Toby Ann Hunter

Toby Ann (Smith) Hunter spent the last days of her mortal life surrounded and greatly cared for by loved ones prior to passing away peacefully in the early hours of Monday August 14, 2023. She was the firstborn child to Albina (Ann) Kijanka and Eugene Smith. She was born on August 27, 1939, in Siskiyou County, Yreka California. She grew up adventuring near their log cabin home in the Oregon Mountains. She ate things like wild berries and deer her father caught. Mother Nature was her “plaything”. Speaking of which, she recalls receiving her first actual toy at age nine - a beautiful red bicycle that she greatly cherished. Shortly after she was born, her sister, Sandra (Smith) Hollenbeck, became ill with meningitis and was sent to live and recover with their Grandmother Gertrude (Eugene’s Mother) in San Francisco. Toby wasn’t reunited with her sister again until Sandra was three years old. At some point in their younger years, the two sisters were sent to a catholic boarding school where Toby was infamous for living up to her unofficial middle name of “Trouble.” She recalls sliding down a stair-rail right onto a nun to which Toby sincerely said, “thank you for the soft landing.” The nuns’ response was not as polite. When Toby was just six years old her father died in a tragic logging accident. Her mother remarried Emmett Frazer Hill in 1948. Both her Fathers were good men who cared and provided for the needs of their family.

Toby attended college at Sacramento State where she earned a degree in Home Economics with minors in anthropology and history. Upon graduating she took a job teaching home economics at a local high school for a few years before she met and married Frank Graham Andrews. They divorced after a short time, but the silver lining was the blessing of a beautiful baby girl, Serena.

At an LDS dance, Toby saw a gentleman she eyed and declared to her friends that, “He is the best one in the bunch!!” One month later he proposed to her. They had a two-year courtship and on March 18, 1968, and married in a whimsical, eloping fashion-at an unplanned Reno LDS church building, by an unknown Bishop, with basketball players from the church's gym to sign the wedding certificate. James brought a son, James (Jim) Hunter Jr., and his half-sister Cathy Culbertson to the union. James and Toby went on to have two more daughters together, Sandra and Sara.

A year after their marriage her husband James got offered a job in Salt Lake City, Utah. In her own words, “the job never materialized, but we didn’t have enough money to go back to California so we stayed.” Stay they did.

Some of Toby’s favorite hobbies over the years include thrift shopping, watching murder mysteries, driving the Alpine loop each fall, sewing, reading, visiting museums and history, and “torturing her husband, children, grand-children, and her bishop.” Toby also enjoyed her time working as a registration assistant at the Salt Lake Community College in her later years.

The words of a colleague at the College say it so perfectly:

“Lucky is the person that gets to meet Toby Hunter. Her laughter and sense of humor is one that people don’t forget once they get their first dose of Toby. Toby is good and kind. Her heart is full of love, but most of all she is non-judgmental and accepts everyone for who they are. For those of you who believe in auras, Toby’s is amazing. She lifts my spirits every time I have contact with her. She is truly unforgettable and I for one am extremely grateful that she has chosen to share a part of her life with me. Thank you, Toby!”

Thank you, Toby!! Thank you for making this world and our lives infinitely better because of your generosity, selflessness, kindness, goodness, hilarious sense of humor, and love. We feel incredibly blessed, and you are incredibly missed.

A viewing will be held Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at Valley View Funeral Home on 4335 W 4100 S, West Valley City, Utah 84120 from 6-8 pm.

In lieu of flowers, and in the true sense of her lovely character, Toby and her family kindly request you do something nice for someone today to brighten their day.

A huge thanks to all the staff at St. Marks Hospital, AMG Senior Medical Group, Inspiration Home Health and Hospice, Legacy House Retirement Living in South Jordan Utah, Valley View Funeral Home, and countless other neighbors, friends, and angels who’ve assisted mom and our family along the way.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ValleyViewFuneral.com for the Hunter family.