Juanita Brian

Juanita Klea Gray Brian

Juanita Klea Gray Brian passed away peacefully on March 12, 2021. She lived a full life filled with family and friends that truly cared about her. Juanita closed her eyes for the last time at exactly 4:20 a.m. as a final “high five” to some of her favorite grandkids. What a thoughtful grandma!

People say Juanita was most proud of seducing her late, great husband, Duane Brian, to marry her only eleven days after he returned from his LDS Mission to Australia.  We take comfort in knowing how pleased she would be to die at, or even possibly below, her wedding weight.

Juanita is survived by her three loving, wonderful, talented, clever, quick-witted, intelligent, and obviously eloquent children, 11 decent grandchildren and 15 somewhat scroungy great-grandchildren whom she loved more than anything else in the world…except for her cat George, traveling, knickknacks, shopping, collecting pink bathrobes, denim jackets, flowers on her deck, and junk food.

Tales of Juanita’s travels were heard by all. Her biggest thrill was spending six months in Beijing where she smiled all day every day just to be there. She spent many weeks in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, and took trips to Mongolia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, South Africa, Egypt and Israel, Italy, England, Spain, and France. If you would like a knickknack from any of these places please visit the Deseret Industries nearest you.

Juanita was a volunteer extraordinaire! She worked as Guardian ad litem in family court for several years, volunteered weekly at YCC Women’s Shelter, spent days and days giving tours at Temple Square, and thoroughly enjoyed her stint as event coordinator at the Conference Center. She didn’t earn a dime but grew rich in friends.

The accomplishments for which Juanita was most proud were her job at Hill AFB, her shorthand skills that lasted a lifetime, her ability to stay up late into the night, her wild pranks on her grandchildren including plastic ants in their cereal, bugs in their beds, giant rats left in back packs, and many more that are not listed as it would be either inappropriate or too expensive to print! Juanita took hikes and bike rides, went on 7-11 runs, movie nights and vacations with children, grandchildren, nieces, and friends.  She, herself, was the party.

It may come as a surprise to learn that Juanita was a closeted Democrat. She owned a set of Barack Obama dinner plates and a Michelle Obama apron, although she was rarely in the kitchen so friends would never know of her secret passion.

In lieu of flowers we’re pretty certain she would prefer a donation in her name to the Utah Democratic Party at https://utahdemocrats.org/

Juanita’s grandchildren fondly remember her declaring, “The answer is YES, now what is your question?”

She will be sorely missed!

Private family services were held.