Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend Kathleen Attey Plowman passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sunday, November 19, 2023, in Bountiful, Utah. She was 80 years old.
“Kathy” was born June 5, 1943, in Birtley, County Durham, England. She was the sixth and final child born to George and Kathleen (Graham) Attey. Her older siblings included four brothers: John (“Jack”), George, Ronald (“Roy”), and William (“Bill”); and one sister, Honour. Her father and brothers worked in the coal mines of northern England, which were vital to Great Britain during World War II. Kathy attended school in Chester-le-Street, where she excelled in her studies and played netball, tennis, and field hockey. After school, she worked at an army and navy store and at Barclays Bank.
When Kathy was 16 years old, she began to think deeply about the purpose of life. During this time, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on her family’s door. In the first lesson, the elders shared the story of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his First Vision. She heard a voice tell her, “What they are telling you is true.” Kathy was converted in that moment and never looked back. She chose to be baptized into the Church on April 30, 1960. She attended Sunday meetings at her local branch and also served as a stake missionary. One of the full-time missionaries whom she met at that time was Elder Brent Plowman.
At age 21, Kathy emigrated from England to the United States and lived in with her Aunt Catherine in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kathy enrolled at the University of Utah to pursue a degree in English. While she attended classes, she worked for the Genealogy Department of the Church and at Zions First National Bank. One day, Kathy became very ill. Her mother’s sister, Hannah, worked nearby as a housekeeper for Elder Harold B. Lee, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church, and she asked him to give Kathy a priesthood blessing. Elder Lee blessed her to get well but also told her that “he could see me with lots of children and that I would marry someone that I had known years before. And that’s exactly what happened.”
Mutual friends set up Kathy with Brent Plowman, the missionary she had met eight years before in England. After a brief courtship, Kathy and Brent were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan LDS temple on June 11, 1971. They began their married life in Michigan. Brent worked for the Ford Motor Company, while Kathy finished her degree at Eastern Michigan University. Together, they served a stake mission for the Church. Brent also served in a bishopric and later as president of the University of Michigan student branch in Ann Arbor. Their first two children, Michael Brent and Jonathan Lowell, were born in Michigan. The family moved briefly to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where a third son, David George, was born. Finally, they settled in Bountiful, Utah, where Brent spent the remainder of his career working for the Church. Kathy and Brent welcomed two more boys, Benjamin Christian and Stephen Robert. After a “basketball team” of five boys, they were at last blessed with a girl, Elizabeth Kathleen.
From 1988 to 1990, one of Brent’s assignments for the Church took the family to Puerto Rico. Otherwise, Bountiful was “home” and the place where Kathy and Brent raised their children. Kathy was a loving and devoted mother. In the 1990s, she served nine years on the Board of Review for Foster Care in Utah. In 1998, she was (finally) sworn in as a citizen of the United States. Over the years, she took multiple opportunities to travel back to her native England with Bent and the children to visit her parents, siblings, and all other family members.
In addition to the roles of wife and mother, Kathy was a great “chauffeur” and could often be seen driving kids around to various sporting events; she never missed a game. She even coached a few soccer teams. She loved music and hearing her children play instruments, including piano, violin, clarinet, and the trumpet or hearing them sing in a choir or perform in a musical or play.
When her grandchildren arrived, Kathy did more of the same for them. She was a great cook and baker. Whenever there was a gathering of family or friends, those attending would look forward to tasting one of her delicious cinnamon rolls or cherry turnovers. Kathy was a devoted gardener and enjoyed making her yard beautiful. She was a sucker for movie nights and could be found enjoying favorite shows like Anne of Green Gables or It’s a Wonderful Life.
Kathy remained a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout her life. She served as a Gospel Doctrine teacher, Primary teacher, counselor in the Relief Society presidency, Young Women leader, seminary teacher, and ordinance worker in the Bountiful LDS temple. “Missionary Mom” was one of her favorite titles, with all five of her sons serving full-time Church missions. She rejoiced when all of her children were sealed to their spouses in the temple, and the numerous grandchildren who came along in the years that followed only multiplied her joy.
Kathy was preceded in death by her husband, Brent; her parents; her five siblings and their spouses; and Brent’s sister and brother-in-law, Marilyn and Dexter Sanders. She is survived by her six children: Michael (Jana), Layton; Jonathan (Janalynn), Bountiful; David (Jessica), Woods Cross; Benjamin (Adrienne), Centerville; Stephen (Summer), North Salt Lake; and Elizabeth (Jeff) Wood, West Bountiful; 18 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and multiple nieces and nephews spread across England, Utah, and California.
Thank you to the medical staff and employees of Barton Creek for the excellent care during Kathy’s final year of life.
A public viewing will be held at Russon Mortuary, 295 N Main St, Bountiful from 6 to 8 p.m.on Sunday, November 26. An additional viewing will be held on Monday, November 27, from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. at the West Bountiful 5th Ward building, 840 N 800 W, West Bountiful, with a funeral service following at 11:00 a.m. Interment will take place at the Smithfield, Utah City Cemetery at 2:30 p.m
Services will be streamed live on Russon Mortuary & Crematory Facebook page and this obituary page.
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