Michelle June Joines

Michelle June Brown Joines, 48, passed away peacefully in her home in St. George Utah the morning of October 19, 2025. She was born March 1, 1977, in Ogden, Utah to Christopher and Christine Brown. She married Jake Joines on April 23, 1998, in the Salt Lake Temple.

Michelle was raised in Huntsville, Utah where she enjoyed growing up on the family farm. She was a bright-eyed blond girl and full of excitement and fun. She loved animals, the outdoors and playing with her friends and siblings. She was athletic and competitive and played on all the girls sports teams at Snowcrest Junior High, was a student body officer and a cheerleader. At Weber High School she was on the Soccer, Basketball and Track teams and was a student body officer graduating in 1995.

Around age 11, Michelle's cousins brought their friend Jake to a family party where Michelle and Jake first became acquainted. They didn't pay much attention to one another until many years later when Jake visited her at Snow College in the fall of 1995. She made him a microwaved baked potato. He invited her to go with him on the first of many adventures. That fall they enjoyed hiking Timpanogos, dancing, rock climbing, and skiing together. During the winter of 1996 Jake left Utah to attend BYU Hawaii. They were able to communicate regularly through a new technology called email.

In late August of 1996 Michelle and her twin sister Sharon accompanied Jake and some friends on a weeklong adventure around the Yucatan Peninsula. Together they explored jungle ruins, snorkeled in the ocean, and explored colonial and Mayan villages. Michelle fell in love – with Mexico, which she would visit frequently – with the Spanish language, which she learned to speak fluently – and Jake, with whom she would be inseparable for the rest of her life.

Michelle started classes at BYU in the fall of 1997, and she and Jake spent as much time together as possible. Jake proposed to Michelle on her birthday, and they were married in between school semesters on April 23, 1998.

Michelle and Jake graduated December 1998 from BYU and moved to Colonia Juarez, Mexico. Michelle completed her student teaching at the Juarez Academy. Jake was a volunteer laborer on the first mini temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints built outside the United States. They lived in an unheated small cinder block house where they shared a twin bed. Their total expenses for 4 months was $300.

Next, they moved to Park City, Utah. That summer Jake worked on the construction of the Winter Olympic Ski Jumps and the young couple learned to mountain bike. In the fall they drove their Ford Mustang, holding all their possessions, to Tempe Arizona where Michelle worked at an inner-city high school teaching math and Jake completed a master's degree at ASU.

From Arizona, Michelle and Jake moved to Las Vegas Nevada. Jake did not want to work there, but Michelle encouraged him to pray with her about it and they felt that is where they needed to go. Their first year in Las Vegas, Michelle worked at an inner-city Las Vegas high school until she gave birth to their first son, Shade in 2001. Two years later she would have their second son Jonah.

In 2004 Michelle, at 27 years old was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer. What followed were difficult months of surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Kind neighbors, friends, and family helped take care of the small children and provided meals to the family during difficult days. The doctors told Michelle and Jake they shouldn't have any more children and predicted an unfavorable prognosis. Feeling lost and confused and not feeling supported by traditional medicine, Michelle and Jake started to make healthy lifestyle and eating changes that they believe kept Michelle healthy and enabled her to teach and improve the health of countless people over the next two decades.

In 2005 Michelle and Jake decided they needed to increase their focus on the important things in life – not chasing money and climbing the corporate ladder, but focusing on their faith, family, service to others, and healthy lifestyle. They moved to St. George Utah, where they have lived for the last 20 years, enjoying hiking, biking, skiing, and outdoor recreation in this wonderful part of God's earth. Having defied the doctor's predictions, they were able to have two more miracle children, Finn in 2013 and June in 2015.

More than anything, Michelle treasured her role as a wife and mother, giving her whole heart to her husband and children. She created a home filled with love and faith and was deeply involved in her children's lives. She served multiple times as PTA president, supported the school music programs, and raised funds to start a violin program. She encouraged her children to embrace language and culture through the Spanish immersion program and organized bilingual humanitarian trips to schools in Durango Mexico. Michelle was truly her children's biggest cheerleader, from coaching their soccer teams, showing up for every game, or taking part in their adventures – running, swimming, biking, and playing right alongside them. She supported each child's dreams, whether it was writing a novel, starting a business, becoming a scholar, or pursuing ballet. Michelle was, in every way, a champion mother.

Michelle was a woman of deep faith. She loved her Savior Jesus Christ and spent time studying and learning His gospel. She loved to go to church and the temple. She served in the Relief Society, Young Women's, Sunday School, and Primary organizations. She served with Jake as a missionary in the Snow Canyon Spanish Branch for two years and as a temple baptistry worker for the past two and a half years.

Michelle lived a life of service. She was consistently dedicated to serving and showing love to her family, friends, neighbors, and community. If there was a need, she would do anything and everything to help. Michelle always knew who needed help in the neighborhood and how to coordinate the resources to improve their circumstances. If someone needed consultation, recipes, food and smoothies, rides or even just a listening ear, she was there to provide it.

Every year she would organize multiple events to bring the neighborhood together, from the Easter Potluck Breakfast to the Fall Festival, and finally the New Year's Eve Tamale Party.

Michelle lived a life full of bright enthusiasm and intense determination. She loved and was loved by everyone she met. Her greatest passion was to share the knowledge and experience she had acquired with everyone around her.

Michelle's life was a miracle. She received many healing blessings over the years and was given the gift of having her days extended. She has had a beautiful and full life, has been able to accomplish all that she has wanted to do, and has completed her mission on this earth. She has dealt with cancer with immense faith, courage, and grace. She studied and researched and used what she learned to fight valiantly for life until the very end.

We would like to thank the countless family members, friends, and neighbors that did everything they could to love, sustain, support, and help her during her last difficult month of life. Thank you - you mean the world to her.

Michelle was an angel on earth and her absence in our lives will forever be felt. We miss her deeply but we know she is continuing her work in the Kingdom of God. She is learning, progressing, and serving in heaven. We love her so much and look forward to the day when we will see her again.

Michelle is survived by her husband, Jake Joines, her children: Shade, Jonah, Finn, and June; her mother, Christine Brown; mother in-law, Mary Joines and father in-law, Dan Joines; siblings: Diane (Dave) Sheley, Karen (Thomas) Roylance, Sharon (Kenyon) Dove, Jared (Jill) Brown, Jason (Kelly) Brown, Kevin (Camille) Brown, Christopher (Christy) Brown, Richard Brown, David (Stella) Brown, Andrew (Aliyah) Brown, Heather (Connor) Flaherty; and many nieces and nephews. Michelle was preceded in death by her father, Christopher Daniels Brown and her grandparents.

Funeral services will be held Friday, October 24, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Red Cliffs 6th Ward Chapel, 1285 North Bluff Street, St. George, Utah. Friends may visit with family on Friday, prior to services, from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the church. Interment will follow in the Santa Clara City Cemetery, 1950 Ancestor Way, Santa Clara, Utah.

Those unable to attend are invited to view the services at the following link: Livestream.

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