Bradley Belliston

January 22, 2022, our brother Brad Belliston, 61, passed away due to complications from COVID-19. Born June 3, 1960, in Salt Lake City, Utah to John and Roxalene Belliston. Married Barbara Degen September 13, 1986, in the Salt Lake Temple.

Survived by his brother Alan (Renu), sister LeAnne, and nieces Amber and Ashley.

Private graveside service was held at Larkin Sunset Lawn.

Brad grew up in the Cottonwood Heights area. His mom would share the stories of the first morning in their new house Brad looked out their window and said, “mama we don’t have to plant a flower garden; we have a whole sunflower patch already”. That summer he brought her sunflowers every day. She would talk about how upset Brad and his brother Alan were when houses started going up in the neighborhood. There was a frequent complaint of “they are taking all of our lizard hunting places”.

Halloween was a favorite holiday for Brad. His creativity won an award at church when he came dressed as a reel-to-reel movie projector. He spent days making the costume. He got the church librarian to give him the parts from an old projector.

One of the most frequently share memories of Brad was when the goat followed him home from church. He was disappointed when he was told he could not keep the goat. Fate stepped in a few minutes later and the goat was gone from the porch never to be seen again. That story brought a laugh to everyone. We shared that story the last time we were all together before our mother’s passing.

In 1986 Brad married his sweetheart, Barbara. They were married for thirteen years before she passed away from a terminal illness. Brad spent the last four years of their marriage doing all he could to care for Barbara. Losing Barbara continued to be difficult for Brad the rest of his life.

The morning of Brad’s passing his sister was allowed into his ICU room to say good-bye. Although he could not speak, he looked into her eyes the whole time she was speaking. When she told him that they were going to stop medical support so their mom could come to get him on the one-year anniversary of her passing, and he could be with his wife Barbara he squeezed her hand. He passed away shortly thereafter.

Brad had a heart of gold and wanted help others. Sometimes he did this at his own expense. While Brad will be missed by his family and friends, they find comfort knowing he is at a peace and enjoying time with family that have passed.

The family would like to thank the ICU staff at Intermountain Medical Center who cared for Brad for the couple of weeks that he was in the hospital. They were kind and caring of his needs. When the time came for the family to make a decision about whether to continue medical support they listened, answered questions, and showed so much compassion. They would also like to thank his friend Mike and others. They took care of packing his apartment and found someone to care for his cat Cloe. Mike was a blessing in Brad’s life for many years and a huge help to his family at the time of his passing.