Gregory Harvey

GREGORY JASON HARVEY

(GREG)

Dung Huu Tran was born in Saigon, Viet Nam in 1974 (give or take a year). His father was a Policeman and his mother was an ethnic Chinese businesswomen. He had at least two brothers and a sister and an extensive extended family. When the Communists took over in South Viet Nam, his father was imprisoned and his family fell on hard times. The Family sent Dung Huu (Greg), his sister Tuu and two older Uncles on a boat into the South China Sea where they barely survived for two weeks until they made Landfall on one of the Islands of Indonesia. He spent about 4 years in a refugee camp in Indonesia under very difficult circumstance. The U.S. government brought him, Tuu and the 2 uncles to The Seattle-Tacoma area. They were there for some time in and out of foster care until they came to Utah. After a period of time, circumstances placed him (He was going by the name of Jason now) with LDS Social Services. Leaving out a lot of details, we were asked if we might be interested in “trying” this boy out since we had already adopted an Asian daughter. We told them we didn’t “try out” kids. If he wanted us, we wanted him. We felt strongly that it was the thing to do. So on a beautiful fall day in 1984, we went to our eldest son’s first Sophomore football game at Davis High. Jason (Greg) wanted to see our home to make sure we didn’t have dirt floors, before he committed to being with us. The facilities must have been okay to him because the social worker brought him to the stadium. Seeing this skinny, good looking Asian kid come up the stairs was a thrill for all of our family. We were introduced, the Social Worker left, and we were a whole family, all nine of us. He knew or would tell very little about his past. Most of what we learned about him was from one of the uncles. No one knew his birth date or how old he was really. So he chose his birthday. We had his hands X-rayed and a couple of physicians looked them over and said he was about 10 years old, give or take a year. He already knew that his Vietnamese name wasn’t going to work very well for him, so he became Gregory Jason Harvey. Greg was launched. He fit in our family marvelously. (After a few glitches with food hoarding and ghosts) He made friends easily and he loved sports, especially basketball.   He became so popular with his classmates they elected him class president in the 7 ^th grade and student body president in the ninth grade. He was also chosen as the best athlete by his classmates in the 9 ^th grade. We were able to get him adopted and sealed to us after an expensive and difficult legal battle. In a nutshell, that is how Greg was born. It was more of a process than a time.

Our Husband, Father, Son, Brother, Friend, Gregory Jason Harvey passed from this life on the evening of Wednesday, July 8 ^th , 2015 after a courageous battle with an aggressive metastatic cancer. He called his wife and children to him and told them he was going to die and that he loved them. He told his family that friends and family members were waiting for him in the light and then he died. He was at peace before passing.

Greg is survived by his wife Jaime Carroll Harvey his four children, Ashley, Christian, Reagan an Skylar all of Tooele, Utah; His Parents: Richard and Marge Harvey of Kaysville, Utah; His parents in-law; Robert and Marianne Brescia of Odessa, Texas; His brothers and sisters: Richard Brett Harvey of Farmington, Utah; Shelley Anne Harvey Walker (Gene) of Salt Lake City, Utah; Jared Miner Harvey (Lesli) of Kaysville, Utah; Erin Leigh Harvey Ort (John) of Alpine Utah; Brooke Camille Harvey Small (Jay) of Farmington; Lacey Elizabeth Harvey Sandoval (Mike) of West Jordan, Utah; His birth sister Tuu, Sacramento, California, possibly his Birth father and two birth brothers in Ho Chi Min City, Viet Nam. He was predeceased by his birth mother.

Greg was employed by Fed Ex. He was a Realtor with Mediaone Real Estate in West Valley, Utah.

Greg has accumulated quite a following of friends and associates over his relatively short life. His family wishes to express our sincere appreciation and love to all who have helped, encouraged, supported, strengthened and loved Greg during his ordeal. He was just a good guy, not a lot of frills, just a good guy.

Jaime, Ashley, Christian (aka Kerrshon), Reagan (aka Ray Ray) and Skylar (aka Miley), your spouse and dad loved you beyond all else. We have all been in awe of the care and love you have shown him during his illness. Jaime has been his constant tireless caregiver.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, July 11, 2015 at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Kaysville Mortuary, 400 North Main.  Friends may visit family Saturday from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. at the mortuary.