Kimberli Kaye Hildebrandt Wild
Kimberli Kaye Hildebrant Wild was born on October 31, 1973 in Albany, Oregon to Kenneth and Marsha Lyman Hildebrandt. She was born into a family of 5 children, enjoying her role as the middle child. She always mentioned how grateful she was for her placement within her family as it gave her an opportunity to be close to both her older and younger siblings. One of the greatest blessings in her adult life was having her entire family relocate from Oregon and spend the past 30 years all together in Utah. She is survived by her siblings Tiffany Bevell (Trace), Mark Hildebrandt (Stephanie), Sandy Hildebrandt (Jennifer) and Brittani Wilde (Kevin), as well as her parents Ken and Marsha Hildebrandt, her spouse Karl Wild and their children Kolton Tanner and Delaynie Taite Wild.
Kimberli had a very energetic and driven nature, often having a very hard time being still or easily contentable. It was important to her to always be pushing forward and learning something new. Her high school years were filled with lots of sports from basketball to volleyball to softball…anything that allowed her to go and compete and be active. She loved to be involved in almost anything, including lots of student government, choir, piano, and even some musicals. Kimberli was very outgoing and loved to be anywhere her friends were. After she graduated high school, she attended BYU and described this period of her life as such a wonderful time. She would often say that the setting of BYU, with all of the surrounding mountains and canyons was a perfect one for her. She loved doing anything outdoors. Being active and spending time in nature were her passions. A perfect day for her would be a long run up the Alpine Loop in the middle of all the fall colors, followed by a nice campfire and night spent in the mountains. Going to BYU football games with friends, late night capture the flag sessions or playing flag football under the lights were some of her favorite things to do. She also enjoyed the education she received at BYU and recognized the blessing it was to attend a religious institution where she could further develop her learning in both areas of life. She graduated with a degree in Psychology. Her plan had been to go forward and get a masters in Criminology, but life had other plans. However, she did work in the criminal justice field for several years. Initially she became certified as a correctional officer and spent some time working at the Utah State Prison. There she worked as both an officer and later a case manager. She had some entertaining stories to tell from her time working there and would often joke about how she was pretty sure most inmates were having a hard time taking her seriously at only 22 years old, but if you know Kimberli well, she can give you a pretty stern stink eye and put you in your place. After the prison, she spent some time working with juveniles before becoming a probation officer for Salt Lake City. There she not only supervised those on probation, but made recommendations to the court for appropriate sentencing.
As Kimberli would often say though, the best part of her life started in 1996 when she met and married Karl Wild. They met down in Provo just as Kimberli was graduating and Karl was in the middle of getting his MBA from the University of Utah. They were married December 20, 1996 in the Salt Lake City Temple for time and all eternity. Kimberli would often joke that she had no idea what kind of voodoo Karl used to convince her to get married…since commitment hadn’t really been her style to that point…but somehow he did and she calls it the best choice she ever made. She would joke he was the “Kimi Whisperer,” the one who was somehow able to get through to her in a way others could not. He was the perfect partner for her, calm and patient, while she was restless and always pushing for more. Kimberli especially appreciated the way Karl met each new challenge that came into their lives with such kindness and gentleness, always showing great love to her even as her health diminished and it changed the course of the life they had planned together. The vision of a life filled with activity and adventure was quickly replaced by a starkly different reality. Within the first year of their marriage, Kimberli’s health started to decline and they had to chart a different course than they had planned. Because so much physical ability was lost so quickly, it required us to look inward and love and serve each other in a deeper and more meaningful way. Through it all, they truly were best friends and wanted to spend as much time together as possible. In spite of their new reality, they still shared the same vision for their family and for eternity. Time and struggle united them even more fully in their determination to build a posterity who would stand together through eternity. As their world became smaller in terms of what they could physically do together, their clarity of purpose and devotion to each other grew much stronger. Kimberli would always tell people she knew “she got one of the truly good ones” when she married Karl. That conviction only grew stronger in their 25 years together.
