Donald Norman Hester

April 19, 1941 - October 6, 2024

Donald Norman Hester was born on April 19, 1941, to Francis Lloyd Hester and Mary Emmaline Powell in Artesia, New Mexico. He was welcomed by one older brother, Lloyd, and later joined by his younger brother Tommy. He was taken home from the hospital as a “no name baby,” and was later given the name Donald Norman by his mother after inspiration. He grew up in various parts of New Mexico and California, traveling to many different places with several family members. When Donald was 10, his parents divorced and he stayed with his father and two brothers traveling all over the West. During his childhood, he attended 15 different grade schools and eight different high schools. He gained his love and knowledge of guns in his early teens when he learned how to shoot his dad’s single-shot Remington .22 caliber rifle. At age 11, he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

His mother remarried and later welcomed his four younger sisters: Angela, Yova, Juanita, and Cheri. At the age of 16, he moved from his father’s house to spend some time with his mother and sisters in Denver, Colorado. He lived on his own his senior year and graduated from West High School in Denver on June 1, 1959. Immediately after high school, he joined the U.S. Army Reserves and served a total of almost seven years. He proudly earned the nickname “Colgate” from his commanding officer from his mischievous smile. He was fortunate enough to avoid active war, but was ready to serve his country if the call were to come.

Donald served an LDS mission in the Central British Mission in 1961-1963. He met and baptized Lillian Barnett and gave her his father’s mailing address. After writing love letters back and forth for about a year, Francis proposed in a letter and she became Donald’s new step mother. Lillian was a very loving addition to his family.

In 1964, he married Carolyn Ann Christensen in the LDS Salt Lake City temple. They had seven children together: Stephanie, Danelyn, David, Natalie, Karen, Rachel, and Adam. They were married for 17 years and toted their family all over Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. During this time, he was a high school football and basketball coach and taught business classes in Gabbs, Nevada. Shortly after, he was hired as the city finance officer for Nome, Alaska and was later hired as a Professor of Accounting at Anchorage Community College which later became the University of Alaska. He had a very successful career of 22 years, beloved by many of his students and coworkers.

In 1981 Donald and Carolyn were divorced. In 1984, he married his second wife; Linda Marie Sunderland Wolfe in Anchorage, Alaska, and they were later sealed in the LDS Salt Lake City temple. They were married for 40 long years. They had one daughter, Lindsay DeMarie and raised her in Anchorage, Alaska and Orem, Utah. During this time, he was a survivor of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cancer (1994), a heart attack (1998), and two Subdural Hematomas (2009). Through all of these physical trials, he had to relearn how to talk and walk and suffered severe nerve damage. Nevertheless, he was a fighter and fully recovered, later returning to the accounting profession in the business sector. In 2016, they moved to Kearns, Utah where he played a huge role as “Papa” to his granddaughter ChristaLilly Dawn until his passing.

Donald valued and cherished his longtime friendships of many years with Bill Weyer, Wayne Lewis, Roland Lynn, Harry Gould, Darwin Poulson, Rob Erickson, and Richard Butterfield. His love for his ancestors led him to do many years of genealogy where he was able to locate thousands of records for the Church. His other hobbies included rock hunting, trapping, fishing, target shooting, looking for antiques, and writing. He successfully wrote and published nine books on accounting, biographies, and fictional histories that can be found on several platforms. He was known for sharing his knowledge to anyone who would listen, and even to those who were not interested. He was notorious for sharing his memories which would always begin with “I have a story I want to tell you…” Don had an unfailing testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and loved sharing this to everyone who crossed his path.

On October 6, 2024, Donald passed away in the University of Utah hospital after being diagnosed with cancer a second time. He was surrounded by all that loved him and his passing was peaceful at the end.

He is preceded in death by his parents, step mother, two brothers, daughter Stephanie, and grandson Joshua.

He is survived by his wife Linda, four sisters, seven children, twenty-three grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren.

Donald provided wise counsel to all that knew him. His goofy smile and heart-warming laugh will be dearly missed. May we all remember him and his gratitude for life and God's plan of Salvation, “God has been good to me!”