Robert Gene Holt

Robert Gene Holt, 76, of Centerville, Utah, passed away Aug. 14, 2019, following surgery to repair his worn out heart.

Bob was the son of Jesse Clifford and Edwardeen Rowley Holt, born in Salt Lake City on April 28, 1943. He was studious, generally quiet and a deep thinker who offered rare but often humorous, spot-on observations.

As a boy, he followed his older brother Richard down the road to the school even though he was not yet old enough to attend. In his youth, they lived wherever his parents’ teaching careers took them, Alpine, Fillmore, Park City and Tropic Utah, Reno, Nev., and finally Brigham City, Utah, where he attended Box Elder High School. His years as a Box Elder “Bee” were busy ones. While there, he met the love of his life, Carol Timothy, a Bear River “Bear,” and he played on the state championship high school football team. Bob and Carol graduated from high school together in 1961, and were married in the Logan LDS Temple on April 20, 1962.

Bob decided to pursue a career in science with an eye toward becoming a veterinarian when he started college at Utah State University, studying biology and chemistry. A football scholarship came calling and he jumped to the University of Utah, where he played corner back and studied microbiology. He delighted in having his daughter Kristy and son Brian pronounce the complicated scientific terms such as Escherichia coli and Scarabaeus. Ever the football fan, Bob taught his children that “defense wins games” and an abiding love for the Utes that continues to this day.

The family moved east to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign so Bob could start research for his Master’s thesis and then returned to Utah where he worked for Utah Fish and Game and Utah Wildlife Resources. He completed his Master’s degree from the University of Utah in 1975. He enjoyed working in the red rocks of Southern Utah and the rivers and green valleys of Northern Utah. He was part of the team that helped maintain the ecosystem when the Flaming Gorge Dam was built. His love of nature and problem solving led him to a career in cleaning up environmental hazards for the Department of Defense in Ogden and at the Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. As a civilian environmental scientist, he was often called to the Pentagon to work with military officials to safely dispose of nerve gas and plutonium. He concluded his career at the Hanford Site in the state of Washington where the atomic bomb that ended World War II had been developed years earlier. He retired in 1999.

Bob was also a student of the gospel and was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a high councilman and executive secretary in the Washington Kennewick Stake. He especially enjoyed working alongside Carol in the faith’s Seattle Temple for 12 years, and helping to open the Columbia River Temple in 2001.

He and a Carol returned to Utah to be close to family in 2008. He is survived by his wife, Carol, Centerville; daughter Kristy (Steve) Pyne, Woods Cross; son Brian (Natalie) Holt, Vancouver, Wash.; 5 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren and one on the way. Also Catherine (Loren) Marler, Ogden; Rebecca (Gary) Rose, Idaho; Loretta (Alan) Chadwick, Connecticut; Richard Culbertson, Eagle Mountain; Chrystelle (Randy) Higgs, Calif.; Elizabeth (Lloyd) Kluesner, Calif. His brother Richard preceded him in death.

Friends and family may call Sunday, Aug. 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Russon Mortuary, 295 N. Main St. in Bountiful and again Monday, Aug. 19, between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. at the Deuel Creek Ward, 690 N. 400 West in Centerville. Services will begin at 11 a.m. Burial will be at the Garland, Utah Cemetery.