Von R Hokanson

Our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and patriot, Sergeant Major Von R. Hokanson, received an honorable discharge from this life and passed away peacefully in his sleep on October 1, 2021 in Salt Lake City, UT at age 77.
Von met his wife and eternal companion, Judy, in 1965 when they both worked at the ZCMI Department Store. They married in December of 1966. A short time after they were married, he received his draft notice for Vietnam on the same day he received his dream job offer to be a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park. During his one-year tour in Vietnam, he was awarded both the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantry Badge. He met his four-month-old daughter, Lori, for the first time while he was on leave in Hawaii. Upon returning home in 1969, he joined the Utah National Guard. He had a love/hate relationship with his career but served faithfully in the Guard for the next 29 years.
When he wasn’t playing soldier or eating lunch at Swifty’s, he was either working in his yard or riding his horse in the mountains. When Von turned 40, he had a mid-life crisis and decided to ride his bicycle from Salt Lake City to Tropic, UT, a distance of over 260 miles. He always enjoyed visiting and spending time with his cousins in Tropic. After completing that ride two times, he decided to take up marathon running at the age of 50. Seven marathons later, he hung up his running shoes and opened his own landscaping business, but not before ruthlessly hounding his children into completing his marathons with him.
He had a passion for rocks and always had an eye out for the perfect one to put in his yard. He collected most of them from the foothills above the valley. Once he even took some rocks from a military base during a training exercise. His unit decided to play a trick on him, and they had the base police threaten to arrest him. It scared him so badly, he quickly returned all the rocks to where he had found them. All the effort was worth it in the end, as he won the Sandy City Beautification award for the nicest-looking yard in the neighborhood.
Von was at his best when he was wearing his propeller hat on his boat at Lake Powell. He became proficient at predicting when the next rainstorm would occur and constantly repeating what his family affectionately called “Vonisms”, or funny sayings that he had invented that were uniquely his.
Von combined his love of horses, yardwork, and poetry when he worked at IFA after he retired from his landscaping business. Every night he would recite a different poem of his own creation over the loudspeaker to alert the customers that it was time to close. One night he missed reciting his poem, and the police officers that worked across the street came over to see what was wrong. They had grown accustomed to going outside every night to hear his daily poem.
Von was known by most car dealerships in the valley for his stubbornness and determination to get a “screamin’ deal” on a vehicle. He was even told by one car salesman that he would give him a hefty discount on a car if he never came back to shop there again. Von took it as a win. These same characteristics proved valuable as he battled with Parkinson’s Disease for many years before his death. He was often heard to paraphrase Winston Churchill when he said, “Never ever ever give up”.
In his later years, Von always looked forward to playing Santa for the kids at ward parties and for IFA customers. He loved Christmas and enjoyed spoiling his family, especially his grandchildren, with lots of gifts. Von had a special place in his heart for his grandchildren and cherished his time with them.
Von was preceded in death by his parents, Gustof and Elfa and his daughter Lori. He is survived by his wife Judy, his daughter Cari (Kirt) Davis, his son Jason (Sarah) Hokanson, his grandchildren Josh and Ella, and his older brother Milton.
Funeral Services will be held at the Willow Creek 2nd Ward Chapel at 2400 E Alta Canyon Drive, Sandy, UT, 84093 on Friday, October 8th at 11:30 am. Funeral proceedings may be viewed live at: www.willowcreekstake.com/broadcasts. Click on “Sacrament Meetings and Events”, then “Von Hokanson Funeral”.
Friends and family may pay their respects at the Memorial Mountain View Mortuary at 3115 Bengal Blvd, Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121 on Thursday, October 7th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and again on Friday, October 8th at the Willow Creek 2nd Ward Chapel from 9:30 am to 11:30 am.
Service Information
Viewing October 7, 2021 at 6-8 pm
3115 E 7800 S, Cottonwood Heights, Utah, 84121





Viewing October 8, 2021 at 9:30 am
2400 Alta Canyon Drive, Sandy, Utah, 84093





Funeral Service
October 8, 2021 at 11:30 am
2400 Alta Canyon Drive, Sandy, Utah, 84093