Nettie Carol Simmons Linton passed away February 1, 2025, after a short illness. Her many whispers of “I love you” during her last days will linger forever.
She was born in Magna, Utah, December 11, 1941, the youngest of seven children. She married her eternal sweetheart, Joseph Wendell Linton, in the Salt Lake Temple in 1963.
Her love of the gospel of Jesus Christ was her north star.
She spent her life in the service of others. She made endless meals for people in need, sewed hundreds of quilts for babies and grandchildren, donated the clothing off her back, and together with her husband gave away their car and financially supported multiple families. She served continually in the church: ward and stake Relief Society President, ward Young Women’s President and worked as an ordinance worker with her beloved Joseph in the Logan Temple. They also served a mission to the Caribbean West Indies, where she contracted tuberculosis while nursing a young woman back to health.
And she made it all look easy.
Nettie was an angel on earth to the less fortunate. As a family with two young children, she and Joseph decided to help a child in need and so they adopted a five-year-old girl and a newborn boy (in the same month!). They saved them both from difficult circumstances. Soon after, they were expecting their fifth, a baby girl. Nettie was nine months pregnant when the family sweltered in the August heat, while living temporarily in a camper trailer, without AC, phone, or running water, as they broke ground for their dream home in Highland, Utah.
Nettie wasn’t just a hearer of the word; she was a doer. Her zest and gratitude for life was deep and perhaps that’s the well from which she drew endless energy and empathy. We’re sure she learned to give by following the example of her dear mother Edith and namesake, Aunt Nettie.
She was an extraordinary party planner and gourmet cook. Family reunions, annual Bull River regattas and Easter egg hunts, church parties, river rafting trips, and family gatherings were meticulously organized and epically memorable.
Her apple bars, brownies, sourdough waffles, green salads, roasted vegetable lasagna, grilled salmon, granola, and Christmas morning eggs benedict, were legendary. She loved spoiling her family, especially her grandkids with delicious meals. When friends came for dinner she’d say, “Tonight we’re having Nettie’s Surprise!” She would dance around the kitchen with her children on Saturday mornings, singing “Good Morning Sunshine” while making her famous pancake breakfasts. Her joy for life was infectious.
She was both head cheerleader and president of the pep club her senior year at Cyprus High School. She expertly managed her husband’s architecture business for over 30 years and volunteered as an advocate for battered women.
She will forever hold the record for the longest time to complete the St. George Marathon, which can’t be broken, as they no longer allow anyone to take more than seven hours.
She loved going on walks, running rivers, visiting national parks, stopping at every road-side historical marker, and learned to love backpacking. She had an uncanny internal radar for finding gravestones of long lost relatives on Memorial Day. She was the life of the party and loved starting the occasional food fight with her husband over a Sunday meal. And she might just be remembered most for her incredibly generous tipping.
To honor Nettie, we invite you to give an outrageous tip to someone in need. This will be sure to make her smile.
Nettie is survived by her beloved husband, Joseph Wendell Linton; children Laura (Jonathan) Pinnock, Tiffiney (Shawn) Christiansen, Matthew (KristyAnn) Linton, Anthony (Kandis) Linton, Kathleen Linton, and 18 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her dear parents, Benjamin Kirby Simmons and Edith Mable Durrant Simmons, her favorite–and only–sister Donna Simmons Howarth, and four of her older brothers, Benjamin Durrant Simmons, James Joseph Simmons, Allen Russell Simmons, and Glen Gary Simmons. She is survived by her brother Val Eugene Simmons.
Funeral services will be held at the chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 4917 Viewmont Street, Holladay, Utah at 11am on February 8, 2025. Friends and family are welcome to greet the family from 9:00am to 10:45am at this same location.
Interment will follow at the Memorial Holladay Cemetery located at 4900 South Memory Lane, Holladay, Utah.
