Ione Osterhout Broadhead MacBass

Ione Osterhout Broadhead MacBass left this earth peacefully on August 7, 2021, at the age of 97. She suffered from an incurable disease that robbed her of her memories of her family in the end. While dementia took her memories, it didn’t take her love of life or her love of her family away from her. She enjoyed the visits from family while she spent her final days in a rest home after she fell and broke her hip.

Ione was born January 15, 1924. She is the daughter of Jesse Appolos Osterhout and Winnifred Judd Osterhout. She had four siblings – Winnifred who died as an infant, Verl, Elmyra, and Delbert. The family lived in Declo, Idaho, until during the Great Depression the banks closed, and her family lost the farm, and had to move. They settled in Acequia where she graduated from school in 1942.

On May 27, 1942, Ione married Orville Lorenzo Broadhead. They had four children together, Betty, Marie, Michael J., and Robert K. After the death of her husband, Orville, in 1965, and several years later, Ione married William John (Jack) MacBass and they were married until his passing in 1991. Ione loved being a mother and said often her greatest joy was her grandchildren. She had a large family, and she loved it. She was blessed with 27 grandchildren, many great-grandchildren as well as great-great-grandchildren. She lived for her time she got to spend with her grandkids. Since they all weren’t close, she traveled quite often to see them and to support them in their different activities and achievements. She would make surprise visits to her grandkids, and at times her kids didn’t even know she was coming.

She didn’t like to sit still for very long. She was always working. She was very self-reliant and baked her own bread – which was a favorite of her grandkids when they would come visit. She had an amazing garden and taught her grandkids the value of work when they would come and stay with her during the summer. Her grandkids also enjoyed gathering eggs from the chickens and getting to milk the goats at their home in West Jordan, Utah, with Ione and Jack.

Growing up during the Great Depression taught Ione to find a use for everything. She didn’t let anything go to waste. She preserved anything her yard and garden would produce for her family to enjoy throughout the year. She loved a good deal. She enjoyed spending Saturdays at auctions, flea markets, or yard sales. Rarely did she buy something for herself, she was always thinking of ways to help others with her finds.

She loved to hug her grandkids and rarely left without saying goodbye and giving them a kiss. While she enjoyed working, she also knew how to have fun. She would take the bus into downtown Salt Lake City with her grandkids, or to the 49th Street Galleria, a museum, or the park for a day away from the chores.

At times Ione would stay with her kids and grandkids to help out for a time. While her son Mike was a single father, she would make the trip to visit him and take his boys for a time. Their long car rides back and forth were time well spent with her. She moved in with her granddaughter, Tana, while she was going to school and raising her kids. She enjoyed her time with her. She spent time with her granddaughter, Cami, and her family while her husband was deployed. It was such a great help to Cami during that time. Most recently, she lived with her granddaughter, Rhonda, while she helped care for Ione during her failing health. Ione truly lived a life of service to her family.

Ione enjoyed gardening, traveling, dancing, family history, temple work, and serving others. She served several missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She had a strong testimony of the Gospel and shared it with anyone she got the chance to talk to. Her later years were spent making blankets to donate to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. Several of her grandkids were also the recipients of her blankets she made.

Ione is survived by her children, Betty Wilson, Marie (Gene) Hunter Brown and Robert K. (Sandra); and daughter-in-law, Vicki Broadhead. She was preceded in death by her parents; siblings; husbands, Orville Broadhead and Jack MacBass; her son, Michael J. Broadhead; sons-in-law, James (Jim) Hunter and Delmer Wilson Jr.; grandsons, Dee Wilson and Dario Wilson; great-granddaughters, Tulip Loftiss and Jaya Wilson; and a great-great-grandson, Dustin Potter.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, August 13, at Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, where family and friends will be received from 9:30 until 10:30 a.m. Burial will follow at Declo Cemetery.

The family would like to thank the staff of Sunshine Terrace in Logan, Utah, for their care, and to Rhonda Wessel, Ione’s granddaughter, for her care of Ione as well.