"Pat" Bessie Patricia Justesen

Pat Justesen
Manti, Utah

    Bessie Patricia “Pat” Wilson Justesen, passed away peacefully at home on September 17, 2023, at the age of 85 after more than a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.  She was born on September 8, 1938, in Gaffney, South Carolina to James H. Wilson and Mertie Virginia Brewer.  She grew up and went to schools in Seneca, South Carolina.  She worked as an executive secretary at a textile plant when she received a call to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Irish Mission.  While in Ireland she met fellow missionary, Alan Justesen, from Ogden.  They later were married in the Salt Lake Temple.  
    Alan’s career in the oil and coal mining industries took them to Eldorado, Arkansas, Houston, Texas, and Gillette, Wyoming.  They retired to Manti. She enjoyed her work as a full-time homemaker and mother.  She was an accomplished quilt maker and seamstress. They were blessed with 5 children: Julie Jorgensen, South Jordan; Stephen Justesen, Cuernavaca, Mexico; Jennifer (Sean) Haney, Boulder, CO; Joanna (Mike) Sutton, South Jordan; and John (Lisa) Justesen, St. George.  They have 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.   
    Pat served faithfully in many Church callings.  She was a ward and a stake Relief Society president.  She served as a temple worker for almost 20 years in the Manti Utah Temple.  She loved little children.  She gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon at an early age and has been a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ her entire life. 
    She considered her greatest calling and accomplishment to be a faithful wife and a mother to 5 children.  She and her husband recently celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary.     
    She is survived by her husband of 59 years; all her children and grandchildren; and a half-sister, Tammey Johnson, Seneca, SC. She was preceded in death by her parents;  son-in-law, Eric Jorgensen; siblings: Elene Jenkins, Joan Barrett, David Wilson, Beverly Rink, Phil Jones.  
    Funeral services will be on Monday, September 25, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. in the Manti Stake Center, 555 East Union.  Visitation will be held at the ward building Sunday evening from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. and on Monday morning from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.  Burial will be in the Spring City Cemetery. Funeral Directors: Magleby Mortuary, Richfield, Salina and Manti. Online guestbook at www.maglebymortuary.com

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