Machell Davenport Bartlett

Machell Davenport Bartlett, 63, passed away at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tucson on October 31, 2025 from complications related to cancer after a very short battle with cancer that wasn’t diagnosed until September 29, 2025. Machell Davenport Bartlett was born June 23 1963 in Richfield Utah, to her father Remington Lufkin Davenport and her mother Vivian Elida Snow. She was the youngest child both to Remington and Vivian, the sixth child born (two older brothers have passed away as of this writing). The family moved to southern California (Harbor City) when she was four years old.

Machell attended President Ave. Elementary school in Harbor City the first year it opened and was there throughout elementary school. Machell subsequently attended Fleming Jr. High School in Lomita, and Narbonne High School in Harbor City.

Machell always loved music and took piano lessons from a young age. She was a very talented pianist and played as a Primary pianist in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church) for many years as well as a choir pianist more recently. An impressive fact about Machell is that when she was asked to substitute on the organ in sacrament meeting, she took a few lessons and then was able to play in sacrament meeting. Machell was always active in the LDS church, from primary through young women and into adulthood. She attended LDS Church sponsored young women girl camps and activities growing up.

Machell attended Ricks College (now Brigham Young University Idaho) in Idaho for a short time. Machell had no plans to serve a mission but felt prompted to serve a mission for the LDS Church in 1983. She was called and served in the Missouri St. Louis Mission mostly in the state of Illinois, which was the same mission as her husband Roger Bartlett. She loved her mission and the people she got to know there. Machell eventually got her Associates Degree from El Camino College in Torrance, California.

After her mission, Machell took a job at Taylor Brothers Stair building company in southern Cal. She was very proud to work for this small company. She also attended the LDS Palos Verdes Singles ward where she had callings including as a clerk, a position normally reserved for men.

She generally did not attend mission reunions after her mission because she was in California and the reunions were always in Utah where the mission president (Dr. Charles D. Tate, Jr.) was a professor at BYU. In 1989 however, some friends from the mission invited her to come and gave her a place to stay. It was there she met Roger Bartlett who served in the same mission at the same time and they exchanged information. Roger was dating someone else and didn’t call until he came home to southern California (his family lived in West Hills, CA) for Christmas break. They began to date. Roger finished his last semester at BYU, and moved back to southern California to be near Machell. They were engaged the summer of 1990 and married January 12, 1991 in the Los Angeles temple.

Machell and Roger lived in Torrance for a short time while Roger worked for Hughes in Fullerton and Machell continued to work at Taylor Brothers. They moved to Indiana for Roger’s grad school in August of 1991. After about 16 months at Purdue, Roger graduated with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in December 1992 and they moved to Brea, CA.

They eventually moved to Tucson, AZ where Roger continued to work for Hughes Aircraft, which changed names to Raytheon eventually.

In Tucson, Machell worked various jobs including as medical transcriptionist. She really wanted children. But she had infertility challenges. After years of trying to have children, through invitro fertilization, Machell gave birth a daughter Natalie in 2002 and then 4 years later to Nathan also via invitro fertilization.

Machell was a wonderful mother. Natalie has developmental disabilities (autism) and Machell has been a full-time mom since she was born.

Machell loved to travel to Disneyland and other destinations, as well as camp and visit family in Utah and California. Over the years the family has gone on many trips, typically four to five times a year to many destinations including national parks, amusement parks, Washington DC, etc. Machell convinced her husband Roger to buy a tent trailer in 2014 which they used on many camping trips.

One thing that everyone loved about Machell is that she would say hi to just about anyone she met especially in lines at the grocery store or other places. Everyone felt loved by Machell who knew Machell. She had a charming, disarming sweetness about her that everyone loved. Her genuine interest in other people’s lives and their families was special.

Starting in 2011, Machell struggled with rheumatoid arthritis and was not in perfect health thereafter but still managed to stay active, traveling with the family and doing moderate exercise until July of 2025

Once diagnosed, Machell fought the cancer to the best of her ability and her and her husband were very aggressive in getting treatment. However, she was not able to win this battle. She is survived by her husband, Roger Fuller Bartlett, her son Nathan Davenport Bartlett, and her daughter Natalie LeAnn Bartlett. Machell is also survived by her sister Merryn Martin, her brother-in-law Wayne, her brother Brent Davenport, her sister-in-law Janice Davenport, and her brother Marc Davenport, as well as many nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her brother Vernon, her brother Clark and her sister-in- law Cheri Davenport.

Celebration of Life ceremonies are planned in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday November 8 th at the LDS Church on 700 N Bonanza Ave., Tucson, AZ beginning at 11 AM MST with viewing at 10 AM. Services are also planned in St. George, UT on Saturday November 15 th at the Hughes Mortuary at 1037 E. 700 S., St. George, UT beginning at 11 AM MST with viewing at 9:30 AM.