Gene Byrne Cunliffe

Gene Byrne Cunliffe passed away peacefully on Sunday August 23, 2026. He was 94 years old.

Gene was born on March 25, 1932 to Reuben Lunnen Cunliffe and Helen Margaret Byrne in Copperton, Utah where he spent all his childhood years. After graduating from Bingham High School, he enlisted in the Navy and was stationed in Maryland, assigned to the USS Washburn (attack cargo ship) during the Korean war as a gunner. While on leave he married a beautiful longtime friend and classmate Alta Lorraine Thorne. They were married on March 28, 1952.

After his service they moved back to Utah where they started their family in 1955 and loved their 4 children, 2 Sons and 2 Daughters with a still born daughter right in the middle. He later joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and they were sealed as a family in the Salt Lake Temple on January 29, 1965.

When they moved back to Utah Gene was employed by Kennecott Copper working in the mine where he spent the remainder of his career. Gene had a love for camping, hunting and fishing. One of his favorite places was Fishlake where they would do a biannual fishing trips every year until it became more difficult with aging. Gene had a hobby that he was passionate about, that of woodworking. He had a well-equipped, organized shop in the basement of their Sandy home. He was known for making all types of furniture, decorations and functional items for friends and family. Many of these were given as Christmas gifts and will be cherished by kids and grandkids for years to come. It was a hard sad day when he determined it was time to close shop because his eyesight and hand eye coordination was failing and became to dangerous to continue.

After retirement he and Alta served in the Jordan River temple as temple workers which extended for more than a decade. They were forced to leave the Jordan River temple when the Draper temple was constructed and became their temple. He continued his service in the Draper temple for years.

Gene was survived by a Brother J. David Cunliffe of Oregon, 4 Children 2 Sons, David (Lisa) Cunliffe, Mike (Nancy) Cunliffe. 2 Daughters Chris (Bart) Neibaur, Shelley (Doug) Ashby, 13 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren, and 2 great greatgrandchildren with 2 more on the way.

Preceded in death by his parents Reuben and Helen Cunliffe, His wife Alta, 1 still born child, 1 grandbaby, and 2 great grandbabies and many many dogs.

Services to Celebrate Genes life will be held at 2:00pm Friday August 28, at Larkin Sunset Gardens in Sandy, UT, 1950 East 10600 South. A visitation will be held the night before Thursday August 27th from 6-8pm and prior to services on Friday from 1-1:45 pm. Both will be at Larkin Sunset Gardens.

Funeral Services will be live-streamed and recorded. Please click “Watch Services” to view.