Jerry Lynn Davies

Jerry Lynn Davies, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend passed away Thursday, April 14, with his wife Linda at his side.

Jerry was born April 5, 1947 to Brigham Dewey and Doris Olson Davies in Salt Lake City, Utah, the youngest of nine brothers and sisters. Growing up in Lakepoint, Utah, Jerry’s early days were filled with adventures — climbing mountains, playing at the millpond, riding bicycles, exploring caves, and deer hunting with his older brothers.  Collecting bottles to redeem for enough money to buy a drink and French fries at Lakepoint’s Un-X-Celled Café was a favorite pastime for Jerry and his friends.

After graduating from Tooele High School in 1965, Jerry served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Central British Mission.  This experience was one of the high points of his life.  Serving under President George Cannon, he learned life-long lessons about the Gospel and made wonderful, life-long friends, both as companions and as well as those whom he and his companions taught.

Returning from his mission, Jerry attended the University of Utah and served in many student capacities, including as an officer with Delta Phi Kappa, the returned missionary fraternity, and as a cheerleader for the Utes.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Senior Financial Management.

While at the U, Jerry met his eternal companion, Linda McRea, and they were married in the Salt Lake LDS temple on June 1, 1972. Together they were an outstanding team.  The first four years of their marriage were spent at Deseret Mortuary, where they lived and worked with other college student couples for the mortuary in the evenings.  These were special times with good friends.  Ultimately, it allowed Jerry and Linda to save enough to buy their home in Bountiful. They loved their Bountiful neighborhood so well, they decided to make it their home for most of their married life. Their neighbors in the area have become cherished friends.

During this time, they became the parents of their son Joseph, who became a wonderful son, as well as an outstanding husband and father.  Joe married his special companion Michele, and they have given Jerry and Linda two very amazing grandchildren, Abigail and Jack (with another on the way).

When Jerry and Linda were first married, Jerry began several jobs: the first was selling clothes and shoes at a men’s clothing store, and the second was stocking weekend grocery shelves for Wonder Bread and Hostess Cake.  He loved these jobs because they required selling, and his personality suited selling.  Because he liked sales so much, he decided to make his career selling Hostess Twinkies, cupcakes and Wonder Bread.  Starting as a weekend delivery salesman, he worked his way to General Sales Manager for Utah and Idaho.  Jerry made good friends with those associates he worked with as well as the grocery managers throughout the area.  He knew where just about every large and small grocery store was located in the Intermountain West, and he knew many of the managers or owners personally.

After retiring, Jerry and his friends began a second exciting career recruiting people to work in the oil fields of Wyoming, Utah and North Dakota.  Jerry loved this job because he interacted with many people, helping create good jobs for them, especially when jobs were scarce at the time.

Jerry had the opportunity to further serve in the Church where he developed a strong testimony of Jesus Christ.  He served as an Elder’s Quorum President, High Counselor, a Counselor in the Orchard 14^th Ward Young Adults Bishopric and as Bishop of the Orchard 6^th Ward.  These callings allowed him to have extraordinary spiritual experiences, as well as developing a great love for each one of the people he served in these wards and in the Bountiful Utah Orchard Stake. He often said these experiences were some of the finest of his life.

Jerry and Linda eventually went on to serve as hosts at the LDS Conference Center for over 14 years.  The friendships made with this outstanding group of people were, again, very special. As hosts, they met thousands of people from throughout the country and all over the world and shared with them the hospitality of Salt Lake City as well as the Conference Center experience. One of the greatest perks of hosting at the Conference Center was the opportunity to watch and enjoy the The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square almost every Sunday morning.

Jerry had many outstanding qualities but mostly he loved people. He liked working hard on any projects he started. He was very generous and always strived to be fair and positive.   He had a zest for life and loved creating experiences people would enjoy and remember for a long time, such as going to a drive-in theatre and inviting several wards to come along, water fights to the delight of Primary children, fishing at a trout farm and allowing guests to catch as many fish as they wanted, and treating his Young Adult friends to floats made with Shasta lime soda and chocolate ice cream.

He loved U sports, McDonald’s Cokes with extra ice, the stock market, impromptu road trips, authentic English fish and chips, the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, checking oil fields in the Dakotas, enjoying dinner with good friends, handing out Twinkies and Ding Dongs to Halloween trick or treaters, and having FaceTime with his grandchildren three or four times a week.

Jerry is survived by his wife, Linda, and their son Joseph and his wife, Michele, and their two children and Jerry’s grandchildren, Abigail and Jack. He is also survived by his sister Janet Parker (Walt), brother-in-law Kenny Gollaher, and Linda’s brothers Steve (Susan) and daughter Emily, and Jim (Michele) and daughter Francesca.  He was preceded in death by his parents, as well as his brothers and their wives: Burton, Howard (Clarine), Farrell (Gloria), Gilbert (Jean), Keith (Pat), and sisters Thelma Gollaher, and Darlene Welcker (Max). He is also survived by several nephews, nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces and many close and special friends and neighbors.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at the Sterling Heights Ward, 165 West Monarch Drive, Bountiful, Utah, with a viewing that morning from 9:45 to 10:30 a.m. prior to services.  There will also be a viewing on Friday, April 22, 2022, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Russon Mortuary, 295 North Main, Bountiful.

Services may be streamed at the following link: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCFV6xRdfQA9_3FM5-TXT_Bg/videos

Donations in honor of Jerry will be gratefully received by the BMT Huntsman Cancer Institute, led by Dr. Doug Sborov, who, along with the rest of the Bone Marrow Transplant team, became cherished friends.  https://healthcare.utah.edu/huntsmancancerinstitute/foundation/