Jetta Walton Wood Briggs

Our beloved mother, Jetta Walton Wood Briggs, returned to her heavenly home on February 4, 2022, reuniting with her dear husband, daughter and many other loved ones. Mother was born August 31, 1927, the youngest of five children, to Cotton Chase and Mary Amelia Walton Wood. She grew up on their Woods Cross, Utah truck garden farm where she began the long summer days at 5:00 a.m. picking vegetables and fruits. Mom recalled that when she was young, she didn’t always think this was the greatest job. But as she looked back on it, she was truly thankful to her father and mother for teaching her the value of hard work. Her family enjoyed the winter months together in Long Beach, California. One of Mom’s favorite memories of Long Beach was walking down the long pier with her family, eating a huge popcorn ball that her father bought for each of the children.

Mother graduated from Davis High School and then attended the University of Utah. She met Grant Briggs of Bountiful Utah. They fell in love and married in the Salt Lake City Temple on May 16, 1947. Through the years, Mom and Dad lived in Bountiful, Utah and in different places in Idaho. They were a wonderful and extremely hard-working team, always supporting and loving each other as they determinedly overcame their many challenges in life together. Mom’s heart was broken when her eternal sweetheart passed away almost twenty-four years ago and she missed him deeply.

Mom lovingly nurtured her six children. She taught us by word and example life’s most important lessons including faith and trust in our Heavenly Father and Savior, love, service to others and hard work and many others. She was an excellent homemaker and especially loved sewing, often awakening at a very early hour to sew clothing for her family. She  enjoyed cooking and we were privileged to sit together around the kitchen table each night as a family eating her delicious food. Each Christmas we looked forward to the new pajamas that she had sewn for us and her fruitcake with gumdrops. In the summer months, she enjoyed growing a vegetable garden, preserving some of the harvest, and always sharing the vegetables with others.

Mom and Dad continued to serve and bless our lives after we left home and were always there to help and encourage us in every possible way. They loved their grandchildren and never missed a baptism/confirmation, mission farewell/report, wedding or any other important occasion. Mom had a tender spot in her heart for babies. She often expressed that one of the thrills of her life was being able to spend the first week of each of her 19 newborn grandchildren’s lives with them. Not only did she love and care for the new baby, but she  also would cook, clean and tend the other grandchildren in the family – she was truly amazing!

Because of the wonderful people she associated with, she enjoyed her job of 23 years as the secretary at the Pocatello LDS Institute of Religion.

Mother blessed and touched the lives of countless individuals as she served devotedly in numerous teaching and presidency positions in the organizations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She enjoyed serving in Lambda Delta Sigma, an LDS Sorority on college campuses. The calling she loved the most was that of a temple ordinance worker. She served in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple for 24 years and the Bountiful Utah Temple for almost 10 years. She had a sure testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints which she conveyed by both her words and example. She dearly loved her Heavenly Father and Savior.

She is survived by her children Sharon Briggs, Caren (Bryce) Clinger, Elaine (Mark) Chessler, Rene Reid, and Alan (Alison) Briggs, 19 grandchildren and 45 great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her husband, A. Grant Briggs, her daughter, Shelley Briggs Anderson and her parents and four siblings.

A celebration of Mother’s life will be held Saturday, February 12, at 11:00 a.m. at the Bountiful Tabernacle, 55 S Main Street, Bountiful, UT. A viewing will be held from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. prior to the service. Memories may be shared in the “Guestbook” tab on this obituary page.

Services will be streamed live on the Russon Brothers Mortuary Facebook page and on this obituary page. The live stream will begin about 15 minutes prior to the service and will be posted below.

We wish to thank the staff of Legacy House of Bountiful for their loving care and service to our mother. We are also grateful to Aspire Home Health and Hospice for their excellent medical care and devotion.