Uriarte died peacefully at her Salt Lake Valley home on March 9, 2025. She was 101. No cause of death was cited in her obituary.
Her lifelong friend and Park City local Mary Lou Toly said Uriarte will be greatly missed.
“Everything about her was fun,” Toly said. “She was just a good person, and she had a personality that she would always smile at people, and people would come up and talk to her. Strangers would come right up out of the clear blue and talk to her, she just attracted people.”
According to her obituary, Uriarte was born Aug. 2, 1923, at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City to parents J. E. (Pop Jenks) and Marjorie Wilkes Jenkins. She attended Park City High School, graduating in 1941 with honors for her proficiency in the snare drum.
In December of 1942, Uriarte married her first husband, Frank Louis Dorka. She traveled with him during his military career during World War II, contributing to the war effort by working on the B-25 bomber.
After the war, the couple ran two Park City shops started by Uriarte’s parents in the 1930s: the Pop Jenks’ Confectionary on Main Street, where Park City Jewelers is now, and Pop Jenks’ Lunch, a cafe that opened on what’s now Kearns Blvd.
Uriarte met Toly when she owned Pop Jenks’. Toly started working at the shop when she was 15 years old.
“Thelma was a very proud person. She always looked nice, always makeup, always her hair combed, and just always, always looked nice,” Toly said.
Toly said if it wasn’t for Uriarte and what she learned from working at Pop Jenks’, she never would have opened the Red Banjo — now Park City’s oldest restaurant.
Uriarte and Dorka were also part of a group that purchased the Egyptian Theater and ran it as a movie theater with live melodrama productions on the weekends. They adopted a son, whom they named Frank Carey Dorka in 1956, but later divorced.
In 1970, Uriarte married her second husband, Leon Uriarte. He was her former high school sweetheart and served as Park City’s mayor in the 70’s. Parkites may also know Thelma Uriarte from her time working for Park City’s branch of the First Security Bank.
After retiring, the Uriartes traveled between their homes in Mesa, Arizona and Salt Lake City. Leon Uriarte died in 2013.
Also an artist, Thelma Uriarte won many Utah State Fair ribbons for her knitting, rug-making and ceramic figurines, her obituary says.
Toly said during the last 10 years of Uriarte’s life, her family would ride a party bus to Wendover to celebrate her birthday. Toly also hosted a 100th birthday celebration at the Red Banjo for Uriarte in 2023. Around 200 family and friends attended.
“Oh, it was packed, absolutely packed,” Toly said.
Toly said the pair were planning on going shopping before Uriarte passed away.
“The last trip we had planned, well, it was a shopping trip at Macy's, and she wanted to buy a pretty new blouse for her 102 birthday. She had plans for something new,” Toly said.
Uriarte is survived by her son Frank Dorka, her stepdaughter Sherrie Prince, stepsons Michael and Howard Uriarte and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Toly said her family was with her during her last days.
“Her grandson, Jim [Uriarte], he was with her all along when she was suffering this last little while, he was with her,” she said. “The family was with her, and then especially her grandson, Jim.”
Toly said Uriarte was also close with her granddaughter Chelsea Dorka and her daughter.
A funeral service is planned for March 15 and Uriarte will be buried at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City.
Toly is hosting a luncheon at the Red Banjo Saturday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. to celebrate her friend.
