Grant M Hulet

Grant M Hulet was born on February 6, 1927 in Chinook, Montana in a tar paper shack to Francis Edgar and Ella McEwen Hulet.  Because of hard financial times, they packed everything on their Overland car and moved to Idaho, where Grant grew up. The depression years were hard on the Hulet family.  After several moves and attempts to make a living for their family, they ended up on a farm near Wendell, Idaho, raising a few cash crops as well as dairy cows and a flock of sheep.   Grant learned to work hard at a young age to help provide a living for their family.  Starting at age five, he had regular chores on the farm, including milking the cows early in the morning and tending the sheep all day.

When he was a teenager, World War II began.  Both of his older brothers were drafted into the war.  Reed was in the army and had many horendous experiences.  Grant enlisted in the navy to avoid the combat that his brother endured in the army.  He told his mother that if he had to die, at least he would die clean, not in the mud.  He was only 17.  His mother was so upset at her last son joining the war that she couldn’t stand to see him off.  He was trained as a radar operator and assigned to an attack transport in the pacific, but the war ended before he saw any action.  His ship was assigned the duty of bringing allied prisoners-of-war home.  Expecting to see young men excited to be returning home, he was shocked to instead find “dead men walking,” men sick with maleria, dissentary and malnutrition; suffering from shell-shock and physically, mentally, and emotionally abused. 

After he returned home from the war, he was called on a mission for the LDS chruch to the western Canadian Mission.  His mission covered three western provinces, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.  He worked hard and served faithfully for just over two years there.  It was a difficult mission and he didn’t see many converts, but he planted many seeds and soidified his own testimony.

Grant’s father wanted him to stay and work the farm with him, but Grant had other ideas.  He knew that there was no future in sheep and farming; he had watched his own family struggle his whole life; he wanted something better for himself and his family.  Education was key to a better life. Using the GI bill he received from being in the military, he began his studies at Brigham Young University.  Art had always been a love and he had a natural talent for drawing.  In spite of many people’s advice to the contrary, he was determined to make a living with his art. 

While at BYU, he and his brother Clarence decided they needed to get married.  They devised a wager between the two of them.  If one of them had a date and the other one didn’t, the one without the date had to pay for his brother’s date.  This was a great incentive to get out there and start meeting some young women.  At a matinee dance, Grant’s eye was attracted to a young woman in the back of the group who was smiling.  She was the one he wanted to get to know.  At the end of the dance, he asked for permission to call her, which she gave.  “Don’t you want to know my phone number or address?” she asked?  “I will find you,” he replied.  Which he did.  Grant married Wanda Gay Fluckiger on November 21, 1951 in the Idaho Falls LDS temple.  He graduated from BYU the next spring.

Immediately after graduation, he got a job working for an advertising agency, which brought the newlyweds to Salt Lake City.  He worked as a commercial artist for many years and became well known for his creative work and his ability to meet deadlines.  

Mark showed up on the scene, changing their dynamic from a couple to a family.  Kathy and Kris soon followed.  With a growing family to house, Grant decided it was time to build a home. Using a “how to” book for guidance, and with the help of his father, Grant built a nice home on Osage Orange Avenue, where they have lived ever since.  Jay and Don completed their family and filled their new home. 

In 1968 Grant made a career change and using his talent for art and teaching.  He became a graphic design professor at Salt Lake Community College.  Teaching became a passion and he was very good at it.  A master’s degree inproved his situation with the school and he was promoted to the head of the art department until he retired.  During these years, he also won an award for designing a medalion for the state of Utah and authored a college art text book.

Grant served in many different priesthood leadership callings including high priest group leader, executive secretary and in the bishopric. He was always willing to accept any call that was given.

After raising their family, Grant and Wanda decided that their work was not yet done and they submitted their papers to fulfill a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Their calling took them to Africa, in the countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.  They had a great impact on many people and saw the church grow in that region.  He and Wanda provided gospel grounded experience and leadership that was greatly needed in that area. 

Even though he was retired, teaching was still in his blood, so Grant started giving art lessons out of his home when they returned from Africa. Many friends and neighbors benefited from his great talent both as an artist and as a teacher. 

He loved painting and created many beautiful works of art for friends and family.  He also loved fishing, hunting, hiking in the wilderness and working in his garden.  His life was lived to a full measure, spending it in service to his family and his God.  The moto he lived his life by was to learn your duty and put duty above self.

Grant passed away peacefully at his beloved home on Osage Orange at the age of 91 on March 22, 2018.

He is proceeded in death by his parents, and his siblings, all but one, Ella May Sawyer.  Also precded in death by his baby girl and an infant son, Carl Stephen Hulet,  a daughter-in-law, Jennifer Smith Hulet, and a son-in-law, Demar Arnold Morgan. He is survived by his beloved wife, Wanda Gay Fluckiger Hulet, children Mark Francis Hulet (Marilyn), Kathryn Morgan, Kristine Gundersen (Kirk), Jay Grant Hulet (Kim), Don Wilford Hulet, 18 grand children and 25 great grandchildren. 

Funeral services will be held on Friday March 30, at 12:00, noon, at the LDS church at  4409 South Albright Drive, Holladay, UT 84124.  Friends and family are invited to a viewing at the Holbrook Mortuary on Thursday evening 6:00 – 8:00 PM 3251 South 2300 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84109 or before the funeral services at 10:30-11:30 AM Friday morning. Interment at Holladay Cemetery immediately following the services.

Funeral Audio. Available until June 28, 2018.