Karen Bringhurst Jex

Our sweet Mother and Grandmother passed away March 9, 2017 surrounded by her family. Karen was born to Elbert G. Stoker and Caroline Toombs Stoker on August 30, 1942.

She spent her younger years living in Cottonwood Canyon with her parents and sister. They later moved to the Cottonwood Heights area where she graduated from Olympus High School.

Karen married Owen Bringhurst on November 23, 1963 and together they raised three children, Michele, Tracy and John. During this time, she spent many years in the horse racing industry with Owen, where they made lifetime friends and were constantly looking for that illusive champion horse. We have wonderful memories of summers spent at all of the different race tracks.

She worked for many years at Buds Hardware and The Store. She was a very hard worker and instilled in each of her children the value of a job well done and the importance of taking pride in your work.

Our Mom also enjoyed working in her yard, where she spent many hours working to make it perfect.

She was an amazing cook and loved to have her family over for Sunday Dinners, where she made so much food that no one ever left her table hungry and there were always left overs for everyone to take home.

Our Mom's lifelong passion was Christmas. As children, she always made Christmas special for us, going above and beyond in every way. Christmas was the one day she lived for every year and she would begin planning Christmas in September. She had so many Christmas decorations (especially Santa Clause's) that it would take her weeks to decorate and weeks afterwards to put everything away.

Later in life she married her high school sweet heart, Larry Jex. Larry brought many new adventures to her life including traveling and meeting many new people. Larry had two children (Greg and Shalmarie) whom he brought into her life and she loved them dearly.

She is survived by her sister Cheryl; her Children, Michele (Carl) Tippets, Tracy (Phil) Turpin and John (Cindy) Bringhurst; (12) Grandchildren and (11) Great Grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband Larry Jex.

We would like to send a special thank you to everyone at Pheasant Run Memory Care. They cared for her and loved her so much over the last four months

A celebration of her life will be held on Tuesday, March 14th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 S. 900 E., SLC, UT. Guests are encouraged to use complimentary valet parking at the north side of the building. A graveside service will be held Wednesday, March 15th at 10:00 a.m. at Mountain View Memorial Mortuary, 3115 E. 7800 S.