Sylvia Diane Williams

Sylvia Diane Williams

August 20, 1936 - August 6, 2023

Provo, Utah - Sylvia Diane Willardson Williams passed peacefully through the veil on August 6, 2023, her eternal companion and children at her side. Born August 20, 1936 in San Diego, California, to Evelyn Grace Ibey and Emery Smith Willardson, Sylvia will forever be remembered for her faith, her service and Christlike example.

Growing up, Sylvia was friendly and popular and a good influence on her many friends. She loved riding horses and being in the outdoors, especially to camp and fish during summer vacations in Monroe, Utah. She enjoyed drama and dancing and above all, twirling her baton as captain of the Point Loma High School majorettes. When the president of the United States came to town, Sylvia led a parade in his honor through downtown San Diego, thrilling the crowd with the high toss and breathtaking catch of her baton.

Sylvia was an excellent student and received the Bank of America business award for her achievements in accounting. After graduating from Point Loma High School, she attended Brigham Young University for one year before returning home to attend Kelsey Jenney Business College in San Diego. There, she so impressed the college administrators that they hired her as a teacher immediately upon graduation.

Early in her teens, Sylvia caught the attention of a young Wayne Gene Williams during Sunday School class. Wayne wouldn't let her out of his sight and made sure her other admirers knew that she was his girl. And so she was. They were sealed for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on September 6, 1956.

Wayne and Sylvia spent their first years together in San Diego and then Fresno, California, before making a career move to Wheaton, Illinois, where they lived until retirement. In Wheaton and subsequently in Fallbrook, California, and Draper, Utah, Sylvia accepted many callings in the Church, teaching and leading the children, the young women, and her Relief Society sisters; serving in the Chicago, San Diego, and Draper temples; and serving as a missionary in the South Salt Lake Utah mission. She enjoyed volunteering in her community and in her children's schools as well.

Sylvia had a beautiful singing voice and was often asked to sing as a soloist at weddings, funerals, Christmas programs, and church services. Her children and grandchildren have wonderful memories of her lullabies, her show tunes, and her favorite hymns and primary songs. One year she had the honor of singing with the Chicago Businessman's Choir and Orchestra in a Christmas program at the Chicago Civic Opera House.

Sylvia was a political activist in defense of her moral values, grew organic vegetables, kept a beautiful rose garden, made jam, and baked wonderful pies and rolls. She loved the arts, enjoyed traveling, and spent her free time crocheting, walking, swimming, and completing puzzles. She was an insatiable learner, especially in her study of the scriptures, and shared the gospel with a testimony and conviction that influenced many lives. Sylvia loved life and, more than anything, she loved her family, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and her Lord and Savior.

Sylvia is survived by her husband, Wayne; her children, Diana (Garry) Pace, Brent (Debra) Williams, Christopher (Teresa) Williams, and Karen Edwards, 19 grandchildren,16 great-grandchildren, and her siblings, Dona (Ray) Capelo, J.D. (Jannice) Willardson, Don (Betty Jean) Willardson, and Glen (Marjorie) Willardson. She was preceded in death by her parents, Emery and Evelyn Willardson, her siblings, Kenneth (Hilda) Willardson and Mary Le Isle Willardson, her son, Jon (Rochelle) Williams, and her great-granddaughter, Lila Williams.

Funeral services for Sylvia will be held on Saturday, August 12, 2023, at 11:00 am at the Anderson and Sons Mortuary, 6141 West 11000 North, Highland, Utah. Family and friends may call that morning from 9:30-10:30 am prior to the services. Interment will follow at the Highland City Cemetery, 6300 West 11000 North, Highland.

Please click on the link below to watch Sylvia's funeral service via live stream:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81417192526?pwd=Q2orYnlKakZNeTN3cjRseSt5d1VGQT09