Audrey E. Bush BS’41 MFA’59, longtime principal bassist with the Utah Symphony, died July 31 in St. George. She was 92.
Bush was born September 17, 1919, in Ogden, Utah, to Samuel Edward Bush and Edith Elizabeth Wanless Bush. Audrey began playing the piano and trombone as a child, and when she was 11, switched to playing the bass. She attended the University of Utah, and received a bachelor’s degree in music. At about the same time, the Utah Symphony was organized under Hans Henriot, and Bush began performing with them. When a guest conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, came to Salt Lake to conduct the orchestra, he offered Bush a contract to play with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She was there for three years, and became principal bassist during her third season. Bush left Seattle for New York, where she studied for 18 months with Anselme Fortier, the principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic. During the next eight years, she returned to New York annually during the summer months to study with him. In 1948, Maurice Abravanel, who had become the conductor of the Utah Symphony in 1947, brought Bush back to that orchestra as principal bassist, a position she held for 35 years. During her career, she also performed with other orchestras across the country and under the batons of renowned conductors such as Pierre Monteux, Arthur Fiedler, and Aaron Copland.
Bush was an adjunct professor of music at the University of Utah from 1948 to 1984 and taught private lessons to hundreds of young students from Salt Lake to Ogden. She wrote several books for the bass to help students perfect their technique and music theory. “My big love is working with and teaching children,” she said in a 1992 newspaper interview. “It’s a feeling like no other. When you put a violin, or any instrument, in children’s hands and they begin, it is a privilege and joy to watch their love of music unfold.” After retiring from the Utah Symphony, she moved to St. George, where she helped found the Washington County String Orchestra and the Color Country Youth Symphony. The St. George mayor in 1984 declared “Audrey Bush” week in honor of her accomplishments in music. In 1998, when the Las Vegas Philharmonic was formed, she became its principal bassist. She also taught bass students at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, the Nevada School of the Arts, and the Las Vegas Academy. In 1999, she was named Educator of the Year by the American String Teachers Association. She retired in 2002 and returned to St. George.
Bush is survived by her daughter, Denise Jones of St. George, and sons Eric Bush and Lance Bush, both of Anchorage, Alaska, as well as 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held August 6 in St. George, and interment was August 7 at the Salt Lake City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the “Foundation to Assist Young Musicians” (FAYM) to create a scholarship in Audrey’s name. Contributions may be sent to FAYM; 9513 Coral Way; Las Vegas, NV 89117.
Stephen Richards Covey BS’53, author of the 1989 book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, died July 16 at a hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho, following injuries sustained in a bicycle accident in April. He was 79.
Covey was born on October 24, 1932, in Salt Lake City to Stephen Glenn and Irene Louise Richards Covey. He attended East High School and graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in business. Following his graduation, Covey served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Great Britain. Upon his return, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and began his teaching career at Brigham Young University, where he later earned a doctoral degree. On August 14, 1956, he married Sandra Merrill, whom he had met while he was a missionary and she was traveling abroad as the youngest member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They eventually had nine children. In 1983, he left his teaching position at BYU after 25 years to start the Covey Leadership Center, which later became FranklinCovey. With the goal of taking what he called “principle-centered leadership to the world,” Covey’s business became a global organization with operations in more than 125 countries. Covey delivered thousands of speeches and sold millions of copies of books he wrote about his business philosophy and keys to success in life. More than 20 million copies of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People were reportedly sold, in 38 languages. Covey was named by Time magazine in 1996 as one of the top 25 most influential Americans, and in 2011, he was ranked 47th in the Thinkers50 list of the world’s top 50 business thinkers.
He most enjoyed spending time with his family, including on trips, for birthdays, at sporting events or skiing, and in Montana, where he taught his children to water ski, drive boats, ride bikes, fish, and shoot a bow and arrow and BB guns. Covey served in various capacities of the LDS Church, including as a bishop, regional representative, temple worker, and an advisor to the LDS Church Missionary Committee. At age 29, he served as the first mission president to Ireland.