Karl and Kimberli started their lives together up in Sugar House in a little apartment, but then eventually were able to purchase a fixer upper in Sugar House as well, which they spent years working on remodeling for the start of their little family. On May 21, 2000, their first child was born, Kolton Tanner Wild and they brought him to his newly remodeled nursery they had built together. Having a child meant everything to Kimberli. As much as she loved her career and had many aspirations for going forward, she knew her time was better spent at home with her boy. Right after marriage, Kimberli’s health had started to decline, but following the birth of Kolton, things declined much more rapidly. She developed a number of autoimmune conditions that through the years amplified dramatically and eventually had caused harm to virtually all organs within her body. Bit by bit, her body just started shutting down. Still, her love and desire to be a wife and mother did not change. While becoming a wife and mother had always been her highest priority, it took on a heightened level of meaning as her health deteriorated. The limited amount of time and energy she had through the years was always put towards her family and her faith. Kolton brought such joy to Kimberli and to their home. He was such a happy and fun child, who has continued to bring laughter into their home all these years. Kolton and his Mom have an especially close relationship, talking for hours most every day. He’s been a great confidante to his Mom and they share a bond that is very special. After many years of wanting and trying for more children, we were blessed with Delaynie Taite Wild on December 12, 2005. Kimberli would always call Delaynie her “angel baby”, not only because she was a miracle but because of her literal angelic presence in their home. Delaynie has spent every spare minute, especially over the past couple of years, sitting in bed with her Mom as Kimberli was able to do less and less, and that provided so much comfort to Kimberli. She’s always called Delaynie the “sunshine” in their home. Her children are her dearest treasure. She would always tell them that in spite of the fact that she had wanted more children, she felt she got every single thing she could have ever wanted within her Kolton and her Delaynie….her personal comfort and joy.
Although the past 25 years were very hard on Kimberli physically and mentally, she would want people to know how blessed and fortunate she knows her life was. She was especially aware of and grateful for the blessing of love in her life. Kimberli would often say, “How lucky am I that I was able to go through this whole life with more love than I knew what to do with.” She was aware that others often are not given that blessing and felt very grateful to her Heavenly Father for putting great family and friends in her life to help her through her journey. To summarize Kimberli’s life and what she truly lived for and cared about would be very simple to encapsulate. Above all, she had a deep love for her Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. She felt grateful for the very personal relationship she had forged with them and understood that depth was only possible because of the years of suffering she’d experienced and she would say to us how grateful she was that Heavenly Father loved her enough to give her these types of challenges, trusting that it would be the way to draw her back to Him and fully convert her heart and soul. Kimberli deeply wanted others to come to Christ and find the peace that He has been able to grant her through some of the hardest moments of her life. She knows of His goodness and wants that for all of her dear friends and family. One of her favorite quotes was, “We’re all just walking each other home” and I know she really had that desire and vision of us taking turns reaching out our hands to each other and leading each other back to our Heavenly home. Additionally, Kimberli loved her family and friends fiercely. If you hurt, she hurts. She truly cared deeply for those around her and has always had the counsel to “bear one another’s burdens and mourn with those that mourn”, emblazoned on her heart. To her, this was one of the most beautiful elements of Jesus Christ’s Gospel, that we truly are here to serve and lift and help each other, as we work to “help walk each other back home.” Kimberli wanted all of her family and friends to know how deeply grateful she was for the countless acts of love and service given to her and her family. It was deeply humbling and so appreciated by her.
Kimberli Kaye Hildebrandt Wild finished her journey here on earth on March 25, 2022 and returned home to her Heavenly parents. She had no fear of death, and although she hated the idea of separating from her family for a time, had full faith in the beautiful reunions that await and that will be eternal. As she would say to her family, “I think we have to go home at different times to reconnect us to heaven and to remind us of our purpose here on earth.” Kimberli knew her purpose and did her best to fulfill it. Now we as a family will do our best to carry on and finish our journey on earth until we are able to be reunited with our wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. Kimberli is preceded in death by her paternal grandparents, Werner and Thelma Hildebrandt, maternal grandparents, Mark and Ida Lyman, her mother-in-law Diana Wild, as well as her Aunt Gayle Sewell, her aunt Barb Hildebrandt, and Uncle Gene Thompson.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 11:00 am at the Alpine 12th Ward Chapel, 910 South High Bench Road, Alpine, Utah. A viewing will be held from 9:30 to 10:30 am prior to services at the church. Interment will be at the Alpine City Cemetery.