Marelyn Nielsen

Marelyn Seifers Nielsen, our cherished and adored mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, and friend peacefully passed away Wednesday morning November 20, 2024, at the Age of 88, in Sandy, Utah. 

 Marelyn lived an active life, full of laughter, service, church callings, tennis, golf, spontaneous adventures, and many hilarious stories to go along with them. It was impossible to be sad when Marelyn was around. She left a trail of sunshine everywhere she went, and taught all who knew her to live with gratitude in your heart always. If you didn’t, “she’d slug ya in the heart, and kick ya in the belly.”

 Born on 10 May, 1936 in Ely, Nevada, Marelyn was the second of five children. When she was nine years old her family moved to Salt Lake City. Their house was one of the original seven homes built on Christmas Street. 

 Marelyn always told stories of her maternal grandmother Anna Frieda Hofer who was one of eleven children born in Prussia. Anna met the missionaries and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1907, resulting in her no longer being welcome in her parent's home. She eventually received a sponsor in Logan and immigrated to the United States. Marelyn talked often of her grandmother's positive impact on her, and how her example influenced her strength and devotion to her faith. 

 Marelyn and her late husband Kent V. Nielsen were high school sweethearts. They met at East High as sophomores. He was Utah's football MVP and she was a majorette and a cheerleader. They have three sons Brett, Lance, and Jeff - all of whom live in the Salt Lake Valley. Marelyn and Kent loved to take their boys on family trips to Jackson Hole where they became avid water skiers. There were no shortage of sporting events in the Nielsen home, however in exchange for watching every football game, Marelyn made Kent tag along to watch the various beauty pageants and musical productions she was involved in. Marelyn and Kent enjoyed traveling a lot for Kent’s work as Data Processing Manager at the Utah Department of Transportation. 

 Marelyn had an eye for fashion, and was never caught not looking fabulous. She spent fourteen years as the director of the Salt Lake Valley Pageant, and twenty three years as a hostess for the Miss Utah pageant! 

 Marelyn enjoyed her many part time employment opportunities. She began working for JCPenney at 15 years old, where she modeled clothing, was a hostess, did direct sales and was an employee performance evaluator. She worked there for over 15 years. Other memorable jobs included Director of sales for Mary Kay Cosmetics, Hostess for time management seminars and marketing representative for Charles Hobbs Corporations, teaching modeling and self improvement for Granite School District and sales manager for Mountain America food distribution company. Her favorite job was working for IHC Home Health as a receptionist. She loved the people she worked with and has told us many stories of the fun times she had there.

Marelyn’s favorite callings were working with the youth. She taught the Young Women for thirty years and taught Sunday School for another ten years. She served a 3 year service mission at the church office building in SLC.

 For many years Marelyn enjoyed golf, tennis, opera, and the symphony. She treasured the lifelong friendships she made along the way.

 The love of her life became her grand and great grandchildren. Marelyn has ten grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren with an 11th on the way. Marelyn’s grandchildren were her life. Her favorite thing to do in the world was brag about how amazing her grandkids are. She went out of her way to make sure each grand and great grandchild felt special and loved.

 We invite you to celebrate Marelyn’s life with us. Services will be held at the Jamestown LDS church located at 6350 Rodeo Lane, Murray, Utah. The viewing will be held Monday, November 25th at 6-8 p.m. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, November 26th at 11:00 a.m. 

 Internment services will follow at 1 p.m. at the Holladay Memorial Cemetery 4900 South Memory Lane, Holladay, Utah.

The Nielsen Family invites those unable to attend, to join online, using the link below:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/5081906741?pwd=9KgFbDbG4mayD53GTRPz8EvntdCoIr.1&omn=84850831501

Meeting ID: 508 190 6741
Passcode: 1234