Michelle Angela Solomon Szetela

Courtesy photo

+ Enlarge

Michelle Angela Solomon Szetela

February 23, 1976 ~ March 17, 2019

Michelle Angela Solomon Szetela of West Jordan died on March 17, 2019 at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital after a short illness. Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, she was the wife of Edward Szetela, and taught English and writing at Copper Hills High School and at Salt Lake Community College. She was a graduate of Stony Brook University, and held master’s degrees from Long Island University and Northern Arizona University. She helped found and was the director of the newly formed Copper Hills Writing Center. She was a published scholar in the field of teaching writing and writing research.

She grew up in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, and Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in the midst of her parents and brother, all four grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. Since two of her grandparents were from Ireland, she grew up knowing her aunts, uncles and cousins there, and remained close to them.

She and her husband Ed loved to travel together, and enjoyed trips to Estonia, Sweden and Finland; to Iceland, Rome, Ireland and Australia. They also enjoyed travel to Las Vegas, New York, Seattle and national parks in Utah.

Michelle was an enthusiastic writer, voracious reader, and blogged about travel and cooking. She loved music, archaeology and traveling with her husband. She loved words and humor, and always enjoyed discovering strange and interesting facts about the world and history. She had a strong spiritual bent, and a critical and enquiring mind that made discussions with her invigorating and enjoyable. Her independent spirit led her to search continuously for the answers behind the most difficult questions in life, and she was continuously seeking out the many ways other people see the world. She loved to laugh and teaching was a joy to her.

She is sadly missed by her beloved husband, Edward Szetela; her parents, Thomas and Angela Solomon of Santa Rosa, California; her brother Justin and sister-in-law Phatcharee Solomon, and nephew, Niall of Petaluma, California; her aunts and uncles, Anne and William Maginn of Clifton Park, New York, and cousin Ciara; Patrick and Meghan Keith-Hynes of San Diego, California, and cousins Bronwyn and Aidan.

A funeral Mass was celebrated March 21 at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church. Online condolences, photos and memories can be shared with the family at www.starksfuneral.com.

Special thanks to the Huntsman Cancer Hospital for their superb care for Michelle during her illness. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made in Michelle’s name to Cross Catholic Outreach, crosscatholic.org.