Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Grandma Rhoda 1/4/23 - 1/4/10

After a couple days where it looked like her health was improving, Rhoda got her birthday wish and passed away during the early morning hours of January 4th on her 87th birthday. We will miss you and we love you, Grandma Rhoda.

I'm glad she got to spend her birthday with Grandpa!

Rhoda 1951

Grandma and I at my wedding reception 2004


Family gathering - December 2008 (Grandma sitting front row)

Rhoda Soren Hinckley was born Jan. 4, 1923 in Salt Lake City, UT, and died in Bellevue, WA on Jan. 4, 2010 after a very brief illness. The sixth child of Alvin and Lilly Barney Soren, she was raised in Salt Lake City where she excelled in school and developed a lifelong love of music. An excellent violin and piano player, she graduated from the University of Utah in 1944 with a BA in music education. She played violin in the Utah Symphony until 1947 when she married (Parnell) King Hinckley in the Salt Lake LDS Temple and moved to Pittsburgh, PA where (Marjorie ’49, and Mark ‘50) were born. The family moved to Concord, CA in 1951 where two more children (Holly ’53 and Neil ’55) were born. Their last move was to Bellevue, WA in 1965 where Rhoda lived until her death.

Rhoda served in many callings in the LDS Church and taught piano and violin lessons from her home to hundreds of students for more than 50 years. She played violin in the Diablo Valley Light Opera Company (Concord, CA), was a charter member of the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the Washington State Music Teachers Association. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband King (2000), and grandson Louis Somrak (2003), and is survived by her four children Marjorie (Frank) McEntire, Mark (Pam) Hinckley, Holly (Tom) Somrak, Neil (Annette) Hinckley, eighteen grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held Saturday Jan. 9th at 10 a.m. in the Bellevue Factoria LDS chapel, 4200 124th Ave. SE in Bellevue. In lieu of flowers, Rhoda wishes you to give the gift of music to someone you love.

No comments: