Dorothy Gwen Sheets Aranda

Dorothy Gwen Aranda (Sheets), was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 7th, 1931. Dorothy was 91 years old when she died from complications of age on September 5th, 2022 at LDS Hospital.
Dorothy grew up in Salt Lake City, with her parents Laurence and Gwenllyn Sheets, and her brothers Keith, Don and Robert. Women were not allowed to join the United States Airforce until 1948.  Dorothy, a young adult with a very independent spirit, enlisted soon after in order to serve her country. While there, she met and married serviceman Juan C. Aranda, Jr.  Dorothy’s only child, her daughter Linda, was born in 1957 at Kirkland Airforce Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Dorothy and Juan later divorced. She returned to Salt Lake to raise her daughter in a community that held her own values. As a single mother, her circumstances required her to work. She enjoyed serving the church as an employee of the Genealogical Society of Utah, where her maternal grandfather Amos Milton Musser had been a founding member in 1894. In 1994, at the age of 62, she retired after 33 years in the Family History Department. She received a letter of congratulations and appreciation from the LDS  Prophet Ezra Taft Benson.
Dorothy was most recently a longtime member of the Nibley Park Ward in Sugarhouse, where she was well-known and loved. Over the years she served in many callings, including in the Relief Society presidency, and as Ward Historian.
She was a dedicated fan of professional and college football, basketball, baseball and BYU Women’s Volleyball. Over the years she could often be found watching one game on TV with the sound off, while also listening to another one on the radio.  During Covid, her older brother Don arranged for her to get Cable, and she discovered ESPN.  She loved cats, and most kinds of animals, driving her Plymouth Duster around town, and playing Johnny Cash on the stereo with the bass turned way up.
Dorothy lived independently on her own terms in her own apartment until the end of her life. She passed away to the sounds of alleluia from the Pachelbel Canon in D, and the Chicago Bears versus Cleveland Browns football game.
She’s survived by her daughter Linda Aranda Belliveau (Tom Belliveau, husband), her grandsons Alexander Laurence Arsenault and Andre Aranda Arsenault; her brother Don Sheets (Dorothy, wife- deceased); her nieces and nephews Jackie Larsen, (Dennis, husband); Brian Sheets (Emilie, wife); Brent Sheets; Shirley Crowley (Nick, husband); Judy Weidman (Carl, husband); Nathan Sheets (Kim, wife); Susan Hunsaker (Steven, husband), and many grandnieces and grandnephews.  She was preceded in death by her dear mother and father, her older brother Keith (Katherine, wife- deceased); her younger brother Robert, her nephew Mark Sheets, and her nephew Joseph Sheets.
 
Dorothy was a beloved daughter of Salt Lake City who honored her country, her church, her family and her pioneer heritage. Now, she dwells in the house of the Lord forever, and she will always be missed.
 
Services will be held at the Nibley Park Ward building at 2465 South 800 East in Salt Lake City. Viewings will be held September 11 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. September 12 at 10:00 a.m. before the Memorial Service, which begins at 11:00 a.m.
 
Flowers are most welcome, white arrangements will decorate the chapel, mixed arrangements will decorate the foyer. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations are made to The Boys and Girls Club of Salt Lake in Sugar House.
 
Gravesite dedication will be held at Memorial Redwood Mortuary, 6500 South Redwood Road, West Jordan, Utah, where Dorothy will be laid to rest with her brother Keith, her sister-in-law Katherine, and her nephew Joseph.
Service Information
Viewing September 11, 2022 at 6-8:00 PM
Nibley Park Ward- 2465 S 800 E, Salt Lake City, UT. 84106





Viewing September 12, 2022 at 10:00 AM
Nibley Park Ward- 2465 S 800 E, Salt Lake City, UT. 84106





Funeral Service
September 12, 2022 at 11:00 AM
Nibley Park Ward- 2465 S 800 E, Salt Lake City, UT. 84106