Marilyn Jackson Clawson

Our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and sister, Marilyn Jackson Clawson, aged 91, passed away peacefully on the beautiful winter morning of January 20, 2025 at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her last days were spent surrounded by her devoted family, who cherished every minute with her.

Marilyn was born on April 7th, 1933 at the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, the eldest child and only daughter of Margaret Romney and Junius Jackson. She grew up alongside the climbing Sweetheart Rose her father planted to commemorate her birth. She viewed her childhood home and neighborhood as idyllic and often referred to the place and time as Camelot. She attended Uintah Grade School, Roosevelt Junior High School, and East High School. She worked as a waitress at Bryce Canyon Lodge for three summers and attended the University of Utah, where she affiliated with Chi Omega sorority and graduated in 1955 with a degree in home economics. Her children love that she was voted the Dream Girl of Delta Phi fraternity. The University of Utah was also where she met the love of her life, Truman Fox Clawson, and they married on the last day of June, 1955, in the Salt Lake Temple.

Marilyn and Truman moved many times throughout their lives, making lifelong friends wherever they went. Marilyn bloomed where planted, making each place they lived a home where love resided and treasured memories were made. They were stationed at various Air Force bases in San Antonio, Texas; Moultrie, Georgia; Enid, Oklahoma; and Sacramento, California. Following Truman’s Air Force career, they moved to a home on Lincoln Lane in Holladay, Utah, where she lived for approximately eight years as a busy young mother raising the first seven of her eight children.

In 1968 the family ventured north on the Alcan Highway, bound for chilly Fairbanks, where Truman took a job as Assistant to the President of the University of Alaska. An adventurous spirit, Marilyn loved the unique opportunities Alaska brought to her and her family. She liked witnessing five minutes more of darkness each day as winter approached and five minutes more of light each day ahead of spring. She enjoyed making and embellishing parkas for her children. Together they picked wild blueberries, tasted whale blubber, and visited a musk ox farm. She loved to tell stories about blanket tosses and the Iñupiat people she met on her trip to Point Barrow.

In 1970, the family moved to sunny Arcadia, California, where Truman worked at the California Institute of Technology for almost a decade. For Marilyn, California was a glorious era where, for a short time, she had all eight children in her care, carting them around Los Angeles in our beloved green Ford van. She loved “Where bowers of flowers bloom in the spring” along with the avocados, cumquats and other citrus that grew plentifully. Marilyn and Truman also knew tragedy, the deepest of which occurred while in California, with the drowning of their son Richy in 1974. They later moved back to Salt Lake City, where they remained and gradually emptied their nest.

A devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Marilyn served two missions with her husband Truman, first as Directors of the Mormon Trail Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and second with the Church Public Affairs Office in New York City. She left a deep impression on those she taught and with whom she labored. She loved and was beloved by all. She ministered in various capacities and in many leadership positions within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including serving as ward Relief Society President and in other organization presidencies. She especially loved serving with the children and going to camp with the Young Women.

Marilyn was always an enthusiastic performer and champion of music, singing in choirs, taking piano and voice lessons, playing guitar, and even starring in two operas with the University of Alaska Music Department, including the part of Mimi in La Boheme. Her children even joined her on stage in Amal and the Night Visitors. Among the items most cherished by her children and grandchildren is the Christmas carol album she recorded with her beautiful voice. Marilyn was determined to care for her physical body. Even at age 91, she was faithfully attending water aerobics class. She also truly appreciated earth’s beauty, savoring every sunset and vista. She greatly enjoyed gardening and everything to do with flowers. Daffodils were her favorite, ever since she was asked to choose her most loved flower for her Primary bandlo. Just like the people in her life, Marilyn tirelessly cared for her flower beds and gardens wherever she lived. She loved beautiful things and entertaining, ensuring that every visitor to her home was well fed and cared for. More than anything, she loved people, everyone and everywhere, and gathered new friends at each stage of life. People were drawn to her, by her loving countenance, beautiful smile, great laugh, and unmatched zest for life.

Family was the most important thing in Marilyn’s life and it showed in the love and devotion she had for her husband, each of her children, and her many grandchildren. This was her life’s work, and each and every one felt loved and cherished. Her examples of unconditional kindness, compassion, and charity leave a legacy that will forever guide and motivate others to be good and do good. Marilyn could not speak an unkind word to or about anyone. She had a gift of making those in her company feel like they were the most special, amazing, and talented person in the world. She considered her number one blessing to be her testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She reflected Christ’s light through her words and actions and never stopped trying to be more like Him. Her love and care will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Marilyn wrote, “My life’s been a happy one! I would love for each of you to retain a happy spirit, until we will all enjoy meeting again.”

Marilyn is preceded in death by her son Richard Todd Clawson; grandson Truman Richard Clawson; great-grandson Benjamin Reed Seastand; her parents, Junius Martell Jackson and Margaret Romney Jackson Judd; her brother Richard Martell Jackson; and her son-in-law John Arthur Scowcroft. She is survived by her husband, Truman Fox Clawson; seven children, Truman Alan (Cindee) Clawson; Bradley Jackson Clawson; Julia Lynn (Ferron) Manwaring; Junius Jackson (Michelle) Clawson; Carolee Scowcroft; Craig Jackson (Natalie) Clawson; and Melanie Jane (Gary) Broadbent. She is also survived by 22 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. Her tenth is due any day. Her surviving brothers are Douglas Romney Jackson; John Romney (Ann) Jackson; and David Romney (Teresa) Jackson.

A viewing will be held on Sunday evening, January 26, 2025 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Bonneville Ward Meetinghouse, 1535 East Bonneview Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Funeral services will be held on Monday, January 27, 2025 at noon at the same building, with a visitation prior to the services from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, 3401 South Highland Drive, Millcreek, Utah.