Don Lawrence White

Don Lawrence White, 85, of Bountiful, UT, passed away on Tuesday, July 19th, leaving many friends and family who will continue to miss him profoundly.  Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday July 27th, at the Bountiful Canyon Park Ward, 1190 E. Bountiful Hills Drive, at 11:00 am.   Friends and family may visit from 9:00 to 10:45. In anticipation of his obituary, Don wrote down information about his education and occupations, but very little about the amazing person he was.  Don was born in Salt Lake City on April 16, 1931 at LDS Hospital to Don Everett White and Anne Christiansen White.  He attended Riley Elementary, Riverside Junior High School, and South High School, where he graduated in 1948.  Don attended the University of Utah, where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1959.  Later Don returned to the University of Utah to earn his Master of Science in Engineering Administration.  
When Don was young, he had a paper route, but also sold the Salt Lake Tribune on a street corner.  He continued to work for the Tribune as a dealer sales manager, and after his military service, he returned to the Tribune to work driving a newspaper delivery truck.  As a result, the Deseret News never landed on his doorstep except maybe by accident.  Don was in the Naval Reserve during his teenage years, but wished to avoid being drafted into the Navy.  He found a way–by joining the Marines.  He served from 1951-1954 in the US Marine Corps, where he became a Staff Sargent, and through his experiences garnered many stories to tell his friends and family.  Often narrated, among many other stories, was how he earned his sharp shooter medal, an achievement of which he was quite proud.  It also meant a lot to him that his grandson Morgan Weight followed in his footsteps and is presently serving as a Marine.  Don spent time in North Carolina, San Diego, and Hawaii.  In Hawaii, when he and his bunkmates were given leave, the other young men would go to the bars, while Don would hitchhike into town or around the island to see the sites and to attend the LDS church services.  
Don married the beautiful and proverbial "girl next door" Margrit Leede, in the Salt Lake City Temple on May 19, 1955.  They lived in Granger for a few years, then moved to Bountiful.  Together they raised 5 children.  Randy (Verlee), Laurie Pryanovich (Rick), Caroline Weight (Paul), Brenden (Jana), and Charlotte "Shar" Brannam, who passed away last April.  Coping with her loss was very difficult for Don, and he missed her visits greatly.   He was definitely happiest when being visited by his children and grandchildren, and would talk about the little ones for days after each visit.  Don and Margrit presently have 20 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.
After attending the University of Utah, Don worked as an engineer at Sperry/Unisys.  Don took an early retirement in 1985, at the age of 55, at which point he decided to take up skiing for the first time in his life.  It wasn't long before Don had achieved the skill to become a ski instructor at Park City Ski Resort.  Don was a person who rarely sat down for any length of time-except sometimes to read non-fiction books or the Utah Historical Quarterly.  He kept busy working around his house and yard, started a small snow-plowing business, and together with Margrit built a beautiful cabin at Bear Lake, where they often took the grandchildren.  It took having a stroke to get Don to finally slow down. 
Up until Thanksgiving 2012, he was still playing tennis nearly every Friday, and skiing at every opportunity.  A Snow Basin ski pass (free to octogenarians) had already been acquired for the Winter season, but unfortunately had to remain unused.
Don loved the outdoors, and his family grew up hiking, backpacking, fishing, trilobite hunting, and camping.  There were trips to the Utah's west desert which often happened during allergy season, where his children rode motorcycles and hunted for topaz crystals.  Once the entire family attended a church service in the tiny town of Callao-possibly boosting that week's sacrament meeting attendance to well over 100%.  Cherished were the camping trips to southern Utah, where Windwhistle Campground was a favorite destination.  All the Utah national parks and monuments were explored, along with trips to Mesa Verde, Glacier National Park, and Yellowstone to name just a few.  Much time was also spent in the Uinta Mountains.  On at least 7 of the yearly treks up Timpanogos Mountain, Don took every child in the family who could walk, and hiked to the summit to get a badge at the little tin shack and slide down the "glacier".  On a memorable hike into the Grand Canyon, the family found that the tent had been forgotten, and a large thunderstorm was imminent.  Luckily, the couple who lived by and oversaw the power plant located there, 6 miles from the rim, invited the family to sleep on their covered front porch, and even provided cushions.  Perhaps the grandest adventure was an 10-day, nearly 100-mile backpacking trip through the Wind River Mountains with 4 of his children ages 6-14.  They only got lost once, and amazingly everyone survived.  Don continued adventuring with the grandchildren who have memories of him building up their enthusiasm with promises of hot chocolate when skiing, or in the case of 2 of his granddaughters-the promise of multi-colored horses to see at the destination of a hike.  The girls were a tad disappointed, but laughed when the multiple colors were not from the rainbow, but rather were brown, black, tan and white.
Don's church callings included being a Sunday School teacher, Stake Athletic Director, Home Teacher, Coach, and probably the one he talked about the most–Cub Scout Master.  It was well known that Don could fix almost anything, and he was always willing to help friends, neighbors, or strangers.  He was the first to volunteer for service projects and would even seek out opportunities to do things for others.  He was a favorite of the "Canyon Crest Kids" as he sometimes gave rides around the block on his Honda, and he participated in the Big Brothers program.  Don encouraged young people with whom he worked, his own children, and his grandchildren to stay physically active and work hard to achieve at academic endeavors.  A favorite pastime was watching the Utah Jazz, and closely following the basketball and football achievements of the University of Utah Utes.
Don leaves behind his wife and sweetheart Margrit, his children listed above, his sister Katherine (Glen) Lee, and his brothers John (Lorraine), and Michael (Deanne).  He was preceded in death by his daughter Charlotte, his sister Barbara Whitecar, and his brothers Richard, Fred, Robert, and Jeffrey.  The family would like to thank many of the caretakers at Heritage Place, and the LDS Heritage Branch for their caring and hard work, and also thank the many friends, relatives and neighbors who visited Don, supported Margrit, or otherwise demonstrated their love and concern.