The family had a house in Roosevelt where they would stay during the school year, but Leah didn't want to be a "city dude" and preferred to live in the cabin at the ranch. Growing up on a ranch, she of course loved bread and milk with Pottawatomie plum jam. She tried to indoctrinate her kids with that same love, and to some degree succeeded with all the kids. Mom learned how to work hard early in life, being raised on a ranch, and that work ethic carried over to her adult life. She worked many different jobs throughout her life to help make ends meet and she excelled in all of them. One term that would never be used to describe Leah would be "slacker". As a young adult, Leah met a handsome young Japanese man, Robert Hamatake, fresh out of the Navy. They soon married, and over the years built a relationship that endured their mortal life. Bob and Leah made their relationship eternal when they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in August of 1978. Together, they raised 5 children in Tooele. Mom tried to instill in her kids the same work ethic that she grew up with. Mother once introduced the taste of Dial soap to her boys which stopped, in its tracks, a life of vulgarity, lying, thievery, and sluffing school in the second grade. Mom loved to camp, fish, hunt for arrowheads, and read. She loved to go to the Uinta Basin every year for the UBIC celebration, to camp, and to just "be home". In later years she looked forward to annual family reunions in Uinta Canyon. Mom was always willing to stand in as a friend for any of her kids, and she was known to have jumped on a Honda Trail 90 and headed to the mountains to go deer hunting with one of her boys. Much to the dismay of her kids, mom was unashamedly a huge fan of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Leah was an exceptional seamstress and could sew anything you could wear. Baby blessing clothing and wedding dresses were not an exception. Everyone in her family, including herself, proudly wore clothing made by mom on her sewing machine. She taught all of her kids, including her boys, how to sew. Mom also made quilts for all her kids and grandkids, and those quilts are now treasures which can never be replaced or reproduced. Leah was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served in many positions in the Relief Society, Young Women's organization, and Primary, and was Relief Society president for a time. She lived in the same house for over a half-century and was dearly loved in the ward and neighborhood by all who knew her. Mom is survived by her children Lee Ann Jackson, twin sons Bret (Jeanene) Hamatake and Bart (Lynnea) Hamatake, Dawn (Mike) Davis, and self-proclaimed favorite child Jennifer Hamatake, numerous loving nieces and nephews, and by many grand, great-grand, and great-great grandkids. She was preceded in death by her husband Robert "Bob" Hamatake, parents, grandchildren Bobby Couchis, Laura Hamatake, and Christopher Jackson, siblings Geraldine Seawright, Dee Ray "Buddy" Gardner, Elva Evans, Karen Fonger, and twin brothers Glen Gardner and Eugene Gardner (died in infancy). There will be a viewing held on Wednesday evening, January 8th at Tate Mortuary in Tooele from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Funeral services will be held at noon on Thursday, January 9th at the Tooele 4th Ward building, 192 West 200 South, Tooele, with a viewing held one hour prior. The burial will be at the Tooele Cemetary.