Yvonne Watts Nilsen

Yvonne Watts Nilsen passed away peacefully on 3 July 2016 at the Keck Hospital of USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA following complications from a previous surgery.

Yvonne was born 16 September 1927 to Orvil A Watts & Hazel A Anderson in Kanosh, Utah, the oldest of 4 children. She was raised in Provo, Utah and attended local schools there.

After graduating from Provo High School she was courted by Mark Heiselt Nilsen and they were sealed in the SLC Temple for time and all eternity on 12 June 1946. Mom quickly picked up golf, Dads favorite hobby and accompanied him on many golf tournaments throughout the Intermountain west over the years and was An accomplished player as well as being very involved in the Women's Golf Association at the Timpanogus Golf Course for many years.

Known to their friends and associates as Pudge & Von, they raised 3 children (Kim, Kevin & MarcAnn) and Mom loved being a wife, mother and eventually a grandmother and great-grandmother. Her posterity was her greatest joy and she was known by all who came in contact with her as "GG".

Mom's life was filled w/ service for others as she served both in the community and in the Church as a Cub Scout Den Leader, Young Women's Presidency and Camp Leader, Relief Society, Primary as well as a Temple Worker in the Provo Temple. After Dad died in November of 1987, Mom also served a full time temple mission in the Dallas-Fort Worth Temple in Texas.

Mom left Provo and moved to Hailey, ID in 2000 then relocated to Rosemead & Sylmar, CA in December of 2012 where she has been living since.

Yvonne is survived by her 3 children; Kim & Marilyn Nilsen (Hailey, ID), Kevin Nilsen (Parker, AZ), MarcAnn & Mark Wheeler (Sylmar, CA); 17 grandchildren (ID, UT, CA & Spain); 43 great-grandchildren (ID, UT, & CA) and 3 siblings, Jack A Watts (Washington, UT), Patricia Hotchkiss (Ogden, UT) and Sharon Koch (Albuquerque, NM).

She is preceded in death by her Eternal Companion Mark Heiselt Nilsen, a grandson Mark Heiselt Nilsen II, her parents Orvil & Hazel Watts, and a daughter in-law Susan Kay Pace.

Graveside services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, July 16, 2016 at the Provo City Cemetery, 610 South State Street (South Loop), Provo, Utah. Family and friends are invited to meet at the cemetery. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.bergmortuary.com.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, a donation to the "Humanitarian Aid" Department of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" in Yvonne's name would be appropriate and very much appreciated.