Colleen Esther Costello

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Colleen Esther Costello

On July 3, 2024 Colleen Costello passed away at the age of 79. She was a lifetime resident of Midvale, spending all except her first eight years at the same address.

Colleen graduated from Judge Memorial Catholic High School in 1963. After attending beauty school, she continued unceasingly as a hairdresser; performing a cut, curl and dye just minutes before she stepped into heaven – following the script she always claimed would describe her last day.

Not only did she live and work in Midvale, she also worked to make it better. Colleen spent four terms on the city council and served on the city planning and zoning commission.

Though she never married and was an only child, she created a sense of family that spanned the globe. Visiting relatives in Sweden and Slovenia, creating friendships in Ireland and Italy, making family out of people whose only relationship to her was one of love and remembrance.

She was an active member of St. Therese of the Child Jesus Catholic Church in Midvale. There her lifelong faith and heartfelt contributions made her Catholic Woman of the Year in 2015. True to that title, she adopted priests as though they were her children, often visiting their faraway families with the reassurance that they were being well cared for.

But it wasn’t only priests she was eager to adopt. She made the injured, disabled and elderly at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City a special mission. For decades she volunteered there, caring for hundreds of veterans. Yet, for more than any other gift, she will be remembered for her joy. She would repeatedly discount an almost holy act of generosity with the comic remark, “Boy, do I enjoy chasing Italians!” Many would have wearied of that phrase if it wasn’t camouflage for a thousand acts of grace. Now there is no one left in Midvale to “chase” those Italians.

Colleen was preceded in death by her father Frank Costello and her mother Esther Holmgren. She is survived by her cousin Don Zakraisek, of Holladay.

The vigil with rosary will be Sunday, July 21 at 6 p.m. at Goff Mortuary, 8090 S. State St., Midvale. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on July 22, 2024 at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Catholic Church, 624 W. Lennox St., Midvale.