Mollie Corbridge Hyer

Mollie Corbridge Hyer, whose gentle, understanding, and pleasant nature buoyed anyone and everyone fortunate enough to share space with her, died on December 17, 2023. She was 94 years old. Mollie was a ‘safe place’ for all she knew. Friends and family alike found their triumphs championed and worries wither while in her company. She was on ‘your side.’ Mollie was the quintessential ‘keeper of confidences’ and her passing is keenly felt by many.

Mollie May Corbridge was born on July 2, 1929, in Bountiful, Utah to Lawrence George Corbridge and Mary Emily Tuttle. She was the ninth of eleven children and always said that she had an idyllic childhood. She grew up on the family ranch in Malad, Idaho, and warmly recalled happily playing for hours with her two sisters, Lauraine and Lucille. They were the three youngest in the family and were inseparable companions that climbed apple trees together, made paper dolls out of The Montgomery Ward catalog, and played pretend school with their dolls posing as students. To this day Mollie and her sisters are referred to by the rest of the family as “the three little girls.”

Mollie attended Utah State Agricultural College, now Utah State University in Logan, Utah, majoring in home economics. Nervous to leave home and attend an educational institution so much larger from her small high school, her brother Dale advised her “Call people by their name. If they don’t know you, they will find out who you are.” Following this advice, and because of her own life-long innate inclination to be inclusive of everyone, Mollie thrived on campus. Her senior year she was elected homecoming queen and also represented her class as the student body vice president. Her senior year became even more significant when she met Dale Chandler Hyer. They fell in love and were married on August 20, 1951 in the Logan temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in a double wedding ceremony with another of “the three little girls,” her sister, Lauraine.

Once married, Mollie and Dale moved to St. Louis, Missouri where Dale attended Dental School. Upon graduating, and after working just a few years, Dale and Mollie returned to St. Louis—now with four young children—where Dale completed education in Orthodontics. In 1963, the family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they would spend the rest of their lives actively participating in community and church. Mollie became involved with the Clark County Dental Auxiliary helping with school out-reach programs, worked for a time at her husband’s orthodontic office, and served in innumerable capacities at her church.

Following her husband’s death in 1989, Mollie served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. When the elevator doors opened on the floor where she worked as a receptionist, she was the first person one would see. Worth the elevator ride just to be greeted by her welcoming and charming smile! She loved her time there, made many friends, and appreciated learning about computers which became valuable to her later on.

More than anything, Mollie was loved and beloved by her family and friends because of the way she gave of herself. She was compassionate, generously shared of her time, administered kindness, and responded immediately when she discerned a need--be that need physical or emotional. She suffered for over 50 years with rheumatoid arthritis but very rarely complained. She touched people’s lives in a personal way by reaching out to the lonely, helping the overwhelmed mother, listening without judgement, noticing the fatigue of a worker, seeing the strain on the worried face of another, taking note of a person’s interests and likes and surprising them with her support in a variety of ways, and last but not least, cheering on her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Mollie was the embodiment of the Savior’s admonition to ‘Love one another.’ Every one of these people knew they could count on Mollie’s faith and prayers even if they were doubting their own. Through the years, untold numbers of friends and family found refuge in her home. Sometimes for a night. Sometimes for a year. And standing in her driveway as each and every one of them drove away she would say “You know you are always welcome.”

That idyllic childhood of hers included being taught by parents about God and the importance of remaining true to Him. She endowed her posterity with a firm testimony of Him and His son Jesus Christ living every day with a faith that was steady and constant.

Mollie played a mean game of SkipBo with her grands and great-grands (who absolutely adored her) right up to her final days. They will all miss her and the never-ending supply of candy and snacks that were always tempting their little fingers and sweet-tooths when they came to see their “GG,” their “gram” their “grandma.”

Mollie is survived by her two younger sisters, Lauraine Corbridge Allen and Lucille Corbridge Skanchy; her children Mary Huntington (Ric), Dodd Hyer (Zan Peterson), Kevin Hyer (Catherine Utley), and Kristian Hyer (Marie Rowan), 18 grandchildren, and 44 great-grandchildren.

The funeral service will take place on Saturday, December 30, 2023, at 10.00 am at the Monte Cristo Chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; 1801 S. Monte Cristo Way, Las Vegas, NV 89117. There will be a time to greet the family at the same location preceding the funeral at 9:00 am.