Letitia Rae Dunn Harding
August 20, 1936 ~ November 9, 2021
Letitia Rae Dunn Harding “Rae” was born on August 20, 1936 in Logan, Utah to Leslie Smith Dunn and Anne Mitton Dunn and died on November 9, 2021 in Ogden, Utah of acute kidney failure. She was the fifth of six children. She lived in Logan until the age of 7, then her family moved to Ogden and later settled in Washington Terrace. She attended Washington Terrace Elementary School and Junior High. When the new South Junior High was built in 1950, it was a member of the first 9th grade. In 1954 she graduated from the “real” Weber High School.
Mom was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was sealed for time and all eternity on August 27, 1954 in the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City to Ralph Eugene Harding. This marriage had six children: Douglas (Jean), Jeffrey (Karen), Bruce (Cindy), Scott (Page.)), Karen (Chad) Hassell, and Maryanne (Jeff) Ogden. She has 18 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren. She adopted many of our friends as her own and loved them very much. She also has many nieces and nephews who have always been so close to her heart. For Mom, as soon as you joined the family, you belonged to her. There were no in-laws or in-laws. Mom had a way of making you feel like her darling.
Mom served in the Church and held many offices, including Young Women president, ward and stake Relief Society general president, choir director, choir singer, organist, stake president secretary, regional council secretary, and many more. She also served as an ordinance worker in the Ogden LDS Temple. She loved all of her positions in the Church. Mom always had fond memories of old Ogden 13th Station. She was a member of the Washington Terrace 1st Ward until it was dissolved, then she became a member of the Washington Terrace 6th Ward. When she and Dad moved to South Ogden, they became members of the South Ogden 6th Ward.
Mom worked for the Boeing Company and eventually retired as a human resources manager for Utah. She enjoyed working there and the friendships that were made. She entered the company’s bowling and golf leagues. We can’t say for sure if she ever really enjoyed both sports, but she had a lot of fun with her friends.
Mom was very talented. She was a poet and wrote poetry for every occasion. She has been asked more than once to write a roadshow for her community. She only had a few months of formal piano training, but she was an amazing piano player. She accompanied her middle and high school choirs and for the operettas that were performed. In middle school, Mom played the role of Little Buttercup in the operetta HMS Pinafore and played the piano for the production. In the 9th grade she accompanied her choir class to a performance of the Hallelujah Chorus.
She has accompanied many choirs and solo singers over the years. Mama sang chorals with the Jay Welch for over 20 years and experienced great joy with her associations. Mom loved singing and performing with her sisters. The Dunn Sisters were known for breaking into 5-part harmony anytime they were together. They often sang their grandfather’s original songs at family celebrations. They even recorded a CD for their families.
Mom loved to crochet and many of us are recipients of baby blankets, kitchen towels, afghans and baby scarves.
Mom loved to travel and she shared that love with each of us. Mom and Dad made sure that we always had at least one big vacation a year. Most of the time it was camping with our tent trailer, but we didn’t care. The memories were important.
Mom served on the Foster Care Citizens Review Board for the state of Utah for several years. She loved her time on the board but also said it was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. She was absolutely an advocate for these children.
Although mom was very human, she really was an example of the pure love of Christ. She exemplified this in her actions and thoughts every day. She has taught us through her actions what charity looks like, how to care for others, and how to love and be nice to the people around us.
Mom leaves behind her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, sister Ann and brother-in-law Gary Bingham, brother-in-law Mel Staheli and sister-in-law Gwen (Arvis) Harding. Her husband Ralph, her parents, siblings and their spouses, Marge (Asael) Boyce, Elaine Staheli, Mary (Bill) Staheli, Leslie Jr. (Marion) Dunn and granddaughter Danielle preceded them in death.
The family would like to thank Lisa Carter of Intermountain Hospice for her loving care for Mom during her final days.
The memorial service will take place on Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 11 a.m. at South Ogden 6th Ward Chapel, 4380 Orchard. Friends can visit family on Friday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd, and on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at church. Funeral, Brigham City Cemetery.
The services are streamed live and available by scrolling to the bottom of Rae’s obituary page at www.lindquistmortuary.com for condolences.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Letitia Rae Harding, please visit our flower shop.
Published by Lindquist Mortuary – Ogden on November 17, 2021.
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