Josephine Decker Flores' Obituary
Josephine (“Jo”) Decker Flores, 95, passed away peacefully on the afternoon of November 17, 2025 at Legacy House in Bountiful, Utah. She was born July 10, 1930 in Sanford, Colorado to Edgar Thompson Decker and Myrtle Josephine Christensen Decker, and was raised on a farm in the San Luis Valley near La Jara, Colorado during the height of the Great Depression. Determined to rise above her humble upbringing, she worked and saved to attend Brigham Young University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She married her husband of 55 years, Lemuel Michael Flores, in the Salt Lake Temple on October 10, 1957, and she remained a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints throughout her life.
She personified the values of her generation: duty, loyalty, sacrifice, and above all, hard work. A passionate educator, Mrs. Flores balanced raising her family while teaching first and second grade for over four decades, beginning at the original Stoker School in Bountiful, then Boulton Elementary, Valley View Elementary, and Reading Elementary in Centerville. She liked teaching math and science, but she possessed a divine gift for teaching children to read and to love reading. Even in retirement, she continued to work several more years as a reading specialist at Hannah Holbrook Elementary and other schools across Davis County, touching the lives of hundreds of students who struggled with reading. Although she never sought accolades or awards, she was inducted into the Davis County Schools Hall of Fame in 1994.
Jo energetically approached every pursuit in her life with pride and precision. She was an immaculate housekeeper who maintained a tidy yard, tending to her flowers, shrubs, and lawn with fastidious care. She enjoyed playing the piano, teaching music in her classroom and accompanying elementary school and Primary programs, and she continued to take piano lessons well into her 80s. Her other talents included arranging silk flowers, sewing, canning fruit, pickles and homemade jam, and baking delicious dinner rolls, gingerbread cookies, and other treats. Never lacking an opinion, her wry sense of humor and razor-sharp wit supplied a wellspring of practical wisdom and pithy aphorisms for every situation and circumstance. She will be deeply missed.
She is survived by her two sons David (Jean) of Salt Lake City, Utah and Daniel of Los Angeles, California; and four grandchildren, Diana, Rebecca, Mateo, and Marcos Flores. She was preceded in death by her husband Lemuel, her sister Rhea Decker Seaberg, and her brother Edgar Daniel (“Dan”) Decker Sr.
The family expresses appreciation to her kind neighbors, Dignity Home Health & Hospice, and Legacy House of Bountiful for the loving care provided in the final years of her life.
A viewing will be held on Sunday, November 30, 2025 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Bountiful Utah Orchard Stake Center, 3599 South Orchard Drive, Bountiful, Utah. A graveside service will be held at Bountiful City Cemetery at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, December 1, 2025. Condolences can be sent to the family at www.premierfuneral.com.
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