It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Mara Jo Hinkle, who passed away peacefully on December 2, 2023. Born on November 29, 1951, Mara Jo lived a playful and vibrant life filled with love and care for her family, friends, and community. She believed in and taught others the power of Kindness, Forgiveness, Caring, Grace, Fun, and Dignity.

She is survived by her beloved children: daughter Jolynn Wynn, son James Hinkle; her sister Jill Rafiner; and her loving grandchildren Sabrina Davis and Cole Davis. Mara Jo was blessed with the joy of becoming a great-grandmother in 2016 and 2019. She was preceded in death by her father Raymond Rafiner, mother Mary Ethel Edwards Rafiner Thompson, brother Larry Lee Rafiner, sister Nancy Baum, and brother Danny Ray Rafiner.

Mara Jo Hinkle was also a wife, partner, friend, lover, classmate, romantic, animal lover, mischief maker, dancer, artist, traveler, cook, baker, caterer, partier, and mentor who was awed by nature and loved everyone with her whole heart, even those she just met. She was kind, trustworthy, loving, creative, multitalented, intelligent, devoted, dependable, responsible, incredibly strong heart and soul. I remember being surprised at what a naturally great shot she was with a gun. She also loved to dance and so was often found at both Lacasa Bar in Lehi or at the Westerner in Salt Lake City. My mom was also a devout Denver Broncos fan, Dodgers baseball fan, and of course a Cardinals baseball fan but only because of her dad.

We always had music playing in the house and most of the time mom liked it loud. Mara Jo had such a profound love of music so it’s hard to include them all but a few of her favorite music artists were Neil Diamond, John Denver, Ann Murray, George Strait, and the group Alabama. She had a crush on Don William’s voice but also had a crush on George Strait and Randy Owens themselves. Music energized, inspired, and soothed Mom almost to the end of her life to where she would still sing her favorite songs word for word.

In high school Mara Jo was a member of The National Thespian Society, Troupe #1467 where she performed in “Oklahoma” among other functions within the Society and proudly graduated from Lehi High School May 27, 1970 in Lehi, UT. She was granted a full ride scholarship to BYU but pursued other adventures. Mara Jo was the spokeswoman and fundraising director in the western United States for the MS Society, mostly in Colorado but some in Utah as well. Mom also was a motivational speaker in Utah with her focus being at recovery centers and some law enforcement conferences. When asked about her greatest accomplishment though, Mara Jo would say, without hesitation, "my kids."

She was a wise and intelligent woman who many went to for guidance and was so very trustworthy with anything someone needed to vent to her about. She wished everyone would just support one another instead of fighting or turning away. Mara Jo cared deeply about helping others. My mom loved helping others through community service as well as donating time, energy, supplies, baked goods, and cooking for causes close to her heart such as Multiple Sclerosis, Vietnam Veterans, the homeless, and recovery centers.

As many know, Mara Jo was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) when she was 19 years old and battled symptoms her whole adult life. She struggled with severe symptoms but also had periods of remission. Those periods of remission are where I learned who my real mom was because I saw, from a very young age, that who she was while in pain or with strong symptoms was not her true character. As a never-ending optimistic, she didn’t like anyone outside her immediate family to know how she was truly suffering so she would do her best to always put on a happy face. In fact, I can’t remember a doctor’s appointment where she didn’t either embarrass the heck out of the staff and doctors or make them laugh! One of her favorite sayings was, “Arise, go forth, and fake it” and one of her favorite songs was even “Don’t Worry Be Happy”.

Her whole life Mom would take every opportunity to make each moment fun and to make someone smile. Mara Jo was great at making everyone feel at home and include everyone but was the first to start a food fight or prank war. She seemed to envelope the good and fun of all the people she ever met by absolutely absorbing their love and light to use on all those who crossed her path. Mara Jo hated when people were mad at her so she always put her own thoughts and feelings aside so others would feel better. She shared her true self with a select few. Even though she put her feelings aside, she felt she was the black sheep of the family except with her dad. There was never a topic my brother and I couldn’t talk to her about since we were all so close and, although I was horrified by some of the talks when I was younger, I am so very thankful for the talks with her and the lessons learned! She would hold us accountable and call us on our … stuff … if she needed to though. Mara Jo loved her kids and grandkids the most and that showed in their pictures being the only ones in her purse. In her words, her kids were her pleasures and grandkids were her treasures.

