My mom…

Everyone we love has a precious place and warm presence in our lives and when they are gone we are left a little cold and lost.  I try to keep busy in order to deal with life right now lest I become a constant watering pot leaving a trail of tissues and tears around the house; but it happens now and then when I hear or see something that reminds me of her. When I think of her it is of a great life, fun, joy, smiles, laughter, goodness, magic and adventures.  She’s suffered so much of her life from a disease that has caused a lot of great physical and emotional challenges, but I know of nobody who put up with it and hid her pain as she did.  She appeared to us as Wonder Woman and we all naturally thought, “sure she’ll get better, she always does and anyway we need her here,” we being somewhat selfish for her presence.  When she passed away it was 10 minutes before my dad, sister, and bro-in-law made it to the hospital.  My theory is that people as loved as she is, have to go while we who are left in mortality are out of the room or we might not let them go.  I had a dream the night she died, finally sleeping when I feared I could not.  She was in my dream telling me a sort of list of things she had completed saying, “I’m done with that,” after each list was done.  It was almost like watching a many parted mini-series of her life.  Though I can’t remember any specific scenes, only that she had completed them with satisfaction.  I feel that she was telling me that her life was completed as she’d come to earth to accomplish certain tasks and had.  It was the most comforting night of sleep I’ve ever had and know it was a blessing from God to me.  There isn’t enough I can say about my love for my mom and how much I’ll miss her.  She has been a wonderful example to me of living a full life and making the best of every moment. 

 

Obituary:

Vicki Dawn Hartvigsen passed away on the morning of December 13, 2012 at the age of 59. She lived in Yucaipa, California with her loving husband Gary R. Hartvigsen. They married for time and eternity in the LDS Los Angeles Temple on October 7^th, 1972. Vicki died from multiple complications stemming from her struggle with Rheumatoid arthritis. She passed away in the UCI Medical Center in Irvine, California. She is survived by her husband, and four children Rebecca Williams (Chris), Erin Hansen (Bill), Jared Hartvigsen (Rhiannon), and Dani Thomas (Michael); also, by her parents, Curtis and Billie Poet, and sister, Jodi Jensen (David). She loved music and worked as a music teacher for most of her life teaching piano lessons at home and music to 4^th and 5^th graders in the Fontana, California school district. She worked as a nurse in earlier years before returning to college to earn a double bachelors degree in Music and History from Cal Poly Pomona. She loved learning, traveling, serving in her church as organist and as a temple worker for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was also an excellent gardener, razzleberry jam maker and a wonderful and greatly loved wife, mother, daughter, sister and grandmother. She was preceded in death by her dear granddaughter, Julia Hansen her younger brother, Scott Poet; also her beloved grandparents, Bill and Mayda Hertig. Perhaps her favorite of all things was spending time with her family, and especially her 15 grandchildren. A special thanks to Vicki’s aunts Heidi Hoyal and Shirley Hoffman who showed much compassion and love to her during this past challenging year. Vicki’s funeral will be held Wednesday December 19, 2013 at 11:00 am in the Yucaipa LDS Stake Center located at 12776 6^th Street, Yucaipa, CA. Her grave side service will be December 20^th at 1:00pm at the Tonaquint Cemetery located at 1777 South Dixie Drive, St. George, UT. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) Humanitarian aid fund, ward missionary fund, or perpetual education fund.