Vicki Kay Fillmore Briggs

Vicki Kay Fillmore Briggs, 59, beloved and respected wife, mother, grandmother, sister, teacher, and friend returned home to her loving Heavenly Father, surrounded by her family, at her home in San Antonio, Texas on Monday, September 22, 2008.

She passed away after a heroic fight with metastatic melanoma cancer.

Vicki was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho on April 30, 1949, to Kenneth Ray Fillmore and Gwen Rachel Berrett.

She served an honorable two-year mission to the Netherlands for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1970 to 1972. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA degree in Elementary Education in 1974, and she taught school in Utah, Iowa, Texas, and Hawaii.

She married her eternal sweetheart, Lee W. Briggs Colonel, U.S. Army, retired in the Provo Utah LDS temple on December 28, 1972. They are the parents of five children and ten grandchildren.

She has touched many lives in the many places they have called home in Utah, Idaho, Texas, Germany, Colorado, Kansas, Virginia, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Hawaii. She loved music and there was always music in her home. She played the violin and the piano, and she loved to sing. Vicki performed with the Mormon Choir of Washington D.C. and directed many choirs in service to her church.

She was very active in her church and was serving as a temple worker in the San Antonio Texas LDS temple at the time of her death. She has spent many volunteer hours in the service of her country, community, and church. She has been awarded the U.S. Army Medical Command Dr. Mary E. Walker Award, and she has been commissioned as a Yellow Rose of Texas by the state of Texas for her volunteer contributions and service.

She enjoyed gardening, sewing, writing, and the outdoors. Vicki personally made a quilt or blanket for the birth of each of her ten grandchildren, and she loved visiting and encouraging her large family. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends, and her legacy of love and faith will continue to be felt by future generations.

She was preceded in death by her loving parents.

Vicki is survived by her husband, Lee W. Briggs; one son, Joshua Briggs Priscilla of West Jordan, Utah; four daughters, April Sakell Michael of Eugene, Oregon, Rachel Smith Josh of Idaho Falls, Idaho, Cathryn Salgado Rosemberg of Lehi, Utah, and Rebecca Briggs of San Antonio, Texas; ten grandchildren, Luke and Connor Briggs of Lehi, Utah, Michaela, Liberty, and Sequoia Sakell of Eugene, Oregon, Emelia, Adelyn, and Bennett Smith of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Jared and Landon Salgado of Lehi, Utah. She helped choose the name of her yet to be born grandson, Kenneth Fillmore Briggs. Vicki is also survived by eight brothers and sisters, Dee Maynard, Bill Fillmore, Kenneth Fillmore, Karl Fillmore, Karen Washburn, Kathy Johnson, Rachel Trozell, and Renee Davis.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Any Baby Can for Autism Awareness, C/o Hugo Hernandez, 217 Howard St., San Antonio, Texas 78212.