Lynn Eliason

Lynn R. Eliason passed away peacefully, Friday, August 26, 2011, at Logan Regional Hospital, from the effects of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and heart problems at age 74.
Lynn was born in Logan, Utah on October 21, 1936. He was the fourth of six sons born to Orville Lavor and Zelda Morgan Eliason. Growing up in Logan, he attended local schools and Utah State University. He completed his LDS missionary service in West Germany from 1956-59. Upon finishing his undergraduate degree in German and Russian at Utah State University, he completed his Ph.D. in German language and literature with a minor in Russian at the University of Colorado in Boulder. On June 6, 1963, he married Annette Backlund, his wife of 48 years, in the Idaho Falls Temple. Lynn received a commission in the U.S. Army through R.O.T.C. and completed a tour of duty with Military Intelligence as a captain at the Combined Intelligence Center in Saigon, Vietnam from 1966-67. He served two terms on the River Heights Town Council and had been a member of the Imperial Glee Club.
Lynn enjoyed a successful teaching career at Utah State University as professor of German and Russian. His students gained an added appreciation for the respective languages and cultures by studying their literatures and singing their folk songs. Together with his colleague, Kent Robson, he led 21 travel study programs to Russia and other former Soviet republics. During 1981, he studied at Moscow State University. He retired after 36 ½ years of service at USU. As a committed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he nourished strong feelings and gratitude for the Savior and His gospel of reconciliation.
For Lynn, Bach’s organ music in Germany’s grand cathedrals and the great symphonies of Brahms, Elgar, Rachmaninoff and others transcended the world we live in. Goethe’s Faust and lyric poetry were like scripture to him. He especially enjoyed those days with his sons--Stephen, Rich and Greg,--hiking the trails of the Cache and hunting in Montana. Annette and Chantel added the feminine touch and brought refinement in many ways.
Lynn leaves behind his wife Annette, his children Stephen (Linda); Chantel (Jeffrey); Richard; Gregory; grandchildren Sean, Michael, Tessa, Katie, Tara, Rachel and Ryan, brothers and their spouses LeGrande and Peggy; Alan and Barbara; Gordon and Karine; Dean and Montana; Sister-in-law, Mary (Darrell, deceased); and in Annette’s family her mother Ila Smith Backlund and brother Maurice (Carol). He was preceded in death by his parents, Orville Lavor and Zelda Morgan Eliason, brother, Darrell, Annette’s father, Arnold John Backlund, and nephew, Lance.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, September 2, 2011, at 11:00a.m. in the River Heights Utah Stake Center, 800 South 600 East, River Heights. A viewing will be held from 9:00a.m. to 10:45a.m. at the Stake Center. Interment will be in the Providence-River Heights Cemetery. Condolences may be shared with the family at www.allenmortuaries.net .