Marie Kotter

Being the daughter of a mining engineer and mill manager, Marie’s early years were in the small towns of Bauer, Utah, Castleton, Panaca and Pioche, Nevada, before moving to Salt Lake City, where she graduated from Highland High School.

Marie received her Bachelor’s, Master’s in Medical Technology, and Ph. D. in Educational Psychology, all at the University of Utah (U of U). She was a member of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority. While at the U of U, as an undergraduate, the most handsome man wearing yellow shorts happened to hold the door open for her after chemistry class one day, which was the beginning of a 57-year marriage to her husband Bruce. During this time, they raised two sons, Jeffrey Kotter, and Steve Kotter. She and Bruce had a deep love for their home in Pleasant View where they lived for 50 years. She sat holding his hand, looking out their front window, as he passed away in January of this year.

Marie was a trailblazer. Starting as an assistant professor at Weber State in 1972, she was promoted to a tenured professor, and helped build the clinical laboratory sciences program. Her students often remarked how dedicated and passionate she was in her teaching and how much she inspired them. Marie was the first woman to sit on an executive committee at Weber and became the first female Vice President at a four year institution in Utah in 1986. She advocated for all students and spearheaded the creation of the Weber State Student Services Building. To convince the Regents of the need for all student services to be housed in a single place, she provided them all wheelchairs when they arrived and remarked they would be completing their tour in them. The project was approved before the tour was over.

Marie was a breast cancer survivor. She was a “downwinder” and often told stories of her and her sisters watching mushroom clouds from atomic bomb testing near their home in Castleton, Nevada. She journeyed down the “Cancer River” (sometimes slow and calm, sometimes scary with rapids) always knowing she would come out on the other side. Over the years, she and Bruce took many river trips down the Snake, San Juan, Green and Colorado, with family and friends. Desolation Canyon was a favorite. Those trips remained some of her fondest memories.

Next to Bruce and her family, Marie’s next greatest love was books. She was a voracious reader of nearly anything in print. She always carried a tote of books on trips to Lake Powell, to the “Cabin in the Pines” in Idaho, and on trips to see their sons in Florida. It was not unusual for her to regularly read 3 to 5 books each week, and more when she was on vacation.

Marie is survived by her sons Jeff (Debbie) and Steve (Christa), her “amazing” grandchildren Jack, Emma, and Grace and great-granddaughter, Sage, her siblings Susan (Bill) Trevithick, Marilyn Likins, John (Laura) Likins, and David Likins (Chris Bridges), sisters-in-law, Deborah (Byron) Barkley and Karen Smith, three nieces, three nephews, her loving Goldendoodle Rosy, and many additional family members and friends.

The family wishes to thank Marie’s care team, including Dr. Carl Gray, Dr. Seher Lewis, and their wonderful staff, as well as Linda Hendrickson, Dee Braner, Rylee Satepauhoodle, Enhabit Hospice, and Amada Senior Care, and all their friends and dear neighbors.

Donations to the Marie Kotter Endowment Fund at Weber State University (currently being set up), the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America or other charities will be greatly appreciated.

A Celebration of Life for Marie will be held in early fall.

Her wish for all of us: “Take time to listen to each other’s stories.”