Audrey Jean Bowman Curtis

Our beloved wife, mother, sister and friend—Audrey Jean Bowman Curtis—passed away appropriately on Mother’s Day, May 11, 2025. She was 91 years old. With the assurance that her companion of nearly 74 years, Don Curtis, would be well looked after, she peacefully slipped through the veil and was reunited with her precious daughter Andrea, her daughter-in-law Caprece, her grandson John, and her mother, Geneva Nelson, along with many lifelong friends.

Jean was born on August 17, 1933, to Geneva and Alma Bowman in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the oldest of their four children. At the age of 8, her grandmother, Clara Jane Lowe, took her to the Salt Lake Tabernacle, and Jean was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon afterward, Jean moved with her family to American Falls, Idaho. That same year, on a school bus, she met her future husband and best friend, Don Curtis. They married on July 3, 1951, in American Falls, Idaho. After a five-day honeymoon, Don left for the war in Korea, and Jean returned to her childhood home and continued working at the drug store in town. Eighteen months later, Jean was allowed to go to Japan and set up a small apartment home for her and Don. It was there that their testimonies of the Church grew, and in 1954 when they returned from Korea and Japan, she and Don were sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple. Returning from Asia expecting their first child, Jean went on to have four girls and five boys. They also raised two foster daughters and one foster son over the years with their children. “What’s one more?” was their theme.

Jean and Don spent the majority of their married life in West Bountiful, Utah, where they raised their children and served in the Church. Jean served in the Young Women organization and was a Relief Society President and Relief Society teacher for many years. But her favorite church work was with children. She served as a Stake Primary President for 12 years. She and Don served two senior missions, one in Lethbridge, Canada, and another in Quezon City, Philippines. Jean as true to her Savior, Jesus Christ, throughout her life. Family prayer and family home evenings were absolutely a requirement. She had great faith in and respect for the priesthood Don held. Temple worship and work were great blessings to them.

Everyone was welcome in her home and at her table. And generous amounts of delicious food was served at that table. She mothered many young people; most of them were friends of her children. She was a refuge and strength to them throughout their lives. She had great organizational skills and was a good homemaker. She was an excellent seamstress, and her daughters remember Easter dresses, prom dresses, wedding dresses, and most of their school clothes all created at her sewing machine. The sewing machine was also where she hid her licorice.

She loved music, and many evenings after little ones were in bed, she would sit on the floor against the sofa and have her daughters brush her short hair as she listened to music. To their credit, she and Don would listen to their children's music, and in turn, they would listen to her music—except the dreaded opera music, which she listened to while alone in the house. She also loved to walk … fast. It was her favorite form of exercise, and she walked hundreds of miles over many years. She enjoyed canning food from Don’s garden and taught her daughters how to freeze, can, and ready foods for storage.

For many of their family years, there was no television in the home. The family all learned to love reading, and the family camp every year included boxes of books … many of them for Don and Jean. Jean mastered two weeks of rough camping with babies in cloth diapers. She cooked her best meals in dutch ovens over a fire. She also treated her family to generous amounts of homemade cinnamon rolls rolled out across a rough topped wood camp table and baked perfectly in the dutch ovens. The outdoors and beauty of nature were loved by her. As were beautiful flowers and hummingbirds.

Jean was an excellent wife. Her love for Don was evident in the home and in public. She supported him in his many callings, including as a Bishop and in his stake work. She waited up nights for him. She had meals ready, and the house organized. The white shirt was pressed so that he would not have to wait or rush for meetings. She always brushed her hair and teeth and put on lipstick when it was time for him to be home from work. When Don came in from work, they kissed with children all around to see them. They would then lock themselves in the bedroom for 5-10 minutes of “catch-up time” every single workday. Jean did not love sports, but she attended all the ball games she could to support her boys and Don, who often was their coach. She even saddled horses when necessary. And she was not afraid of snakes … which Don was. Jean was a mother and a grand- and great-grandmother who loved first and foremost—always, she LOVED.

While Jean will be missed by her beloved husband, by her children and extended family, there are many funny, fun, and spiritual moments to have as memories. She was a beautiful daughter of God, and she is thankfully at rest physically and busy spiritually now with her family. And for Jean, family is everything. Mom, we love you.

Jean is survived by her husband, Donald Eugene Curtis, and eight of her nine children: Amy Jo (Michael) Compton, Lynne (Brent) Gardner, Karen (Karl) Smart, Rand (Leslie) Curtis, Brett (Kerrie) Curtis, Paul (Sandy) Curtis, Mark (Maureen) Curtis, Matthew (Cayr) Curtis—along with 48 grandchildren and 76 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at the West Bountiful 1st Ward, 311 North 800 West, West Bountiful, Utah. An evening viewing will be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Friday, May 16, 2025, at Russon Mortuary, 295 N. Main Street, Bountiful, Utah. A morning viewing will be held from 9:30-10:30 a.m. on Saturday at the church prior to services.

Interment will follow at 2:00 p.m. at the Riverview Cemetery, 175 East 1200 South in Tremonton, Utah, 84337.