Twila Hayman

Twila Leavitt Hayman, 95, of Vista, California passed away on Sunday, March 19, 2023 of old age. A viewing will be held at the Vista Valley ward building at 1310 Foothill Drive in Vista, CA on Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 10am followed by a memorial service at 11am. She will be laid to rest at Riverside National Cemetery on Friday, April 7, 2023 at 10:30am.

Twila Leavitt was born on December 19, 1927 in Auburn, Wyoming to John Delbert (Dell) Leavitt and Bertha May Wood. Dell and Bertha were childhood sweethearts who grew up across the dirt lane from each other, both multi-generational members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who could trace their family roots to the church’s early days. They married in 1914 in the Logan, Utah temple and had five children together: Vernal, Verna, Ellis, Bonnie, and Twila. Bertha died in 1930 at the age of 34 from complications after surgery to treat a chronic sinus infection. Just two years old at her passing, Twila had no memories of her mother except for her funeral. 

Twila’s older sister Verna—ten years her senior—stepped in as a surrogate mother as did her mother’s large extended Wood family. Twila remembered her childhood as a happy one: riding horses, picking wild huckleberries, and singing with her family. There were some mishaps, like the time she stumbled across a pair of brown bears while on horseback or the time she got sprayed by a skunk and no one would come near her for weeks.

Dell worked as a park ranger for the Forest Service, maintaining the trails, portioning allotments, and managing the livestock. The work kept him away from home for much of the year and the children were sent to live with their grandparents, Earl and Hepzibah Leavitt, during the summers. English-born Hepzibah was a known disciplinarian who had the unenviable task of teaching young Twila how to be a lady. When Twila slammed the door, Grandma Leavitt made her close the door 100 times softly. Twila made it to 70 and just couldn’t take it anymore and slammed the door again. Grandma Leavitt made her start over from the very beginning. 

When the Great Depression hit, Dell was transferred to Caribou National Forest near Grays Lake, Idaho. There he met Bernice Sibbett who he married in 1934 when Twila was almost seven. Dell and Bernice had four sons together, Twila’s half-brothers: John Delbert, Mishael, Morgan, and Renny. Bernice could sometimes be a hard woman to love and Twila and her siblings struggled to get along with her. 

After her father’s remarriage, the family divided their time between a small cabin in Grays Lake, Idaho in the summer and Soda Springs, Idaho in the winter. There was no high school in Grays Lake, so after graduating eighth grade, Twila moved to Kaysville, Utah to work as a nanny for Henrietta Turner, a friend from Grays Lake. Henrietta worked nights, so Twila could attend high school during the day and then take care of Henrietta’s two girls during the evening. 

It was while living in Utah that Twila met Marvin Seymour Hayman, a Jewish boy from California, over a game of ping pong at the USO in Ogden, Utah. Marvin was at Hill Field for training with the 906th Signal Corps. Twila had no business being there—you had to be 18 to visit the USO—but her friend, Ruth Turner, worked there so Twila snuck in. By the time Marvin discovered how young Twila really was, they’d already been dating a few months and it was too late; they were in love. They married in West Point, Utah on March 25, 1943 when Twila was 15 and Marvin was 22. 

A few months after marrying, Marvin was sent to Alaska, where he served for the remainder of the war, and Twila was sent west to live with her new in-laws, Etta and Jack Hayman, in Riverside, California so she could attend high school and “finish growing up.” Etta and Jack were excessively kind and welcoming to their new daughter-in-law; Jack in particular spoiled Twila. He drove her to school every morning so she wouldn’t have to walk. She graduated from Riverside Poly High in 1945. She worked the switchboard at Pacific Bell until Marvin returned home from Alaska and they started their family.

Their first child, Cheryl Dee, was born in 1946. Charles Lee (Chuck) followed in 1949, Edward in 1953, and Deborah Lu (Debbie) in 1954. Eddie lived only a few short hours because of a heart defect. 

After the war, Marvin helped his father build a successful appliance store—Hayman’s House of Appliances—located on Brockton Avenue in Riverside. Marv was a born salesman and the business did well. As the kids grew older, Twila joined Marv at the store, helping to run the backend of business operations. She had a kind smile for everyone who came to their store and a sucker in her desk drawer for any visiting child. 

As the family grew, so did their home. They purchased a house on Chapman Place in Riverside, California where they lived for 35 years. Marv and Twila were both endowed with warm and generous hearts. Their home was one of love, welcome, and acceptance…plus one perpetually stocked cookie drawer. They opened their house to any one who needed a place to stay for a night, a month, or years. This included Marv’s cousin, Janie Miller, who lived with them for nineteen years until she died; several extended family members from both sides including parents, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins, and grandchildren; three foster daughters: Kay, Mary, and Joanne; multiple exchange students like Esther Meneses Fenn who became a lifelong friend of the family; and a collection of friends that they picked up along the way. You might enter their house as a stranger but would leave as family. 

Most of their vacations when the children were young took place at a family cabin in Big Bear, but when Marvin won a trip to Europe from RCA for selling enough of their appliances, he caught the travel bug and infected Twila with it, too. Over the next 30 years, Marvin and Twila criss-crossed the globe together, traveling to 113 countries and all seven continents including Antarctica. According to Twila, Marvin knew enough languages to get them into trouble, but not enough to get them back out of it. 

After running Hayman’s for 50 years, Twila and Marvin retired and moved to Vista, California. Twila raised her children in the Mormon church with the support and blessing of Marvin, who preferred to commune with a tennis racket on Sundays.  But with retirement came Marvin’s conversion and baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1993 and their sealing in the San Diego temple in 1994. Together, they completed a service mission at the local employment center and served as ordinance workers at the San Diego temple for many years. This was added onto Twila’s many years of service as a Cub Scout leader, Primary teacher and counselor, Relief Society counselor and president (in the Vista 5th ward), and several stints as Compassionate Service leader. There was no greater exemplar of the Relief Society motto: “Charity Never Faileth.”

Twila was the rare woman who received and gave love in equal measure. She never forgot a birthday or turned down an opportunity to help others in need. She was slow to anger, quick to laugh, and lived by the philosophy that she should greet each day with a smile and be glad she was still breathing. She and Marvin could be caught holding hands or playing footsie with one another well into their 80s. As his health and memory declined, Marvin was often heard telling Twila: “I don’t remember much, but I remember that I love you.” He also told the same jokes again and again, but Twila always laughed at them like she was hearing them for the first time. Marvin passed away on April 28, 2010 at the age of 89 with his cherished wife by his side. Near the end of her own life, Twila was at peace with all that life had brought her. “It was a good life,” she said. It was a better life for those of us who got to call Twila our mother, grandmother, sister, friend. We’ll always be thankful for all the many years we got to have her on this earth. 

Twila Leavitt Hayman is preceded in death by her parents, all of her siblings, her two sons, Chuck and Eddie, and her beloved husband of 67 years, Marvin. She is survived by her daughters, Cheryl Boyce (Bill), Debbie Harrison (Mark), and Teresa Hayman (Chuck’s widow and devoted caregiver); fifteen grandchildren (plus spouses), 39 great-grandchildren, and more adopted children and grandchildren than we can count.

The family would like to thank Radiant Hospice and all of Twila’s dedicated hospice nurses and support team who provided exemplary care to Twila in her final years.

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.

When: Apr 6, 2023 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Twila Hayman Funeral

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://zoom.us/j/99224561060

Telephone options:

US: +1 669 444 9171 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253 205 0468

Webinar ID: 992 2456 1060