Philip Clive Despain

On August 31, 2022, Heaven gained another angel. Philip Clive Despain was born May 27, 1937, in Centerfield, Sanpete County, Utah, to Clive Russell and Wilma Morley Despain. He was raised in Centerfield and graduated from Gunnison High School. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Eastern States where he spent most of his time in Virginia and West Virginia.

Philip attended BYU and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. After graduation he worked for Haskins and Sells in California. He later returned to Utah where he accepted a position in the accounting and tax department of Kennecott Copper (Rio Tinto). He also graduated from the University of Utah with an MBA degree and became a CPA. After 38 years he retired from Kennecott. At the time of his retirement he was the Tax Manager for Utah for the mining side of the company. He was involved in many community projects: President of the Utah Tax Payers Association, President of Junior Achievement and many other civic groups.

Philip married Donna George, later divorced. He married Bonnie Fern Packer on June 3, 1977, and they just recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of 6 children, have 21 grandchildren and 16 greatgrandchildren with another one of the way.

Philip was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He held many positions within the church but the one he enjoyed the most was the ward clerk for three different Bishops. He was a temple ordinance worker in the Bountiful Temple for 13 years. He and Bonnie also served as hosts at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City for 2 years. They were in the first group of hosts for the Center.

Philip loved to camp and fish. He loved taking his children and grandchildren to various lakes and play all day with his boat and wave runner. He tried so hard to flip the kids off the tube. He loved to travel and was able to visit many other countries in the world with Bonnie and the many friends that they traveled with. His favorite trip was to China. Philip loved to golf and golfed weekly with his golfing buddies. He will be playing golf in Heaven.

He was a kind, soft-spoken man. He loved to give gifts to people and did so on many occasions. He loved his family most of all and would do anything to help them and see that they were happy.

In his later years he suffered from Frontal Temporal Dementia which was a very frustrating thing for him. He spent his last almost 4 years of his life at Barrington Place in Clinton, Utah. Thank you to all the aids, nurses and administration for their kind actions toward Philip. It was truly a good experience for him to be there and for their kindness to all the family.

Philip is survived by his wife Bonnie, his children Aleta Moffitt (Mike), Debbi Murphy (Tom), Cyrrena Welch (Terry), Greg Despain (Sacha), Franki Galbraith and Jaimee Blood (Blaine), his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, his brother Eric Despain (Barbara), sister Kathy Callis (John), sister-in-law Dona Despain, many nieces and nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother David Despain and a niece Abby Packer.

A viewing will be held from 9:00 to 10:30 on September 10, 2022 at the Beehive LDS Building at 1395 South 200 East, Farmington, Utah. Funeral services will follow at 11:00 AM. Interment will be in the Farmington Cemetery.

The family wishes to thank all the people who have shown love and concern during this time of Philip’s passing into his next realm of life.

Services will be streamed live on the Russon Mortuary & Crematory Facebook page and on this obituary page.  The live stream will begin about 10-15 minutes prior to the service and will be posted below.