Shirley Hillman Gee

Shirley Gee passed away on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, in Kaysville, Utah, leaving behind a family she loved deeply and a lifetime marked by faith, education, hard work, curiosity, and service to others.

Shirley Hillman Gee was born September 3, 1937, in Shelley, Idaho, the third of three children born to Floyd Horace Hillman and Lucille Rowbury. Her mother passed away January 20, 1939, when Shirley was just sixteen months old—an untimely loss that shaped her earliest years. After her father remarried, Shirley welcomed six more siblings into her life.

Shirley grew up on a farm in Firth, Idaho, during a time of remarkable change. Electricity and indoor plumbing arrived during her early childhood. She avidly read the Farmer’s Almanac until her father bought her a series of stories and encyclopedias from a traveling salesman.

She also learned from caring for her siblings and doing her share of the family’s chores, often with the day’s Top 40 songs playing on the radio. She loved her seventh-grade civics teacher, Mr. Johnson, and carried his lesson with her throughout her life: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

Education was especially important to Shirley. She was the first person in her family to graduate from college and remained a firm believer throughout her life in the value of higher education. On a seminary scholarship, she attended Ricks College, where she edited the Viking Scroll, met Glendon William Gee, and discovered that life is interesting when you ask questions.

In the spring of 1956, during their freshman year, Glendon and Shirley walked to the river to pray. Shirley later recalled the moment when it became real: kneeling beside each other by the Snake River, they received a confirmation beyond their own reasoning that they were meant to marry. Glendon told her, “We need to get married.”

“When?” she asked.

“Soon!” he said.

It was a story Shirley loved to retell, and one Glendon had written in his own hand in her 1956 yearbook.

Glendon had planned to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since he was a young boy. A roommate at Yellowstone National Park, where he was working, mentioned that it was possible to begin earlier than the usual age of twenty. When Glendon told his parents, his father, Ivin—then branch president in Lander, Wyoming—encouraged Glendon to serve a mission first. Glendon called the mission president in Montana himself, and when asked when he wanted to begin, he said, “Now!” Glendon left that September as the youngest missionary in his mission, later serving as assistant to the mission president and leading in baptisms.

While Glendon served, Shirley finished at Ricks College and studied for a year at Utah State University in Logan. His letters grew infrequent during his last six months, after he was called as a counselor to his mission president, Casper W. Merrill, and neither Shirley nor Glendon was certain what the future held. When Shirley confided her frustration to Glendon’s mother, Pearl, Pearl told her, “Well, if he doesn’t write to you, I’ll write to you!” And she did—every week.

When Glendon returned, he went to see Shirley, staying with her Aunt Leora on a farm outside Logan. He hugged and kissed her family, then simply shook Shirley’s hand. She would later tell us that the walk behind the barn that followed, talking and making up for missed kisses, rekindled their desire to marry. They wed in the Logan Utah Temple 20 days after his release from his mission.

While Glendon returned to Ricks College for his second year, Shirley continued her education through extension classes and went on to graduate from Utah State University.

Glendon’s work in soil physics took the couple from Rexburg to Logan, to Washington State, New Hampshire, North Dakota, back to Washington, and eventually out into the world—from Russia to Tonga to Thailand to China. Together, they taught English in China and served a full-time mission hosting at the temple visitor center in New Zealand.

Shirley and Glendon built a life centered on their family. Shirley ensured that each of her children knew that college was possible and expected, encouraging them to pursue the educational opportunities that had meant so much to her. Her gift for caring extended well beyond her own five children. She helped raise her niece Lona Hillman Brown and later her grandson David Scott Sorensen.

Shirley invited and welcomed extended family, friends, and her children’s friends into her home throughout her life. Grandchildren loved Grandma’s camps and looked forward to Fourth of July celebrations and reunions at Glendon’s mother’s childhood home—a pioneer-era house near Bear Lake in Paris, Idaho, which Glendon and Shirley lovingly renovated into a gathering place for the family.

Shirley’s love and dedication to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints included service as a leader in children’s, women’s, and scouting organizations, as well as teaching literature, parenting, gospel doctrine, and family history in congregations from New Hampshire to Richland, Washington, and Kaysville, Utah. Her eagerness to share her talents, love for others, and the blessings of the gospel extended to friends across Asia, Europe, and the isles of the sea.

Shirley was an early riser, often awake before 5 a.m. to begin her day. When her sons had paper routes, she helped them bundle newspapers—and by the time everyone else in the house was up, she had usually read the entire paper herself.

Earlier in life, she worked at the Woolworth’s counter in Logan, where she mastered the art of a proper root beer float: put the straw in before pouring the root beer. Her favorite food was lobster, with hard-scoop vanilla ice cream a close second.

Shirley loved garage sales and thrift stores, giving discarded things a second life. She delighted in her finds and in passing them along to family and friends. She held an annual garage sale of her own and made large donations to local thrift stores. Weekends often found her and her best friend, Shirley Horner—and later, children and grandchildren—mapping out the best garage sales and planning their route, embracing the motto: “The early bird gets the worm!”

Shirley’s interests—nurturing the gift of friendship, writing, and teaching—brought her joy and fulfillment as she watched her world change into something she could scarcely have imagined as a girl in Firth. What remained constant? Shirley held fast to her faith, her devotion to Glendon, her belief in education, her willingness to work, and her love for her family. She delighted in discovering, cherishing, and reclaiming abandoned treasures—things, but even more so, people—as she embraced each day with curiosity and determination.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents, Lucille Rowbury Hillman and Floyd Horace Hillman; four siblings, Orin Hillman, Arlene Hillman, Ray Hillman, and Vera Christensen; her husband, Glendon William Gee; and her daughter, Carma Ann Gee Sorensen.

She is survived by four siblings, Aloma Custer, Ed Hillman, Marilyn Ray, and Joe Hillman; four children, David Gee (Megan), Laurene Starkey (Val), Steven Gee (Pamela), and James Gee (Cherie); her niece, Lona Hillman Brown, whom she helped raise; her grandson, David Scott Sorensen, whom she also helped raise; 20 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren, with one more on the way.

Her family expresses gratitude to the attentive caretakers and loving friends who tended to her wishes and needs, especially during her final years.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, September 3, 2026—Shirley’s 89th birthday— with a public viewing from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. before the service at 11 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 201 South 600 East, Kaysville. Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at Russon Mortuary 1941 N. Main Street, Farmington. Shirley will be buried the following day in Paris, Idaho, next to Glendon, near his family’s ancestral pioneer home.

Funeral services will be live streamed at 11 a.m. on September 3, 2026. The live link will be posted here shortly before 11 a.m., and a link will be posted on this page for later viewing.

Condolences may be expressed to the family on this page. Flowers may be sent to Russon Mortuary, 1941 N Main St, Farmington, UT 84025.