Vesta Bagley Withers, 92, passed away peacefully in her home on Monday, February 13, 2023.

She was born in Salem, Idaho, April 7, 1930, to Lorenzo Edwards Bagley and Ethel Eliza Jensen Bagley. She was the seventh of eleven children. Mom graduated from Sugar-Salem High School where she played French horn and was an editor.

Mom served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Western Canada. She completed accounting courses at Ricks College and worked as an accountant while waiting for Dad to complete his service in the Army during the Korean War.

She married Blair Ricks Withers on February 23, 1955, in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.

They had purchased a small home in Hibbard and eventually purchased the farm from Dad's mom, where they raised their family and started the dairy. They were blessed with five children, who they taught the value of hard work as they expanded the dairy in Hibbard and purchased a hay farm in Mud Lake.
Mom always raised a large, beautiful garden. She had plenty of kids to weed and harvest the produce. She always canned and put up whatever she raised. Even apples that fell early from the trees were never wasted.

When the family was growing, she would make 12 loaves of bread one day a week. She did this for several years. Mom was an excellent cook. Her Sunday roast dinners, pies, apple dumplings, and cinnamon rolls were legendary.
Mom was an excellent seamstress and made most of the girls' clothes, and pajamas every year for the entire family. She saved all of the scraps of fabric to which she would put in boxes to be made into patchwork quilts.
Her testimony of the Gospel was her strength. Mom's scriptures were always in view, well-worn and marked. She served for over 70 years in various church callings. She especially loved being a teacher. Mom was proud to have a posterity of 16 returned missionaries and counting. After Dad passed away she served in the Rexburg Temple and loved the experiences and the new friends she made there.

Mom was preceded in death by her parents and all of her siblings. She was also preceded by her husband, Blair, and her son, Alan and daughter and son-in-law, Alene (Ron), in addition to three grandsons.

She is survived by her daughter Laree (Sid), sons Carl (Jane) and Neil (Michelle), and daughter-in-law Elaine, 17 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Mom is also survived by sister-in-laws Norma (Quentin) Bagley, Rose (Myron) Bagley, Marilyn (Cloy) Bagley and Carol (Russell) Withers.

Per Mom's request, no funeral services will be held. A viewing will be held Friday, February 17, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Flamm's Funeral Home. Private family graveside services will be held on Saturday, February 18 at the Rexburg Cemetery.

The family wishes to thank Mom's caregiver, Anita Mann, for her loving service during the past several months and to Mom's healthcare team from Aspen Home Health.