Vivian Louise Morgan Hixson passed away peacefully from pancreatic cancer at 91 years of age on September 24, 2022 in Salt Lake City. Vivian was born to William Richard Morgan and Florence Lilly Mader Morgan on June 27, 1931 in Redondo Beach, CA. She attended Redondo Union High School where lifelong friends and memories were made. She married the love of her life, Raymond Lee Hixson, three times. They eloped August 18, 1948, and then married again with family present on December 4, 1948 in Redondo Beach, CA, and later sealed in the St. George LDS Temple November 5, 1954. They enjoyed nearly 70 years together.
Vivian loved life and all it had to offer. She was vibrant, classy, fun, sassy at times, and always up for a party. She could experience immense joy from little things like seeing the clouds settle in a certain way on the mountains to seeing the expansive beauty of the desert. She loved music and dancing, skiing, playing tennis and reading. She was a curator of information and had a vast knowledge of most everything. She showed her moxie as she moved through the challenges in her life, such as losing a son to a drunk driver, and surviving fallopian tube cancer.
Vivian had a passion for the Arts and Design. She enjoyed being a member of her Art Group where they studied different artists and their works each month. She was a docent at the University of Utah Museum of Fine Art. She studied and appreciated architecture, furniture design, fashion, pottery, film and the needle arts. She was an accomplished seamstress and designed her own clothes as a teenager. Her love of knitting and needlepoint led her to open her own shop, with daughter Victoria and daughter-in-law, Melinda, named Needlework Design Co., then located in Foothill Village. As a member of the Salt Lake Needlepoint Guild, she and her daughters participated in the Utah Governor’s Mansion needlepoint project, designing and needlepointing bench cushions and the piano stool cushion for the mansion.
As a dedicated member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, she served in many leadership positions. She enjoyed her time as a docent at the Church Office Building and participated in doing special exhibits for the General Board of the Relief Society.
Vivian and Ray were inseparable and united throughout their lives together. Vivian was an asset for Raymond’s career, and he often said without her he could not have accomplished a tenth of what he had done. Together they cultivated a family of five children, nine grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren.
Vivian is survived by her children, Robben (Jill), Victoria (John Longaker), Morgan (Melinda), Shelley (Jeff Bowles), and bonus daughter & friend, Peggy Fisher; She is preceded in death by her husband Raymond Lee Hixson, parents William Richard Morgan and Florence Lilly Mader Morgan, sister Ilene Young, brother-in-law Harold Young, and son Timothy Lee Hixson.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. at 8100 S. Top of the World Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. A viewing will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. prior to the funeral. Interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.