Covey is survived by his wife of nearly 56 years; his nine children and their spouses: Cynthia (Kameron) Haller, Maria (David) Cole, Stephen M.R. (Jerolyn) Covey, Sean (Rebecca) Covey, David (Pamelyn) Covey, Catherine (Paul) Sagers, Colleen (Matthew) Brown, Jenny (Jason) Pitt, Joshua (Jenny) Covey; his siblings: Irene (Cal) Gaddis, Helen Jean Williams, and his brother John (Jane) Covey. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Marilyn. A funeral was held July 21 at the UCCU Events Center at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Condolences may be expressed online at www.bergmortuary.com, and donations may be made at any Zions Bank location to the I Am A Leader Foundation, a charity supported by Covey and dedicated to developing character and leadership skills in children and youths in public schools.
Milt Hollstein BA’48, University of Utah professor emeritus of communication and lifelong journalist, died September 24 after battling kidney failure. He was 86.
Hollstein was born September 6, 1926, in Salt Lake City, to German immigrants Erick O.H. and Elizabeth Kalt Hollstein. He began his professional journalism career as a copy boy for the old Salt Lake Telegram in the summer of 1942. Later that year, he became a regular reporter and writer for The Salt Lake Tribune as well as Tribune school correspondent and editor of the South High School student newspaper, The South Scribe. After a two-year stint in the Navy during World War II, he received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah, where he was an editor of the student Utah Chronicle. He went on to receive his master’s degree at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1949 and his doctorate in mass communication at the University of Iowa in 1955. He taught journalism as a graduate student at Iowa from 1952 to 1954. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Utah for more than 40 years after teaching at Humboldt State University in California. He served as chairman of the University of Utah Department of Journalism before it merged into the larger communication department, and he became an expert in international communication and comparative journalism, studying mass media in more than 50 countries.
A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hollstein married Shirley Francis Waller on September 1, 1948, and was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. In his later years, he became an avid artist who filled his home with original oil paintings of family members, scenes from his many travels, and creative and modern artistic approaches. He was also an enthusiastic sports fan, especially enjoying University of Utah football and basketball, and the Utah Jazz.
Hollstein is survived by his wife, Shirley; a daughter, Helynne (Lynne) Hansen (Lawrence), a professor of French at Western State Colorado University, Gunnison, Colo.; a son, Mark Hollstein (Yoshiko), a professor of Asian Studies at Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka, Japan; three grandchildren, Lt. Joseph Hansen, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas; Mary Hansen Booth, Salt Lake City; and Kristof Hollstein, Osaka, Japan; four great-grandchildren, Dorothy Hansen, Elliot Hansen, Jordan Booth, and Ruby Hansen; and a brother, Raymond, of Salt Lake City. Another son, John, died in 1977. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions in his memory be made to the Milton Hollstein Endowed Scholarship Fund, University of Utah, Department of Communication, 255 Central Campus Drive Rm. 2512, Salt Lake City, UT 84112.
Lorenzo “Ren” Neville Hoopes ex’37, a longtime member of the University of Utah’s National Advisory Council and strong supporter of the U, died September 21. He was 98.
Hoopes was born in Brigham City, Utah, on November 5, 1913, to Jesse Warner and Matilda (May) Eastman Hoopes. He married Stella Bobbie Sorensen on April 9, 1938, in Salt Lake City, and they were sealed in the Mesa Temple on March 30, 1945. He attended Weber College and the University of Utah before graduating from Harvard University’s AMP Program. He went on to receive an MBA from Pepperdine University. He also received honorary degrees from the University of Utah, Oklahoma Christian College, and Utah State University.
He began his career with Safeway in 1941 and was appointed executive assistant to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson in 1953. Hoopes returned to Safeway in 1955 and became manager of the dairy and egg division. He was elected vice president and manager of supply operations in 1963, and he became senior vice president and director of Safeway in 1972. He retired in 1979. Hoopes served on many boards of directors, including The Paramount Theatre; San Francisco Bay Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America; Oakland School Board; Foundation for American Agriculture; Farm Foundation; California Coordinating Council for Higher Education; National Dairy Council; Belkorp Industries Inc. in Vancouver, British Columbia; and advisory councils at Brigham Young University, the U, Weber State University, and Utah State University. He was a member of Rotary since 1941. An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as a bishop, stake president, England Bristol mission president, and Oakland Temple president.
