Bruce Davis Despain

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Bruce Davis Despain, died on July 1, 2024 of natural causes. He was born Mar. 4, 1943, in Park City, UT, to Noal Davis & Phyllis (Adamson) Despain. He is survived by all seven siblings; Sandra (David) Loertscher of Salt Lake City, UT; Noal Douglas Despain of San Diego, CA; Burke Adamson (Gail) Despain of Livionia, MI; Keith Leo (Darlene) Despain of Syracuse, UT; Ardith (John) Knutson of Shoreview, MN; Lee Dennis (Rosalee) Despain of Salt Lake City, UT; Wayne Kent (Cheryl) Despain of Holladay, UT. He married Sep. 2, 1966, in Salt Lake City to Mary Catherine Gunter. He is survived by four of seven children; James Andrew (Vicky) Despain of Charlotte, NC; Joanna (Kyle) Fisher of Salt Lake City, UT; Jeanette Ashley of Queens, NY; Andrea (Brian) Hendricks of Peyton, CO; three children having already deceased: Angela (1968), Geoffrey Allen (1994), Jonathan David (2017). He is also survived by 19 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Bruce attended Marsac Elementary School in Park City, until his parents moved their family to Sugarhouse in Salt Lake City in 1950 when he went to Lincoln Elementary. After a move to the Avenues, a small house on N Street, he attended school at Wasatch Elementary, Bryant Junior High and East High schools during which time in 1957 the family acquired much larger accommodations near C Street. During his junior year, some of his activities were curtailed after a hiatus of a few months by a bout with rheumatic fever that left him with a heart condition, which eventually led to several corrective surgeries. He was still able to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Hanover and Hamburg regions of Germany from 1963-1965. While supporting his family through professional genealogical research, he took out a bachelor’s degree in German with a minor in Mathematics at the University of Utah in 1968. His disposition shortly curtailed his intent to teach school, so he returned to research, all in the midst of completing a master’s degree in Linguistics in 1974.

While pursuing his education, he settled his family in various apartments and then in a house on 4th Avenue. He became research director for the Institute of Family Research during which time in 1975 he and Mary purchased a home on R Street. They lived there until Bruce, while working in computer programming, disrupted his family’s lives by removing them for a short time to San Jose, CA. Things had changed upon his return to R Street and to genealogy, which turned into an opportunity to work for his church in their Family History Department. The reader may find evidence for his relentless love for and pursuit of excellence by inspecting his website (https://bdespain.org), and his family tree (https://ancestry.com) BDD-MCD.

In the midst of a regular work schedule, Bruce found time to develop his baritone voice, pursuing activities with Pro-Musica of Utah and the Utah Opera Chorus. Bruce and Mary moved to Wellsville, UT in 2002 where they restored an old home and grounds on Main Street, making them their own. He made several friends and studied during his commute, which lasted until 2010, when he retired. On Independence Day the couple would host several family reunions. They loved and cherished a gift from the children in 2007 – a trip to London. His family rallied around him when he had heart surgery in 1972, nearly died of pneumonia in 2012 and heart valves replaced in 2014. His later years were strongly devoted to writing essays, treatises, research reports, and books, nurturing and preserving for others what he might of his analytic skills, understanding, and an ever-increasing appreciation and love for his God and family.

A viewing will be held at the Wellsville 4th Ward building, 49 W. 200 S., Wellsville, UT, on Wednesday, July 3rd from 9 to 10 a.m. Funeral services will follow at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be in the Memorial Lakeview Cemetery, 1640 Lakeview Dr., Bountiful, UT at 3 p.m. Funeral service will be livestreamed and can be viewed via the link below:

https://zoom.us/j/91064438079