Phyllis Jorgensen

Phyllis Griffin Jorgensen, 89, of Riverton, Utah, passed away peacefully on August 14, 2024 of age-related ailments.
Phyllis was born on July 7, 1935 to Roland and Alice Griffin in Newton, Utah. After Phyllis graduated from North Cache High in 1953, she went on to study at Brigham Young University. She married her eternal companion M. Vincent Jorgensen on August 19th, 1955.
Mom was a private person. Inside her home she was the queen with strong opinions. She loved a good debate, a clean joke, a well-told story, and to laugh at her own follies. She called things as she saw them. We can hear her in our heads chuckling and saying, "Don't you think that is stupid?" when we're about to do something stupid, because that is what she would say when she heard the story later. She loved a story with a moral and wasn't afraid to play with the facts to make the moral clear.
She lived with severe arthritis most of her life, and it kept her from doing many things she loved. Otherwise, her life was mostly devoid of tragedy. If there was one, it was that she was shy of showing the beautiful person she was to the world and only showed it to her family.
Mom tried hard to follow the teachings of Jesus by feeding and clothing the poor, loving her neighbors like herself, and especially doing unto others as she would have them do unto her. Often this meant leaving them alone, because that is what she would want. She avoided talking about her good deeds because she believed strongly that you will only be paid once and she was saving her rewards for the next life.
Mom was a faithful lifetime member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and was pleased to have served in many callings such as Relief Society and Primary presidents and more than twenty years in the Jordan River Temple baptistery. But to her it was about the people she got to be around and spoke very highly of every one of them.
She adored her youngest child, Tara, who was born with Down Syndrome, and saw nothing but potential in her. She worked tirelessly to help Tara achieve that potential and to live a full life.
Mom was a small town girl though-and-through. She loved the wide open spaces and hard working people that lived in them. She was never quite at ease in a big city like Riverton, Utah.
Mom said "my childhood ambitions were very simple" and they've all come true: a heated and carpeted bedroom – her bedroom growing up was cold enough that a glass of water in the windowsill would freeze on cold winter nights – and to own a farm. Rooms with light switches by the doors so she wouldn't have to walk into a dark room and fumble around for the pull cord. Marrying a good man and having a large family are also dreams fulfilled. She was proud to have nine children, thirty-seven grandchildren, and umpteen great-grandchildren.
Mom loved real estate, farms especially. One of her favorite activities was to lazily drive with Vince to see a listed property. It didn't matter how barren the land or dilapidated the barn, Mom would just stand there take it in and picture all of the possibilities. Over the years they did acquire a farm in Cache Valley and property affectionately called the Tin Inn in Idaho. Having access to land brought Mom no small amount of pleasure.
Mom had many other loves: reading, gardening, genealogy, sewing, singing, camping, hiking, and playing the piano. She loved to play a jaunty tune on the piano and laugh as the grandbabies danced like banshees in her living room.
She believed in working hard and leaving a place better than you found it. We have several memories of her handing out bags and telling us to clean up a campsite – sometimes before we had set up camp ourselves. We were blessed to have her in our lives. Yes, Mom believed in leaving a place better than she found it, and anyone who knew her well knows that is exactly what she did.
Phyllis was predeceased by her parents, Roland and Alice, siblings Harlow, Alice-Mae, and Mike. She is survived by her siblings Doug, and Terry, her husband Vince, and children Kevin (Carol), Kerry (Connie), Jeff (Cari), John (Karyn), Teresa (Bryce), Tacy (Ron), Ryan (Susan), Richard (Becky), and Taralee, thirty-seven grandchildren and seventy-one great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at the Tithing Hill Ward Building, 1208 W 12400 S, Riverton, Utah, at 2 pm on Monday August 19, which is Vince and Phyllis' 69th wedding anniversary. Viewing prior to the service 12:30-1:30 pm at the same location.
She will be laid to rest in the Newton Cemetery on Tuesday August 20 at noon.
Phyllis loved flowers and commented on them at every funeral she attended, but she would also be tickled if you donated to Camp Kostopolus https://www.campk.org/getinvolved/ instead.