Gwendolyn Silver Legler

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Gwendolyn Silver Legler, age 84, passed away on April 24, 2025, in Seattle, Washington, due to complications following a stroke. She was born on December 1, 1940, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Virginia Ross Russell and Hiram Clawson Silver.

She married Charles Burdette Legler on August 31, 1973, in the Salt Lake City Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Gwen grew up in an adobe home on two acres along Cottonwood Creek in Holladay, Utah. She and her siblings played in the creek and rode their horses up into the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains.

Gwen served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paraguay and Uruguay from 1963 to 1965. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in psychology from Brigham Young University and a Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Utah. She helped her husband, children, grandchildren, and friends pursue college degrees.

After graduate school, Gwen became a social worker for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Indian Student Placement Program. In her pickup truck, she worked on the Indian reservations of Utah, Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada.  She took her nieces and nephews on outings near and far in that same truck. Later, she transferred to the Cedar City, Utah, office of LDS Family Services as a counselor.

After marriage, Gwen and Chuck lived in California for several years before moving their family to a home they built on five wooded acres near Arlington, Washington, where she would live the rest of her life.

Gwen felt strongly about the importance of being outdoors every day. Family walks were commonplace. Even when she faced crippling health challenges, she tried solutions until she found ones that worked, and she remained physically active throughout her life.

At an age when most people retire, Gwen resumed professional work in emotional therapy and counseling, helping countless people overcome roadblocks in their lives through her work with them and her courses and manuals. She retired only a few years ago.

Gwen was sure in her identity as a child of God and a disciple of Jesus Christ. Reflecting on her childhood, she wrote, “In my mind, Heavenly Father was a very real person who really loved and cared about me. I can never recall a time that I doubted in His existence or in His concern for me.… I would often think how everyone could be happy if they knew there was a God who loved them and watched over them as I knew it.”

She is survived by her sisters Jean and Sharon; husband Charles; children Joshua, Benjamin, Katrina, and Jacob; ten grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Russell.

A graveside service will be held on Friday, May 9, 2025, at 11:30 am, at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arlington, Washington.