Jay Anderson

Jay R. Anderson

September 7, 1934 ~ March 2, 2015

Jay R. Anderson passed away peacefully at his home, surrounded by his family, on Monday, March 2, 2015. Jay was born on September 7, 1934 in Provo to R. Clark and Oretta Anderson. He married Diane Gall on February 12, 1959 and they raised five children and enjoyed 14 grandchildren. He suffered with heart disease for over 35 years, it was amazing he made it to 80.  We were blessed having him around to tell us what to do for that long! He continued to tell everyone what to do until the last two days.

Growing up you could find Jay hunting and fishing with his father and friends, smoke jumping into forest fires during the summer, and earning his way through college on ski racing scholarships and poker winnings.

Jay graduated from Ogden High School and attended the University of Wyoming before graduating in Civil Engineering from Utah State University. He founded Great Basin Engineering, a consulting civil engineering and land surveying firm in 1959. Today that business continues as Great Basin Engineering in Ogden and Anderson, Wahlen and Associates in Salt Lake City. Jay's clients appreciated his hard work and integrity.

Jay lived life with gusto and anyone who spent time with him on the ski hill, hunting fields, fishing streams or mountains, has a "Jay story" to tell! Most important to Jay was sharing these experiences with his children and grandchildren and anyone else he could talk into joining his adventures. His children were all skiing with him by age 4 and most enjoyed skiing with him (always non-stop and fast) and ski racing. For much of his life he enjoyed hunting pheasants and fly fishing, but his passion later in life was big game hunting. He was the first person in the State of Utah to successfully take each of the "Once in a Lifetime" Big Game animals in Utah through the draw, accomplishing this in 1998. He loved hunting each species of the North American Wild Sheep.  He completed his Grand Slam/Full Curl in 2004 with the help of his son Paul, taking a Stone Sheep in British Columbia.

He helped found the Bastian Ranch CWMU in 1993. He loved being the operator of this property and providing hunting opportunities for people and especially spending time on the mountain with his children and grandchildren. For many years "making it to another hunting season on the ranch" was what kept him going, and it was always about seeing others have success and passing along what he loved.

After his retirement Jay enjoyed volunteer work at McKay Dee Hospital and delivering meals to the needy with Share, Inc. He also loved spending time with all his grandchildren.  Jay was a generous man who did not frequently verbalize his feelings, but demonstrated his caring through his actions.

Jay is survived by his wife, children, Tracy (Bret) Wahlen, J Todd (Jill) Anderson, Paul (Misti) Anderson, Holly (James) Hollingsworth, David (Lori) Anderson and grandchildren, sister, Jeri (Marty) Holland; and brother, Steve (Sharen) Anderson.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, Yvonne Cooper, and LuJean Hess.

The family would like to thank Al and Judy Wagnon, the Ogden City Paramedics, the staff of McKay-Dee ICU, and the staff of the McKay-Dee Cardiology Department for giving us an extra seven months with Jay.  Also a special thank you to Kristy, Jay’s hospice nurse, for her genuine care and concern and help in Jay’s last few months.

Honoring Jay's wishes, we won't be having traditional services. There will be a private family graveside service.  However, he did say specifically. . ."at some time you can have a party, as long as it is catered.  To that end we are having a party to celebrate his life on Friday, March 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Ogden Golf and Country Club, 4197 Washington Blvd, Ogden . Please come join us in our celebration, enjoy some food, and share "Jay stories" (casually dressed).  Services entrusted to Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary.

In lieu of flowers we would request that you make donations to Share, Inc. at www.share weber.org or Chairbound Sportsman at www.chairboundsportsman.org, two of the charities he was involved in.