DeVona Alice Dean Luke – Cache Valley Daily

DeVona Alice Dean Luke was born in Denver, Colorado to Harold Evans and Geraldine Lois Lang Dean on July 26, 1939. She lived there for the first four years of her life before her father’s job took her family first to New Mexico and then to Arizona, California, and Ogden, Utah. She learned violin, piano, and accordion as a child, and participated in many extracurricular activities, including soccer, student government, and pep club. She co-edited the literary magazine at Ben Lomond High her senior year, graduating with honors in 1957.

She then chose to attend Utah State. She experimented with journalism and accounting before settling on early childhood education. After graduating, she worked in the office of the vice president until she met and married Robert Luke in July 1964. Since he was still working on his degree, DeVona went back to school and earned a master’s degree in early childhood education, studying changing views on the role of fatherhood.

When they both graduated in 1968, Robert took a job at Boise State University and the family – now including two sons, David and Jim – settled in Boise. They built a house in West Boise in 1971 where they raised their family, adding five more children – Jeff, Debbie, Cathy, Jared, and Matt – along the way.

She spent many years devoted to serving her family. She was a talented seamstress and made everything from shorts and t-shirts to formal dresses. She experimented with food preservation and gardening, developing a great love and talent for cultivating flowers. She even created her own hybrids.

She was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in numerous capacities in the Young Women’s, Primary, and Relief Society organizations. She served as a Family History missionary and she and Robert served as ordinance workers in the Boise Temple from 2001-2013.

DeVona was always curious and creative. She enjoyed touring Europe in 1963 with a group from USU and came home with hundreds of slides! She traveled with family to Scotland and England later in her life and also visited Jeff and Maria in Malaysia in 2001. She enjoyed visiting other family members in New Mexico, Maryland, and South Carolina.

She used her training in accounting in several jobs, including bookkeeping and office management at a land development company for over 20 years.

For more than a decade, she suffered from dementia and finally came to the end of her struggle in peace at Autumn Care in Hyde Park, Utah on March 21, 2022. The family would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the staff at The Gables, Autumn Care, and Intermountain Hospice for their loving care of DeVona at the end of her life.

She is survived by her husband of nearly 58 years, Robert, and her children, David (Yumiko) of Boise, Idaho, James (Beth) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jeffrey (Maria) of Middleton, Idaho, Deborah Hirschi (Greg) of Logan, Utah, Catherine Prestwich (John) of Moscow, Idaho, and Matthew (Kellie) of Santa Rita, Guam. She also left behind 22 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren – with another on the way! She is preceded in death by her son, Jared, two grandchildren, and her parents.

Viewings will be held from 7:00-8:30pm on Thursday the 24th and from 11:00-12:15 on Friday, March 25th at the Meridian Idaho East Stake Center at 11443 McMillan Rd in Boise, Idaho.

The funeral service will begin immediately after the viewing on Friday, March 25 at 12:30pm, followed by a brief graveside service and interment at Dry Creek Cemetery.

The services will be streamed live, using the following link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mbpNDo8l8