Kingston wife: She is allowed to visit her father in the hospital; the ban was imposed in October
A 3rd District judge lifted a no-contact ban Friday so Heidi Mattingly Foster, currently fighting to regain custody of her children with polygamist John Daniel Kingston, could visit her seriously ill father at a Salt Lake hospital.
Ronald Mattingly, 62, has congestive heart failure and has been in the hospital since Jan. 30. He was scheduled to undergo surgery Friday to receive a mechanical heart pump. An emergency call required his doctor to reschedule the procedure for Tuesday.
Mattingly Foster is supposed to appear in court that day as Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Valdez addresses permanent custody of her daughter, 16.
Mattingly Foster, 33, has been barred from seeing her parents since Oct. 22, when Valdez ordered that she have no contact with any members of the Davis County Cooperative Society. The collective order was founded by Kingston’s forebears in 1935.
Ronald Mattingly apparently asked a group member to see if he could visit with his daughter before going into surgery. That person contacted Russ Pietryga, Mattingly Foster’s attorney, Friday and told him about her father’s condition.
The attorney called Mattingly Foster and then faxed a request to Valdez asking that she be allowed to see her father. Valdez granted the request a few hours later.