After a long illness, our loving father passed away on March 24, 2020, at the age of 94, and went to live in heaven with his loving sweetheart. He was born August 5, 1925, to Magdelena Catharina Kuipers and Cornelius DeJong Sr. He married our mother, Patricia Nix DeJong, in the Salt Lake Temple on September 19, 1946. He was greatly loved by his family and is survived by his eight children, Vickie DeJong, Diane Barr, Kathie Johnson, Cornelius (Neil) (Linda) DeJong VI, Michael (Kathy) DeJong, Joanne (Kenny) Bowthrope, Russell (Brenda) DeJong, and Leslie (Looky) DeJong. He also has 38 grandchildren and their spouses, 115 great-grandchildren, and 16 great great-grandchildren with more on the way. He was preceded in death by his wife, his parents, his brother, his sister and one grandson.
He was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a Bishop for 9 years. He also served in many other capacities. He supported many missionaries while they served the Lord. He was in the Navy and served during World War II in the Pacific. His passions included traveling and touring on his motorcycle with his wife along for the ride, flying, his dogs, riding horses and skiing. After he retired from the Portland Cement company, he opened his own machine shop in his garage, which he worked in until he was 91. In the 1940's and 1950's he was an avid stock car driver. When he retired from racing, he used his own wrecker to tow the disabled cars so he could still be close to racing.
We wish to thank all of those wonderful people who helped during his long illness.
Graveside services with military honors were held on Saturday, March 28, 2020 for his children and their spouses only. The interment took place at Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery in Sandy.
Near his birthday in August there will be a celebration of his life.
