Michele was born on April 8, 1954, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Richard Joseph Horrocks I and Irmgard Lisbeth Buchhorn Horrocks. The youngest of seven children, she grew up in Sandy, Utah, where she attended Brighton High School and graduated in 1972. She later began her undergraduate studies at the University of Utah before meeting the love of her life, Randy Hart. They were married and sealed for time and all eternity on June 17, 1977, in the Salt Lake City Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently celebrating 49 years of marriage.
More than anything, Michele wanted to be a Mom. She and Randy welcomed their first child the following spring, and over the next eleven years, their family grew to six children who became the center of her life. After the birth of their youngest, the family moved to the mouth of Millcreek Canyon, where they established the home that would become the heart of family memories for the rest of Michele's life.
Love was rarely something Michele spoke about; it was something she quietly did every day. She read novels aloud to her children in the evenings and scriptures each morning. She patiently hand-sewed Halloween costumes, Sunday dresses, and everyday clothes. She cultivated a yard filled with flowers, carefully tended gardens, and fruit trees that reflected the same steady care she gave to her family. Though life was simple and never extravagant, she created a home rich with love and beauty.
Each season carried its own traditions. Every spring, she delighted in planting her flowerpots. Summer brought canning jars filled with fruit from the family's trees, raspberry freezer jam, and her treasured frozen peach medley carefully saved for Christmas. Christmas was especially dear to Michele. She loved celebrating the birth of the Savior by preparing a special meal, reading Christmas stories on Christmas Eve, decorating the home, and delighting in the simple joy of hanging lights whenever she could convince someone to climb the ladder. For her grandchildren, one of the most anticipated moments of every visit was winding Oma's cuckoo clock and waiting together for it to chime.
As her younger children became more independent, Michele fulfilled a longtime goal by returning to college, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Utah State University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2004. After moving from preschool to elementary school, she taught students for nearly 20 years. She concluded her rewarding teaching career at Howard R. Driggs Elementary School, where she quietly influenced the lives of countless students with the same encouragement she had always given her own children.
Throughout much of her adult life, Michele faced significant health challenges. Although those challenges often limited her physically, they never defined her. Instead, she became an example of resilience, quiet courage, and unwavering faith. She endured difficult days with remarkable patience, drawing strength from her testimony of Jesus Christ and leaving her family an enduring example of perseverance, grace, and hope.
Of all the roles Michele held, none brought her greater joy than being a wife, Mom, and Oma. She loved each of her children dearly, and that love became the foundation upon which her family was nurtured. Her influence lives on through the traditions she fostered and in the people she nurtured, taught, encouraged, and loved.
Michele is survived by her husband, Randy Darrell Hart; and by their six children and thirteen grandchildren: Alisha (Neil) Wursten and their children, Victoria and Owen; Christopher (Megan) Hart and their children, Addison, Conner, and Oliver; Heidi (William) Wilsted and their children, Ahna, Emmelyn, and Sophie; Nathan Hart; Matthew (Erin) Hart and their children, Lilah, Gabi, and Eva; and Shaun (Valerie) Hart and their children, Vincent and Sterling.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Richard and Irmgard Horrocks, and by her brothers Mark, Robert, and Keith Horrocks.
Funeral services will be held on Monday, July 20, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. A viewing will be held on Sunday, July 19, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and again on Monday from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., prior to the service. Both the viewing and funeral service will be held at the meetinghouse located at 3510 South 3610 East in Salt Lake City. Interment will follow at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Millcreek, Utah.
Those who knew Michele will remember a woman who rarely sought recognition, but whose life quietly transformed the lives of those around her. Her greatest accomplishments were not measured by titles or possessions, but by the home she built, the family she cherished, the students she taught, and the enduring example of faith, kindness, and selfless love she leaves behind.
