Jacquelyn Hobbs

Jacque Hobbs of Vernal passed away at her home after a battle with cancer on August 13, 2014.

Jacque is survived by her husband, Joe Hobbs of Vernal, her daughter Heather Canepa of Concord, CA, and sister Sandy Lennes of Hutchinson, MN. Preceded in death by her parents, Frederick and Ruth Korger.

Jacque has been a long-time resident of Vernal, since 1978. She has worked at the Vernal Express in advertising for the past ten years. Towards the end of her life, work was the thing that kept her going. She enjoyed working with her clients and coming up with creative ideas for getting their messages across.

Jacque was very active in the community and always had a can-do attitude. When she had a vision of what she wanted done, there wasn't much that could stand in her way from accomplishing it. She was passionate about horses and was a founding member of the Vernal Traildusters and the Rising Star Riders, along with her friend Janet Lesh. She was a board member for the Uintah County Fair and organized the first few horse shows at the fair. She was also a 4-H leader, during which time she organized a drill team for the 4-H kids and choreographed their routines. She brought in top name horse trainers to do clinics in Vernal to help people learn more about horsemanship. She practiced Parelli Natural Horsemanship with her mustang Sunnie, pictured in the photo.

She also loved dogs and cats. She taught dog obedience classes for a number of years and started an animal rescue organization to foster and adopt out homeless pets in the Uintah Basin. Her latest venture was starting Give a Dog a Choice, a pet food and accessories store in Vernal, with her friend Lucy Nemec. Their mission was to provide a source for high quality pet food in the Basin.

She also loved to garden. Even towards the end of her life, she directed friends and family to make sure the garden got planted and the flower pots had flowers. She always had a bumper crop of beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and corn.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, August 16, 2014 at 11AM at the Ashley Valley Funeral Home 410 North 800 West. Burial will be in the Rockpoint Cemetery under the direction of the Ashley Valley Funeral Home.