Hoopes was preceded in death by his wife and their daughter, Janet Hoopes Washburn. He is survived by his son, David Craig Hoopes, seven grandchildren, and 26 great-grandchildren. Services were held on Saturday, September 29, at Oakland Interstake Center Auditorium, with interment at the Brigham City Cemetery. Friends may express condolences at www.oakparkhillschapel.com. In lieu of flowers, family suggests donations to the LDS Church’s Perpetual Education Fund.
Mervin Peter Jackson Jr. ex’68, who was captain of the University of Utah’s basketball team and led the Utes to the NCAA Final Four in 1966, died on June 7 in Illinois. He was 65.
Jackson was born on August 15, 1946, to Mervin Peter Jackson Sr. and Vestie Dickson Jackson in Savannah, Georgia. He was the older of their two sons. In 1964, Jackson graduated from Beach High School, where he was a star in two state title basketball teams. He went on to play baseball and lead the basketball team for two seasons at the U, playing three varsity seasons from 1965 to 1968. One of 34 Utes in the 1,000-point club, he ranks 18th on Utah’s all-time scoring list, with 1,458 points, and seventh in career scoring, with an average 17.6.
Jackson was drafted in the ninth round, 120th overall, by the NBA’s Phoenix Suns in 1968. He signed instead with the rival American Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Stars and appeared in the 1969 ABA All-Star game. He remained with the Stars franchise when it moved to Utah in 1970, and he played an integral role in the Stars’ 1971 ABA Championship title. He played guard for the ABA Memphis Tams from 1972 to 1973 before retiring from basketball that same year. In 1979, he was inducted into the Greater Savannah Athletic Hall of Fame. Jackson eventually moved to Denver, where he was a stockbroker and a television advertising executive with KWGN-TV. In the mid-1990s, Jackson returned to Savannah, where he worked as a news anchor at WJCL-TV. He also worked at WEAS-AM Sports Radio as a college basketball analyst, and wrote, produced, and hosted WEAS-AM’s Straight Talk show. He was an analyst for several University of Utah basketball games, as well. After retiring from his career, Jackson moved to Tinley Park, Illinois.
He is survived by two first cousins, Marsha Jackson-Bob of Round Rock, Texas, and Barbara Jean Fuller of San Antonio, Texas. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Merle Anthony “Tony” Jackson. A memorial was held July 2 at Beach High School. Condolences may be expressed online at AdamsFuneralServicesInc.com or at www.savannahnow.com/obituaries.
Joseph Stead Jacobson BS’48 MA’65 PhD’71, a professor emeritus in the University of Utah’s Middle East Center, died June 11 at his home in Holladay, Utah. He was 99.
Jacobson was born May 6, 1913, to Sarah Rebecca Stay and Baltzar Hans Jacobson, their fourth of nine children. He and Viola Nordgren married April, 6, 1937, in Coalville, Utah. After attending Granite High School, he graduated from LDS High School in 1930. He received a bachelor’s degree in military science and tactics, a master’s degree in German, and a doctorate in Middle East studies, all from the University of Utah. He was a member of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi and was a Fulbright Fellow to Istanbul, Turkey, from 1969 to 1970.
Jacobson worked for Mountain States Telephone Company and the U.S. Weather Bureau before joining the U.S. Army. He served in Puerto Rico with the 25th Field Artillery Battalion during World War II and fought in the European Theater from 1944 to 1945 with the Third Army. As a ballistics meteorologist, he worked at White Sands Proving Ground during the firing of V-2 rockets in 1947, and at the Artillery Center in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He also served as an Army attaché in Ankara, Turkey, from 1953 to 1955, and was the deputy sector reserve commander at Fort Douglas from 1955 to 1959. After retiring from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1959, Jacobson taught at Salt Lake Community College and at the University of Utah’s Middle East Center. He retired from the U as a Professor Emeritus of languages and literature in 1981. With his wife, Viola, he spent his retirement translating and publishing numerous short stories and several books from Turkish literature, and founded Southmoor Studios publishing in 1999.