I never thought I would hear she loved anywhere as much as she loved Colorado but then Alaska came along. She LOVED Alaska! My brother, James, would often find mom sitting outside, wrapped in blankets or by a fire, sitting there watching the Borealis. Mom said the northern lights were best at 3 am in Fairbanks. She loved them so much! Imagine the view she has now! Mara Jo also loved birds, butterflies, flowers, balloons, smiley faces, horses, owls, dogs, being out in the country or mountains, great tasting food, music, bonfires, cook out, and adventure. Her favorite colors were purple and yellow. Mom took every opportunity to celebrate life by decorating for every holiday or occasion then preparing special food related to that event. Mom still spoke of Raymond with a sparkle in her eye and a sigh. She loved the show “M*A*S*H”, true crime shows, and reality ER and police shows. Mara Jo loved musicals and would list the movies Dirty Dancing, Ghost, and Fried Green Tomatoes as a few of her favorites. Mom’s favorite books were “Appointment in Dallas: JFK” and “The Holy Bible.” Aside from loving to play cards (especially Crazy 8’s), some of her favorite games were Scrabble, Scattergories, and Sequence. Mom hated fish and peanut butter yet made the best peanut butter cookies and fudge ever! She loved Pepsi, Moose Fingers, Chinese food, popcorn, spaghetti, chocolate, and Orange Crush floats.

I never will forget her laugh, her cinnamon rolls, lasagna, the napkins with notes and her smiley face on them in my lunch box at school, the mischievous look on her face and glint in her eye when she had played a prank or joke on you, and the look on her face when we went through her scrap book together. My favorite thing in there was the newspaper article about how the small-town girl (Mara Jo) overcame the odds by walking during her graduation after her horse threw her into the chutes while barrel racing at the rodeo. Along with that article there was the picture of her getting her diploma too. I thought that was pretty cool. Mom loved her horses! She told so many stories about the horses Buck, Paint, and Dandy that I named my Cabbage Patch Pony after Dandy.

I feel many will wonder (or are wondering) what happened to my mom since she was so good and then just wasn’t. After several very bad falls in Alaska, they found fluid on her brain with pressure so drastic it pushed her entire brain to her left side. James had taken her to the doctor after every fall he knew about but because of ongoing symptoms he knew something wasn’t right still and insisted the doctor refer her to her doctors at the MS Center in Seattle. She was then life-flighted to Seattle where her MS doctors brought in a neurosurgeon who drilled a burr hole and the fluid sprayed out unlike they had seen because there was so much pressure. It was then the neurosurgeon decided to remove part of her skull and put in a shunt because the CFS fluid kept flowing back into the space. After a rough road, and many close calls, my mom plateaued so she was then evaluated by the team of doctors who said the pressure had caused permanent damage and diagnosed her with dementia in 2015. We noticed the more visitors she had, the better she did but they wouldn’t release her to anything but a skilled nursing facility, meaning she could no longer be in a home environment. So that’s when the decision to move her to Utah came. She talked about so many people there that we hoped she would have the most visitors there.

My mom was so devoted to helping others that my brother and I were coached our whole lives to make sure her body was donated for medical research in hopes she could be part of curing someone else. As requested, her body was donated to the University of Utah’s Body Donation Program for medical research and will be cremated upon her completion. Also as requested, her ashes will be spread where she asked us to prior to her dementia diagnosis. James and I followed her wishes as given to us year after year as her MS changed and progressed. None of her wishes ever changed but we were still reviewing them with her any time the symptoms got strong. She never did want someone sitting over her while she died because she wanted people to remember the fun and joking Mara Jo, not the dying one. Please feel free to share your fun or interesting memories of my mom on this memorial!

I think she would be okay with me sharing one of her secret recipes. The secret to her famous and regularly requested enchilada sauce was … it was Taco Time’s enchilada sauce. The other family secret I think I can share now is … when one of Grandma’s birds went missing, it WAS her and not Jill.

On behalf of my mom, Mara Jo Hinkle, I just want to thank you for the love and time you shared with her. I also want to ask that in lieu of flowers, gifts, or ceremony … please donate to Multiple Sclerosis research and consider donating or participating in both the MS Walk and the Alzheimer's/Dementia Walk each year in Mara Jo’s name. She was VERY giving and would want some good to come of her passing.

She was extremely strong in her faith. She believed and loved God and Jesus Christ as her Christian faith developed stronger each day. She taught my brother and I the love and strength of God. We are so thankful for that and know she is pain free, at peace with Him and with her daddy now.

My brother and I would like to thank Marla, Russell, and Jill for their support during the extremely difficult final six months of my mom’s life.

Mom, we miss you and love you a bushel and a peck and a great big hug around the neck! You will forever be in the hearts of all who met you. Your memory and love will live on as a ripple in the water, affecting every life you have touched and then in the lives of those they have touched too and on and on.

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