Earl Merrill Monson, 84, passed away on May 17, 2017, from a lingering illness. He was born July 26, 1932, in Salt Lake City to Charles Horald and Ortencia Hendricks Merrill Monson.
He married Donna Mae Hill in the Salt Lake LDS Temple on March 19, 1954. Together they formed a remarkable partnership for nearly sixty years, until her death in 2013. We could feel their joy as she welcomed him home on Wednesday night.
Dad graduated from East High School, received a BFA from the University of Utah and a Master's degree from Iowa State University. He served in the U.S. Army. The majority of his career was spent with the LDS Church Facilities and Maintenance department as an engineer, providing structural designs for hundreds of buildings. For sixteen years he served as the Director of the Temple and Special Projects Division. While in the position, he was able to be involved with the completion of numerous temples, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the LDS Conference Center.
Dad had a beautiful singing voice and loved to sing along with good music. If he didn't know the words he improvised with a "boom, boom, boom". He sang in various quartets and choirs, played the string bass in numerous dance bands and loved to pull out his harmonica at family gatherings.
Dad loved the Lord and everyone knew it. He cherished the Gospel and exemplified it by the way he lived. He served as a Bishop and Stake President. In 1998, he received a call to serve in the Second Quorum of the Seventy and was assigned to serve in the Pacific Islands. He and Mom loved the people of the islands. After receiving Emeritus status, he was called to serve as President of the Manila Philippines temple. The two of them blessed and influenced the lives of countless people around the world.
He loved his family and spent many summers pulling children and grandchildren waterskiing behind his boat. This led to many wonderful memories for the family at Lake Powell and Bear Lake.
He is survived by one sister, Ruth Johnson (American Fork), his children Michael (Kris), Smithfield, Utah; Julie (Cliff) Hansen, South Jordan, Utah; Wendy (Russell) Mower, Sandy, Utah; Scott (Amy), Saratoga Springs, Utah; and Steven, Dallas, Texas; 17 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Donna; his parents; his sister, Tenny; and brother Charles.
Services will be held Monday, May 22, 2017, at the LDS church house at 1409 West Shields Lane, South Jordan, Utah at 11:00 a.m. Friends may call on Sunday, May 21, 2017 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the same location or prior to the funeral from 9:30-10:30 a.m. He will be buried at the Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery in Sandy, Utah.