He is survived by his wife of 75 years; sister, Catherine Walther; sons Joseph Douglas (Jeannie) of Woodbridge, Virginia, and Donald Eugene (Carolyn Bennion) of Ogden, Utah; daughters Annette Thompson (Glenn) of Midvale, Utah, and Susana Viola Jacobson (Susan Covey, deceased), Murray, Utah; eight grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by brothers Leo and Cecil, and sisters Rowena J. Miller, Dorothy Jacobson, Rebecca Marie Knaphus, Margaret Williams, and Phyllis Riches. Jacobson donated his body to the University of Utah Medical School, and he was honored at the Celebration of Life Monument ceremony and at the donor gravesite in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. His family suggests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Body Donor Program at University of Utah School of Medicine.
William Lewis Roberts, a University of Utah professor and medical director at ARUP Laboratories, died July 26, following a year-long battle with brain cancer. He was 52.
Roberts was born July 23, 1960, in Columbus, Ohio. He attended Ohio State University on a Battelle scholarship and graduated in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He then earned a doctoral degree in pharmacology in 1988 and a medical degree in 1990 from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He completed a pathology residency and fellowship at Yale University, where he served as chief resident in 1991.
During his training, he presented his research at the annual meetings of the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists and received the Young Investigator award for his research in 1992, 1993, and 1994. After completing his fellowship at Yale in 1995, Roberts accepted his first academic appointment as assistant professor of pathology at the University of Mississippi in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1998, he joined the University of Utah and ARUP as assistant professor in clinical chemistry. At ARUP, he directed the automated core laboratory and served as the chemistry group medical director, chairman of the capital equipment committee, and executive member of the research institute.
Roberts was promoted to full professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine in 2007. As a clinical chemist, he authored 144 peer-reviewed publications, eight review articles, and 13 book chapters. At the time of his death, his publications had been cited 2,684 times. He also reviewed submitted manuscripts for 13 scientific journals and served on the editorial boards of two journals in his specialty: Clinical Chemistry and Clinica Chimica Acta. He was an active member of Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists, as well as the American Association for Clinical Chemistry and the College of America Pathologists. He served as the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists’ president in 2010 and 2011 and was honored in 2006 with the organization’s Gerald T. Evans award for outstanding leadership and service.
Roberts is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Roberts of Columbus, Ohio; his wife, Wendy; his son, Joel; and daughter, Laurel. A funeral was held in Salt Lake City on August 2.
Richard Warren Shorthill BA’54 PhD’60, a professor emeritus in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Utah, died August 2. He was 83.
Shorthill was born December 28, 1928, to Warren and Elizabeth “Pat” Shorthill in Aberdeen, Washington. After joining the U.S. Army at age 22, Shorthill attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City before transferring to the U, where he received bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in science. He taught physics at the U, as well as at a private school in Sandy, Utah. Prior to joining to the U, he was employed at Boeing in Seattle and worked on the Viking and Apollo space programs. He is credited, along with Victor Vali, with the first experimental demonstration of the fiber optic gyroscope, for which he received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science in 1999. “Richard was a great colleague and a joy to work with,” says Tim Ameel, professor and chair of the U’s Mechanical Engineering Department.
Shorthill was an avid skier and for many years taught skiing in the U’s program at Alta ski resort. He and his wife of 44 years, Ellen, also enjoyed traveling, and visited China, Russia, and Germany.
Shorthill is survived by his wife; his son, David (Patty), and daughter, Ann; his brother, Robert H. Shorthill (Rita); five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Ruth W. Shorthill. A funeral was held August 9 in Salt Lake City, with interment at the Utah Veterans Memorial Park in Bluffdale.
Jim White BS’85 MPA’02, a career counselor for 25 years at the University of Utah, died August 23. He was 57.
White was born June 21, 1955, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was a longtime resident of Park City, where he worked as a firefighter and emergency medical technician from 1980 to 1990. He helped start Park City’s full-time fire department and was a member of the Fire Commission from 1984 to 1990. For the past 25 years, he was assistant director of Career Services at the U and coordinated the minority placement program. White moved from Wisconsin to Utah at age 19 to ski, and ended up staying. He held various odd jobs painting houses and condominiums and working at a ski shop in Park City before eventually becoming a property supervisor at Deer Valley Ski Resort in the early 1980s and then working for the fire department. He received a bachelor’s degree from the U in health and his MPA in social and behavioral science. He said his most unusual job ever was when he painted the bear cages for Bart the Bear, the famous bear appearing in several Hollywood films; Honey Bump, Bart’s sister; and Tank, the bear that starred in the movie Dr. Doolittle.
