Kari Lee Goodwine Twitchell June 22, 1966 ~ October 7, 2026

Kari Lee Goodwine Twitchell, 60, passed away peacefully Wednesday, October 7, 2026, just before 2:00 p.m., in Florence, Arizona, from the effects of dementia.

Kari was born June 22, 1966, in Sullivan, Missouri, and grew up in Monticello, Utah, a small town in the red-rock canyon country of southeastern Utah. The oldest of five children, she was raised surrounded by extended family — grandmothers, aunts, cousins — and developed early the qualities that would define her life: a love of home, a gift for music, an eye for beauty in fabric and design, and a quiet, deep faith.

She attended Brigham Young University, where she earned a degree in Fashion Merchandising and found her love of teaching at the Provo Special Education Seminary, then serving as assistant principal, and leading twelve disabled students on a week-long river rafting trip. She graduated in December 1987.

On August 5, 1986, she married Kip Mack Twitchell in the Manti Utah Temple. Together they lived in nine states and visited all fifty. She was the steady center of a family that moved often, always making wherever they landed feel like home — and becoming an expert craftsman in the process. She loved reading — averaging two books a week for years — live theater, sewing and quilting, power tools, dark chocolate, and the temple. She served repeatedly as Primary chorister and Young Women’s president and for a time as stake Primary president.

In January 2018, Kari was diagnosed with posterior cortical atrophy, a rare form of dementia. She responded by volunteering as the sole patient in an experimental treatment whose results were published in a medical journal. Even with her physical condition, she continued to improve herself—embracing quietness, trust, peace-seeking, and forgiveness. In the last year of her life she responded to a priesthood blessing promising substantial improvements with therapy and then a determination to serve in the temple more. Over six months with professional caregivers she served as a temple worker, cleaning and attending sessions nearly every day.

Kari is survived by her husband of 40 years, Kip Mack Twitchell; her daughters Krista Lee Twitchell Burkhart (Alex) of Culpeper, Virginia, Abby Marie Twitchell Platt (Ross) of Florence, Arizona, Emma Anne Twitchell Hicken (Kai) of Clarksville, Tennessee, and her son Quinn Mack Twitchell of Killeen, Texas; her grandchildren Ridge, Hal, and Merritt Burkhart, and Shai Hicken, and two expected grandsons; her mother Tanya Bailey Goodwine Lowry; and her brothers Brian, Brandon, and Brent, and her sister Kelcey Tupuola. She was preceded in death by her father, James Frederick Goodwine.

Kari once wrote: "I love being in the temple. I love knowing that there is a life after this one and that we will get to be with the people we love most. . . . And greatest of all, I love knowing that the Atonement of Jesus Christ will one day make all of us whole and happy beyond belief.”

Funeral will be held in the Monticello Utah Stake Center on Saturday, October 17, 2026 11:00 MDT, followed by interment in the Monticello City Cemetery.