Rex J Hess, Jr.

Rex J Hess, Jr.
 
Born: August 20, 1943, Malad, Idaho.
Died: June 26, 2022, Salt Lake City, Utah, following a stroke
 
 
BYU freshman Rex accidentally thrust his forearm through a window in a water balloon fight, slashing his flesh to the bone and severing every vessel, tendon and nerve. His surgeon warned the damage could be permanent. Rex determined otherwise. Through constant exercise, he gradually transformed his “dead fish” handshake into an iron grip with dexterous digits.
 
Determination.
 
Rex served an LDS mission to the Great Lakes Region, earned a bachelor’s degree in economics, built a successful insurance career and was a BYU and Utah Jazz sports super fan. An avid golfer, Rex helped organize the BYU and University of Utah football Annual National Kidney Foundation of Utah Golf Tournament and rode with Cougar and Ute coaches LaVell Edwards and Ron McBride in their golf cart.
 
After the death of his younger brother, Ron, and dissolution of younger sister Mary Ann’s first marriage, Rex, a bachelor, became a second father to Ron’s daughters Rebekah and Sara and Mary Ann’s children Shaela, Khena, Amber and Thos. Mary Ann recalls how he took her four children boating, helped Khena gain work experience and called Amber “Peaches and Cream.”
 
“In life it is rare to find someone you can be yourself with; someone you can trust; someone who shares similar thoughts and ideas and yet challenges your thoughts and ideas to help you grow  and become wiser and more well rounded,” Rebekah Eaves, the eldest of Ron’s two daughters, states. “Rex was a such a person for me. We often connected at a soul level.”
 
She remembers him as generous with his time and knowledge – a great seeker of deeper truths, inside and outside his Mormon faith. “He was a great friend and a beloved uncle. He will be greatly missed.”
 
Rex and brother Mac shared the special bond that exists only between twins. “‘You have friendships and other friends you get close to but there’s nothing that can compare. Nothing,” Mac explains. “On a lot of items we saw eye to eye. Some items we didn’t. Sometimes we fought. The most vicious fights I had were with Rex, but nothing ever broke the bond.”
 
At a junior high dance in Pendleton, Oregon, a bully two years older and 40 pounds heavier than Mac struck him in the back of the head and picked a fight. They fought hard for an hour until Mac, exhausted, could not continue. Rex, the short twin, removed his shirt.“You’ve got to take me on now,” he told the bully.
 
“Rex was small. This guy was much, much, bigger,” Mac recalls. “Rex whipped him!”
 
Rex and Mac’s subsequent reputation as the “tough Hess twins” followed them to Missoula, Montana, where tall twin Mac played end and short twin Rex started at halfback and linebacker for Missoula’s Spartans, who took second at State.
 
 
Rex survived three open heart surgeries for valve replacements and two pacemaker implants, yet never complained. “Keep smiling,” he smiled.
 
Determination.
 
Upon Rex’s death, family members gathered in Salt Lake from New York, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Missouri and Alaska. After Utah laws and a COVID outbreak delayed his cremation, all returned home. Family and friends will gather again at a future date to celebrate his life.
 
Rex was preceded in death by parents Rex J. Hess, Sr. and Thora Ann Roderick Hess and brother Ronald Earl Hess. He is survived by his twin, Maclean Hess, brother Bill E Hess, sister Mary Ann Hess and a host of nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.