He said he loved his job as a career counselor at the U because he was able to help students obtain opportunities and change their lives. “I love to hear where my students get jobs and internships,” he said. “I’ve had students in the White House; Johnson Space Flight Center; the International Court in the Hague; Los Alamos and Sandia National laboratories; the Sierra Club; the Utah Governor’s Office; L.A. and New York Times; FBI; State Department; many architectural firms; many federal, state and local government departments; and many more cool places.” He and his wife, Sally, made their home in Summit County with their dog, Echo, in a log house he designed. White described himself as a science and weather buff, rock hound, and explorer of wild places around Utah. He participated as a sundancer in the Ute Sundance ceremony.
White is survived by his wife, Sally Nealley White; father, Robert N. White; brother, Richard (Mary Ann); sister, Diane Comstock; brother-in-law, Mike Nealley (Lori); nieces Laura White (Walter Lux), Ashley, and Page Comstock; nephews Brad White (Lisa), Donald Comstock, Nathan, Cameron, and Kanaan Nealley; and one great-nephew, Ronin White. White is preceded in death by his mother, Beverly Ruth. White was honored at a private ceremony on August 26. His family suggests a donation in his name to the Jim White Vital Ground Memorial being created to honor his love and respect for grizzly bears and close friendship with animal trainers Doug and Lynne Seus. Contributions may be made online, or mailed to Vital Ground, Building T-2, Fort Missoula Road, Missoula, Montana 59804.
Mel Wilson BS’67 JD’71, who served as the Davis County attorney for nearly 20 years and later as the director for the state Office for Victims of Crime, died October 19 after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 68.
Wilson was born November 14, 1943, in Salt Lake City, the fifth of eight children, to Henry Bytheway Wilson and Wynona Curtis Wilson. He grew up in Clearfield and graduated from Davis High School before going on to the U. He was admitted to practice law in October 1971. As an attorney, he served in capacities including time as a private practice attorney, Clearfield City Prosecutor, public defender, and Davis County deputy attorney.
Wilson’s ambitious nature and desire to protect the public and ensure the rights of crime victims led him to run for public office as the Davis County Attorney. He was elected in January 1987 and served until 2006. Through 35-plus years in public service, he witnessed the trauma suffered by victims of crime and devoted his life to ensuring that people impacted by violent crime had a voice and observable rights within the criminal justice system. After retiring from the Davis County Attorney’s Office, Wilson was appointed by Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. to serve as director for the Office of Crime Victim Reparations. Wilson was influential in passing laws that furthered the services available through the newly reorganized and renamed Utah Office for Victims of Crime. In August 2012, Wilson was presented with the office’s Melvin C. Wilson Lifetime Achievement Award for his services to victims of crime throughout the State of Utah.
Wilson married Gay Gunnell in June 1964, and they had five children. He married Sue Spooner on May 26, 1979. She had two daughters, both of whom he adopted. His seven children are: Brooke Virginia Wilson, Brad (Jeni) Wilson, Kim (Robert) Brehm, Holly (Matt) Piper, Heidi (Jason) Tarbet, Kate (Craig) Budge, and Clark (Shannon) Wilson. Wilson also is survived by 25 grandchildren and one great-grandson. His siblings are Dennis (Vernetta) Wilson, Dale (Pat) Wilson, Larry (Judy) Wilson, Colleen (Doug) Gordon, Naoma (Karl) McGuire, David (Susie) Wilson, and Renee (John) Warner. Funeral services were held in Bountiful on October 25. An online guest book is available at www.russonmortuary.com. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Melvin C. Wilson Lifetime Achievement Award at America First Credit Union. This award will be given out annually to recognize others who dedicate their lives to serving crime victims and will be administered through the Utah Office for Victims of Crime.