Alice "Deanna" Jacobsen Wells Obituary (1938 - 2020)

Alice “Deanna” Jacbosen Wells, age 82, passed away on July 7, 2020 in Salt Lake City, Utah due to long term complications of diabetes along with heart, lung and other organ failures. Deanna was born at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah to Kendloss Garnet Jacobsen and Katherine Annie Solomon Jacobsen on July 2, 1938. She grew up in Salt Lake City and graduated from South High School. Her first employment was as an elevator operator at Hotel Utah. Later she was a file clerk at Beneficial Life Insurance. Deanna and her husband, Jay Loren Wells, were married and sealed in the Manti, Utah temple on December 21, 1962. They had two children, Dean Jay Wells and Brenda Kay Wells. When the current St Marks Hospital was opened Deanna began volunteering there. She ultimately received a certificate for completing 5000 volunteer hours. During that time she completed a Nurse Aide course at the Utah Technical School (the predecessor of Salt Lake Community College) and began receiving pay for work similar to what she had been doing as a volunteer. Soon after that she accompanied her husband, a member of the US Army Reserve, as he attended the Logistics Executive Development Course at the US Army Logistics Management Center at Fort Lee, Virginia from August to December, 1983. Their daughter, Brenda, accompanied them and attended her first year of high school at Colonial Heights High School. During that time they were all able to visit various historic sites like Jamestown and Williamsburg, and Revolutionary War and Civil War sites like the Petersburg Battlefield, Yorktown, and Appomattox Court House. Deanna often stated that it meant much more to actually be at those sites than to just read about them in a book. In more recent years she declined in health. Among other problems she could no longer drive, read or sew due to macular degeneration. She previously enjoyed those things. She was an excellent seamstress and made clothing items for herself and her family. She was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. Before marriage she sang in a choir called Sacra Dulce (meaning sacred and sweet). The choir visited various ward sacrament meetings and sang for them. Later on she sang in a ward choir and enjoyed Visiting Teaching, and for quite a while was a Visiting Teaching district supervisor. Deanna was preceded in death by her parents, twin brother Kendloss Dean Jacobsen and three sisters: Katherine Ellen Simpson, Donna “Cherrel” Jacobsen Peterson, and Valerie Jane Jacobsen Nelson. She is survived by her husband Jay Wells, son Dean Wells (and his wife Heather) and daughter Brenda Wells along with numerous nieces and nephews, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. A funeral will be held on Wednesday, July 15 at 11:00 a.m. preceded by a viewing from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. at the Ridgedale Ward Chapel, 3400 South 1100 East. There will also be a viewing the evening before at Jenkins-Soffe Funeral Home, 4760 South State Street from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. The burial will be at Larkin Sunset Lawn cemetery, 2350 East 1300 South.