Virginia Marie (Lovette) Deitz, 91, of Draper, Utah passed away on January 24, 2025 of natural causes.

Virginia was born on March 17, 1933 to Johnny Clifford Lovette and Mabel Isabell Burns in LaValle, Missouri.  She was the 3rd child of 12 children.  She loved the number 3.  She made sure to tell you she was born in the 3rd month in the year 1933 and that she had 33 grandchildren.

Virginia was married to Walter Alfred Deitz in Piggott, Arkansas, on October 25, 1950 and they were later sealed, in the Rexburg, Idaho Temple on October 25, 2008.  Alfred and Virginia lived in and worked around Poplar Bluff, Missouri and the surrounding communities until moving to St. Anthony, Idaho when Alfred retired in 1973.  Early on in their marriage, mother worked nights as a waitress and then later on she worked at the Box Factory in Poplar Bluff until they moved to Idaho.  She worked hard to help Alfred support their family.

Mother loved reading from the Bible.  Because of her love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, she taught her children from the Bible.  In 1968 missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, came to their home and taught their family the gospel of Jesus Christ. Following mother's example, Alfred and her children all joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.   She loved serving the missionaries who proselyted to their family.  The missionaries would come to their home often for dinner.

After mother was baptized, her very first calling in the Poplar Bluff Branch, was the Young Women's President.  She loved serving as a ministering sister in the Relief Society and serving in her present ward until her health no longer allowed her to serve.  She loved her faith and her membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

After moving to Idaho, mother decided to go into nursing.  In 1975 she graduated from nursing school and received her LPN license at the age of 42, which is amazing because she only had an 8th grade education due to the financial circumstances of her mother and father.  She worked as a nurse for 33 years, retiring at age 75.  She worked in several hospitals in Utah and Idaho.  The Neonatal Clinic at the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City was her favorite nursing position.  Her entire family were recipients of her knowledge as a nurse.  Her children and grandchildren have all called on her for help in regards to their health.  She was always willing to help them and share her knowledge with them.

After retiring, Virginia served as a service missionary at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She was set apart as a service missionary on January 22, 2012.

She went to a semester of college in 2017 at the age of 85.  Her teachers loved her.  She took Math, Spanish, and Gym.  Mother's Math teacher said she was one of the few students he would trust because she understood interest.

She had many talents.  She was a wonderful cook.  Everyone loved her biscuits and gravy.  No one could make biscuits like her.  They were the best biscuits you would ever eat.  Another favorite was chicken and dumplings.  She made them from scratch.  She was an excellent seamstress. She upholstered. She could play the mandolin.  She loved to write poems.  She was very proud of her poetry.  She was very artistic and painted a portrait of her own father.  She helped her sister Phoebe tile her kitchen and tiled Denise's kitchen.  She was a good plumber and construction worker.  She could fix anything that needed fixing and she did it all without the internet.  Whatever she decided to do, she could do it.  She crocheted her own design into baby blankets for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  She was very creative and inventive.  Even this past year, at 90 years old, she helped Denise sew 60 new pillows.  She was good at gardening.  Virginia had a lot of confidence, but she wasn't prideful about it.

She was very adventurous.  In her late 60's she went parasailing with her daughter Denise in the Mediterranean Ocean.  She wasn't able to climb back into the boat when they dropped her from the air.  So, she swam all the way back to shore and received a standing ovation from the people on the beach.  In her 70's she joined her grandchildren on the Skycoaster at Lagoon.  She loved life!  She was so independent she would drive herself from Idaho to Oregon to Missouri to Utah and back again.

Many of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are musically talented.  This is because of her love for music.  She instilled her love of music not only in her own children but also her grandchildren.  She loved all their music.  She was their biggest supporter.  She never tired of listening to her family and their music.  She was overjoyed to hear her grandchildren play music.  She was a loyal and faithful grandmother in supporting them.

She also loved to dance.  She would square dance often and many times she went square dancing with her son, Bob.  She even made her own square dance outfit.  She also liked to flatfoot dance.  She learned to flatfoot dance because Alfred played blue grass music and she would dance to his music.  Even on her 90th birthday she danced across her living room floor with her walker.

She was the mother of 6 children.  In addition to her 33 grandchildren, she had 85 great-grandchildren and 24 great-great grandchildren.  She was preceded in death by her husband Walter Alfred Deitz, and her daughter Debra Lin Deitz.  She was also preceded in death by two great-grandsons Deckland Mueller, and Connor Wendler, and one great-granddaughter, Emily Judy.

She lived with her daughter, Gertrude Denise Olmos, for the last 15 years of her life in Draper, Utah, where she passed away.  She is survived by her son, Robert (Bob) Dennis Deitz, Agatha Marie Hathaway (Robert Lee Hathaway), Juanita Kay Bird (Ronald Coy Bird), Gertrude Denise Olmos, Walter Alfred Deitz, Jr. (Debby Deitz).  She is also survived by her brothers Raymond G. Lovette, and Ronald Kenneth Lovette (Marcia Benedict), her sisters Virgie Nadine (Lovette) Stellmon (Doug Stellmon), her sister Gayle Yvonne Lovette, and grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.

A viewing for family members only will be held on January 30, 2025 from 11 a.m. to 12:00 pm at the Bert Flamm Mortuary located at 581 E. 1st N. St. Anthony, Idaho 83445.  After the viewing, she will be laid to rest at the Wilford Cemetery, 2531 E 225 N, Saint Anthony, ID.   Her grave will be dedicated by Robert Lee Hathaway, a son-in-law.