James David Mathews

James David Mathews (Jim) took another step in his eternal journey on May  7, 2024, with his wife and family at his side in Layton, Utah.

 Jim  was born October 31, 1934 to James Willard Mathews and Ethel Roper Mathews in Delta, Utah.  He was the second child of five, older sister Donna, brother, Russel, sisters Jeanette and Lola.

In his childhood years he lived in Caliente, and Panaca, Nevada, Los Angeles, California, Oak City, Utah, and Nephi, Utah where he attended Juab High School.  He loved the sport of basketball, playing four years on the varsity team.

As a young man he was called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Southwest Indian Mission where he served among the Navajo Indians, a people whom he would respect and love throughout his life.  

He was always grateful to be an American and served for five years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. 

Jim later would meet a young woman, Lynne Adele Latimer from Pocatello, Idaho; she became the love of his life; they were married in the Manti Temple.  They became the parents of seven children.  These children became paramount in their happy lives.  She passed away at the age of 42 of melanoma cancer. 

James would later marry Diane Malmgren from Gunnison, Utah in the Salt Lake Temple.  She would remain by his side for the remainder of their adventurous lives.  They had one sweet  son, Shaun who passed away in 1998 at age 16.

Jim received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University.  He had a passion for teaching.  He taught for 38 years in the church’s CES (Church Education System).  He assisted in the development of the Indian Seminary Program at Sherman Institute (An off reservation boarding school for Indian students) in Riverside, California, Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah, and became the Division Coordinator for the North Central States, living in Rapid City, South Dakota.  During that time, he also served as Bishop of the Rapid City 2nd Ward.

Upon their return to Utah; they made their home in Bountiful, Utah. He taught at Utah Technical College that later became Salt Lake Community College, LDS Business College, and Salt Lake Community College, South City Campus where he retired, after 38 years.  He also taught for many years for BYU Continuing Education. 

He became a tour director for BYU Travel Study and later LDS Travel Study.  He made 26 trips with his wife Diane as co-director for 17 trips to Israel, and ventured into Jordan, Egypt, Italy, Greece, the Greek Islands, and Turkey.  He also included in his adventurous life tours to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.  He loved to learn of other cultures, ancient history, and languages, and studied Hebrew for many years.

 Jim and his wife Diane are authors of two large volumes of family history, and 19 volumes of personal journals, and other family histories.  He served faithfully as an ordinance worker for many years in the Bountiful Temple and cherished his time while serving. He also loved his experience as a tour host on Temple Square for five years.

He and his wife, Diane served four missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Calgary, Albert, Canada, the Family History and Church History Mission in Salt Lake, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and the Utah Salt Lake City Mission assigned to the Bountiful Central Stake. 

Jim took great pride in keeping a beautiful yard and garden.  He spent many hours peacefully sitting in his garden and enjoying the beauty of all of God’s creations.   He loved to hunt and keep bees and was often found in the backyard in his bee suit. but most of all to be with his family. 

He had a great love for all people and cherished his relationships, but the most important thing to him was his family.  He adored his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  He loved to make memories with them, laugh with them and each family member who knew of his individual love and concern for them.  He always gave the best hugs and said, “I love you."  His greatest joy was teaching his family the gospel and often gathered them all together for large Family Home Evenings discussions.  His “clan” was his everything!

He is survived by his wife Diane, of 43 years, Layton, Utah, and children, Susan (David) Hunter, Peoria, Arizona, Shellie (David) LeFevre, Bountiful, Utah, Sauni (Cary) Henrie, Bountiful, Utah, Steven (Natalie) Mathews, Kaysville, Utah, Shannon (Tim) Curd, Layton, Utah, Scot (Nicole) Mathews, North Salt Lake, Utah, Sally Jensen, Farmington, Utah, siblings, Donna (Dick) Woods, Russell (Donna) Mathews, Lola (Mark) Koppe, 31 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.

His family wished to extend a special thanks to the dedicated and loving staff at Fairfield Village memory Care and Inspiration Hospice.

Funeral services will be held Friday May 17, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Lindquist’s Layton Mortuary, 1867 N. Fairfield Rd., Layton, Utah. Friends and family may visit Friday from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. at the mortuary prior to the service.

 Interment, Nephi Cemetery, 400 N. St. N 500 E. Nephi, Utah.

The funeral service will be live-streamed and may be viewed by scrolling to the bottom of James’ obituary page at www.lindquistmortuary.com