Arva Hughes
1925 – 2015

Mom, was born September 12, 1925, in Grovont Wyoming on Mormon Row.  Her parents were James Henrie & Hadden Maria Wood May.  At birth she only weighed 2 ½ pounds and they could not handle her to dress, so she was wrapped in cotton and placed on a pillow with three hot water bottles to keep her warm.  She was fed with a medicine dropper every 1 ½ hours  night and day for the first week.  Before they could bathe her at 7 weeks, she was rubbed with olive oil twice daily instead of the usual water bath.  She was so small that her mother’s wedding ring fit over her hand up to her shoulders and her cradle was a shoebox.

Mom always loved music & especially singing in choirs, playing the piano, organ and the accordion.  One favorite song which always brought a smile was, “Why oh Why Did I Ever Leave Wyoming?”  She loved pedaling her bike on the back roads of Benjamin.  She loved to bake and it was always heartwarming to come home from school to the smell of fresh baked bread and cookies.

Mom served an LDS Mission as a young woman in the Central States Mission from 1946-1948.   She married G. Jay Hughes in the Idaho Falls Temple on March 30, 1949.  Mom and Dad served two missions together in the West Indies & Fullerton, California CES.

They have 6 children: Marlene (deceased) (Dave) Palmer, Eunice (Kerry) Asay, Marva (deceased) (Gene) Gunn, Jay (Laura) Hughes, Connie (Fred) Black, & Shellie (Brent) Crane.  She has 27 Grandchildren & 48 Great-Grandchildren.  She is preceded in death by her Mother, Father & all 7 Siblings, and her daughters:  Marlene Palmer & Marva Gunn.