Mary Kristine Asplund Daines

Mary Kristine Asplund Daines was born April 19^th, 1943, in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada to Charles Owen Asplund and Julia Ellen Russell Asplund. She was the last of six children (4 brothers and one sister) and a delightful surprise to the family.  She was named after her two grandmothers. She had copper colored hair which brought her lots of attention and adoration from her family.  She was well loved from the beginning.

Kris’s father died when she was 14 and she lived with her mother and grandfather until she left for University.  In high school, she had a horse that she loved to ride, but had to give it to her cousins when she went to university. She started at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, but with encouragement from two older siblings and a bitter winter in Edmonton she transferred to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. There she met the love of her life David Daines from Seattle, Washington.  They were married at the Alberta, Cardston LDS Temple on her birthday, April 19, in 1966.  Both Kris and Dave graduated from BYU that same year and David took a job with the Department of Social Service in Arizona.  They first lived in Coolidge, then in Tempe, and finally in Mesa, where they remained up till the present.

They both received Master’s Degrees from Arizona State University, David in Social Work and Kristine a Masters of Fine Arts in English.  She was a teacher and stay at home mom until her youngest daughter entered High School. Kris went back to school at ASU and was employed by ASU for many years as an instructor in English composition and creative writing.

She loved to teach and was good at it.  She loved all the students she taught and especially liked a course she taught in creative writing for nurses.  Born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, she and her husband were faithful members and active participants in their faith. Kris also served in many LDS church callings but always preferred to be a teacher and loved teaching Gospel Doctrine in Sunday School.  She was also a exceptional singer and sang alto in church choirs regularly.

In more recent times, until her health started to fail, she and Dave liked to explore the desert in Arizona, as David is an avid photographer of the Canyon lands of Arizona and southern Utah.  They also visited the ocean to the south.  They frequently travelled with Ivan and Jennifer Johnson, longtime friends.  They were a perfect match during their 57 years of marriage.

Kristine loved reading, movies, writing, and hanging out with family.  She was not a fan of technology and did not even like cell phones.  When encouraged to use more modern means of communication, she always said that she was a troglodyte (she after all was an English teacher) that had no interest in modern technology. She preferred a land-line telephone and letters to communicate.  She got her news by reading the Arizona Republic from cover to cover every morning, and always did the crossword puzzle.  She was a loyal reader throughout her life.  They ought to publish this obituary for free.

Survivors include her husband David (86), sons Michael (Cori), Richard (Marie) and daughters Leslie (Stewart) Mayhew and Jessica (her dog Mouse), 12 grandchildren, Benjamin (Samantha), Julia (Kyle), Gabrielle, Samuel, Jane (Kira), Christina, Sarah, Christopher, Morgan, Jonathan (Marine PFC), Nathan, Anne-Marie, Kendal, and her brother Bill. All her other siblings are deceased.

Bunker’s Funeral Home has taken care of the arrangement for the funeral and burial.  The services for Kristine are scheduled on December 28^th at the Los Altos LDS building at 2300 W Javelina Ave., Mesa, Arizona. Viewing is at 10 am and the funeral service will start at 11. Interment will be at approximately 1:00 pm at the Mesa cemetery at 1212 N Center St.  There will be a lunch afterward for family.

Thanks to all of her family and friends. Condolences and memories can be shared at Bunker’s Funeral Home or on the Facebook group Mary Kristine Asplund Daines or by email at marykristineasplunddaines@gmail.com.

Arrangements by Bunker’s Garden Chapel, www.bunkerfuneral.com. Should this obituary appear anywhere but bunkerfuneral.com, please check our website for accurate details and service information.